NEBRASKA BOWHUNT
by Robert Hoague

Day 2 Nebraska  - Bowhunting For The Merriam's

Bad Weather - Good Luck
Wind ... rain ... and cold enough that the rain should have been sleet or snow. I have the new I.D.I. Gear pants and parka and this was a definitely good day for a field test so I put them on over a T-shirt and camo pants.

Fred Lutger and I slogged our way through the mud in the farm yard and climbed the hill to our blind. It wasn't there. It had blown away and we found it hung up in some trees. We sat for a couple of hours and couldn't hear or didn't see anything. We decided to talk to the landowner to see if he had any suggestions about where the birds hung out during high winds.

Terry got out an aerial map of the farm and showed Fred where a thick patch of cedars was that is a wind break. He pointed out how to get to the wind break without being seen by the turkeys. Terry added, "Don't spook the birds out of there. Once they are gone, they're gone.."

The temperature was now at freezing and the wind was still blasting. Fred took his blind and gear and worked his way down hill to the wind break area. Once there Fred, wanted a more open area so he glassed and made his way to an outside edge of the wind break, right on the pasture edge, and 20 yards from a barb wire fence.

The work began. When Fred popped open the blind the wind was so strong he couldn't hold onto the blind. Fred shoved the blind into a cedar tree and tied one side to a limb. When he saw two turkeys 150 yards away Fred got inside the blind to finish setting it up. With one side tied the wind blew it around the tree and Fred managed to tie the opposite side to a limb. This helped but the blind was still moving in the wind. Fred picked up a broken limb on the ground and carved out 4 stakes and staked each corner of the blind down securely. That held it in place but the wind side kept collapsing. Fred positioned his chair so he could keep the blind from collapsing using his knees.

The whole thing took an hour and Fred was exhausted as he set out his taxidermyed hen decoy (from Hazel CreeK).

A Double!

Fred waited 15 minutes and did hen yelps on a Wooodhaven Doug Crabtree signature diaphragm call. He got an instant gobble. Fred waited 5 minutes and called again. The answering gobble was closer. Two minutes later Fred called and got a double gobble.

Two wild turkeys with bright red heads came into view 100 yards away in the cedars. Fred worked them closer. When they hit the fence they followed the fence past Fred and disappeared. Fred got aggressive on the call and the birds gobbled as they got further away. 

A loud gobble sounded on the other side of the cedar tree the blind was tied to. Two other gobblers were on a course set for the decoy. Fred drew when he saw them through the branches of the cedar tree. The lead gobbler walked to the decoy and Fred shot him at 5 yards. It ran the short distance to the fence and collapsed.

The original two gobblers ran down the fence line and joined the remaining gobbler. But they were not where Fred had a good shot. They started back down the fence where they came from.

Fred called loud and aggressive. They gobbled, but got further and further away. Fred kept calling.

The gobblers did a 360 and appeared in the open pasture to Fred's left and advanced to 25 yards. Fred drew but they made it past Fred's shooting window before he got on them. Fred let down and went to the next shooting window and drew when they stepped behind a lone cedar tree. Fred put his top pin on the first bird as it stepped out. Fred shot and the bird ran 15 yards and dropped.

In a matter of 5 minutes Fred had his first "Double" with the bow. Fred walked to the farm house. 

When he came in the door I asked him if he had a gobbler. He replied, "No".

And he broke into a big grin and added, "I killed two."

I got my camera, put on my new I.D.I. Gear windproof parka and pants and climbed on the back of Terry's 4-wheeler. It would have been a cold ride without the I.D.I.. 

Fred left everything like it happened and the two gobblers were laying within 20 yards of the blind. One was a Merriam's and the other was an Eastern.

FRED LUTGER'S EQUIPMENT COMMENTS:

• The call that got me my double was the Doug Crabtree signature Sting Team Series mouth call from Woodhaven Custom Calls. The call is easy to blow and get all the sounds of a wild turkey hen, from kee kee's to raspy yelps.
• My bow is the Old Glory from from BowTech Archery. It is smooth and accurate. It's set at 62 pounds which is lighter than I deerhunt with. But shooting in a blind I find the lighter weight a plus. BowTech uses draw stops and I really like this feature. If I have to hold for longer than I expected I just have to be sure I'm in the stops to know my arrow will go where I aim. Also, the Old Glory is an excellent lengty for blind hunting. 
• They fly just like my field points and that is rare. Many broadheads make this claim but very few actually do. I am deinitely impressed with the Grim Reaper Broadheads. I used the 1 3/4 inch expandable 3 blade Razor Tip and the extra wide cut puts wild turkeys down quick. So far they have knocked out 3 wild turkeys for me this spring.
• The Venom Peep Sight System is a well designed peep sight that is made for bowhunters. The aperature is the right size. It lets in enough light so you can see your pins during shooting hours. The eutropic blue color helps me accuire my sight pin immediately whey I draw. And it's tether always lines it up right.
• If anything has gotten a good workout on this year's turkey hunt it is my Bisons from Wolverine. They have a rubber lug outsole that is second to none for ground gripping traction. The heavy rain last night and this morning had our hunting area muddy and slippery. The Bisons gave me sure footing. These boots are comfortable. They flex in all the right places and my feet don't hurt at the end of the day.