Semi-Live through middle America

[twyatt]

Congrats!!!

[Yoder409]

Mucho congrats, man !!!

Well done.

[POk3s]

After killing the Rio I headed slightly east, cutting off some of the driving distance to Iowa (my next hunting location). I had a couple days to burn before that tag opened and so I wanted to scout people and turkeys at another Nebraska location. Plus...it's a great place to camp and I hunt there often, including last year. I just have learned to love the place and wanted to visit. I wrestled with the thought that my time might be better spent learning a BRAND new area. But decided to just relax and do what I wanted to do and what made me feel best, so that's what I did.

That evening I tried to roost turkeys to no evail, but the next morning I hit a spot with no people tracks and lots of gobbling turkeys. I was back to the truck right after sunrise, and quickly on the road to Iowa.

[POk3s]

Upon arriving in Iowa at about 10:00 AM on the 21st, the weather was gorgeous. I drove around, prospected into some spots, found camping spots, scouted people, etc. but i did not hear or see a turkey on public or private until late afternoon. On a walk I was able to locate three different gobblers and then of course blew the loudest one out of the tree on my way back. I thought he was across the valley. He was not.

I still had one full day to scout so I woke up early and went to where I killed my turkey a couple years back. I was serenaded quite nicely by no less than 4 gobblers so I quickly left.

Mid day I was in contact with me landowner buddy. He had, of course, offered up his land to hunt on, but I'm so dumb I wanted to try public for a couple days instead. He did say "well you should at least go fish my pond. It should be getting good and could use thinned out a bit!" Aye aye captain!

I met up with him after fishing and salted the rest of the afternoon away BSing.

That evening I was going to go to "plan b" spot to listen but as I pulled up I saw another guy hustling in. Turning around and back to where I was that morning to finalize my plan. I'm glad I did, as the turkeys didn't roost in the same spot, but instead had all moved one valley over, and more onto public. Perfect! I even had a gobbler fly up 50 yards from me and luckily was by a knife ridge so I was able to bail off the other side and go way around him on my way back.

I knew what tree he was in, so I planned to be set up about 150 yards from him in the morning. The woods were just too loud to get any closer.


I camped as close as I could to that turkey/those turkeys and set the alarm for 4:30 to make sure I was easily visible to any passerbys 😃

[twyatt]

Congrats on the hammer you just posted!!!

[nyturkeyduster]

That guy is a nightmare to longbearded gobblers!

[POk3s]

I like hunting more than I like killing so usually, I dont usually feel the NEED to fill a tag in one day. That's just simply how it's worked lately...

But for this tag the weather turned real crummy...like something I've never seen before kind of crummy. Anywhere from 1.5-2.5" of rain forecasted for the next day and a half. I had already spent the better part of 2 days here scouting around, fishing, etc. so living out of my truck for another 2+ days in crappy weather just didn't sound appealing in the slightest.

I made my mind up that I was going to be aggressive, but not too aggressive that I blow this thing up. There were multiple gobblers. Aggressive but smart.

I walked in the first morning, I found my place on the ground, in the dark, and waited. After a short while I had no less than 5 gobblers in front of me. Again I said to myself "smart but aggressive." I didn't say a word until flydown, or almost flydown. Some turkeys I thought were down so I have a few soft yelps. I was set up where the turkey from the night before flew up, in a little hole. I thought he'd naturally fly down there but he did not. He chose a side ridge and all gobbles seemed to be congregating at a knob to my left, or southeast.

With the rising sun I thought "I'm going to go all the way around these turkeys and come up the ridge with the sun at my back. A steep SOB, but I made it fine. I actually blew out two hens but didn't see or hear any gobbling.

Just before I crested the top, a bird gobbled on his own! Perfect! I found a great hide and in a great position and started on him. He answered everything I threw at him for about 3 quick rounds of excited yelps. I shut it down to see what his next move would be. I sat there for maybe a minute when I heard "chk chk chk chk.....chkchkchk chk" from my hard right. Another gobbler had come in silent. He was RUNNING in and I could see his beard swinging as he did. He seemed like he was going to pass out of range, so when he went behind a wall of cedars, I gave a few yelps.

I could tell his angle changed a bit and I got ready...telling myself all the things I needed to tell myself at crunch time. He stopped in a lane and half raised his head. That was enough for me and my 5 shot hit its mark. EXTREMELY grateful to have a successful hunt before the floods started. A hammer of a bird st nearly 24 lbs, spurs just over an inch, and a beard over 11" when stretched out properly.

I hung out with my bird for a while, taking pics and listening to the initial loud mouthed gobbler continue from the spot he never left.

I headed home with a full heart...and lots of turkey meat!!

That concludes my "poor man's slam" trip, taking a merriams, rio and eastern all on the same trip. Thank you guys for following along and reading my long winded ramblings

[Yoder409]

You are ROCKIN' it !!!

CONGRATS all the way around !!!

[JeffC]

Congrats POk3, Awesome storys to go along with your great pictures!! Safe travels home and thanks for sharing.

[a_jabbo]

This thread is so awesome!! I love these stories. One of these I'm going to take a month off work and just travel from state to state. Great stories, and Great gobblers, POk. Congratulations.

[POk3s]

This thread is so awesome!! I love these stories. One of these I'm going to take a month off work and just travel from state to state. Great stories, and Great gobblers, POk. Congratulations.

Thank you! I'm glad you and others enjoy it! I like documenting this stuff and have always liked reading peoples day by day adventures.

I would highly recommend taking a week+ off and just going. I would also recommend doing that sooner than later as more and more states become tougher to get tags!

[a_jabbo]

This thread is so awesome!! I love these stories. One of these I'm going to take a month off work and just travel from state to state. Great stories, and Great gobblers, POk. Congratulations.

Thank you! I'm glad you and others enjoy it! I like documenting this stuff and have always liked reading peoples day by day adventures.

I would highly recommend taking a week+ off and just going. I would also recommend doing that sooner than later as more and more states become tougher to get tags!

That's the plan. Working on getting some trips planned in the near future.