# Anyone Hunted Nebraska?



## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

A friend of mine and myself are headed west to Nebraska next month to hunt their open week of Archery season. We will be leaving MI March 27th and returning on April 2nd. It has been a dream turkey hunt of mine for many years and I am really looking forward to getting on some Merriams. As of right now we are kind of headed out there blind. I have talked with a few people that have done this and had great success. From what I understand Turkeys out there are more of a nuisance animal to the farmers then anything else. And getting permission to hunt them is fairly easy. I have also heard that the public land out there holds a good number of birds. As of right now our destination is North Platte NE. I have a friend that hunted there a few years ago and was able to get on a ton of birds. That destination is flexible though if I can get any solid leads for another area of the state. If anyone has hunted out there or has any info it would be much appreciated. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post info on this thread. 

Thanks, Matt


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## slwayne (Aug 27, 2009)

Sorry, can't help you from personal experience but you might want to check out the oldgobbler.com forum. There have been a few threads recently about advice for hunting Nebraska. These threads are usually in the General Forum chat room. Or you could just search
Nebraska" and come up with some useful info. I'm jealous. A Nebraska trip is definitely on my bucket list. Have been eyeballing NW Nebraska as my destination with hopes to jump across to SD or WY on the same trip if possible. Probably a year or two in the future for me tho.


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

Thanks for the Info! Everything I am reading right now is pointing me to the Northern part of NE. A lot of people talk about the NW portion of the state also so as of now that is where I am turning my sights.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

I hunted NE for the first time last year we were in an eastern area but killed easterns, hybrids and the finest merriam you have ever seen.. Nebraska is a melting pot of turkeys.. If you are concerned about the Merriam aspect think NW if you are not there are pure merriams throughout the state..


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

DEDGOOSE said:


> I hunted NE for the first time last year we were in an eastern area but killed easterns, hybrids and the finest merriam you have ever seen.. Nebraska is a melting pot of turkeys.. If you are concerned about the Merriam aspect think NW if you are not there are pure merriams throughout the state..


To be honest I don't care if it is a full blown Merriam or not. I just want beautiful country and a bird with a white tipped fan. If I can get that on the east side of the state then great. The more I can cut down on driving time the better. Everything I am reading says head to Pine Ridge in the NW corner. But that's a 20 hour drive from Gaylord. So if i can get into the birds im looking for and the country I want to hunt them in right after I cross the boarded then i'm all about it. Did you hunt Public or privet land? And where abouts if you don't mind me asking. You can PM me if you don't want to post it publicly.


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## ezcaller (Feb 21, 2009)

We hunted the pine ridge several years ago. Went out early for the archery hunt on public and the birds were very isolated. We went out later for the gun opener and had luck. I would start asking permission now with any contacts you have.We hunted Gilbert Baker,Ponderosa, and Metcalf WMA. They are not very big but do hold birds. We took birds off of Metcalf and Gilbert- Baker. There is a nice little trout pond on Gilbert but it wont be open that early. Call the local DNR and see where the birds are wintering.If you don't get access to private be willing to move around. The National Forest is bigger but we did not hunt it.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

HunterHads said:


> To be honest I don't care if it is a full blown Merriam or not. I just want beautiful country and a bird with a white tipped fan. If I can get that on the east side of the state then great. The more I can cut down on driving time the better. Everything I am reading says head to Pine Ridge in the NW corner. But that's a 20 hour drive from Gaylord. So if i can get into the birds im looking for and the country I want to hunt them in right after I cross the boarded then i'm all about it. Did you hunt Public or privet land? And where abouts if you don't mind me asking. You can PM me if you don't want to post it publicly.


