Wow……is all I can say about this years trip out West. We arrived in Denver May 1st and made the 4 hour drive north into Nebraska. Our trip out went as smooth as silk, so we had time to go roost some birds for our first morning hunt. I did not have any luck in the area I choose but the area I sent wbpc had some promise. We get up very early to make the 2 mile walk in. We get there in time to set up close to where he heard the bird go to roost. When it starts breaking day we start hearing some birds gobble off in the distance. Thinking the bird wbpc roosted had moved over night we got up an moved closer to birds we heard gobbling. When we got to our new spot and settled in a crow calls out and the bird that wbpc had roosted about blew our hats off. We had walked right by this gobbler on the roost and he didn’t spook. As he got heated up another gobbler chimes in that was roosted near him. They eventually fly down and head away from us. We spend the next several hours moving to different sets ups trying to get one of these birds in range. We moved to much on these birds due to the fact when we would get to a new spot one would end up where we just left. Finally we made one final move and I spotted a gobbler with 4 jakes and a hen. We made a loop around to get in front of them, as I crawled up a small rise to reach a blown over pine I saw the birds at 20 yards. They saw me but did not spook so I dropped back down shouldered my gun and raised up and shot the gobbler in the back of the head as he was walking away. This was bird #1 down for the trip. I had a long walk back out and wbpc decided he would spend the rest of the day in the area in hopes of getting on the other birds in the area.




With wbpc staying in my honey hole I had chose another area I wanted to check out. Big Al and I head out for this area, as we are riding through the spot we saw a few hens. I see a few areas I wanted to try some blind calling, we get settled in and I have a hen answer some of my calls. It wasn’t long I had a hen and jake in Big Al’s lap. He chose to pass on the jake so I let them ease off. We stayed put and I continued to do some calling. I thought I had heard a few gobbles way off then I finally hear one that I knew was a gobble. He was a long ways off so Big Al and I closed the distance. It is starting to get late and I could not get him to answer me again. We just sat down in a good listening spot waiting for fly up. Not long into our wait I hear a hen start yelping. She was getting closer then I spot a group of turkeys coming down a finger ridge headed to some big timber. One of the hens does a fly up cackle and the gobbler answers her. We stay until all the birds are roosted and I confirm the gobblers location. Big Al is hunting private land so wbpc and I slip in well before daylight. As it starts breaking daylight we can hear the turkey start drumming. Its not long he gobbles and he’s close. We are set up wrong as we have our backs to the bird. Wbpc is able to get spun around on his tree to face him. I give a few light tree yelps and he hammers them. I shut up after that do to being so close to him. A little time goes by and wbpc hears him fly down. He lets another gobbler rip and he’s so close wbpc and I both jump. A few seconds later I catch movement as he crest the ridge in front of us a 8 steps. He’s so close I heard his wings dragging against the ground. He sees wpbc as he crested the hill and turned to walk away. It was to late as wbpc had him his sights. He let the TSS eat and bird #2 was down of the trip at 5:30. It was not even daylight good as you can see from the first pic.





We couldn’t get on anything else that morning so we headed back to camp for some lunch and nap. I head back to the area for an afternoon hunt. I get settled into a nice creek bottom and sit there for several hours blind calling. I never saw or heard a thing until right be fly up. I heard a turkey to north of me start gobbling so I ease closer to him. I get close enough to pinpoint the area he’s in and formulate a game plan for the morning hunt. I get into the area early the next morning and wait for to start to break day. It’s a nasty overcast and windy day so was thankful I had roosted one. It’s starting to get good light and I still had not heard a gobble. In my opinion it was well past the time I had been hearing birds gobble. I knew I was close so stayed put and quite. A few minutes later a hen across the creek starts yelping loud on the limb. This wakes the gobblers up and they start gobbling. To my surprise there are at least two gobblers behind me and a couple up a few draws out in front. I had myself in a good spot but in a bad set up. I hate having my back to a gobbling bird and this was the case in this set up. I stay still and let them fly down. The hen across the creek from me keeps calling enough to keep the birds gobbling so I could track them. I can tell they are working down the hill side towards me so I make the decision to turn just enough so I can see up the hill. I spot the birds working down the hill and a gobbler is the lead bird and strutter is following up the rear. As I am watching them a couple deer come running down off the ridge. One doe spots me and comes to a stop at 5 steps to my left and starts stomping. This goes on for a few minutes and she circles around to my right side continuing to stomp at me. I wanted to shoot the strutter but the lead bird was in range so I cut him a flip. I just new the doe was going to blow this opportunity so I took the first clean shot I had. This is bird #2 for me and 3rd of the trip.



