What better way to kick off your 2010 turkey hunting than with a new Z7 and Nebraska’s early archery season! The combination would turn out to be devastating!! This was my first hunt in Nebraska and I was sharing the trip with 3 good friends, Steve & Chris Davis and Tim Marcou (Waterfowler99) from the site. Although I hunt South Dakota every year, Nebraska gives you the opportunity to hunt even earlier in the Spring. Nebraska’s bow only season opened up the 25th of March this year and I was scheduled to be in my blind on the afternoon of the 26th. The weather was going to cooperate and most of the snow was gone. I was excited and really looking forward to this trip after a long winter.
We arrived at our destination around 3:00pm and a quick drive around the property was all it took to start finding some possible locations to setup for the afternoon hunt. It did help that Steve & Chris Davis had hunted the property in the past and knew how the birds worked through certain areas. A short 45 minutes later and I had the decoys and blind just the way I wanted it. About 20 minutes after settling in I saw my first bird…it was a Tom! I made a few soft yelps and before I knew it he had disappeared into the wooded ravine above my blind. I’ve seen this many times before in South Dakota so I knew this bird could be on his way. About 15 minutes later two Toms emerged from the ravine below me and were headed straight for my setup! They eventually skirted wide of the decoys and were now behind my blind. Just then all heck broke loose!! I could here multiple birds behind me and knew something was going to happen. A short time later a single Tom came boiling into my setup. He was looking to whoop some butt on my DSD Jake decoy! Before he even made it to my decoy the Z7 had let loose and the Rage 2 blade found it’s mark! He ran about 50 yards and piled up…BBD! I had been hunting for less than 1 hour and already had my bird on the ground!!
I spent the next morning hunting with Tim (Waterfowler99) from the site. It didn’t take long the next morning and we were into the birds again. This time we had 8 Toms heading straight for our decoys. A couple minutes later and two Toms were getting ready to put the smack down on our strutter decoy. Tim carefully drew back and put the pin on the lead bird…SMACK! Tom #2 was on the ground and down for the count!! I just couldn’t believe how fast we were putting birds down on the ground at the end of March when most guys are still thinking about ice fishing! Steve & Chris were also into the birds and our phones were lighting up with text messages. They had also put a couple big birds on the ground that morning too. Tim & I spent that afternoon together in the blind just watching and calling in birds. We were having a blast and loving every minute of it!
There are a couple things I took away from this hunt that I will never forget. The first being that this bow only early season in Nebraska is probably one of the best an archery hunter can ask for. Why do I say that? It’s actually pretty simple. The hens are there but are not ready to be bred quite yet. The Toms on the other hand are ready and looking for action! Some aggressive calling is all it takes to bring in big flocks of Toms this time of the year when there not henned up yet. They are aggressive and come after either a Jake decoy or a strutter. The second is location, location, location! Find where the food sources are in your area and setup close to them. It’s still early and the weather can play a huge role this time of the year. Food is something these birds still need and they won’t be too far from it! This will now be a trip I hope to make every Spring. I had a great time and couldn’t ask to hunt with a better group of friends. Thanks again Tim for a great hunt and I look forward to sharing the blind with you again next year!!