Limb Chicken
Active Member
DAY 1: Thursday afternoon, March 29, 2007
I absolutely love this trip to Nebraska. Not only for the turkeys but the scenery, the people and the first chance to camp for the year. We arrived on Thursday afternoon after a good trip on the road. No flats and no lost wheels on the camper is always a good thing.
Got camp set up and decided we were ready to head out as the weather was nice and we were all ready to get after em. This was an afternoon hunt so, we decided to go three to a blind and try to go light on the food and such... Well three guys eating deer salami and cheese on the way down + 1 double bull blind = gas = disaster.
On a side note here is a picture of our Shooter Shannon Smith, he shows his tru colors and his shooting abilities shine on this trip...
On to the story, we saw some turkeys on some public land on the way out so that is where we decided to start. We got all set up, and it wasn’t long before we were into birds. This bird showed about a half hour after we got set up, wasn't sure of the pretty boy and skirted the set up...
He continued out into an alfalfa field and then this hog showed. By this time there were hens in the decoys and he made them come to him and stayed out of range...
Shortly after that the birds showed up that we spotted, and kept showing and showing...
Then the three amigos came and Shannon was able to take a 30 yard shot that looked like it hit the mark...
you can see his arrow about to strike the bird
As it turned out the shot wasn't as good as we believed, even though the bird was left for 20 minutes he had gotten into a huge bush and we walked by him several times. It got late and we were packing our things and Scott was still looking and decided we would check back in the morning. He passed the bush one more time, the bird must have finally got nervous and charged out and got airborn managing to get across a river and never to be seen again. The arrow was laying where the bird was hiding.
DAY 2: Friday, March 30, 2007
A new day arrived and we were in one of our favorite places. We had seen a ton of birds in this area last season and Scott took a bird off of this piece last year. The morning started with close to 60 birds flying down into the field and it wasn't long before there were two gobblers to the right of us, Scott couldn't shoot and Shannon had a (nother) shot so here goes arrow #2...
if you look closely you can see arrow #2 flying towards the back gobbler... STRIKE.
A short wait and some calling produced 7 long beards looking over the ridge and it was finally Scott's turn to shoot...
These birds worked there way to the setup and finally a good 20 yard shot was presented to Scott. I don't know what happened but you can see the arrow flying over the back of this longbeard and he escaped unharmed and Scott lost an arrow in a pasture...
Getting closer!
Swing and a miss
Now I am starting to get nervous because so far we have had 9 gobblers within range and none on the ground...
Ten minutes later these guys show up...
I am starting to realize we may not see this many longbeards during the whole Iowa season...
This one splits and come straight for the decoys and I am needing to take a shot soon or I will be too twisted in the blind to make a good shot...
11 yards and the arrow is on the way and makes short work of this gobbler and #1 is on the ground.
In this picture you can see my bird expiring and Shannon launches another one at the second bird... STRIKE 2. The arrow is on the left side of the pick. It is the white streak going from the fence post to the edge of the picture...
Things quiet down and I go to get my bird, Scott goes to look for his arrow and Shannon finds his two...
22 lbs, 10.5, 1.5, 1.5
We moved down the fence line in the direction of what birds remained that were not shot at or dead and set up. It was about a half hour and these two clowns and three jakes showed up. Scott didn't feel comfortable with the shot and was unsure of the distance at first. When they were finally in range the jakes were in the dekes and Scott was concerned they might see him draw. They escaped unharmed...
The day ended with Shannon taking a head shot at a jake and narrowly missing... STRIKE 3.
DAY #3: Saturday, March 31, 2007
Too short of night allowed the sun to come up too early that led to three hunters sleeping in...
When the hunters finally got around to getting their stuff together the weather started to get pretty rough and the wind picked up = lost day = hit camper early = more
DAY #4: Sunday, April 1, 2007
Last day, we planned to head home in the afternoon leaving us a few short hours and windy weather to shoot two birds. We decided in all our camp fire wisdom to hunt where we had seen no less than 12 toms and only 1 was dead... Smart huh...
We set up the double trouble spread and hoped for the best. The windy morning brought few gobbles but as you can see the bids were still there. We had plenty of time to count these birds and there were 16 toms in this group.
These birds disappeared and the wind picked up and we thought we were headed for home soon. When we looked at the fence and red heads started to pop up and three were interested in what was going on with the Double trouble pair.
closer
and closer
Finally they started to get real nervous, the wind was really bucking the decoys and they were fixin to leave and Scott put the hammer on the strutter.
you can barely make out the arrow on the bottom row of the wing feathers towards the back of the middle bird.
The bird was hit a little far back and the chase was on.
Weasel finally recovered the bird after a lengthy chase in a 300 acre bean field...
this picture was taken after a lengthy cardio recovery...
24.10, 11, 1.25, 1.25
after packing up all the backpacks and decoy bags we headed back to camp
We decided to head back to camp and clean Scott's bird, have some lunch, pack the camper and head out for the final hour or so before we had to head back east.
Shooter Smith was ready to run a stick through or at, the first legal bird that showed... We saw some birds close to where we were the first night and decided to give it another try. It wasn't long before this jake was doing a cartwheel...
This jake was a little more lively than the boys thought when the arrived at the scene. Notice Shooter doing the get out of the way dance...
Yep, knock em down with an arrow, and kill them with a BIG STICK...
