"Nebraska-3/South Dakota-0/Wyoming-0" or "My First Jake, I'm so Happy" (with pics)

[pointing_dogs_rule]

As I take pen in hand (or fingers to computer) I will try and be so eloquent as "Redbeard". Note: I must use pictures because I am not as good as "Redbeard"

NEBRASKA

I've always been a person to set out on adventure no matter where or who it may be with. With few friends that hunt or take the time to hunt I often set out on my own to find new places, make new friends and come back with life-long memories. At age 53 I do not know how much longer I will be able to climb those hills and trek miles across the lands of this great country. At age 48 I had a pain in my abdomen and a colonoscopy reveled a tumor the size of a peach. The bad part was that being a DVM I knew what a cancer looked like.... rough & irregular in shape as opposed to benign which is nice and round and very smooth. It was the ugliest thing that I have seen when Doc showed me the photo. Three weeks later I had 1 1/2 foot of intestine & lots of lymph nodes removed. As I was waking up from anesthesia, Dr. Larson, the surgeon stated: "You are a very lucky man, keep praying that rosary, I thought the tumor would be cancerous" (inferring that the tumor was benign). Now don't feel sad for me as there are a lot of other people in much more dire situations. This experience made me more set on doing those things that I wanted to do before I end up in a rocking chair or worse. Thus that so called "bucket list". (A quick side-note: We met two guys in a gas station, early on morning, turkey hunters and chatted. Thomas informed me, while I was on my way back home, that one of the hunters died Thursday morning in his hotel room while getting ready for a days hunt)

I have always heard of people taking trips and hunting turkeys in various states. Now it was my turn. I had hunted turkeys in Wyoming and South Dakota and been successful in the past. I heard about the turkey hunting in northwest Nebraska and wanted to see the Pine Ridge area and hunt Merriam's. What the heck let's do a three state hunt.... Nebraska/South Dakota/ Wyoming. Nine days of fun, travel and hunting (and lots of gas). I logged on to another hunting forum and asked friends about hunting Nebraska. One person gave me a contact and stated that the person "might even hunt with me". Heck I was hoping just to get a location on some birds.

With the F-150 loaded down I departed from Iowa on Thursday afternoon and headed towards South Dakota (Kadoka). Friday morning started with a rain storm and a flat tire on the F-150. So it would be this type of trip! After getting the tire fixed (they could find no leak), I made my way south towards Nebraska only to find the road closed. A detour was needed so I headed through the Badlands National Park. I had seen this area many times, however, never in a rain storm. How beautiful I could have never imagined

Then it was on to through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I briefly stopped at Wounded Knee to take a photo. As I was taking a photo three Native Americans quickly approached me a were selling souvenirs. Now, I am not the type that buys stuff off of the street, however, a thought jumped into my mind of Kevin Costner in the "Fields of Dreams" movie. When they picked up the hitchhiker... "WE NEED ALL THE KARMA WE CAN GET". I bought three souvenirs , "dream catchers," and kept thinking "I NEED ALL THE KARMA I CAN GET" as I handed over the money.

I arrived in Chadron at 1 PM and called "this guy" that was suppose give me some tips on turkey hunting the area. He says: "I'm off work at 2 PM get ready we're goin' for river bottom turkeys". Heck I thought tomorrow morning and some tips would be good and here this guy is taking me out to some of his favorite spots. The rain had stopped and I knew the turkeys would be out in the fields & I was excited. Thomas picked me up and we found we had a lot in common as we talked & purchased my turkey licenses on-line (Nebraska allows three tags). We drove the river bottom roads and spotted turkeys in various fields. The first "hunt" was unsuccessful as the birds seemed call shy..... needless to say that the 30 mph wind didn't help. We drove down the road a spotted group. Three toms and 6 hens in a field. We set-up and called..... once more with little success. We could see the birds so we relocated closer to the birds, using the White River bank as cover. Thomas was tucked away in the tall grass and I was between a fallen tree. With soft calls the birds approached, across the alfalfa field. I could see birds at 60 yards and closing when all of a sudden a tom appears at 20 yards from my left (where my vision was blocked). I put the bead on him a fired my Mossberg with the XX full choke tube. After the shot I looked up and there was the bird running away!!!! I have been hunting turkeys for 25 years and harvested over 40 birds and I have NEVER missed (mostly because my birds are always within 20 yards). How did I do that... well a new gun that I never used before, XX full choke & I think that I peeked. I bet those pellets flew right past his head. I walked back to the truck disgusted. Thomas tried to cheer me as we walked back to the truck. What the heck let's try the next field. We soon located three more gobblers and four hens. We parked the truck and used a small thicket and cattails to get close to the birds. We could see the birds feeding and waited patiently as Thomas made some soft calls. The birds slowly approached and I could see a tom through the brush at 20 yards, however, I was not comfortable with the shot (too many limbs). We waited as the turkey made it to an opening and I could hear Thomas whispering shoot! My gun was up and I waited intently as the bird approached an opening. I told myself "no peeking and shoot at the hairline of the neck". The redhead on him was so beautiful when I pulled the trigger. The bird instantly fell over at about 15 yards away. I went to see the bird and as I walked up to admire how beautiful he was I notice I had shot his "tail" off. How the heck did I do that? I went to pick up the tail and it was a second tom! Two toms with one shot. I was so focused on the tom I did not even see the second tom behind him. Two of my three turkey tags filled on one shot. The birds were identical, 19 pounds each, 9 1/2 inch beards and 3/4 inch spurs. Thomas told me that these were very nice river bottom birds...... I AGREED

