It's Turkey Time

I like to hunt fall turkeys in Nebraska.  Even though I live in Iowa, I like the way Nebraska sets up it's fall season.  It starts in September and closes the end of the year.  It gives you plenty of time to track them down and find out where they are moving about.  In the fall they flock up and the issue is not calling a big tom, but finding their routes where they feed.  Also in the fall you can shoot hens as well as toms or jakes, and meat is meat.

I hunt north of Fort Calhoun in the hills overlooking the Missouri River bottoms lands.  Woods, steep hills, flowing water, and crop land make this an ideal place for the birds to thrive.  This fall the landowner had rented his pasture and while he said come out anyway, I decided to wait till the cows were gone.  With a mild fall, the cows stayed a lot longer than I planned.  The owner did not move them until deer season started.  Nebraska is a rifle state, and I was not going to hunt or roam around the farm during the deer season.  I hunt deer in Iowa so my scouting that was done earlier in the year would not apply. Also the weather turned really bad by the time I was ready to hunt.  It turned really cold and the ground was covered with snow.

The first day I stayed on the north end of the farm moving around, sitting, listening, and waiting.  There was not a lot of tracks of either deer or turkey.  The landowner stated that they were not seeing many birds around the house and rarely saw any deer.  This was unusual.   Last fall when I drove up his road it was like running an obstacle course with all the deer and turkey running around.  Then the reason why came bounding out of the house.  They bought a new dog, and she loved to chase the birds and wildlife when they came near the house.  It was time to move down south.

As I moved into the terraced pasture ground, the presence of tracks became more prevalent.  This was more like what I had been used to seeing on this farm.  I came to a grove of trees and the snow was literally pounded down with turkey and deer tracks.  It was late in the morning, so I set up above the grove of trees and just glassed the area.  There was no sign of any movement either in the trees or beyond to the corn field.


The grove of trees looking west.  Notice the gun and chair.  I sat for about an hour on the other side of the tree but saw nothing. 

 I moved on top of the hill looking east and watched that area of open pasture to the next property.  This property is owned by a non profit organization and no hunting is allowed.  I think it is about a half a section of standing timber.  The birds move in and out of the area, but I saw nothing.

I then moved up to the top of the hill, and down the fence line bordering the landowners farm.  I can go south to his southern fence line, but I cannot go east as I would be in a no hunting area.  Tracks ran up and down the hill.  As I got to the bottom, the turkey had the snow packed solid. 



You are looking south along the fence line.  To the left is no hunting.  To the right is the bottom of a very steep hill and drainage dams are on the side of the hill.  The piece of wood in the left of the picture is part of a ladder for a tree stand.  The snow is packed from turkey tracks along the fence line.  I plan to be in this location first thing in the morning. 

 I sat and waited for about an hour, but saw nothing.  Deer came over the hill in front of me, jumped over the fence and moved into the no hunting area.  Turkey came out behind me and up over the hills.  I just barely caught them out of the corner of my eye.  More turkeys moved back into the no hunting area, but none in gun range.  This place is a regular meat market.

The plans are made.  Tomorrow morning before the light of day, I will be sitting right where this picture was taken. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.   Hank

If you have an interesting story or a great picture of a successful outing, e-mail it and we can share it with our readers.
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Pheasant Hunting At Its Finest

In eastern Nebraska there is an excellent opportunity to see a lot of birds and have your limit before noon. It is the “Little Creek Game Bird Farm” east of Blair Nebraska on Highway 91. Arrive by 8 AM, check in at the comfortable lodge, and you can be gone before noon, but a good dog is highly recommended. The birds are placed on creek bottoms with tall grass, flood plains on each side and terraced corn fields. The terraces are heavy grass with corn on each side. There is a whole lot of cover. You can shoot hens or roosters, and the fee is the same for six hens or three roosters. Game farm birds are a little smaller than birds born in the wild, but they perform and eat exactly the same. The weather seems to determine if they will sit and then jump into the wind, or start running ahead of you. It seems when the weather is really foul, they will sit. On nice days they run. A good dog is always the equalizer on any upland game hunt.

John and I with five nice birds.  There is a dead one still out there flying.

Teaming up with hunting and shooting expert John Bender, makes the difference for two reasons. John has a chocolate lab “Junior” who loves to hunt. No matter how cold it is, how windy, how much snow is on the ground or in the air, Junior plows ahead. Working back and forth, going on point, then retrieving a downed bird means we never lose one if it is a loose shot. Second, John is an excellent trap and skeet shooter. If you are a little rusty, and we have all had bad days, John will never miss a bird.



Chukars are a great bird to hunt.  They fly in every direction, and the flite pattern is similar to that of a quail.  The best part is they have a really big breast, and make a great meal.

