Turkey hunting has been in my blood since the early 70’s when I first hit the woods in pursuit of the long beards.

Over the years, I’ve managed to take over eighty birds bagging every species in the U.S.  except for the Osceola of Florida.

As spring approaches, my excitement builds and as the season begins to draw down, I feel as if something will soon be missing from my life.

This year it was different, as I had tagged all three of my Nebraska birds early in the season, two in northeast Nebraska and one in the southeastern part of the state.

I’d also called had the opportunity to call in a couple of birds for Team member Larry Myhre while we hunted together.

Since I’d tagged all of my birds and there was plenty of time left. I decided to give my cameraman Kyle Nickolite, Yankton, the opportunity to shoot his first bird.

Kyle had been on several turkey hunts with me, but he was always on the other end, running the camera.

His first filming in he field had been a spring turkey hunt where a Tom came in behind him without making a sound, startling both he and I.

This is one of those things that will either scare the heck out of you or hook you on turkey hunting for life.

As most turkey hunters do, on our first trip, we headed out long before the sun rose and set up where we thought the birds would be traveling from the roost.

Sometimes, turkeys and other wild creatures don’t do what “We” think they should do and this was the case on our first hunt.

We’d set up in the dark up against a downed tree with the sun at our back.  We were well camouflaged and knew the birds were roosting in adjourning property to the west.

I began my calling as I always do soft and subtle, as a hen in the roost would as she awakens.

No response, only silence, so I called again and after a short pause again, no response.

As the sun rose farther in the eastern sky, I increased the volume of my calls, switching from my Roost’em box call to my slate and my diaphragm call.

Nothing, not a peep and at that point, I was beginning to wonder if the birds had moved their roost.

Just then, Kyle whispered on the ridge. There they were, one Tom, a small Jake and eight hens, not good as no Tom in his right mind would leave eight hens to come to one or two others, no matter how sweet they sounded.

It just wasn’t going to be our day to tag Kyle’s first bird.

We tried it another early morning, calling in one hen and a Jake that was so close that we could have reached out and grabbed him.

Permission had been given by the landowner across the road, so we headed that way, walking into a hen that was being followed by a Tom, unfortunately the hens sharp eyes pegged us before we could get set up.

After two early morning excursion and the close of the season rapidly approaching, I think Kyle was beginning to wonder about turkey hunting.

We decided to give it one more go, an after work hunt in an area we’d seen birds earlier in the year.

As we always had we glassed the area from a hillside prior to heading in to set up.

We spotted one Tom right where we had planned to set up, so a new plan or Plan B had to be quickly thrown together.

The plan would be to drive to the far end of the trees, put a sneak through the trees growing along the south side.

As we headed into the trees, a Tom gobbled off to the west.  With Kyle in the lead, we quietly approached the area we’d hoped to set up in.

Once we reached the tree line, I noticed that there was a slight rise about thirty yards in front of us, which didn’t give us much time to get on the bird as he popped over the rise.

Since we had no choice, I set the decoy in a low mating position just this side of the rise while Kyle set up our turkey fan off to his right.

Our fan came from one of last year’s birds and cut off where it attaches to the body. After dusting the tail section with Borax to help preserve it, it’s spread out and nailed to a board until it dries in a natural position.

We’d used fans years ago while hunting in central Missouri and since no one else was allowed to hunt this property, I felt it was safe enough to use the fan.

Note: The use of a fan can be dangerous if others may be hunting the same area, as a mature Tom’s fan can draw gunfire from some individuals.

Once again, I started with my Roost’em box call and then went to my slate call, giving the impression that there were two different birds calling.

And then, no response, which late in the season isn’t unusual as the breeding season is coming to the end and there is less talking going on between the Toms and hens.

We’d been on site about five minutes when a red head, no two red heads appeared on the rise as a Tom and Jake walked into full view.

I whispered to Kyle that the mature Tom was in the lead as he brought his shotgun into position.

