These two jakes came running into our hen calls at the Big Blue Ranch and Lodge near

Burchard, Neb. (Journal photo by Larry Myhre)

BURCHARD, Neb. — Like so many times before, it was a gobble that first alerted us that a tom turkey was coming in.

Gary Howey motioned that the bird was downhill in front of us just in case I hadn’t heard.

I had the video camera running and began looking for the bird.

The first indication was the tip of his tail, spread in full strut, and slowly rocking back and forth as the bird stepped forward.

Then he was there, all puffed up and drumming. It was a glorious sight and one that sets a turkey hunter’s heart to pounding.

He was 15 yards out when Gary “putted” sharply on his diaphragm call to make the bird come out of strut and stick up his head.

Just like that it was over.

Less than two hours into our hunt on the Big Blue Ranch and Lodge south of Burchard, we had both filled turkey tags.

Gary, from Hartington, Neb., and I were guests of Scott Bodie and his wife Billie Kay. Their 2,000-acre working cattle ranch is the backdrop for a retreat for hunters, fishermen, horse enthusiasts, bird watchers or anyone just seeking relaxation.

Their cedar log lodge sits above a 25-acre, spring-fed pond stocked with largemouth bass, crappies, bluegills and northerns.

Gary and I had met Scott at the lodge where we unpacked, and then followed him to an area on the ranch where he felt confident we would see turkeys.

He left us, and we began our hunt as we often do when hunting land unfamiliar to us. We walked and called.

With Gary on the video camera, I ventured ahead calling whenever we came to a place where I couldn’t see if there were turkeys such as just before cresting a hill.

Upon hearing a call, the turkey should gobble alerting us to his location before we spook him.

But this day, the turkeys were not responding.

Gary saw them first.

Two toms heading our way.

We dropped down and crawled to a nearby burr oak tree where we sat down and waited.

I yelped a few more times and the pair of toms crested the hill and drew nearer as I made a few quiet yelps on the diaphragm.

They stopped about 30 yards out and didn’t appear to want to come any closer so I took the larger of the two.

After Gary bagged his tom we went back to the lodge and got out the fishing gear. I used the fly rod to catch and release an unbelievable number of blue-gills and crappies.

We’ll report in detail on that next week.

The next morning we decided to hunt the turkeys with our cameras. Gary carried the video and I carried my Nikon digital single lens reflex with a 70 to 3o0mm zoom lens.

We set up near where Gary had bagged his bird and called, but nothing came in.

So, we began walking and calling. We crossed a bluegrass pasture to a wooded ridge and valley on the other side.

I called there and suddenly Gary dropped down. I followed suit.

“Two toms heading our way,” he said.

We lay on our stomachs right in the open with cameras in front of our faces.

I cranked up the calling on the diaphragm call and soon saw two heads poke above the skyline.

They came in fast and close. I could hear them clucking and purring and I returned the calls hoping to lure them in closer.

At about 15 yards out they decided they had come far enough and then began to move away.

We had gotten some good footage and stills.

We continued to follow the timber’s edge and walked another hundred yards when Gary thought he saw something down in the corner of the pasture about 300 yards away. It was a tom. Soon we noticed three hens in front of him moving down a fence line. Then two more toms stepped out.

We couldn’t interest them in our calls and the hens seemed to be following the fence line so we dropped out of sight and tried to circle around and get in front of them.

This seldom works, and it didn’t this time. The birds spotted us and ran back down the fenceline and into the trees.

The turkeys here are really colorful, probably the result of a five-way cross. Biologists say the birds are a merriam, Eastern, Rio Grand, tame turkey and hybrid cross. All of the above have been stocked in the area at one time or another.

Deer grow big on this ranch as a pair of sheds lying on the table in our lodge proved.

And they are plentiful. Each day we saw several deer move away from us as we stalked through the woodlands.

The ranch is truly a hunter’s paradise.

2 pounds venison                                                                            ¼ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ pound thick cut bacon diced                                                2 tbls chili powder

2 medium yellow onions diced                                                 1 tbls paprika

1 medium red onion diced                                                          1 tbls cumin

1 jalapeno chili peppers, seeded & diced                              1 tbls salt

1 red pepper, seeded & diced                                                     1 tbls black pepper

1 yellow pepper, seeded & diced                                              1 tbls cinnamon

1 green pepper, seeded & diced                                                 ¼ cup honey

½ of an 8 oz. can of chipotle, chillies, seeded                    1 tbls molasses

& chopped                                                                                          1 bottle Guinness or other stout beer

3 cloves or garlic minced                                                             ½ cup of good red wine

1 can of whole plum tomatoes                                                  1 can crushed tomatoes

2 cans black beans chopped, cilantro

1. In a large pan, sauté the venison until just cooked. Drain and set aside. Cook in batches to keep from crowding in pan.

