Semi-Live through middle America

[POk3s]

It's 8:30 PM the night before I'm supposed to leave for my annual week of turkey hunting bliss.

I've watched the snow fall all day and now it's blowing 30 and snowing hard. I just got done throwing a few more things in the truck and it feels like winter is back again! Bitter cold!

Anyway...I'm going to do my best to dodge the weather as I head east to Nebraska tomorrow. I have two Nebraska tags and a tag for Iowa that opens on Wednesday.

Srarting points A and B I believe are trashed with this weather. Going somewhere warmer and going to try and keep the snow and muddy roads to a minimum. I say that now, but will recheck the road conditions when I wake up in the morning, and make a decision from there. I'll do my best to keep you all posted throughout my travels, on this thread!

Cheers,
Trent

[POk3s]

My view this morning. Highways/interstates are closed all around me. Estimated opening time is noon-2PM so definitely a delayed start to the trip!

[Mossyguy]

Well if you find one out there he should be easy to spot 

Good luck and be safe!

[POk3s]

Got to the area I wanted to hunt and immidately found jakes and hens. They were in the main road. Not difficult to spot.

With an hour and a half left until sunset, I stepped out of the truck and in the first spot I got a gobble. I circled around on him a bit, and in the process ran over some jakes, and the. spotted him in an open meadow with hens. I elected to let him go and try to find more gobblers for the morning.

I heard plenty but only one other one on public and he was too far away for me to have a clue where he was. But I've got options in the morning and I get to play the game!

Here's a pic of the Jakes I ran over. They rolled over the top without putting and I wasn't sure what exactly they were at first glance. I had to circle around a bit to see there were no longbeards in the group.

[Tom007]

Go get em!

[Yoder409]

I just happened to look at the forecast for eastern Wyoming the other day and WHOA !!!   

But , it looks like it's gonna straighten out for ya. 

Them Merriam's don't seem to even notice sucky weather.

Good luck, bro !!!

[POk3s]

I skipped heading to Wyoming. Had tags in other places so off I went!

In short, I roosted a turkey right by the main road. I hate doing that and tried to find other birds but could not. There were no other signs of people at the pull off so i hoped I'd get lucky. In and seated a half hour before shooting light. Right at shooting light a guy passed my truck and parks 50 yards further. As he comes in I give him a wave and he turns and leaves. A half hour later someone does the same thing. This person turns and leaves...but evidently not. I move on the turkeys and call the Tom and all his girlfriends into 10 yards but they're so jumbled together I don't have a shot. As they pass I make another maneuver and am able to get him. As the shot rings out, person number 2 jumps up from behind some trees 80 yards away and says "THAT WAS AWESOME TO WATCH!"

It ended up being an older lady, all by herself. She was a local lady who had hunted those turkeys all week but said "I just couldn't get up this morning." I tried not to be too hard on her about the safety associated with coming in on someone else, but I don't think she got it...

Anyway, a terrific hunt and a great white tip to start the trip. Yes, I nearly froze to death this morning. Hands and feet were just clubs without feeling!

[Yoder409]

CONGRATS !!!

You are off and running !!!

[Mountainburd]

Much congrats, I'm on a different team, but I enjoy your posts and stories.

[zsully]

I freaking love this. Great story! Congrats on the first of the year!

[POk3s]

I was well within my right to kill two birds here, if i so choose, but I like to have as many different experiences as I can. Plus, I'd really like to complete the "poor man's slam" on this trip taking a merriam, rio, and eastern.

So, I pointed my truck south and headed for a spot I'm getting to know pretty well. Upon arrival I went and scouted people and sign of people at access points. Not a lot of, if any, rain all week so people pressure was easy to see in the dirt.

In a place I had never tried there wasn't much for people sign and in the #1 spot nyturkeyduster and myself found a handful of years ago, there were TWO trucks parked. This was well afternoon, so these guys were giving it their all. That's the only place I saw anyone actively hunting so I just figured I would let them have it.

I went back to the area I had been earlier without much people sign and figured I'd go for a long walk. It was two miles of turkeyless, signless country but then the seas parted. I saw two groups of turkeys with strutters out enjoying the late afternoon sun. The pics you see are of a road but the road to get into this public area is private. I had to go up, over and through to get onto this road.

I have a strict one turkey per day policy so they were never in danger, but the further I got into the piece, the more I wondered how dumb that was. I ended up spotting another strutter, put him basically to bed, and enjoyed the 2.5 mile hike out of my new, awesome little spot. I still needed to find a place to camp and eat dinner!

To be continued...

[twyatt]

Nice work! Congrats!

[a_jabbo]

Glad that hunt went so well. People are crazy these days, but at least she enjoyed the show and you had a great hunt. Congrats, Pok, and good luck on the rest of your trip/trips.

[POk3s]

I set the alarm for 4:30 AM but due to camping restrictions I had a little bit of a drive. The plan was to be walking by 5:30 and I just missed it. I knew I was running a touch late for the 3 mile hike, and i was. I stopped to de sweat a bit and the turkeys were gobbling.

I knew he had hens from the night before, but due to open country and being a bit late, I couldn't get real close.

After listening to him gobble going away for a bit, I circled around him and spotted a hen heading back my way. I dove into some brush, the hen and I got in a shouting match, and commenced to call that turkey into range. I don't know how close he got as he wouldn't turn the corner of a dense patch of cedars. The constant drumming was deafening and he gobbled every 10-30 seconds. As quick as he came, he ran back to his hens.

I could not believe he didn't turn the corner. I was disappointed he didn't, but still giddy with excitement. He put 500 yards between us quickly and I had to hustle to catch up. We played the game of gobble and run off for a bit.

Finally, I spotted him strutting in the same, long, wide open bottom he had been in all day, just 3/4 of a mile from where this all began. With another corner and patch of cedars, I cut to him and called excitedly. He broke strut and was on a string walking and gobbling every 15 seconds.

He came to 15 yards and was right on the other side of another dense stand of cedars I had ducked behind. I could've leaned out and killed him, but knew he was dead to rights and I wanted great video. Again, he turned and walked off, somehow without me getting everything together.

That time I was a little bit dejected. I had him, and I let him walk off due to wanting to "more."

Oh well, the morning is young and I watched him and his hens round another corner. I sprinted up there and as soon as I did, the hens fed out in front of me but out there a ways. He followed but was out there 60-80 yards the whole time. Strutting, gobbling, drumming...just putting on a show I was happy to watch. I was in no position to call so I just sat there smiling. They went around the corner again and I thought "ahhh just let him go. That's it."

I no sooner said that and the hens came back around the corner but angling to me. The big guy followed, and when he got to 35 yards I yelped to stick his head up, and he gobbled for the last time.

A beautiful Rio (or mostly Rio) gobbler.

[GobbleNut]

     Congrats Trent! ...Great stories and pics...