The big Tom, noticing the hen decoy, turned in that direction and noticing the turkey fan quickly turned to face it and started moving slowly in it’s direction.

As I was giving the warning putt to get the Tom to raise its head, Kyle fired, dropping the big bird in its tracks.

Kyle’s first bird, weighing 20 plus pounds with a 10” beard and ¾” spurs a good bird, especially for the first one.

As I set here, knowing the season has ended, longing for next spring season, I have many memories from this spring, one stands out and that was where I introduced another to his first turkey hunt during our final hunt of the season.

When we headed north for Devils Lake in mid-central North Dakota, we had no idea as to what we were in for.

It could be three days of good weather, poor fishing or poor weather and good fishing.

As anyone who does an outdoor television series can tell you, it’s not very often that you expect it to be excellent weather and great fishing.

Well, that’s the way it happened last week when Team member Scott Ulrich and I along with cameraman Kyle Nickolite made the trip north to the big lake.

When I say big lake, I mean big lake, as Devils Lake is 177,100 surface acres, covering about 208 square miles and growing.

Not good for the landowners in the area, but great for anglers as it creates miles of new water for us to fish and structure beyond belief as there are flooded roads, railroad tracks and acre upon acre of flooded vegetation.

We met up with our guides the folks from Perch-Eyes Guide Service www.percheyes.com around 2:30 that afternoon and were on the water by 3:30 looking for areas where the wind was pounding into the flooded vegetation.

Since the lake is so clear, the fish were attracted to the mudlines and the warmer water temperatures in those areas.

The plan was to pitch Lindy Shadling crankbaits and X-change jigs up into the shallows of these areas, hoping to entice the fish to bite and bite they did!

Our guide on day one was Jason Feldner who knew the lake well and had us on fish shortly after we reached the north shore.

Because of all the flooded vegetation in the lake, the northern pike population has done well, so any bait that we tied on had to be accompanied by a light leader.

While Scott and I cast Shadlings, Jason probed the shallow water along the cattails, connecting with a pike on his third cast.

Not a giant, one around 10 pounds, but one that thought it was larger than it really was, as it went around the front of the boat as well as under it before it was landed and released.

Shortly there after, Scott’s collected the dollar for the first walleye when his Shadling was inhaled by a nice 2-pound walleye, one of the many taken during the first day of our trip.

After five hours of pitching Shadlings and X-Change jigs, our arms were sore as we’d landed northerns up to 10 pounds, white bass over 2 pounds and walleyes over 4 pounds, not a bad day in anybody’s book.

On day 2, our guide would be Kyle Clifton who would take us to a new area where we’d start out using slip bobbers and leeches.

We started fishing the ultra clear water in the flooded timber, unfortunately, it was early in the day and the water temps in the timber hadn’t reached that magic 59-60 degrees needed to turn the fish on.

After several moves with no luck slip bobber fishing, we started looking for the warmer water while pitching our Shadlings and X-Change jigs up shallow.

Once again it was our guide, using an X-change jig connected with our first fish of the day, another nice pike.

It was my turn to collect the dollar of the day for the second walleye, by the way, which I never received, when a nice 18” fish tried to tear up my Shadling while ripping my rod out of my hand, taking the bait right at the boat.

The warmer dirtier water was the key as we hammered walleyes, white bass and pike almost continually.

Before long, all three of us in the boat were pitching crankbaits up shallow with our best bait on this trip being the number 5 Lindy Shadling Redtail and Golden Shiner.

Two to three fish on at a time was a common occurrence and after a while all you heard was “Fish On.”

By the end of our second day my cameraman was earning his pay, jumping back and forth trying to catch all the action of the fish being caught,

With the sun was setting in the west; we were pitching cranks up into a windblown cattail bed when I had a jarring strike, one that I couldn’t gain ground on.

I managed to move the fish away from the shoreline, but then thought that it had ran into a snag, as I couldn’t budge the fish.

Our guide backed off on the trolling motor, allowing me to work the fish towards the boat.

