NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1099174
April 2019 • Nebraskaland 33 collapsing in the bean stubble. The first leg of my challenge was complete. Stalk for Spurs Hunting turkeys with a shotgun gives you more mobility than bowhunting. While bowhunting, you must conceal yourself with a blind, but shotgun hunting is more flexible as every tree offers a place to hide, and aiming involves a fraction of the movement compared to drawing a bow. This allows a shotgun hunter to move from place to place, calling to locate active birds and quickly setting up a decoy when they respond. Also, you can sometimes stalk within range of birds by using the terrain to hide your movement. This style of turkey hunting is called "run and gun," and it's my favorite way to hunt turkeys. The first week of my shotgun season left me scratching my head. I wasn't having any problems finding birds, but I couldn't lure the toms away from their hens. When hens are receptive to a tom's attention, it's hard to compete with the real thing. I had thought getting a turkey with a regular shotgun was going to be the easiest part of this challenge, but the birds were proving otherwise. I tried every strategy I could think of – locating a roost and setting up near it in the morning, actively calling and moving quickly to cover lots of ground and setting up on travel corridors waiting for birds to pass by. Nothing worked. Midway through the second week of shotgun season a thick fog settled in as I was walking back to the truck after another unsuccessful morning. I was hiking along the bottom of a steep field edge when I saw three dark shapes walking along the top of the hill 100 yards in front of me. Using my binoculars, I could just make out the three jakes through the fog. They were in the middle of a wide-open field, in a hurry, and were moving toward the neighbor's fence line. I didn't have time to set up, so I moved as quickly as I could, using the steep hillside to block my movement from their view. During my dash, I lost sight of the birds but guessed they would be approaching the fence soon. There were two steep terraces between me and the top of the hill, and I crawled toward the upper one with a strutting tom decoy in hand. As I reached the top of the rise, I raised the decoy and made several soft purrs with my mouth call. I slowly lifted my head to look, but before I could see over the terrace I heard fast crunching footsteps, and the decoy exploded from my hand. When the jakes saw the decoy, they charged in prepared for a fight. Their strength in numbers must have given them courage, and the lead jake spurred the decoy while I was trying to stay out of sight. Fueled on adrenaline, I stood and shot the closest bird where he stood. As the other two ran away in confusion, I sat down to collect myself. It was one of the most memorable hunts of my life. Struts and Smoke Having never hunted with a muzzleloader, I practiced extensively The author poses after a hunt on his way to three birds with three different weapons. PHOTO BY RYAN SPARKS