The weather is crap that morning so we go get some lunch and nap waiting for the weather to get better. We head out around 3 to a new area wbpc had struck a few birds in the day before. He went to the left side of the road and I went to right. It’s very windy and hard to hear. I start slowly working my way into the area stopping every 50 yards to call. As I get deeper in to the area I strike a bird. He’s a good ways away so I continue easing towards of him stopping every 20 to 30 yards to look and listen. At my last stop i’m standing there looking when I spot a turkey 100 yards away looking in my direction. To my surprise it drops its head and resumes feeding towards me. I hit the ground and crawl to a near by tree. I get set up so I can peek over the crest of ridge to watch the area where I last saw the turkey. A few minutes go by and I see several turkey’s feed off into little draw heading my way. I start soft calling on my crystal pot call with no response. All I need is the birds to crest the ridge in front of me and they would be in range. I set there for 20 minutes and never hear or see a thing. I am thinking the turkey have traveled up or down the draw away from me. I look around and see the area I’m in would allow me use the terrain to stay hidden while I worked into position to see up and down the draw. I work around an crawl up to tree so I can peek over in the draw where I last saw the turkeys. To my surprise they are 20 yards when I peek over the hill. They don’t know I’m in the world. I can tell they are male turkeys but I can’t put a beard on none of them. They fall off into the bottom of the draw coming right to me. Next thing I know I have one pop up at 5 steps and he sees me. He takes off running to my right and I see a good beard. I level off on him an cut him a flip at 20 yards. He was a good Merriam but broke one spur in half. This was my limit bird so I was done.



Wbpc picks me up and we head to another area to roost him one for his last mornings hunt. We get a few put to bed for him to have one to start on his last morning in NE. The bird he chose to hunt didn’t gobble so he scrambled to get on another he heard. That didn’t work out as the distance was to far to get there in time. As he was working his way back to the truck he struck this bird close to the area we had been standing the afternoon before when roosting. The new bird was hot and worked in good to his calls. He cut him a flip at 30 yards and had #2 for the trip and 5 total.





Here are a few views we experienced while in NE.




[img]http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e...djxg7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e...ijyzr.jpg[/img]

We load up and head off to Rosebud, SD for our 2 day hunt there. It was about a 4 hr drive from where we were staying in NE. We arrive there with plenty of daylight so we took a ride to check out the area since our guide was with clients and could not meet us until the morning of our hunt. Man Rosebud is a rough looking area and everything I read about it was spot on. Those people are very poor and most just don’t give a crap. It was very trashy with garbage, junk and cars sitting in cinder blocks. To be honest I did not feel real safe in this area. We managed to get out of town and into some beautiful country! The reservation has some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen. We did not see any turkeys but it was turkey habitat for sure. I have high hopes for the first day of our hunt. Our guide arrives very early and we drive out to our hunting area. I pull up my goggle maps of the area Big AL and I are to hunt and the guide shows me the two roost areas in the block of timber. Big AL and I head out in the dark and I get us set up in the first area the guide pointed out. It’s a nasty dreary morning with high wind so we don’t expect to hear much. As it starts getting light I give a few tree yelps and nothing answers. I let it get daylight a little more and repeat, still no response. I’m starting to think about cranking out some yelps on the box call when I bird gobbles just of the ridge from us. He’s close and by the time I hit him with some calling he was in our laps just out of sight. Big AL said he heard two birds answer my call so he wanted to double. I can hear the gobbler strutting just over the crest of the ridge. I can tell he’s moving to our left and I tell Big AL to get ready. A hen had come into view and busted Big AL moving his gun. She went onto alert but not putt. This had the gobbler on alert when he came into view and I told Big Al to cut him a flip. I was afraid the gobbler was going to spook and I didn’t want Big AL to miss this opportunity since NE had been rough on him. Bird #1 down of the SD leg. We continue working the area with no more luck.




In the mean time wbpc and our guide was getting it done is short order. Wbpc did not hear anything on the limb but struck a gobbler shortly after fly down. He got into position and was able to call him into range for his 1st SD bird and #2 of the SD leg.




Wbpc and our guide are headed back to pick Big AL and I up when they spot another lone bird. They ease on past the bird and wbpc slips back into the area to call this one down the gun barrel with quickness as well. At 40 yards he cuts his 2nd bird of the SD leg a flip and #3 total. This bird was nice triple bearded hybrid or Rio. Not sure exactly what species he is but he’s not a Merriam. Not a bad start to 2 day hunt with crappy weather. We have 3 birds down 1 hr into the hunt.



