BOWHUNT IN NEBRASKA
by Robert Hoague

Nebraska - Day 1 - Luv Struck

We drove from 5:30am to 11:10pm on Wednesday and arrived at a friend's Nebraska farm to
 bowhunt for the Merriam's wild Turkey. (There are also Eastern turkeys here.) We talked for a while  with Fred Lutger's friend Terry and his wife. At midnight Terry showed me how to operate their al important coffee machine and we all retired for the night. At 5:45am I turned on the coffee machine and got my gear together for today's turkey hunt. 

Morning 

Fred Lutger and I hunted in the same blind on a hillside above a couple hundred roosting size cotton wood  trees. The hill is divided into several pastures by a barb wire fences and our blind was downhill 25 yards from a gate in a fence that ran up and down the hill. Gobbles sounded from the trees and daylight trickled in. We didn't know it but we were about to witness something truly amazing.

Actually it didn't seem daylight enough for their to be turkeys on the ground but we saw 3 coming up the hill from the big trees. They were on the opposite side of the fence and would be 100 yard or more from us if we didn't turn them. I made four yelps on the Woodhaven Billy Yargus mouth call. It sounded sweet and clear. They stayed on their non collision course. I threw out some cuts and finished with a couple of yelps. The birds didn't utter a sound, but they changed course and in seconds came through the open gate. They were all jakes. And when they saw the Hazel Creek taxidermy decoy two of them walked to it. The third, a little older and with a visible beard, blew up into full strut and ran the other two off.

We were 8 yards from what was about to happen. Fred had his video camera and I had my digital camera -- and they were about to get a steamy workout.

The strutter approached and bumped the decoy with its chest, several times. It apparently took a real liking to Heney Penny because he hopped right on her back.

Fred and I looked at each other, totally surprised in what we were watching. But we hadn't seen nothin' yet.

The gobbler stood on the decoy's back. At first he looked all around and then he stepped off  and took a step away from the decoy and then bumped it with his chest again. Then he and walked around briefly and then made a bee line for the decoy. It has reinforced metal legs and has 10 inch metal stakes that shove into the ground. She was gonna need 'em.

His toenails dug into the decoy's back and he ... well ... went into a breading frenzy. The decoy finally buckled forward and its beak jammed into the ground, breaking partially off its face. 

I guess they don't call them wild turkey for nothing.

PICTURES AND VIDEO

• Here is a photo gallery of the Luv Struck jake. PICTURES
• Plus, here is a video clip. VIDEO