By the head shaking that was going on, I didn’t think it was another northern and slowly moved it towards the net.

When the fish came up, it was pure bedlam as it was a monster and seeing the boat made a desperate dive to shake loose the Shadling in it’s mouth.

Finally I managed to get the fish’s head out of the water while our guide Kyle worked it into the net.

The walleye had engulfed the entire Shadling, weighed in over 9 pounds and was the biggest fish of the trip.

But it didn’t end there as shortly after we took photos of the fish, Kyle connected with another big fish, this one over 8 pounds, another picture fish.

What a trip, as in less than 15 hours of fishing, we’d boated over 200 fish, an extraordinary trip, and one that won’t be forgotten.

If you’re looking for a great place to fish, a lake that offers a smorgasbord of fish species, you’ll want to give Devils Lake a try; it’s well worth the trip.

If you’d like more information on the Devil’s Lake area you can go to www.devilslakend.com

We ‘d just come outside to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee when the gobbling of a turkey disturbed the morning silence.

Nothing unusual, since we’d been at the lodge for a couple of days and whenever we’d been on the deck we not only heard turkeys, but also coyotes, prairie chickens and Canada geese announcing their presence.

It was both Larry and my second hunt of the spring turkey season; Larry had tagged one bird in Northeast Iowa while I had put down two birds in Northeastern Nebraska.

We were in S.E. Nebraska as we’d been invited down to film and hunt the 2,000 acres owned by Scott and Billie Kay Bodie.

I’d met them last fall while hunting in the Nebraska Governor’s Pheasant Hunt, which was headquartered out of Beatrice, NE.

Southeastern Nebraska is a beautiful place as not only is there an abundance of game in the area; there are numerous ponds and small lakes dotting the countryside.

The property we were hunting had several lakes, one, located just below the lodge was 25 acres and was stocked with bass, crappie, bluegill and pike.

When we arrived shortly after lunch, we met with Scott who directed us into the lodge and gave us a brief description of the land we’d be hunting and the birds that called the area home met us.

According to a wildlife biologist Scott had talked to, the birds in the area were 5-way hybrids with Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam, Hybrids as well as some of the Bonze tame birds.

Larry and I quickly unloaded our gear, changed into our hunting camo and followed Scott to the area he thought we should begin our hunt.

The area we’d be hunting consists of rolling hills, open pastures with draws lined with oaks and cedar trees.

As we always do, we approached the area quietly, cautiously moving through the area, while carefully glassing each open area before proceeding.

Once we were assured that a Tom wasn’t in the open area, we called softly from areas just inside the tree line.

After using this approach several times to no avail, we headed up hill towards a cluster of trees that we thought would give us a vantage point over the next open pasture.

Since Larry was shooting, I manned the camera, following slightly behind and off to his right side.

We were about to reach the shelter of the trees when I spotted the tell tale blue, white and red coloration of two Tom turkeys as they worked their way towards the sound of our last call.

Instantly, we dropped to the ground, hoping the birds hadn’t seen us as we quickly crawled towards the shelter of the trees.

Larry was hugging one side of the tree while filmed from the other side as the two Toms
Slowly came to Larry’s Roost’em, call.

Both birds peaked from behind the Buck Brush out in front of us with only their brightly colored heads showing above the foliage.

Larry took aim at the right one and fired, flipping the bird backwards and tumbling it over.

We’d been in the field less that forty minutes and had one bird in the bag.

At this rate, what were we going to do the next couple of days?

Once the bird was tagged and put on ice, we headed towards for an area where a trail made it’s way through the trees.

Not knowing what was below us, we decided to set up on the knob just above the trail and call.

We alternated the calling until I heard a faint gobble from the other side of the tree line, at which time I took over the calling while Larry manned the camera.

Within 15 minutes, I swore I heard a Tom drumming, but since my hearing isn’t the best, I didn’t alert Larry until the bird’s fan appeared on the edge of the trees directly in front of us.