2. In a large pot with a heavy bottom, Sautee bacon over medium heat until brown and has given up it’s fat. Remove and set aside.

3. Sauté onions and peppers in bacon fat, stirring frequently until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and vinegar and cook for two minutes, add chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, cinnamon and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes. Add venison and bacon stir well and cook for one minute.

4. Add honey, molasses, beer, wine and tomatoes. Mix well; bring to a boil lower heat to low.

5. Cook at a slow simmer, uncovered for an hour and stir frequently. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more chili powder or chipotle. Chilies if you want it hotter.

6. Add beans and cook for another hour, continuing to stir. The chili is done when it’s thick enough to your liking

Garnish with chopped cilantro.

The 7th annual Northeast Nebraska Whitetails Unlimited banquet was held Friday March 19th at the Wausa Fire Hall.

Whitetails Unlimited (www.whitetailsunlimited.com) is a national conservation organization promoting deer hunting and other outdoor activities, which headquartered out of Sturgeon Bay, WI. established in 1982 with over 100,000 members.

Approximately 425 people attended this year’s event where attendees had the opportunity to win numerous prizes including 40 guns and bows.

WTU banquets are family orientated events aimed at involving the entire family.

Our youth are very important to WTU, as they are the future of deer hunting and all outdoor sports.

Because of this, there are special promotions and contest held at the banquet designed especially for the youth.

WTU offers its members an avenue to raise funds to support common interests such as preserving the hunting tradition and educating the public on the importance of conserving our natural resources

At this years event, $48,000.00 was raised, much of which will remain in the area, being used for conservation and youth programs.

Funds raised from these WTU events, one half of which stays locally, is donated to numerous area activities.

In 2009 the Northeast Nebraska WTU donated  $20,906.00 to conservation related activities. Included in these were; donations to area schools, 4-H groups, hunter’s education, handicap hunters programs, archery clubs, area communities, conservation organizations and for state game & park projects.

Nationally, WTU has expended over $49.7 million d on projects which include: college scholarships, assistance to wildlife agencies, research, habitat enhancement, public education, hunter safety, anti-poaching measures as well as cooperative projects with other conservation organization

Chris Carlson, Wausa, NE. has handled the duties as the President of the Northeast Nebraska WTU since its inception seven years ago

The Northeast Nebraska WTU has 386 members from throughout Northeast Nebraska.

Northeast Nebraska Whitetails offers two $250.00 scholarships for those interested in going into an outdoor conservation related program in college.

Applications for these scholarship are due by April 15th and can be obtained by contacting N.E. Nebraska WTU President Chris Carlson @ the number listed below.

There are currently six WTU chapters in our area, those being Wausa, Emerson, Norfolk, In Nebraska, Yankton, SD and Anton, IA.

For more information on becoming part of the Northeast Nebraska WTU you can contact Chris Carlson, Wausa at 402-640-7053.

Because of the huge deer population, there are several seasons, giving hunters numerous opportunities to tag a deer, which helps to control the excess deer numbers.

In Nebraska, those hunters with the Landowner Youth or Season Choice deer seasons will have the opportunity to hunt until January 15.

In South Dakota, East and West River hunters who didn’t fill their “any deer” and “any whitetail antlerless tag as well as all unsold tags will be changed to antlerless tags. This season will re-open running from Dec 26 – Jan 3, 2010.

Other South Dakota deer seasons that will remain open through January 31st include: the Archery, Muzzleloader and the Youth season.

Here’s some information on deer that you might find interesting and if you ever get on the TV game show JEOPORDY, it might make you a few” bucks.”

Deer have existed for 20 million years and have changed very little over the last million years.

In 1832 deer were given their scientific name “Odocoileus Virginianus, Odocoileus is the Greek word meaning hollow tooth with the later part of the name, Virginianus coming from the fact that it was named in the state of Virginia.

They are amazing creatures and very adaptable, they are native to Canada, Mexico and forty-nine of our fifty states. There are no deer native to the state of Hawaii. The deer found on the Hawaiian Islands were introduced into that area.

There are 30 sub species of deer in North America and an additional 10 sub species found in South America.

In 1900 the estimated total number of deer in North America was 500,000 animals the estimated population today is 20 to 30 million.

They have the ability to run in excess of 35 miles per hour; can leap over fences eight feet tall and can cover up to 30 feet in a horizontal leap.

In the wild, deer can live as long as eleven years with deer in captivity living as long as 20 years.

