Monday August 30th:

Went to the Grasslands this past weekend to archery hunt for Antelope with to of my friends Shane and Trevor. Our expectations were not too high, as shooting an antelope with a bow is very hard to do. Trevor has not hunted much archery, but Shane and I are experience archers and this year we stepped out or game by practicing out to 100 yards over the past several months. We were both confident in shooting this far as long as the wind would cooperate. Well luck was on our side this trip, as within a day and a half, all 3 of us were tagged out! Its also a good thing Shane and I practiced out as far as we did because both of our goats were killed at 90 yards.  Shane shot a nice 11 inch goat, Trevor was not too picky and shot a yearling buck, and I shot a beautiful Pope and Young 14 1/2 inch buck! He is also my 2nd biggest buck to date with any weapon and I couldn't be happier!

I also was fortunate enough to shoot at a true monster goat a couple hours before I shot this goat. We have been watching this antelope we called "Slant" for a couple months now. One of his horns slants forward while the other goes up like it should. I snuck within 100 yards of the buck, but could not make the shot count. We guess he will score around the Booner mark of 80 inches.

I'm not going to give up too many secrets to our success, but we definitely made a huge step forward in hunting antelope with a bow and I already cant wait until next year!

Wednesday August 4th:

Well spearfishing has been fair, lakes and ponds are at record capacity this summer, which makes for new oppritunities, but water clarity has been hit or miss. Lake McConaughy was really good in early July with many 6 plus pound walleye's shot.  Pond spearing was also good early, but again above average rain levels has made vis less and less as the summer wears on.

On another topic, archery antelope season opens August 20th every year here in Nebraska and numbers look very good. I have seen lots of twin fawns with doe's while scouting as well as several good bucks that will go over 14 inches, some up to 16 inches.  Nebraska is not known for huge bucks, but there are a few out there. Tall grass will making spot and stalk hunting easier, but lots of watering holes for drinking, so patterning them will be almost impossible. I will be headed to northwest Nebraska first part of season to try a new proto-type decoy and style of hunting. I will report back what kind of luck I have, and good luck to all the archery hunters out there.

Monday June 14th:

Spearfishing is in full swing. Water clarity is good in most waters across the state. Although game fish season does not start until July 1st. Big carp are abundant with the spawn in full swing, I shot several 20-30 pounders last weekend in sandpits as well as lots of average size carp in Lake McConaughy Saturday.

Speaking of Big Mac, Big Mac is BACK! Water levels are near 80% capicity, which is hard to  believer after hearing only a few years ago that the lake would never fill back up. Well it has and every boat ramp in the lake is now open including spillway and martin bay boat ramps. Lake waters will continue to raise as the North Platte river is at flood level with maximum inflow.

I want everyone to keep in mind the RMSA spearfishing tournament coming up July 10th at Lake McConaughy. Send me a message if you are interested and I will get your application put in for you. I will post more detailed info on the tournament once the day gets a little closer as far as check in times and locations for wieght in.

Also on a different note, today and 1:00 P.M. big game permits go on sale, so dont miss out on all the limited permits out there, lots of new permits and seasons. You have to purchase all permits online or stop at the local Game and Parks Office and they will do it for you.

Monday May 17th:

Rich, Mark, and Scotty were out for there annual carnage this past weekend and it was the best trip yet for these guys. Birds had been very un-cooperative the last week and a half, but this cold snap we had last week put them back in go mode. The birds were working very well and responded to calls like it was mid April, not mid May. Rich shot his best Nebraska bird yet with a double bearded Merriam with 1 1/4 hooks and weighted 24 pounds! He ranks 30th in the State all time. Mark shot a real nice Merriam as well the first hunt of the trip as we caught a lone tom and a jake crossing an open field. We moved in ahead of them and called them right to us. Mark doubled the first night with Rich and then Scotty tripled with Rich the 2nd day. The triple was pretty awesome, we set up on these 3 loanly toms and as soon as I showed them the decoy they came on a sprint down an old dirt road, sounded like horses running at us!

