Join us as Fred Lutger, David Mills and Robert Hoague go for the Grand Slam this Spring. Our plan is to begin in Florida in mid March and move on to Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee. Look for the daily updates, lots of on the spot pictures, and plenty of video for BowTube.com as the hunt progresses.
Fred Lutger Reports On Nebraska Turkey Hunt By Fred Lutger
May 8, 2008 - 6:10:37 AM
The Nebraska hunt is done. And like last year's hunt this was another dandy.
We
went for season opener this year. It is about 2 weeks earlier then we
have hunted Nebraska before. This early hunt was colder than past
years. We caught the turkeys still flocked in their winter survival
groups. As spring progresses the turkeys split up, fan out and extend
their range.
It
is not uncommon to see large flocks of turkey in the fall. This year that is what
we encountered on our spring hunt. We found one roost area that at times had
150 turkeys gathered in the same small area. Four big cottonwood trees
looked like Christmas trees full of ornaments, turkeys were on every
branch. We watched each morning the route they used to disperse. Each
evening we watched as turkey groups showed up in the afternoon and
headed for the roost area. This was great for picture taking and
shooting video. Bow hunting took a little more effort.
Each
day we moved in a little closer. But if we were 100 yards out of the
action it was very hard to get the turkeys in range. The decoys helped
more than anything to close the gap. Calling brought the attention to
the decoys. The decoys brought the turkeys to bow range.
Each
year I get to try new product on these hunts. This year for the
Nebraska hunt I used a new broadhead by TrueFire, the Switch Blade. It
is an expandable with blades that activate on contact. The blades are
locked full open before entering the turkey. The 1 3/8 inch cutting
diameter was enough to drop all three of my turkeys in sight. That's
the kind of blood trail I like.
I
bragged on the decoys. One of the decoys I used is from A Way Hunting
Products. I used their new Turkey Skinz decoy cover on a Buckwing hen
decoy. I have found, as most turkey hunter have, that the more
realistic the decoy, the better it works. This new product brings
realism to decoys. It is a product worth using.
Two
of the turkeys I killed this year had multiple beards. The first had 4
beards.
The other bird had two. The extra beards weren't noticeable
when I shot either turkey. In fact, I didn't see the extra beard on the
two-bearded bird until I cleaned the bird.
One
other item I used for the first time on this hunt is the Digital Turkey
Scale from Nature Vision. This is a very accurate and easy to use scale
that weights to the ounce. It also has a built in tape for spur and
beard measurements. By entering these measurements this scale will
automatically calculate your birds score for the NWTF records. If you
would like one of these scales they are available for purchase at www.freddiebearsports.com.
My
bow set up functioned flawlessly. For this year's bow I chose the
Bowtech General. I gave up a little bow speed to get the massive 8 1/4"
brace height this bow offers. This feature makes this bow very
forgiving. I like that on a small turkey size target. The ultra-smooth
draw from the CenterTrac Binary Cam System makes the bow easy to draw
from a sitting position in a ground blind.
For
a sight I chose the Montana Black Gold with FlashPoint. This sight has some
of the brightest fiber-optic pins on the market today, a really nice
feature when sitting in a dark blind. I used Bohning's 6-arrow take off
bow quiver. My arrow rest is the Whisker Biscuit from Trophy Ridge.
Shooting in a blind offers many obstacles that can knock my arrow off
the rest right at crunch time. Need I say more?
I
am sticking with the tried and true Carbon Express Arrows with custom
cut 5 1/2 inch True Flight shield shaped feathers. This combination of
shaft and feather unforgivably guides my broadhead to the target as
long as I do my part.
Robert
and I got to film four of our turkey kills in Nebraska this year. It is
a monumental task taking turkeys with a bow. Getting the kill on film
is even harder. We are both excited about the challenge. Robert is
putting them up on BowTube. Enjoy.
We
both have Eastern and Merriam's turkeys under our belt this year. We
are off to Texas for those hill running, cactus jumping, rattle snake
side steppin' Reo's. Stay tuned!