Deer are strong swimmers as the layer of hollow hair acts as a life preserver keeping the buoyant. The hollow hair actually serves several purposes with the most important being, providing insulation during the winter months.

Just like humans, deer have a set of “baby teeth” that fall out and are replaced by permanent teeth with their permanent teeth in place by the time the deer is 2-1/2 years old.

There are several myths about deer, including that a bucks age can be determined by the number of points in it’s rack when in fact, the way biologists determine the age of the deer is by examining the deer’s teeth.

Another is that deer use their antlers during the winter to dig for food under the snow, which is false as bucks shed their racks in January. They use them as a weapon when dueling with other males during the mating season.

Rack size depends on several factors, including age, nutrition and genetics. Generally, the larger more massive racks are found on middle age deer (4-6years old) and will reduce in size as deer get old age.

When deer grow their antlers or rack, they are covered with “velvet,” a soft, fuzzy tissue. This velvet is the only regenerating skin found in mammals. It’s the fastest growing tissue in mammals with some antler growth being measured at one inch of growth during a 24-hour period.

Deer, elk, caribou and moose are all members of the Cervidae family, they, like cows are ruminants, swallowing food that is later brought back up to chew, which releases more nutrients.

Deer can eat almost any type of vegetation and are not affected by eating some pretty tough and nasty stuff including poison ivy.

Under good conditions an average adult deer can consume as much as 5 to 9 pounds.

A deer’s senses are uncanny as they have extraordinary sight, hearing and smell.

Does will normally have one fawn the first year they breed and after that twins are the norm.

The spots on a fawn are a form of camouflage, this along with the ability to lie motionless, not moving help them to avoid detection from predators.

For those of us still willing to brave the cold and often time 6-foot snowdrifts to pursue deer, we still have a little time to fill the tag and our freezers.

For those of you who’d rather not go out, get caught up on those honey does so when it comes time to get out and hunt spring goose or turkey or to hit the water in pursuit of you favorite fish you’ll be way ahead so that you’ll have all the time you need to enjoy the great outdoors.

Have a Great New Year!

Hunting Season is upon us once again and the members of Team Outdoorsmen Adventures wishes you the best season of all!

North Carolina Archery Season has begun with many other states opening soon. A bow hunter is someone who gets to know his prey up close and personal. He is of the land and knows the patterns and movements of the game he intends to harvest.

This is what makes a great hunter out in the woods. “Make No Mistake About It!” That is exactly the key element in a bow hunters mindset he must be mentally ready and prepared for the shot.

The hunt starts before season when he picks his bow up each year. It makes sense to not take the shot if you have not completed your homework.

The first task to cover is to inspect our bow for damages. Inspect it anyway, even if it has been locked in your case for the past year. If your string looks worn, it’s time to replace it. I like to replace my bowstring every two years regardless of the wear and tear on it. Strings will stretch over time. Inspect your arrows and anything else on the bow. Look for cracks, a bent arrow, torn or bad fletching or anything than could cause an arrow to fly incorrectly.

Make sure you oil movable parts of your bow with scentless oil. Wax your string each time you practice. Proper care of all bow hunting equipment is essential to success in the field.

Once all this has been accomplished you are ready to shoot again. Practice everyday no less than a month before season. I feel if you’ve put in shooting time every night till the opener you’ll be prepared physically and mentally for you shot at a game animal.

By this time your shot should become a repetition of steps that you do automatically without thinking.

Even at this point, here in North Carolina with a longbow season practice should be performed periodically during season to ensure your form and shot have not went south.

When the game animal is in front of you the less thinking you do the better. This brings me to a point on the many sights that are on the market.

Sights

Pin sights are nice because you have a pin for each 5-yard increment. In my opinion a pendulum site is better yet. They’re very accurate from 0 to 30 yards, compensating for the yardage and height, eliminating the thinking for you.

I’ve used these sights in the past and they’re easy to use. Savage makes one of the most user-friendly pendulum sights I know of.

Arrow Rests

There are also numerous types of arrow rest out there with a drop away rest being one of the most popular. I use one on my bow and like the fact that they do not interfere with the fletching or vanes of your arrows. This means you are have a better-tuned bow and consistent shot pattern over and over. I’m also a fan of the whisker biscuit. This arrow rest holds your arrow in place in any position for a shot. You do not have to worry about the arrow falling off in a hunting situation.

Noise Reduction

Noise reduction rubber components can be applied to help reduce vibration and shock of the bow, making it quieter.  Some bows have these installed when you buy them. Although you may not consider reducing the sound made by your bow a big deal, but it would be a major mistake if you don’t, especially on the slower bows.