We ride around some more and finally locate another strutter in the edge of a big wheat field. I am up ti bat since I have not killed a bird. I wanted to try to fan him since he was in the wheat field. I eased into the area and popped out at 60 yards from him, two hens and a jake. I showed him the fan and the gobbler went into strut. Wbpc was soft calling behind me and the hens started my way. The stutter and jake did not care for the fan so they eased off into the timber. For some stupid reason I still had it in my head I was going to fan this turkey into range. Oh how wrong I was as I got in sight of him for a 2nd time. He once again eased away from me and out of sight. At that point I ditched the fan and tried to slip into range using the terrain. I close the distance a 3rd time only to have him bust me and taking off running. I fired an ill advised shot that I should have not taken. The turkey never checked up and ran out of sight. That miss and poor decision literally made me sick on my stomach. I hate to miss a turkey and I really hate to miss when on limited time and poor weather. The rain moved in heavy for midday and early afternoon so we decided to get some lunch and a nap. Our guide shows back up at 4 that afternoon so we start riding roads and walking bottoms trying to strike a bird. Right before dark Big AL and Wbpc strike a bird as he’s going to roost. We load up and head up above him to get his exact location. Our guide hits his coyote howler and the birds gobbles up the road a good ways. We drive closer and stop to check him again. The guide hits the howler and the turkey literally gobbles 40 yards from the truck. Also another gobbler sounds off across the bottom. Us 3 Bama boys are standing there with our mouths open not believing what we just heard. The guide says we better not mess with him again and gets in the truck and slams the truck door. We drive off still not believing this turkey gobbled so close to us. We make the plan Big Al and Wbpc would go after the 2nd bird and the guide and I would hunt the close bird. I’m thinking there is no way we didn’t spook this bird off the roost.

We arrive in the area plenty early. We drop Big AL and wbpc off and the guide and drive around to my bird. We slip into position and I soon start hearing the turkey drum. We are very close but I can’t see the turkey. As it starts getting light out the turkey starts gobbling but I still can’t see him due to some limbs. I don’t like the set up at all and know it’s a long shot to kill this bird. I tree yelp to him he triple gobbles, I give him a few more soft calls that he hammers. The other bird starts gobbling so they are now gobbling back and forth at each other. The turkey I’m on flies down and heads straight down the hill from me. I start hammering him with some aggressive calling with no luck of turning him. The bird Big Al and Wbpc are on is loving my calling so I keep him gobbling. I finally decide to give chase to one I was after. As I start down the hill after him I hear Big AL shoot. He had killed #2 and tagged out, #4 of the SD leg down. His bird was a nice double beard and the 2nd multi-beard of the SD leg.





I continue on down into the bottom calling as I go and all is quite after Big AL’s shot. I ease out into the edge of the sandy road and to my surprise see a gobbler fluffed up about 50 yards. I ease back into the cover an watch him a few seconds. I can make out he’s breeding a hen. I put the sneak on him and close the distance to 40 yards. I let him see me and he extends his neck and head straight up. I cut him a flip off the top of the hens back. I know it was dirty to kill him in the act but I was on a mission and wasn’t passing the opportunity. This was my 1st SD bird and #5 of the leg.




The wind had picked up and was blowing 20+ with a cold mist of rain falling. My hopes of killing my 2nd SD bird was slim to none. Our guide seemed like it was not going to be an issue as he kept saying we are after the fun bird now. We spend and hour or so working the ridges calling but could not hear one if it did answer me. We finally work back into an area where we made one gobble just before the heavy rains hit the day before. We get out of the truck and I cut on my Bily White box and one answers close. Wbpc and I start working towards a set up place. I am crawling to the top of small rise so I can see over into a little bottom. We’ll the turkey was coming hard when he answered me and when I peeked over the hill we were face to face at about 5 steps. He sees me about the time I see him and he turns and starts walking off I stand up in a hurry get him in sight and cut him a flip. This was my 2nd SD and #6 of the leg with all tags filled. This was some of the craziest hunting I have ever been part of. I will fully admit a lot of good luck went my way for things to work out the way it did.

We are done is SD and load up for KS. We are are on the road headed south by 12 so will will make it to our hunting area in time to hunt that afternoon. We roll into KS and get settled in and change into our hunting cloths. We hit the road in search of some turkeys and don’t go far when we spot a strutter in a corn field. We drive on by and let wbpc out to work his magic. It doesn’t take long as he has his boot on his head when 30 minutes.