I went through and spent a lot of time on google maps and the NE DNR website which is the most informative on public ground I have ever seen.. I took alot of notes and will review them in the next couple a days and see if I can help you narrow down some choices. I know I have notes on the Platte river area. Have driven through their a handful of times and their are a pile of birds along the platte. 


ezcaller said:


> We hunted the pine ridge several years ago. Went out early for the archery hunt on public and the birds were very isolated. We went out later for the gun opener and had luck. I would start asking permission now with any contacts you have.We hunted Gilbert Baker,Ponderosa, and Metcalf WMA. They are not very big but do hold birds. We took birds off of Metcalf and Gilbert- Baker. There is a nice little trout pond on Gilbert but it wont be open that early. Call the local DNR and see where the birds are wintering.If you don't get access to private be willing to move around. The National Forest is bigger but we did not hunt it.


And this is what you will run into going extremely early on western turkeys.. For the most part Merriams are going to winter with cattle. Merriams, Rios and hybrids are extremely nomadic but will become less nomadic in early spring when focused on a food source. Cattle usually means private land.. As early as the archery opener is and depending on when break up occurs you could be left with alot of property and absolutely no turkeys, Yet.. 

Not trying to discourage you at all, but with travel time you are leaving yourself with very little time to hunt.. You may spend more time finding birds and less time hunting.. But you may also get lucky and walk right into gobbling turkeys.. Its a tough scenario.


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## ezcaller (Feb 21, 2009)

Well put DG. We had a similar experience in the Black Hills, we would get all excited about heading west. Head out for their opener and would get beat up by the weather. Finally took the DNR suggestion of coming out in May and started having successful hunts. That early in the season you are fighting two possible negatives right from the start. Birds not be being off wintering feeding and weather.


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

Thanks for any info you can give DG! I'm looking to see if I can push the trip to the next week but i'm not sure I will be able to do that or not. If I can the dates would be the 31st-7th. I know thats not much, but every week out from winter is probably better then the last. I think I have changed my mind 100 times on which part of the state my destination is in the last 2 days. My friend hunted North Platte the same week in 2010 and had a great hunt. The first door they knocked on they got the go-ahead and it was off to the races from there. Looking at Google Earth it looks overwhelming. I don't even know where I would begin, haha. Everyone keeps pointing me to the NW corner which is a 20 hour drive. I would be fine with that if I knew we would be in the birds for sure. But I would hate to get all the way there and have it suck when I could have shaved 6 hours off the trip by hunting the east side of the state.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

One thing I would do if you are considering NW corner of the state is calling the biologist or field office or something.. They had some absolutely devastating fires up there a few years back and the Ponderosas are slow to come back.. With that said killing a merriam in the native ponderosa habitat is something special.. It is a great feeling.


HunterHads said:


> Thanks for any info you can give DG! I'm looking to see if I can push the trip to the next week but i'm not sure I will be able to do that or not. If I can the dates would be the 31st-7th. I know thats not much, but every week out from winter is probably better then the last. I think I have changed my mind 100 times on which part of the state my destination is in the last 2 days. My friend hunted North Platte the same week in 2010 and had a great hunt. The first door they knocked on they got the go-ahead and it was off to the races from there. Looking at Google Earth it looks overwhelming. I don't even know where I would begin, haha. Everyone keeps pointing me to the NW corner which is a 20 hour drive. I would be fine with that if I knew we would be in the birds for sure. But I would hate to get all the way there and have it suck when I could have shaved 6 hours off the trip by hunting the east side of the state.


A week can make all the difference in the world.. Merriams specifically are weather in the now birds.. Out west I have seen where birds are split up good early, a snow storm hits and they all go scrambling back together. Have seen the opposite too, bad weather, sun comes out, it warms up and you watch the breeding flocks break off the main flock and go there separate ways.. In this regard they are much different than our Easterns.

One thing I have experienced out there numerous times is you will have bad weather, low pressure, the minute high pressure rolls in and the clouds part they just have to gobble.. Its like a light switch..


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

A lot of people have been telling me that. Those birds don't shut up. As far as calling a biologist goes, I was thinking the exact same thing. Once I commit to an area of the state I'm going to make as many calls out there as I can. I have talked to a lot of people about the fires in the NW corner and most of the people are telling me that not only did the birds survive the fires but are thriving bc of them. One guy on AT told me that since the fires he has never seen so many birds. So that might be a bonus for making the drive. Plus from the pictures im seeing that area of the state is absolutely beautiful. I cant help but think though that I can still get into the same type of terrain and great bird numbers 4-6 hours east though.