Like many other spring Toms that we’ve hunted, the bird took his time coming in silently.

As the Tom strutted and turned, I slowly brought my shotgun up, resting it on my knees facing the bird.

When the bird first appeared, I’d switched from my slate call and was softly purring on my mouth diaphragm call, as it required no movement.

The Tom ignored our two hen decoys, coming around their left side towards the tree that I was backed up against.

As the bird came closer, I hoped that Larry had gotten the bird on film and as it came around a small bush, I gave a warning putt, causing the Tom to extend it’s neck and head.

My twelve gauge barked, putting the bird down for the count and the three and one half inch Winchester Extended Range 5 shot loads accounted for yet another Nebraska Tom this season.

As I tagged my third bird of the season, I admired the bird’s 9-inch beard and seven eighth-inch spurs and gladly lugged the heavy mature Tom back to the pickup.

What an excellent hunt, as we’d only been at Big Blue Ranch & Lodge www.bigblueranch.com for about two hours and taken our two birds.

With the two remaining days on this trip, we took advantage of the excellent habitat on the ranch, filming wildlife and catching dozens of bass, crappie and bluegill from the pond below the lodge.

Turkey numbers in Nebraska and many other upper Midwestern states have exploded with numerous permits available to the hunter that want to get out and experience one of the truly great outdoor experiences, spring turkey hunting.

If you’ve never been up north, it’s quite a treat as it’s big water where there are hundreds and hundreds of icehouses on the ice, every size, shape and variety.

As a matter of fact, this year, the Zippel Bay Igloo made its appearance on the ice.

Resembling a large igloo, this large icehouse/bar is a big attraction as it has a full bar, big screen TV, tables and benches where you can not only eat a pizza, you have an opportunity to wet a line while enjoying your favorite drink.

The largest fish taken by anglers in the Igloo is a 48” northern that Desire, the young lady that runs the establishment took the first week in February.

Ice fishing is extremely popular on Lake of the Woods, part of the reason being that in the winter you’re allowed to use two rods and the limit for walleye and sauger is raised to eight (4 walleyes and 4 sauger).

Walleyes are the larger cousin of the sauger, reaching over 10 pounds with the average size probably being in the 2 to 4 pound class.

Walleyes are identified by their greenish gold color along with the white tip on their lower tail fin.

Sauger on the other hand are much more streamlined and more aggressive than walleyes. Primarily a river fish, the average size for sauger would be 1 to 2 pounds with a fish over 3-pounds being a real trophy.

Getting on Lake of the Woods out of Zippel Bay is easy as ice roads are plowed out onto the 30” of ice, allowing fishermen easy access to their houses.  Streets are all marked with street signs such as Perch, Big Fish and Walleye, making it easy for anglers to get to the right spot.

On this trip, we were filming with Nick and Deanna at Zippel Bay Resort. Joining us were Team Outdoorsmen Adventures members Larry Myhre, Sioux City, IA. and Jon Thelen, Crystal, MN.

Our plan was to start shallow in the morning, working deep during the day and then back shallow for the last light bite.

A cold front had rolled in the night before, which generally shuts the fish down or at least makes them a harder to catch so we knew that it could be a tough bite.

To combat the cold front, we went to live bait, (small hook, split shot and micro bobber) while downsizing our presentation using baits like the 3/16th Lindy Frostee Jigging Spoons.

We were using fat head minnows, going with the smaller minnows the majority of the time.

When using the jigging spoon, a whole minnow may be too much for cold front fish, so we went with a partial minnow (minnow head) as this worked best for us.

Every once in awhile, we’d drop down a Lindy Darter which not only caught a few fish, it also attracted fish into the area as several times our locators would light up below the darter and then our livebait rigs would take a fish.

We were fishing in icehouses placed over rock and rubble, fishing the shallower water on the top early and late and as the sun got brighter moving off the edge into deeper water.

Since it was such a lite bite, we needed to keep our live bait rigs at a minimum, going with a small hook, lighter split shot and a bobber.