Big AL and I move on down the road and spot him two gobblers out in a field. I drop him off to give chase to these with no luck. He does get them roosted for the morning. I continue on down the road and locate 3 more gobblers out in corn field. I formulate a plan to circle in behind them and I will attempt to us the fan. I crest a hill where I an see two of the gobblers and one goes into strut. While I’m watching him a hen pops out near me and she don’t like the looks of things so she takes off running. This make the gobblers nervous and they start heading away from me. I back out and try circling around to get in front of them with no luck. I lost them but knew they were not far as roosting trees was limited.

I drop Big AL off the next morning on his bird and he slips into position. He was not sure of the exact location of the bird and ended up under his roost tree. The turkey pitched out about 60 yards into the field and came right back to the decoys. Big AL cut him a flip and had his first KS gobbler down and it was a good’en!!




I get to my area and get set up to only hear some gobbles far off. Nothing seemed to be close so I got up and eased as deep into the property as I could go. I set up an started doing some loud calling but heard nothing. I decide I’m going to work my way back towards the crop field where I saw the birds the afternoon before an set up there to call. I hit the fence edge and decided to stand there an listen for a bit. I am standing in a wide open cow pasture when I bird gobbles to my left and close. I cut my head around to see a gobbler walking right to me. I hit the ground knowing I was busted. I lay flat on my back and to my surprise I can see the top of his head and can hear him spitting and drumming. He kept easing closer and I could see more and more of him as he closed the distance. I let him come as close I dared in my current predicament. I eased my gun into position and he sees the movement. This makes him extend his head and neck up giving me a perfect target. I cut him a flip and have my first KS turkey down. The sun was just starting to crest to hill in the back ground of the pic below.




I go pick up wbpc as he struck out on his morning spot. We stop by and pick up Big AL and head to another area. As we are leaving Big AL said he heard a bird gobbling across the road so we let out wbpc to try to get on this bird. As we go up the road I spot the gobbler out in a field with some hens. We text wbpc his location and he heads after him. I drop Big AL off in a new area and he’s on 5 gobblers before I get out of sight. I go to another area and can’t strike one. Big AL is having trouble with the birds he’s on and can’t get one in range. I head his way to meet up to see if I can do anything with them. I’m glassing the area where Big AL last saw the birds and I spot a stutter so we form a game plan. We head that way an close the distance pretty quickly. I’m standing there looking around when a hen pops out of a little ditch. I hit the ground but Big AL is caught standing and she sees him. To my surprise she goes back down in the ditch and out of sight. This gives Big AL a chance to get down. We are on a hill side in the middle of a cow pasture. The grass doesn’t offer much cover so we are not hidden well at all. A few minutes pass and the hen pops out of the ditch headed our way. Big AL spots the gobblers as the enter the corner of the milo field. One of them sees the hen and goes in full strut. I slip a mouth call in and starting hammering them and they are eating it up. They gobble their fool heads off and are on the way. Big AL and I talking trying to get our ducks on a row for a double. The lead bird is in easy range for me and the 2nd bird is a bit of a poke for Big AL. He tells me he’s ready and we both fire. Both birds cut a flip and we have a KS double down! To bad wbpc wasn’t with us because the 3rd bird didn’t know what the heck to do. He was just jumping around in place for about 20 seconds. It could have been an ease triple had he been with us. These two birds were also some good birds.





We ended the trip with 16 birds 3 states in 8 days. We left 5 tags on the table but in my opinion we got it done!

This season started out tough for me and really slow for Big AL. It ended on a high note for us both! I hunted 7 states and killed 14 birds which bettered last years season by 1. God is good and truly blessed me and my friends with a safe and successful season. I can’t wait until next spring to do it all over again.

Congrats

Congrats!! Awesome pics...

Great post and pics... Congrats

great trip looks like.
seems like everyone was hunting the burn this year.

Man what a pile of dead turkeys! Congrats on a great trip!

Congrats, and thanks for taking the time to show the pics and tell the stories! I wish I woulda gone to NE instead of MO.

Congrats on a great trip and thanks for sharing.

Congrats

Congrats to all! Thanks for posting.

Great pics!!

Awesome.

That's awesome! Congrats

Good job team mates!! We needed them points BigAl!!! And them are some studs!!!

WOW!!

Great trip, scenery, pics, and write up!!

Thanks for sharing!!

Congrats to you three!!

God Bless,
David B.

Man what an awesome trip. Congrats to all of yall

congrats Mike. Great pics and stories! Yall did good!

Congrats Mike. Yall layed the wood to em