 Hunting at a bird farm is a great experience, and a great way to go if you have a time problems in your life or don’t want to walk for miles upon miles. Three or four day trips to well known areas of the country can be expensive, and game bird hunting is a lot cheaper with the same or better result.

For an inexpensive way to harvest a daily limit of birds on a limited time frame, go to the Little Creek Game Bird Farm.

With all the snow and cold weather we are having, the turkeys are flocking up.  I scouted the farm I hunt north of Fort Calhoun and the patterns are somewhat different.  The birds I saw were all south of the usual ambush point.  I am now set to get my limit tomorrow or the next day.  It just can't get any better than this.

More on this topic to come next week.

Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck. Hank

A Duck Hunting Tale

It is 4:30 in the morning and the temperature is 31 degrees.  The wind is blowing from the northeast at 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph and wind chill at 15 degrees. It is humid and that makes it colder. The overcast is one to two thousand feet, and it spits a little snow, sleet, and rain. The precipitation stings when it hits you in the face. This is duck hunting along the Missouri River in Eastern Nebraska, and it can’t get any better than this.

How many times a year do you sit in a blind and only see blue sky with the wind switching to the south, but on a day like described, it is time to head to the blind. A blizzard is sweeping across South and North Dakota with freezing temperatures.  The mallards have had enough of Devils Lake in North Dakota and Sand Lake in South Dakota.  Here they come. With six inches of snow on the ground 50 miles to the north, the ducks will be hungry and thirsty when they cross the snow line.  We have it all for them when they arrive:  open water and plenty of food in the fields.

It is still pitch black when everyone is settled into the blind.  The birds that were kicked up when we walked in, are returning with more locking up and floating in against the wind. You can hardly see them, but there is plenty of racket above and around the blind.  They came in during the night, found the open water, and dropped in for a drink and a rest.

Count down is on to shooting time, and at the right moment eight of us all stand up. Up they come, and each of us pick out a drake for the first of many shots that are sure to come. As it gets lighter, you can see the migration is in full swing, and the birds are decoying right to the swamp for a drink after feeding all night. As they swing and circle the blind, locking up with their wings cupped, you can see the mud hanging from their feet. They are thirsty. It just can’t get any better than this and by noon we are limited out.

What is always amazing, when they are decoying, is that you can be outside picking up birds and they still are trying to come in.

If you have an interesting story, e-mail it to me along with pictures and it will be posted on the site.

Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck Hank.
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Four Days of Ducks Part 2

Day 3

The weather continued to evolve and seemed to be changing by the hour. Forecasts did not match up to reality and it changed again. We did not get away from our overcasts and restricted visibilities in the morning. The wind moved into the north and was really strong. When we walked into the blind the lake was empty, and the only noise was the decoys being smacked by the waves. The number of hunters went down after yesterday, but we still had a full blind of eight hunters. Jim James was there to call, and Jim Beck was there to shoot in case anyone missed his shot. (Read the previous blog for their backgrounds).

The action started quickly and we immediately had birds over the blind. This consisted of small groups of teal, gadwall and widgeon with a sprinkling of mallards. They came to the blind quickly with little caution. This was a good sign that they were fresh birds and not the ones hanging around the numerous wetlands. You can always tell if a duck or goose is local. They won't finish after locking up several times and floating toward the decoys. If they have had their hind ends burnt, they remember. With the northerly flow they would finish over the decoys and we would get some excellent shots.

With several ducks apiece, members trickled out of the blind and headed for home. I quit about 1 pm and picked up three birds. There is nothing like the big northern mallards.

Day 4

I peeled out of bed at 4 am and went immediately to the window. Yes, the weather people were right. There was a light mist in the air and the temperature hovered around 34. It went up as the day moved along. I moved along quickly.  When I got to Blair, Nebraska the temp was 33 and it had moved from mist to rain. When I reached my next waypoint on the route to Tekamah, at Herman, the temp was 32 degrees with a very light rain. This was not good. Meeting at the Big Chicken in Tekamah for breakfast, the forecast was for freezing rain and drizzle, light northerly wind, but clearing later in the day. With that information and the knowledge that these people are always wrong, we headed to the blind.

There were ducks in the lake when we walked to the blind, and they immediately got out of Dodge. They would be back, and we would be waiting. The action started off quickly with teal and other small ducks decoying into the blind. We had no mallards yet. As the morning progressed, we were into bluebills, ringnecks, gadwall, spoonbills, green wing teal, and widgeon, but only one mallard was the lucky bird to grace someone's table.

By noon the weather lifted and we saw a massive migration underway of ducks, snow and blue geese and Canadas. I left at 2 pm.  From noon to the time I left, the sky was filled with migrating birds. Three hunter remained behind.  When I checked with them in the evening after shooting was over, the migration continued. There will be plenty of opportunity the rest of the season.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck Hank

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