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## FireDoc66 (Oct 9, 2005)

While I don't have a ton of experience out there, the one thing that really jumped out at me with my hunt was how far, and much the gobbling "carried". Several times, and others in the group I was hunting with mentioned the same thing, I was convinced that the Tom that was gobbling his head off was danger close while in reality he was either quite far off yet, or was heading away from our location.

Good luck on your trip! Post pic's!


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

FireDoc66 said:


> While I don't have a ton of experience out there, the one thing that really jumped out at me with my hunt was how far, and much the gobbling "carried". Several times, and others in the group I was hunting with mentioned the same thing, I was convinced that the Tom that was gobbling his head off was danger close while in reality he was either quite far off yet, or was heading away from our location.
> 
> Good luck on your trip! Post pic's!


LOL I have always noticed this out west.. One thing I always tune into is spitting and drumming.. In SD I hear it non stop and have pulled up to a number of trees to no avail and you still hear it.. Last year I learned why.. Sal and I heard a bird drumming.. Set up, hit the call, gobble 400+ yards away, "cannot be him".. Move closer, same thing.. Finally hit the river.. There was a bird 1/4 mile out in a field across the river.. Hit the call he did that lil fluff dance and you could see it through binos and hear it when he did it amazed.. 

Last year in NE.. Hit the Hoot N Stick at daylight and heard some gobbles.. One sounded closer than the others.. I worked my way towards him thinking he was about 300 or so yards.. In reality I walked a good 1/2 mile and by time I got to him he had flown down and was headed the other way.. :lol: Cannot understand whether its the terrain, air or the birds but sound travels like crazy out west.


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

As of right now I am still planning for the NW corner. Yeah, the drive will be a bitch but for the kind of country it is and the fact that there is so much public land and also a lot of farms that we can knock on doors to I think it will be truly the kind of hunt I am looking for. Plus to be in the heart of Merriam's country in NE would be awesome! I think I will be able to push the dates to the 31st-7th so hopefully that will help some. I also hope that going out there for that week will keep the hunting pressure from other to a minimum. Plus, taking highway 20 through the north part of that state takes us through great turkey country for most of the state and that way if we find a spot on the way there that holds a tone of birds and we can knock on a door and see what happens. Still open to other ideas of course but at least this gives me a destination for now.


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

One other benefit we have going into this hunt is that being that the tags are over OTC and we are doing a DIY hunt we really don't have to spend any money on the trip before we leave. So if worst comes to worst and they are calling for awful weather for the week we will be out there we can always cancel last second. Or at the very least change destinations in the state where the weather will be better.


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## timbrhuntr (Feb 4, 2009)

I am not sure that I am glad that you posted this. I am planning on hunting Montana and Wyoming and then head to Kansas. Now that I have been reading this thread I am going to spend a few days in NE !  If it goes ok I will post here since I will be back before you go !


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

Got my dates pushed to March 31st- April 7th. I know it's not much but hopefully it will give us better weather and better hunting.


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

OK boys, I'm bringing this thread back to life. I leave in just a little over a week to head out. Looks like March has been a warm month in NW Nebraska. Seems like you guys have been anywhere from 60*-80* every day. So thankfully with it doesn't look like snow is going to be an issue for us unless the temperature changes dramatically. Right now for the first 7 days of April the forecast shows temps between the mid 40s to mid 60s. A few days have a little chance of rain or snow showers. With that said does anyone have a report on what the birds are doing right now and what I can expect given this forecast?


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## HunterHads (Jun 28, 2005)

I should have stuck with my original dates. Sunny and warm every day. lol


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## pigeon (Jan 25, 2009)

Me and my hunted the gun opener last year in the NW part just north of Harrison on some private land ... Watch the weather big time opening day was 60 and we both got your birds and the next day got 8" of snow just about got stuck there because I had the wifes car.. Birds where very spotty but boy there were dumb .. Going for my rio this year


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