But it all worked out great and we were headed home with plenty of meat and a lot of good stories.
This is Shannon's second bird with a bow so he was pumped.
I want to thank Corey. Without him we would be out a good friend and great times. Thanks man, I know you lurk here and even post once in a while...
I absolutely love this trip to Nebraska. Not only for the turkeys but the scenery, the people and the first chance to camp for the year. We arrived on Thursday afternoon after a good trip on the road. No flats and no lost wheels on the camper is always a good thing.
On a side note here is a picture of our Shooter Shannon Smith, he shows his tru colors and his shooting abilities shine on this trip...
On to the story, we saw some turkeys on some public land on the way out so that is where we decided to start. We got all set up, and it wasn’t long before we were into birds. This bird showed about a half hour after we got set up, wasn't sure of the pretty boy and skirted the set up...
He continued out into an alfalfa field and then this hog showed. By this time there were hens in the decoys and he made them come to him and stayed out of range...
Shortly after that the birds showed up that we spotted, and kept showing and showing...
Then the three amigos came and Shannon was able to take a 30 yard shot that looked like it hit the mark...
you can see his arrow about to strike the bird
As it turned out the shot wasn't as good as we believed, even though the bird was left for 20 minutes he had gotten into a huge bush and we walked by him several times. It got late and we were packing our things and Scott was still looking and decided we would check back in the morning. He passed the bush one more time, the bird must have finally got nervous and charged out and got airborn managing to get across a river and never to be seen again. The arrow was laying where the bird was hiding.
DAY 2: Friday, March 30, 2007
A new day arrived and we were in one of our favorite places. We had seen a ton of birds in this area last season and Scott took a bird off of this piece last year. The morning started with close to 60 birds flying down into the field and it wasn't long before there were two gobblers to the right of us, Scott couldn't shoot and Shannon had a (nother) shot so here goes arrow #2...
if you look closely you can see arrow #2 flying towards the back gobbler... STRIKE.
A short wait and some calling produced 7 long beards looking over the ridge and it was finally Scott's turn to shoot...
These birds worked there way to the setup and finally a good 20 yard shot was presented to Scott. I don't know what happened but you can see the arrow flying over the back of this longbeard and he escaped unharmed and Scott lost an arrow in a pasture...
Getting closer!
Swing and a miss
Now I am starting to get nervous because so far we have had 9 gobblers within range and none on the ground...
Ten minutes later these guys show up...
I am starting to realize we may not see this many longbeards during the whole Iowa season...
This one splits and come straight for the decoys and I am needing to take a shot soon or I will be too twisted in the blind to make a good shot...
11 yards and the arrow is on the way and makes short work of this gobbler and #1 is on the ground.
In this picture you can see my bird expiring and Shannon launches another one at the second bird... STRIKE 2. The arrow is on the left side of the pick. It is the white streak going from the fence post to the edge of the picture...
Things quiet down and I go to get my bird, Scott goes to look for his arrow and Shannon finds his two...
22 lbs, 10.5, 1.5, 1.5
We moved down the fence line in the direction of what birds remained that were not shot at or dead and set up. It was about a half hour and these two clowns and three jakes showed up. Scott didn't feel comfortable with the shot and was unsure of the distance at first. When they were finally in range the jakes were in the dekes and Scott was concerned they might see him draw. They escaped unharmed...
The day ended with Shannon taking a head shot at a jake and narrowly missing... STRIKE 3.
DAY #3: Saturday, March 31, 2007
Too short of night allowed the sun to come up too early that led to three hunters sleeping in...
DAY #4: Sunday, April 1, 2007
Last day, we planned to head home in the afternoon leaving us a few short hours and windy weather to shoot two birds. We decided in all our camp fire wisdom to hunt where we had seen no less than 12 toms and only 1 was dead... Smart huh...
We set up the double trouble spread and hoped for the best. The windy morning brought few gobbles but as you can see the bids were still there. We had plenty of time to count these birds and there were 16 toms in this group.
These birds disappeared and the wind picked up and we thought we were headed for home soon. When we looked at the fence and red heads started to pop up and three were interested in what was going on with the Double trouble pair.
closer
Finally they started to get real nervous, the wind was really bucking the decoys and they were fixin to leave and Scott put the hammer on the strutter.
you can barely make out the arrow on the bottom row of the wing feathers towards the back of the middle bird.
The bird was hit a little far back and the chase was on.
Weasel finally recovered the bird after a lengthy chase in a 300 acre bean field...
this picture was taken after a lengthy cardio recovery...
24.10, 11, 1.25, 1.25
after packing up all the backpacks and decoy bags we headed back to camp
We decided to head back to camp and clean Scott's bird, have some lunch, pack the camper and head out for the final hour or so before we had to head back east.
Shooter Smith was ready to run a stick through or at, the first legal bird that showed... We saw some birds close to where we were the first night and decided to give it another try. It wasn't long before this jake was doing a cartwheel...
This jake was a little more lively than the boys thought when the arrived at the scene. Notice Shooter doing the get out of the way dance...
Yep, knock em down with an arrow, and kill them with a BIG STICK...
But it all worked out great and we were headed home with plenty of meat and a lot of good stories.
This is Shannon's second bird with a bow so he was pumped.
I want to thank Corey. Without him we would be out a good friend and great times. Thanks man, I know you lurk here and even post once in a while...