The boys were tagged out by noon the 2nd day, so we decided to just drive the back roads and look for wildlife. Late that afternoon we drove up on 3 big toms with 3 hens along a tree row near the road. We were able to get a good look at the birds and Scotty noticed one to the toms had dagger like spurs as well as a nice beard. The guys left early Saturday morning and Jess was out of town, so I decided to try fill my last tag of the year. I headed out to the area I had seen the birds and when I arrived he was not hard to find as he was strutting right in the middle of the road. He still had the 3 hens with him, but had run the other 2 toms off. I had no choice but to drive by him as there was not other way to set up on him. He didn't spook too bad as I went by and I snuck back over the hill to get in position behind him. I started calling and he immediately started gobbling. The 4 birds worked my way up the edge of the tree row and I got in position for the shot. The hens were looking hard to find me in the trees, but it was too late by the time they found me and within a half hour the hunt was over.

I walked up on the bird and found that Scotty was right! This tom had giant hooks! 1 1/2 inches to be exact and sported a 10 1/2 inch beard and weighted over 21 pounds. He was an awesome tan Rio and is definitely the biggest turkey I have ever killed. I took some photos and headed for home. I checked the records right away and sure enough.......................................NUMBER 1!!! STATE RECORD!!!

So with 2 triple beards, 2 double beards, a Smokey color phase, and now a State Record, this season has been unbelievable to say the least. I don't know how I could ever top it.

Monday May 10th:

Had probably the best weekend turkey hunting ever, and that is saying something, as I have had ALOT of good days. Two main reasons this weekend was so special, first and for most, I was fortunate enough to take my mother hunting for Mothers Day and she shot her first turkey ever! He was a nice big long beard that came in gobblin to about 5 yards when mom killed him. Very cool experience and memory that will last forever.

Second reason was after mom shot her bird, we went looking for another bird my Dad could hunt. We found a small flock along the edge of a tree row, and we set up quickly about 200 yards down the tree edge and started calling. It didn't take long and 5 long beards came in. They made it just into range and they seen something they didn't like, I told dad he needed to shoot as they were going to spook. He bared down shot, then shot again, then again. Finally on the 3rd shot he rolled the bird. There was a tree branch in his way and he wasn't able to make the 1st and 2nd shots connect, but the 3rd shot rolled him as if he was only 20 yards away, however it took us 70 yards to reach the bird from where we were set up, unbelievable shot. The shot was quickly over looked when I noticed that this bird had 3 BEARDS! Out of nearly 400 turkeys I have under my belt, this bird is the biggest yet, and it just so happened to be shot by my dad. It doesn't get much better than that!

Check out these stat's from this season so far:

Dads bird Score-85.25= 24th in Nebraska

Jodie Carters bird-80.25= 1st in Nebraska female, 5th Nebraska all time

Jessica's Bow kill-78 2/8=2nd in Nebraska female, 10th Nebraska all time, 18th in the World

Tuesday May 4th:

Another great weekend of turkey hunting. I had Brandon and Jodie Carter from Reel Shot Outdoor TV hunting with me, and both Brandon and Jodie shot 2 long beards each. We also were able to capture all four hunts on film which will be televised on their show later this year. Reel Shot TV is aired on the Pursuit Channel during the second half of the year. I will keep you all posted to air times and dates when the time nears.

Brandon, Jodie, and I had a great time chasing birds around, with several close calls that just would't work for the camera, but very exciting hunts anyhow. Still seeing flocks with multiple long beards, but birds are still continually breaking up with more and more loan hens every day. Came across a wrecked nest Saturday that appeared to be raccoon raided. Hopefully the hen will have better luck on her second attempt at laying.

I would like to Congratulate Jodie on shooting her first Nebraska long beard which is the first TRIPLE BEARDED BEARD  to be shot with NOBLE OUTDOORS. Its number 1 Jodie, number 1! I believe this big Tom will be strutting in their living room about this time next year as well.

