Nebraska Outdoors Radio Show

The Show:   Nebraska Outdoors Radio
The Station: 1240 AM KFOR (Lincoln)
Listen Online: www.KFOR1240.com
The Day: Every Thursday
The Time: 6 to 7 p.m.
The #: 402-489-1240 

Join Hershy and I this week as we talk with Dave Titterington of the Wild Bird Habitat Store about summer birding opportunities and attracting your favorite birds to the back yard.  Dave is a long time naturalist and bird ecologist and authority on bird behavior, ID, bird diets, etc. and is real interesting to talk to.  

Get Em’ Out There

Rawly

A Busy Spring

I first want to apologize for totally abandoning the Lock, Stock and Bedlam blog as I have been pretty swamped with programs this spring.  For some of you, that has been a great thing as you were not subject to my rants or long blogs about hunting and shooting.  For this group….I apologize again!

We have been moving forward with many new efforts while maintaining our partnerships with national organizations such as the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Archery Trade Association, etc. to continue to bring you new programs that develop new hunters, shooters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts like…us.

I hope many of you enjoyed a great turkey hunt this spring as I really had a great time in the turkey woods with my daughter and my brother-in-law Dave.  We heard gobbles, killed birds and enjoyed camp fires that make the heart long for more. 

This nice tom fell to an expandable. I venture away from the head shot concept for this bird and it worked out well!

Our Outdoor Discovery Programs were a great success in that we were able to bring many outdoor skills to several thousand youth across Nebraska this year, again thanks to the help of many dedicated volunteers and organizations such as Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Forever, Whitetails Unlimited, various archery and gun clubs and so many more!  We could not have done it without you!

Kids in Scottsbulff learning the art of game calling...15 kids working a coyote howler at once is a sound to behold!

I did take some time off for a fishing trip with my father-in-law and man did we have fun.  I ate more northern pike and walleye in five days than I will all year.  Once you get the hang out of removing the “Y” bones in northern, they are one of the best tasting fish around!

That stick sure fought like a big walleye...

Months ago I wrote about the upcoming Platte River State Park Outdoor Heritage Park and I am thrilled it is now open and being used by many.  The new shooting facilities have worked out well and many youth are taking their first shot at this new complex. 

A look at the new indoor airgun range...this place is cool!

A view from the new archery range

Much is going on and much more to follow.  I am also preparing for taking my first deer in NE with a muzzle loader handgun and will report on prep for that soon too.  For now, get out the fishing poles and get the kids into some fish!   Life is good!

Rawly

We’re All Family

Part of the Family

…I have longed maintained that hunting involves the entire family – even if all the family members don’t actively hunt…just ask the Mom who has to get Junior ready for his first pheasant hunt, the big sister that shuttles her younger, bow-hunting sister around, or the chef that turns the aspiring hunter’s success into a meal…but even beyond that, once you find yourself bitten by the hunting bug you realize that you are surrounded by a much bigger family that shares the same affliction – and often adds to it…

…perhaps it’s when you pick up the the bow that it becomes the most evident – here’s just a couple more examples:

Brandon Tomcak Youth 3D Shoot – held last Weekend by the Golden Arrow Archery Club at their Outdoor Range.

Grant Hoefener 3D & Fun Shoot – being held this Sunday (6/12) by the Lower Platte Archery Club at the Larry Elston Archery Range near Shramm State Park.

…both shoots named after an archery family member that moved onto to the next-hunting-grounds while still in their youth – much too early for the rest of us…these events serve to get youth involved in archery – in fact, you don’t even need a bow to be part of these shoots as the Ted Nugent Camp for Kids has some you can borrow…

…for more information on each shoot and what you can do to help contact the respective archery clubs:

Golden Arrow Archery Club: http://www.archeryclub.com/
Lower Platte Archery Club: http://lowerplattearchery.webs.com/

…archery is a life-skill that holds many opportunities – including the chance to be part of a really big family…

hershy

It Ain’t Over Yet!

