Nebraska Turkey Hunting: A 6.5 Hour Struggle for the Perfect Shot

@Mike nice bird!!

Wow, not many folks are gonna hang with bird 6.5 hour! Excellent job! I always say bushwhacking a bird is 10 times harder than calling one in! Especially with more than one set of eyes to contend with.

Holy cow brother!!! Wow, that is awesome.... six and a half hours.... wow😳😆🤘 congratulations to you both brother!!!! 🤘🤘🤘 that’s an awesome trip. I’m glad you guys tagged out

Awesome story Mike! Beautiful Bird! Congrats brother!

That's one beautiful Mariam, good and mature gobbler. Congratulations on a tough hunt which was worth it all in the end, congratulations. God bless

WhooHoooo!! Awesome!! Congrats Mike! You guys are absolutely having a time well deserved!🤜🏼🤛🏼

Sounds like one heck of a trip! Congrats on the kills 🦃 Y’all stuck with em and reaped the benefits of your patients & time hunting 👊

Congratulations! Wow what a hunting experience. To stalk him for 6 1/2 hours like that and go after him the next day, now thats perseverance and determination! Well done and a great story, felt like I was right there with you.🦃👍👊

@Jeff our first Merriams! Best looking subspecies in my opinion. Thanks!

The minute you squeezed the trigger.

@Appalachian Wyatt was an absolute stud to stick with me. Especially since he’d already tagged out and could’ve been sleeping or fishing 🤣

@Bradley thanks man! I can be a stubborn SOB when it comes to chess with critters🤣

@David thanks Bro👊

@Mike thank you sir! We were very blessed with a couple of tanks

@Lisa can’t even measure it!

@John still can’t believe the memories are real man👊

@Mike I was just as excited as you were when I saw that tom. God bless

@David thanks man! This property is absolutely gorgeous and game rich overall, but the turkeys weren’t very plentiful and we couldn’t take anything for granted.

@Brian hahaha, you know it. Wyatt got it on video and I’ll post it when I can edit some stuff together

@Mike God is good brother, the simple things in life are the greatest!

That story read really well, that’s the kind of hunting I dream about. Whether is turkey, deer, or elk! You were definitely close enough the entire time to be “in the game” just enough to keep up the pursuit. In hind sight were there any points where you feel you should have pressed a little harder to seal the deal? Aside from the actual hunt my favorite part is the post hunt break down. The “after action review” of the successes and failures gets my blood pumping! As an old drill Seargent of mine used to say “learning has occurred!”

Amen brother

@Mike Amen brother

Congratulations buddy

@Joe haha, exactly! As far as sealing the deal sooner, I really feel I did what the terrain allowed. The only additional aggressive actions I could’ve taken would have been to move in the wide open when his head was behind his fan and shot when he was 60-70 yds away. I like to almost shake hands before shooting them in the face. As it was, the 42 paces is my farthest shot on a turkey ever. That felt pretty dang aggressive to me even though guys brag about 70 yd shots. I know darn well I could do it, but I also know the risk of wounding goes way up too. Definitely didn’t want to chance it or set what I consider to be a bad example for my son. Love that question though!👊

@Tyler thanks Tyler! What a trip.

@Mike That's right! Wish my dad was was into it myself. He did tag along once on a day that a gobbler went kamikaze on me and flew a quarter mile gorge but that's about it. Gonna have to pick your brain about the the western birds cause that's next on my bucket list!

@Appalachian awesome country and a different style for sure. If I hadn’t had so many mule deer and elk hunts under my belt, I’m guessing we’d have been limited to Wyatt’s bird that played like an eastern. Didn’t think I’d feel like it was such an accomplishment after 50 or so birds.

@Mike that’s what it’s all about. Those memories with family & friends 👊 It’s something y’all will look back on & talk about from now own! For you to get to do it with your son, makes it so much more awesome! Makes me look forward to hopefully making memories in the woods with my boys as they get older like you’re doing now.