When fishing cold front conditions, you want you bobber to verily float on the top of the water so that the fish feel no resistance when they mouth your bait.

I like to use a very small slip bobber, one that is just visible in the ice hole.

If you’ve ever had a fish pull your bobber down part way and then let go, that’s a pretty good indicator that your using too large of a float.

If all you have are the larger floats, you can add a larger split shot so that the float will suspend deeper in the water column.

A good locator is a must when ice fishing otherwise you’re fishing blind as all species of fish will move up and down in the water column and can be found a few feet below the ice at times.

If you’re fishing right off the bottom as many ice fishermen do and the fish are above you, you’re in for a long day!

Locators will indicate when a fish comes in under your transducer, which allows you to either bring your bait up or drop it down putting your bait where the fish are.

We all caught some nice fish and a lot of the smaller more aggressive sauger, which is a good sign for the years to come, as there will be a tremendous catchable sauger population in years to come.
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If you’re looking for a place to do some ice fishing yet this winter, Zippel Bay Resort will have icehouses out until the end of March.

We ended up taking home our eight fish limit on this trip and are patiently waiting for the soft water season when we’ll make another trip to Lake of the Woods, the walleye capital of the world.

For more information on Zippel Bay Resort and the excellent fishing on Lake of the Woods, go to www.zippelbayresort.com

During the late season, the weather can be down right nasty as I found out last week on a hunt we filmed near Watertown, S.D.

Over the last several years, a group of us back home in Watertown, S.D.  try to get together to do a pheasant hunt and this year; we just happened to pick a day where the weatherman predicted a temperature of -12 with a wind chill, a brisk  –21 degrees.

Well needless to say, because of the many things going on during this time of the year and the colder weather, we ended up with just 3 hunters on the first day of the hunt and four on the second.

Chuck Stone & John Wilson joined us on the first day with Chuck Stone, my cousin Joe Jipp and Larry Munger joining us on the second day.

With the cold temperatures, we didn’t get too excited about going out, hoping that it would warm up a bit, waiting until one o’clock before hunting our first field.

With the smaller group we were hunting with, we’d have to change our hunting tactics, hunting smaller patches then we had the year before when we hunted with a larger group.

We’d be hunting smaller grass strips, sloughs along with a few rows of unpicked corn.

On the first drive, since Chuck and I had dogs, we’d push through a slough towards a stock dam where John would be strategically waiting for those birds that ran ahead of us or flushed out the end.

As it often happens this time of the year, several birds blew out of the cover well out of range as we worked our way through the slough.

Fortunately for us, they only flew a short distance, dropping back into the four rows of snow packed unpicked corn we’d be hunting next.

The unpicked corn was a perfect place for the birds as they could burrow under the snow getting out of the weather and not far from their food source.

Shortly after we started our walk, one shot from John’s shotgun rang out, which is a good sign because when you hear one shot you can bet that the bird was down, as John doesn’t let many birds get by.

The birds that flew up in front of Chuck and I either flushed well out of range or were buried deep under the snow, until our dogs dug them out.

We ended up with four birds on our first walk and another out of a smaller slough on the east end of the field.  Not bad for three hunters out during the late season!

With the sun quickly disappearing in the west we hit a larger slough, hoping to pick up the last few birds of the day.

We followed the dogs as they worked through the slough, flushing several birds before the dog could get near them.

When my dog finally managed to corral a rooster, I was looking off to the north where I’d heard several shots in the direction that Chuck and John were hunting.

I franticly swung around, trying to catch up with the bird that was now airborne, as he desperately tried to put as much distance between himself and the dog.

My Escort 12 gauge barked twice as the bird careened through the trees and off into the next field.

The laughter from my cameraman and the goofy look from my dog told the whole story as I hadn’t touch a feather on the bird, but I did do an excellent job on a small tree and a bunch of reeds the rooster had came from.

The shooting I’d heard earlier was Chuck and John as the dog had flushed the first of four roosters as they approached the end of the slough.