…with a spring turkey permit still in my pocket, my personal goal this week was to spend a few mornings chasing turkeys – it didn’t last long…

Full Moon Over the Turkey Woods

…the alarm went off at that ‘way-too-early’ time Monday morning and it was with some internal-struggle that I finally got out of bed…the wind wasn’t blowing, it wasn’t raining – what more can you ask for from Nebraska’s weather?…camo’d and cold caffeine in-hand I pulled out of the driveway 20 minutes later…

…my chosen hunting spot was a friend’s farm where the birds had bested us earlier in the season – however, they gave away the location of a preferred roosting site…

…the grass was wet as I got my gear ready – maybe it was just a heavy dew or the effects of the 3+ inches of rain that fell in the days before…either way, as I headed into the river-bottom woods, I knew I’d have to find either an area of very short grass or hunt the edge of the crop-field – turkeys hate getting their feathers wet in the thick stuff…

…as can be the case in late May, the first muffled gobble came a bit later than I expected – but I knew from experience that late season toms often have to travel more looking for willing hens, causing them to do more talking once they are out of the tree…to my ears this bird was a ways off, but green leaves can absorb gobbles making birds sound farther away than they actually are…

…I chose a cedar tree to lean up against that kept me in the cover of the woods, but also gave me a small a view into the newly planted cornfield – but only after I busted a turkey out of a nearby tree…the scared bird sailed across the river - hope it was a hen…a few more gobblers woke up, but none closer than the first I heard – he was to be my game this morning…

…he only gobbled a few times on the roost, but his gobbles didn’t sound any further away once he hit the ground – in fact, once in awhile he even sounded like he was moving closer…his gobbles didn’t have the intensity of a mid-April tom that has his share of the hens, but seemed to contain the desperate rattle of a lonely bird – maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part…

…my calls would sometimes bring a response from the unseen gobbler…I was calling sparingly in hopes that he would come searching for me – the same reason that I left the decoys at home…soon enough I was hearing the second most popular turkey sound – the spit & drum…a loud pleading gobble confirmed the big boy had made his way to the field I was guarding…I couldn’t yet see him but his gobbling increased – he was after the hen he had heard and was doing his best to draw her out of the woods…

There Are No Words

…the tom stayed just out of sight for several minutes gobbling, spitting & drumming – which gave me enough time to get excited as well as calm myself down…then I saw that beautiful red, white & blue head scanning my direction – desperately looking for the hen…the next few minutes I got to see the show all turkey hunters dream of as I let the big bird close the distance even more…

…the turkey season is winding down – but it ain’t over just yet!…if you find yourself headed into this holiday weekend with an unfilled spring turkey tag don’t let the opportunity to head to the turkey woods slip by…the turkeys are still there and many of them still have love on their minds…hey, it’ll be a long time before next spring, too!…

hershy

Frustratingly Fun Jakes

Looking for a fight.

…this past Saturday afternoon found all four of us – Emma (5 yrs), Logan (7 yrs), Leslie (age withheld) & Me - in a ground blind hoping to strike up a conversation with a lonely tom turkey…not long into our sit, and without hearing any turkey music, a hen came strolling into our little flock of decoys…early in the season this means good things as most hens are still with the gobblers…wasn’t long and we spotted the big tom parading on the edge of the woods – he was too busy strutting to move very fast or far but he was heading in our direction…several minutes later the big boy was finally closing in on that invisible line that would seal his fate – but just before he got their, he quickly tucked his tail-feathers and began moving away from us!…as I looked around the blind to see what might have spooked him, 4 jakes came trotting onto the scene…they wasted little time closing the distance on the bigger tom and actually cut-off his escape…though the older bird did his best to avoid them, the younger boys were intent on picking a fight with him – and they did…I am pretty sure the tom could have kicked the tail-feathers of any one of the jakes on any given day, but the jakes were using their numbers to overwhelm the big boy – and it was working…it was frustratingly fun to watch this bit of wild turkey drama unfold in front of us, but the mood had turned from love to violence and we were selling love…

The pecking order is never over.

…anyone that has spent enough time in the spring turkey woods knows that every once in a while the pecking order is thrown a curve ball…according to the wild turkey textbook: the bigger, older and more experienced birds are suppose to be the dominant birds with younger birds-of-the-year making up the bottom…but sometimes the young jakes (last spring’s hatchlings) seem to realize that if they team up they can intimidate the older toms – the more jakes in an area the more this seems to hold true…having lots of jakes is a good thing – it’s a sign of a healthy population & they are fun to be around as they take part in their first breeding season…having lots of jakes around can be frustrating as they can distract the toms and can deter them from being aggressive to the hunter’s call – sometimes I think the toms are just tired of messing around with the jakes and more apt to go looking elsewhere for a love interest…this is where the use of jake decoys can sometimes hurt your hunting efforts…

…as I watched the young gobblers mob the tom I found myself wishing  we would have left our fake-jake at home and used only hen decoys – perhaps the lone tom would have come in without hesitation…but patience won the day, powder was burned and a Sunday meal secured – then an aggressive jake moved in and attacked the fallen gobbler!…

hershy