@John dude, I’m telling ya. There’s nothing like it when your kids are as excited about something as you are. You’re in for some GREAT times👊

@Mike so looking forward to it too! But right now, it’s pretty cool to get to follow folks like you that are sharing your experiences & giving us something pretty sweet to look forward too! Keep up the good times brother 👊

@John thanks man, appreciate ya👊

Wow you guys had a great few days!! That takes some serious dedication to stick with a gobbler for that long and also a great call on getting aggressive there with him at the end!!

Great write up. Nice job mike.👍👍

@Eli We sure did man. Not as productive as yours, but super satisfying for sure. This place was beautiful and full of other game, but 🦃 were scarce enough that I knew we had to capitalize on any opportunities. Thanks!👊

@Ethan thank you sir👊

@Mike The openness of the area is definitely a prohibiting factor. I absolutely agree with your thought process of “shaking hands” with the target. Out of my gun I am 100% confident at 40 yards with both my loads to drop a bird. At 50 yards I’m about 75%, and 60 more like 50%. That translates to 45 yards being my max distance for an ethical shot I’d take. It sounds like your son already understands the ethics of taking a proper shot from your previous story. To pivot on the target, know when/ how to execute the maneuver, maintain muzzle awareness, and complete the kill chain already shows he’s been taught well. I’m just curious because I really want a Merriam and any tips I can glean may prove significant if the future 🍻

@Joe yessir, you and I think alike. My next western turkey hunt is definitely gonna be in the black hills or areas with more trees. Wouldn’t trade this hunt for the world, just ready for a new adventure already🤣. I can tell you that my experience with them is that they are different than Easterns. Sound different, react differently and better looking, haha. The hens were especially different. Mock an eastern hen and she’s gonna come in for a fight and pull the Tom with her. These hens never even looked up. Couldn’t care less about strangers

@Mike lol 😂

Wow, man! Incredible dedication and it definitely paid off. Solid work!

@Derek thanks man👊. It was a good thing we had all the access because he sure drug us through the gauntlet

@Mike he just wanted to make sure you all saw all the sights.

@Derek first tour guide I ever shot in the face. But I’d do it all over again

@Mike brother you got that right! The cream color is absolutely beautiful. I’ve read that about the Miriam gobble. I’ve also read that they are easier to call the males in than easterns. I’m assuming when they wrote that it was based on a scenario where the males didn’t have hens and were actively searching… although… in my limited experience easterns aren’t hard to call in either, especially if they’re actively searching for a hen. I know my calling isn’t that good yet but to have called in about 66% of the birds I’ve located tells me easterns aren’t that difficult to call in. I may have a lot to do with population density also. Miriam’s may be more difficult to locate but I can see how that would make working the birds a little easier because they will be more eager to find a breeding hen.

@Mike ha! Well said.

@Joe I think you’re right. Merriams are probably just more apt to be lonely due to the flock structure. This guy was intent on staying visible and making the hens go to him, whereas Wyatt’s bird knew he had to come through the cedars to be seen. Soooo many variables

Awesome job! It gave me warm fuzzies to hear a Navy veteran did an Army crawl!! When it comes to getting the game you definitely do whatever it takes to get the job done! Great job again brother!

@Jim haha, the only time we’re enemies is during the football game🤣. Otherwise, brothers from different mothers👊. It was work, but man is the payoff sweet.

@Mike 👊

@Mike we had issues with them not responding to calls as well...a local we talked to in the black hills said he doesn't even bother calling to them until the first week of May because they just walk the other way so you mightve been playing with the same thing a little on this hunt but they are a lot easier to crawl on than easterns and while I've never even tried crawling on an eastern we used that strategy on my brother's black hills gobbler....one loophole though is that they gobble a lot on the roost in the evening and if you can get between him and his hens when they fly down you can call him right in

@Mike and if you ever want a black hills gobbler I can drop you a pin...if any experienced turkey hunter goes into this spot the 1st-2nd week of May it'd be a slam-dunk

@Eli Funny you say that. We went to the black hills after the hunt and saw a Tom in Custer National park about 200 yds away. I called just for fun. He gobbled and then immediately went straight away from us. I think the terrain difference is what allows better success with stalks. The red line was the birds and we were the blue.

@Eli Send it!! 👊. You can see here we were VERY limited to the river for cover and roosting

Congrats dude. Great stories coming out of this trip.