I would like all of you to check out Brandon and Jodie's website: reelshotoutdoors.com

Tuesday April 27th:

Had A great hunt last weekend. Jason, Jeremy, and Terry were out and we killed 9 turkeys in a day and a half! We really got after them, but with as many turkeys that are around, it really wasn't that difficult. We got a late start Friday, but by days end, we already had 7 down, all really nice birds, most with 9 plus inch beards. Jeremy shot the heaviest bird at 23 pounds. We finished off the last two birds Saturday morning before the rain hit.

The birds are starting to break up good now. Still some big groups, but nothing like a couple weeks ago. Most groups are less than 15, and even seen several lone toms wondering around. More than likely 2 year olds, but none the less, easy targets!

Best plan of attack right now is to get as close as possible before you attempt to call. Tom decoys are a big help as well. Jakes are starting to flock in worse than usual, but patients will always get you a long beard.

Monday April 19th:

Well the shotgun Turkey opener didn't disappoint! My good friend Jeremy came up and hunted with Jess and I Saturday. Jeremy was first to kill, with a good 3 year old bird I called in to about 10 yards. Then Jeremy and I tripled on a flock of birds. We count to 3 and smacked three long beards at once, really cool!

We didn't even hunt Sunday, as there was not need! In just the opening day, we seen 500 plus birds, with at least 25% of those being long beards. Should be a killer season. Good luck to everyone and hope to see some of your photos!

 Monday April 12th:

Well, this past weekend was so good, its almost unbelievable! It started out the end of last week. Jess and I were out scouting birds and came across a flock of birds that had a very rare color phase in it. I have hunted a long time and seen ALOT of turkeys and this is only the 2nd "smokey" I had ever seen. I saw one in Pine Ridge about 8 years ago, but was just a glimpse. This bird was out in the open just feeding with about 15 other birds. We stopped at the nearest house and obtained permission and then the hunt was on. From the distance we were at I could not tell if the bird was a male or a hen, so I obviously had my fingers crossed on it being a male. The birds had moved a long way from where we had first seen them and we finally caught up with them about 3/4 of mile back along this cedar canyon. We only had about an hour of legal light left so I was pushing to get in range before dark. I crept as far as I could which was still about 100 yards from the flock. There was now probably 60 plus birds in this group now and I knew trying to shoot one bird out of that was going to be a challenge at best. The first thing I had to figure out though was tom or hen. I finally spotted the bird up under a cedar and my heart sank as soon as I got a good look.............hen! I was really disappointed as I had never had an opportunity to hunt a color phase anything! I watched the group for about 20 minutes or so and as I got a better look at the bird, my heart rate jumped a couple octaves! I thought I caught a glimpse of a beard on the hen. As I kept scanning the group, I noticed hen after hen had beards. I have seen this before where the bearded hen trait is passed to all the offspring of that certain hen and you end up with a flock of bearded hens. Well now the hunt was back on! Long story short. I got between the group and its late afternoon watering hole and I shot the bird at about 15 yards as I waited bird after bird to pass by my cedar tree I was hiding in. What an awesome bird!!!

Then Saturday a friend of mine Matt and his son Noah came out for the youth season. By 12:00 Saturday, Noah had shot his first two turkeys ever and both were beautiful Merriam long beards! Then Matt grabbed his bow and he shot anther beautiful 3 year old tom!

What a great weekend!!!

Tuesday March 30th:

Opening weekend of Archery Turkey season did not disappoint! Jess and I hunted Thursday evening through Sunday on and off, and had multiple opportunities. I am happy to report that the 2nd Tom we hunted this weekend, Jess killed! Jessica has now become on official "BOWHUNTRESS". This was her first kill with a bow, as this was only her 2nd day of hunting ever!  It was a beautiful Rio Grande Tom that weighted 19.5 pounds and had an 8 inch beard. I good two year old mature tom.

The birds are still very grouped up, but are responding to calls if you get in close. We were crawling right into the flocks. We had hens at less than 2 yards from us several times. All spot and stalk style, ground blinds are for waiters! We are HUNTERS!