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I met Scott Croner http://scottcroner.com/ on a business trip to Nebraska last year. And when he said he had a great spot for a spring turkey hunt, I jumped at the chance.
He has a bunch of leased properties about four hours west of Omaha, near the little town of Brewster (Population 17).
I flew into Omaha, and after a quick dinner in The Old Market (turn of the century buildings and cobblestone streets that have been renovated with restaurants and bars) I started heading west.
The drive wasn't bad, but when the sun went down I was still an hour and a half away in Ansley. The drive from Ansley to Brewster was the darkest road I've ever driven. At one point I pulled over and closed my eyes, and it actually got lighter
I checked into Uncle Buck's Lodge and got a quick four hours of sleep. By 5:30am we were sitting under a tree watching turkeys roosting in a tree 60 or so yards away. We were waiting on two things, the sun to come, and the turkeys to come down (in front of us hopefully).
Well, the sun came up, but when the turkeys came down they took off in the other direction. Scott called for a few minutes, but quickly decided we needed to move and cut them off.
We tried, but all we found were the hens, no toms.
Since Scott has so many leases we hoped in his car and went looking for turkeys. After a few empty sports, we struck gold. We hopped out of the car, and quickly loaded up, and hit the ground. Now we had to belly crawl to a spot where we could see them, but they couldn't see us.
There was a hen and a branch between me and the tom. But as soon as the hen moved, I took the shot and dropped him. My first turkey!! He did a couple of summersaults, but by the time Scott was on him, he was dead.
Man what a rush. I was shooting my Beretta A300 with Winchester Long Beard ammo. It's funny, when I was patterning it, it kicked like a mule. But when I pulled the trigger on this guy, I don't remember the recoil or the sound.
Next it was time for pictures. Afterwards we headed back to the lodge for breakfast. Walt and Marilyn were my hosts, and prepared a delicious breakfast. The fact that Fox News is on in the lobby 24/7, was just a bonus.
When I asked Marilyn about Brewster's population of 17, she said, "oh honey it hasn't been that many in a few years". I told you, it's a small town
Afterwards we went out and saw a bunch more hens, jakes, and one tom, but I didn't have a shot.
This time we were out working the trees. Don't let anyone kid you, Nebraska is not flat. Did I mention Scott is a tri-athlete? Did I mention I'm not?
Here's today's pictures, more tomorrow.
He has a bunch of leased properties about four hours west of Omaha, near the little town of Brewster (Population 17).
I flew into Omaha, and after a quick dinner in The Old Market (turn of the century buildings and cobblestone streets that have been renovated with restaurants and bars) I started heading west.
The drive wasn't bad, but when the sun went down I was still an hour and a half away in Ansley. The drive from Ansley to Brewster was the darkest road I've ever driven. At one point I pulled over and closed my eyes, and it actually got lighter
I checked into Uncle Buck's Lodge and got a quick four hours of sleep. By 5:30am we were sitting under a tree watching turkeys roosting in a tree 60 or so yards away. We were waiting on two things, the sun to come, and the turkeys to come down (in front of us hopefully).
Well, the sun came up, but when the turkeys came down they took off in the other direction. Scott called for a few minutes, but quickly decided we needed to move and cut them off.
We tried, but all we found were the hens, no toms.
Since Scott has so many leases we hoped in his car and went looking for turkeys. After a few empty sports, we struck gold. We hopped out of the car, and quickly loaded up, and hit the ground. Now we had to belly crawl to a spot where we could see them, but they couldn't see us.
There was a hen and a branch between me and the tom. But as soon as the hen moved, I took the shot and dropped him. My first turkey!! He did a couple of summersaults, but by the time Scott was on him, he was dead.
Man what a rush. I was shooting my Beretta A300 with Winchester Long Beard ammo. It's funny, when I was patterning it, it kicked like a mule. But when I pulled the trigger on this guy, I don't remember the recoil or the sound.
Next it was time for pictures. Afterwards we headed back to the lodge for breakfast. Walt and Marilyn were my hosts, and prepared a delicious breakfast. The fact that Fox News is on in the lobby 24/7, was just a bonus.
When I asked Marilyn about Brewster's population of 17, she said, "oh honey it hasn't been that many in a few years". I told you, it's a small town
Afterwards we went out and saw a bunch more hens, jakes, and one tom, but I didn't have a shot.
This time we were out working the trees. Don't let anyone kid you, Nebraska is not flat. Did I mention Scott is a tri-athlete? Did I mention I'm not?
Here's today's pictures, more tomorrow.
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