If you have a bow that vibrates and makes a lot of noise when you shoot it, can scare the deer, as the noise made by the bow is what causes the deer to jump or duck when you release the arrow.   By cutting down the noise made by your bow, you’ll have a better chance to bag a deer and less of a chance of wounding one or missing a good deer.

Peep Sights

A peep sight is an inexpensive and very important piece of hunting equipment, one that every hunter should use. Peep sights allow you to line your eye with your bow sight, providing a 3-point reference aligning your eye, bow sight and the game animal.

Practice Targets

To fine tune your shooting before the hunt, it’s a good idea to shoot at game target such as a deer or turkey. Shooting at a lifelike game target mentally prepares you to shoot for vitals.

So, get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot!

Bow hunting has been a rewarding part of my year-to-year season for many reasons. Each time I harvest a good buck with my bow. I have an immense sense of accomplishment by taking game with archery equipment that I don’t get when hunting with a gun.

Learning about the game I’m after and getting this close to a deer creates some of the greatest hunting memories you will ever experience in your lifetime.

If your not a bow hunter and would like to start I’d recommend that  you visit a pro shop and have them set up a bow fitted to you.

Archery pro shops can help you find a bow that fits you perfectly and give you advise on what bow would work best for you.

If I could make one recommendation it would be to get a short bow that’s light in weight, which will make your shooting much easier as well as more relaxing. Allowing you to practice a little longer and in time, make you a better shot.

The reason for this is simple; they can be found almost everywhere. These animals are very adaptable and can live in close proximity to man.

No matter where we’ve went there have always been deer around, both whitetail and mule deer.

One thing that I figured out a long time ago is that deer are like any other critter, including man, as they will take advantage of anything that makes their life easier.

I found this out the first couple of years while hunting near my cabin.  The deer, especially the bucks seemed to always come out in a certain area while avoiding others.

Unfortunately, the area they were using was impossible to hunt unless you sat on the ground as there was no place to conceal a ground blind and no trees big enough for a tree stand.

The next summer and early fall, I spent a lot of time in the woods, trying to figure out why one trail would be used more than others as all of the trails eventually led to their bedding area which were all in the same area.

Let’s look at the difference between these trails so we can understand how to make the deer come out in front of you instead of the other side of the valley.

Trail # 1 where I had a deer house ran along a fence line, through some brushy area down into a heavily wood draw.

Trail # 2 was towards the middle of the ridge, running through heavy cedar trees, this is where I had my two-man deer house.

Trail # 3 ran along a heavily wooded ridge coming out just below the north fence line, this is where I had a brushed in ground blind.

Trail # 4 came from a cornfield, across an open valley then headed up towards the ridge, eventually joining with the trails that came out on the ridge. This is were I had my Cabela’s Tri-Pod Stand set up.

After stumbling around, checking out each trail, it became pretty evident why the deer and especially the bucks where coming out on one main trail.

Trail # 1 was along a new fence line where a lot of trees had been pushed into a pile out of the way of the new fence.  These trees blocked almost all of the trails that had lead to the ridge.

To make this site, more attractive to the deer and easier for them to follow, I’d need to spend a couple of days opening up trails and trimming the low hanging branches.

Trail # 2 had two trails that ran down through the cedars and earlier that year, since this was the trail that seemed to get the most action and was the easiest to work on, I’d trimmed back the cedar trees and low lying branches on the other trees making it easier for both the bucks and does to get through it.

Trail # 3 would need a lot of work in order for it to be one that the deer could easily use as it came out of a cedar lined valley and then along a ridge with numerous other cedars.  I’d opened the area in front of the ground blind and hunted turkeys from this blind in the spring.

Trail # 4 was fairly well open from the gate at the cornfield out about 30 yards when it went into a brush and weed infested bottom.  To make this more attractive and open it up, I used a piece of mechanics or stove pipe wire and pulled the top wire of my gate down 6” to 8” inches, making it easier for the bucks to cross.

Then I used my riding lawn mower and brush whacker to cut a clear trail through the briars and brambles, making a nice easy trail that would lead the deer right to trail # 2.

By doing this, I had two opportunities to take a deer; depending on which direction they were traveling.  In the mornings I could set up in the Tripod stand, catching them when they’d make their move from corn field where they’d fed that night or at night in my two man blind catching them as they went from the heavily wooded ridge down through the valley back into the cornfield to feed.

To eliminate any chance that the deer might use the other trails, I blocked several of them with cedars that I’d cut from the other trails.

This worked extremely well as we knew the deer would take the easiest route and by opening up the area, they’d be there until winter really set in when they moved out and herded up down along the river.