The next day we started out at 5 AM and Thomas brought along and friend, Nick. We were going to hunt "timber birds" up in the hills this morning. We arrived a little late and the birds were already down from the roost so we decided to locate some birds and set up on them. Within 1/2 hour we located a lone tom and 8 hens feeding across a ridge. After they were out of sight we departed into a deep valley and got ahead of them, or so we thought. We did this three times and each time the birds were even with us as we came out of the valley. The fourth time we got behind a small limestone butte and called & located the group off to our right and below us. The tom came into range for Nick's 12 gauge, however, they were saving this bird for my black powder shotgun that I was carrying. We quickly relocated around the other side of the butte. Thomas was tucked in a crevasse and I was right against the stone with gun in position while Nick was lying against the grassy bank below. The hens soon appeared 30 yards below us & walking by just as planned all the while Thomas calling softly. The hens then decided to turn and go away from us...RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The tom followed and no shot. They stopped 100 yards away under the pine trees and just stood there for 20 minutes as it started to rain/snow. As I watched them, some other birds started to gobble down in the valley.... "come here boys".... there was hope. No more than 5 minutes later two birds appear from around the butte.... RED HEADS!!! The one stuck his neck out and I could see that he was a Jake. He and his buddy walked by at 32 yards and I put the black powder shotgun sight on his neck. KABOOM!!!! A loud noise and lots of smoke!!! I just love that sound and sight.... especially when the Jake falls over in his tracks. My first Jake ever and my first black powder turkey ever. How proud was I!!!! I owe a big thanks to Thomas and Nick for putting me on birds and all that walking up and down hills (about 1 mile) to get that Jake. I never thought I would have a smile when I killed a Jake, however, this was the day. Nick harvested nice gobbler the next day.

The country we were hunting.

SOUTH DAKOTA

I'll keep it short and sweet. Birds numbers are DOWN greatly in the Black hills. In the past I could find birds in town, along the roads and every mile or two in the hills. This year they were few and far between. Wet springs, hard winters and lots of cats.

The story: I entered some public land just to check it out and I hear a gobble in a meadow (private land). I set up and tried to call him into the "dark pines". No luck he came to 100 yards and stopped. Later that day I talked to a landowner who informed me that he owned that land and I could hunt the meadow. The second day I hunted him he headed north and way from me . I decided to cross the dirt road to see exactly where he went. As I am climbing the pine needle covered hill I hear a gobble. I get down and let out a call... he comes closer. The only problem is that I am on a steep ridge and he is above me on a rocky outcropping, where I cannot see him. A cow behind me gives a moo and he gobbles, I bet no more than 30 feet above me... I cannot see him on the ledge. After waiting 10 minutes I hear him gobble way off as he has left. I was going to hunt him a third before some road hunters shot at him out the car window soon after he left me. As scared as he was I didn't think that it was worth another day.

WYOMING

I go to Wyoming to visit my friend Walter more then to hunt birds. As I was driving between Aladdin and Hewlett I came across six gobblers near the road. Two of them were kicking the sh** out of each other through a woven fence. I tried to hunt these birds from across the road, on public ground, with no luck

I found some birds roosted on Walter's ranch and set up on them. I got out at 4 AM and set up the decoys. The birds were only 80 yards away and they must have sensed something was wrong because the two jakes that flew down into the decoy set-up only stayed 30 seconds. I was hoping for a tom.

good luck to all

the dog

[Ethan Givan]

Wow what a great story, and nice photos. Pretty country for sure. Congrats on some nice birds!!

[whitetailfreak55]

Congrats sounds like a fun trip. I'm going to the black hills next year to try my luck with merriams. Any tips would be appreciated

[pointing_dogs_rule]

Congrats sounds like a fun trip. I'm going to the black hills next year to try my luck with merriams. Any tips would be appreciated

To be totally honest.... DON'T GO. Birds numbers are so low it's horrible. I went to a spot where they usually roost... NO **** & not one track on the 1 1/2 mile walk back to the area. I fore see at least 2-3 years before numbers rebound. For the amount of time and money that you will spend... there are better places. I talked to a guy at the local gas station that was hunting & he passed on a jake the first day and then it was three days before he saw another bird. It's a very neat area to hunt, however, I believe numbers are as low as 1996. If you have any further questions you can PM me.

good luck to all

the dog

[dbHunterNY]

Good story. Congrats on the birds!

[Ravin R10 man]

Great story Dog! congrats

[whitetailfreak55]

I pmd you thank you

[jesse8953]

Great trip good job!

[WHISKEYSWAMP]

cool trip... congrats!