@Brad Thanks bro, the memories are priceless and insane. Appreciate y’all more than I could ever say.

@Mike

@Brad it’s like getting an unexpected invitation and pulling off the win with 80-1 odds 🤣🤪😉

@Mike 😂🐎 that was wild.

@Mike wow that's gotta be a lot tougher with no cover like that!! The black hills had enough cover to usually put on a decent sneak but it was a lot tougher to spot them then...the ridiculous amount of turkeys there just made it hard to not eventually end up in the right spot at the right time so I can't even imagine how it'd go if they were callable...we're putting together plans for a hunt in May of '23 with archery equipment which should be an absolutely awesome time

Great story! Congrats!

@Dustin thank you sir, I couldn’t have asked for a better hunt

@Eli That sounds awesome good luck! We’re honestly still pulling cactus needles out of everywhere from the crawling due to zero cover other than hills. Got a brand new pair of gloves that went in the garbage😒. At least Wyatt’s cooperated enough to stick to traditional ground

So awesome!! Congrats! Love seeing yall have success out there! It's a blast. Great story as usual. Stay safe out there. Beautiful birds and a blast to hunt

@Charity thanks Charity, you guys inspired us and it worked out💪👊

That truly is an amazing story. Best part of it was your son sticking in there with ya. My dad and I di

A truly amazing story, especially with your son sticking in there with you. An hour and a half is the longest we ever hung with a bird ( dad and i). Congratulations, it is a beautiful bird.

@David thanks David! Father/son time is always awesome, but when I gave him the green light to head out and go fishing and he insisted on staying, that made it even sweeter.

@Mike 🤘

Beautiful bird! Way to stick with it Mike!

Way go young man nice 🦃

@Rebecca thanks! We put some miles on for sure

@William thank you sir! Hope all is well👊

Congratulations brother I take it that was you're son with you

@Ronnie yessir, he scored first and that alone made the whole trip worth it

@Mike hell yea that's awsome just like this past deer season me and my dad went down to my farm I hunt 2hr south of me amd he killed a nice doe amd I didn't get a deer that day but I sat back and watched the whole Thang take place from my climber and whwn he shot that deer I watched it go down I started war whooping I probably scared all the deer away all around us lol but I didn't care I was so tickled my dad gota deer and we was together he hasn't been out in probably 20 years and we went and he smoked a doe so I 100 percent get it that's awsome brother glad you guys had a sage and successful hunt together that you both well rember for the rest of you're lives good for you brother right on

@Ronnie heck yeah man!

What a hunt Mike. So happy for the both of you. Are you going to make it to Send It Slam, if so we’ll have to touch base.

@Tom yessir! Going go with @Jim . My wife has been to stay behind because my daughter has driver’s training. We’ll be in the old man section so we’re bound to run into one another🤪. I’ll DM you my number though just in case you get lost and we don’t cross naturally 👊

Heck yeah to the old man section, I like to pretend it’s the VIP section. Makes me feel more dignified.

@Tom

@Mike

@Tom haha, that’s more like it

I wish I was able to go, the Army selected me for really important career progression course and we move just a few weeks before the event. Would have been cool to meet folks in person. I don’t do young people things any more and would have been happy to hang in the old man section.

@Joe thank you for the sacrifices bro!🇺🇸💪👊

@Mike you bet man! I have loved doing it!

@Joe I always say “I don’t regret going in, and I don’t regret getting out” haha. But after 28 yrs in Law Enforcement following my stint I remember everything fondly

@Mike haha, I can completely understand your sentiment. At times I feel Iike I’m ready to be done. I’ve got a few years left in me, pension is a huge motivator at this point. 22 years has gone by really fast!

@Joe yessir, I could’ve had that pension and been 2 yrs from a second one at 15/55 at the Sheriff’s office. No regrets though, probably wouldn’t have the same family

@Mike I get that for sure! I can trace who I am, where I am, and the family I have back to 3 core decisions. Any one of them changed in the slightest degree and I can pretty much grantee my life would be 100% different. I wouldn’t change any of it for any amount / type of compensation. I my not be a rich man but I defiantly live a rich life.

@Joe absolutely! Our paths take us where they are supposed to👊

All good here ty