It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to make your hunting area more attractive to deer and other wildlife, just look for their travel areas as they are creatures of habit and make it easier for them to get to where you want them to go.

Enjoy the fall weather and have a productive and safe hunting season!

Bill Graves’ garage is a long ways from the great hall of an European baronial estate.

There is no huge fireplace where a flickering fire lights up the walls revealing medieval weapons of war and glittering skulls and antlers of red deer and moose .

Nope. Here there’s just a refrigerator full of beer, a wall full of hunting and fishing photos and a stainless steel table and sink where deer are butchered every winter by Graves and his many deer hunting friends.

It’s not until you notice the back wall cluttered with deer skulls and racks of all sizes that you begin to get a feel for the medieval.

It’s here that Graves, Rob Blades, both of Sioux City, Kevin Horsley, Lawton, and Tracy Nelson of Salix have perfected a method of producing top quality European deer mounts.

An European-style deer mount consists of a deer’s skull, minus the jawbone mounted against a wooden plaque. The skull is bleached white and the antlers are polished to a rich luster.

“We learned this by just playing around,” Graves said. “Then, we thought why not do this as a business and offer local hunters a quality mount for a lot less money than it would require for a full-shoulder mount.

“In fact, we’re doing them for $75 each,” he said.

And, since he and his friends are avid turkey hunters, they decided to offer turkey fans and

other turkey trophies as well.

Graves, a licensed taxidermist, says they boil the skulls to remove all the meat. It is an exacting and long process which few other taxidermists do. In fact, most taxidermists ship the heads to “beetle farms” where larval insects make short work of it.

But bleaching the skulls pure white is not easy.

“I have come up with a secret process that does an excellent job of that,” Graves said.

“The process is so good that the whitening takes place all the way through the bone which insures the skull will not yellow with age as can happen with bleached bones.

“Were not into this to get rich,” Rob Blades said. “We’re just a bunch of guys who enjoy getting together and working on these projects.”

The heads are boiled in propane turkey cookers. It can take 5 to 6 hours on average and then there’s another couple of hours picking and cleaning.

The skulls can be mounted on the wall or on a variety of plaques which are available.

They can whiten the skulls or offer them painted in various colors. They also have a process that allows them to reproduce a photo on the skull.

To check out their work and for more information on what they can do, check out their Web site at: http//triplebskulls.shutterfly.com/

For information, call Bill at (712) 251-4459 or (712) 276-0821.

“Not everyone wants a full-shoulder mount of every buck they kill,” Graves said. “After all, that costs a lot of money. However, with an European mount they can have a momento of their hunt for very little cost.”

Oh, there’s one great advantage to European mounts. The antlers look much larger.

The Game Cleaning System contains a set of field dressing gloves which protect your hands and arms from blood and bodily fluids all the way to your shoulders.

The kit also contains the new Butt Out® 2 big game field dressing tool which quickly and easily removes the alimentary canal of the animal being field dressed, making the entire process safer and easier.

An economy deer field dressing bag is included to place the animal in after skinning to keep off dirt and pests.

A pack of Scent-A-Way Field Wipes is also included for quick and easy clean up.

Proper game care in the field results in better table fare at home.

The Game Cleaning Kit from Hunter’s Specialties sells for a suggested retail price of $17.99.

For more information, log onto the Hunter’s Specialties website at www.hunterspec.com,

I’m sure you’ve had it happen to you, it’s deer season and you haven’t looked at your deer hunting gear since last season, now when you need it, you’re going to have to waste time trying to find your hunter’s orange vest, cap, range finder, binoculars, back pack etc.

It never fails, when you really need you gear it’s hard to find because it’s usually buried or piled on top of.

Well the folks at Sydell Outdoors have come up with the perfect solution, there Outdoor. Storage Units.

These units are ideal for storing hunting/fishing gear or any other type of sporting equipment.

Made of high impact polyethylene with a durable ABS door. The units stand 18” deep x 24” wide x 61” tall and come with three standard shelves.

They have molded shelf supports allowing placement of shelves on the inside of the unit as well as a place to support exterior shelves and to connect several units together.

Accessories include: shelf with coat hanger, gun shelves, fishing pole shelves and a combination lock.

By connecting several units together, you’ll have one unit for turkey hunt, one for waterfowl hunting and another for turkey hunting.

When it’s time to head for the field, all of your gear is in one place, allowing you to spend less time looking for gear and more time preparing for and hunting.

Sydell Outdoors storage units, helping to organize your next outdoor experience.

For more information on Sydell Outdoor products Watch for Sydell Outdoors website that will be coming soon.