Well, I almost hate to be back home, but the work has been pileing up.
Had a great time in Nebraska hunting with Frank Hickens. Spent three days there and heard a lot of birds and was able to see a few. On the first morning, we had a lowely jake work us over for over three hours, refusing to leave. He walked around us at every angle except the right one..for me at least. His incessant gobbling was fun, but became more of a taunting after awhile. It was if to say "here I come, not really, sike! you dumb turkey hunters." On the second day, I scored on a really dumb bearded hen. A shot through the hip and out the side and she did a face plant after only 10 very slow steps.
I was able to take in some great Nebraska steak and even better hospitality. The Hickens family were very gracious hosts and quite accomodating. Also able to see several deer while there. That was nice considering there bought with EHD.
I will have to make that trip again and maybe for deer too one day.
From there I drove 150 miles south to visit my friend David Schottie at Blue River Whitetails (and Gobblers). I have known david for several years and had been unable to get back to see him for some time.
Upon my arrival, the weather in the area had made a turn for the better. Problem was that those birds were so dumb that they didn't know what they were supposed to do!
We hunted the first morning from a blind with decoys. Unfortunately, even with a couple of close calls, they shyed away from either the deke's or the blind. The rest of the day we spent doing the run and bow.
We spotted a couple of Gob's all alone in a small field, made our move and were set up perfectly. The edge of the field was about mid chest high as I leaned up against a tree to keep from falling down the hill. As David was about to crawl out and set up a decoy, he spotted the birds and backed down instead. A couple of low purrs and they were on the run.
I didn't know if I was going to have to shoot or fight. They covered a couple of hundred yards in a mere seconds.
David told me to let him know when I had a shot and he'd make em gobble. At 15 yards, they stopped and began to search for the foxxy hen they were after. True to his word, David got em to gobble only to see me shoot just low ( I think I lost my nerve when they ran in so fast).
I wasn't quite sure if I had missed or what. I nocked another arrow as they milled around a bit. Unfortunatly as I drew, the netting bunched up across my shooting eye and I found myself trying to aim with my left eye...no dice.
The second day left me a little frustrated as I was unable to forget about my mishaps from the night before and no birds offered up any relief.
The last morning was forcasted to be 80% rain and high winds with a high in the upper 40's. I thought my hunt was over. To my relief, there was no rain, but it was cold and the wind was high even for Kansas.
We set up the blind in a new field, staked it down tight and crossed our fingers. We were surprised to be hailed with a volly of gobbles early and then to see several birds pitch down into our field.
There were 3 hens, 7 jakes and one Gob! not a great recipe for success.
The jakes chased the tom across the field and out of our lives..oh wait..here they come back! and then forth and so on. Each time they chased him across the field, they came closer. Finally the tom spotted our decoy's and came in on a string with a heard of jakes in tow.
I was ready, or so I thought. The tom hit the decoy, bent the steak over and then offered a shot. I proceded to bounce an arrow off his back shaving off a small puff of feathers. See, it was like this... I told David to set the decoys at 30 yards so I could prove to him that I could make the shot (no, really the decoys were only at 7 yards and I just screwed up yet again).
The hunting gods felt sorry for me though and only seconds later gave me the same shot on a nice jake. The shot was true and after he ambled a mere 10 yards, he too took a dirt nap.
The gear list: Nebraska turkey was taken with my 81 lb Desert bighorn recurve (my first critter with a recurve). In the picture, I have my TC because I left my recurve in the blind.
The Kansas bird was taken with an 81 lb TC. Aparently not enough bow as I didn't even get a pass through.
In both cases I was shooting an 800g gold tip 7595's adorning a 300g BigJim broadhead. They were fletched with Kansas turkey feathers.
I utilized the bush-n-a-bag extensively along with the tree seat while doing the run and bow and they were much more effective than I was.
Both David and Frank have very nice places and while Frank doesn't offer hunts, David has a serious Whitetail/turkey opperation in Hanover Kansas.
thanks for your hospitality guys!
Pictures to follow.
BigJim
glad I noticed "pictures to follow", was getting ready to accuse you of memory lapse, it comes with age I heard somewhere, not exactly sure where I heard it, but I vaguely remember it
Glad you had a fun time hunting the birds. Looking forward to the pics.
Looking forward to the pics.
Congtats, Big Jim, on a great get-a-way!
Can't wait to see the pictures!! :bigsmyl:
Congrats Jim.
congrats but would love pics
Here are the pictures:
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i144/frenchymanny/96d5b6a7-617a-4e93-8507-2689f800dd15_zps517f76af.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/frenchymanny/media/96d5b6a7-617a-4e93-8507-2689f800dd15_zps517f76af.jpg.html)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i144/frenchymanny/06d2bc90-a7a8-468c-95ae-0333c0f2945c_zps16a53e63.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/frenchymanny/media/06d2bc90-a7a8-468c-95ae-0333c0f2945c_zps16a53e63.jpg.html)
Jim, whos the old guy with the white in his beard you were hunting with? :bigsmyl: Congratas on the birds, hope you bring a 58" tc to Compton with you.
Congrats Jim!! Great job!!! :thumbsup:
Congrats Jim !
Congratulations big guy!
Heck of a beard on that , no wait, that's your beard Big Jim :biglaugh: !
Congrats on a great hunt!
Great job Jim :thumbsup:
Congrat's, BigJim. Fine looking bird.
I doubt I could pic a spot on a bird with a beard that could compare to mine.
And no, the bird in the second pic is not a pheasant...just a bearded hen :)
bigjim
Looks like you had a nice hunt,congratulations.
Very nice 2fer!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Most-excellent!
Enjoy the feast!
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
Congrats BigJim !!!
Bill
Congrats! Way to overcome!
Congrats on the birds. Love the beard
Congratulations Big Jim, sounds like you had a great trip.
-Jay
Great job! :clapper:
Awesome!
Way to go Big Jim ! Looks like you had fun, and thats what its all about.
Congrats Jim, glad you had yourself a fun and successful hunt!
Congrats Jim , sounds like a great time :wavey:
Jim, you're supposed to smile for the photos. But then maybe you are:) Congratulations, now get to work on my recurve.
Congrats Jim!