The birds flushed in pairs with each hunter bagging two birds apiece, ending the first day of our hunt.

Our hunt on day two was very similar to our previous day as we hunted some several of the same areas, all of which were still holding birds.

If you’re still looking to do some pheasant hunting, there’s still some of the late season left, as the South Dakota pheasant season will run through January 3rd with the Nebraska season closing January 31st.

Late season hunting can be very productive, as you won’t have all the competition for hunting spots that you’d have during the early season.

The birds will be more concentrated, giving both the hunters and their dogs opportunities to hunt before the end of the season.

In the few hours that we hunted our group bagged seventeen birds, a bonus when hunting late season, as I feel the real benefit is the opportunity I had to spend time back home with friends and family.

It was a stargazers dream, one that’s quite common in Nebraska and one that few people living in the large cities on either coast had ever had the opportunity to gaze upon.

As daybreak finally arrived and the sun popped up over the horizon, we were greeted by 50-degree temperatures with an afternoon forecast predicted to reach up into the 70’s.

And what’s so great about that? Well, we were about to head into the field to hunt pheasants at the Nebraska Governor’s Hunt in November, the time of the year when folks up north are usually wearing stocking caps, gloves and long johns were in order, not the short sleeve shirts and tee shirts that we were wearing.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors, and the hunting only made it better. It was one of those perfect days in the outdoors, one of those days you’ve always dreamed about.

The Governor’s Pheasant Hunt is a team event with five members on a team.  It’s a one-box hunt, which means that each team receives 25 shells in order to bag their 15-bird limit.

Shells can be divided up amongst the team members any way that they wish and the team that checks in with the most birds shot using the least shells is declared the winner.

Teams are assigned a guide, scorer and are allowed to have two dogs on the ground at one time.

The hunt headquarters was Beatrice, NE. with the 12 teams scattered throughout a 2-County area.  In this competition, there are two divisions; one for wild birds and another for preserve birds.

Our five-man Media team consisted of myself, P.J. Perea, Sr. Editor Turkey Country Magazine, Edgefield, S.C., outdoor writer Dave Zumbaugh, Mission, KS as well as Sam Sidner, & Kirk Nelson Assistant Directors of the Nebraska Game & Parks.

Nebraska Tourism was hosting our team Tourism’s Tom Tabor being our host. He along with Scott Bonertz, Nebraska Game & Parks who would act as my cameraman would accompany us on the hunt.

Our guide and score keeper would be Greg Thomas and his son Covey Rise Outfitters (www.coveyriseoutfitters.net) and we’d be hunting several excellent CRP fields near Liberty, NE.

Like much of Nebraska this year, there was an abundance of crops still in the field, so the birds had numerous places to hide which meant we’d have put on a few miles if we were to have a chance at winning this competition.

We were hunting large thick heavy CRP, ideal habitat for all types of wildlife as it gave them not only roosting cover, it gave them nesting and loafing cover as well as a close by food source.

Our first push through the filed yielded several hens, but none of the gaudy colored roosters we were searching for.  About halfway back, a rooster blew out of the cover off to my right; I managed to rock him, not hitting him hard enough to put him down for good.  Fortunately, Greg marked where it dropped and we were able to go through the area later to retrieve the bird.

A short while later, another bird rumbled skyward into the sun and once again, I rocked him, but was unable to put him in the bag.

At that point, it wasn’t looking good and I was wishing that I’d saved some of my better shooting I’d displayed the day before when we shot trap at the Beatrice Gun Club.

Several other birds got up well out of range before Kirk finally added the first bird to our bag.

Well, as I always say, the first bird is the toughest to bag and now we were well on our way to our limits.

We managed to bag five birds with 15 shells before running out of time in order to make it back to Beatrice in order to make the final weigh in.

While hunting pheasants, we busted several large coveys of quail and after talking with other groups of hunters; it looks like the quail population in the area is on the rise as all teams put birds in the air.

At the banquet in Beatrice that evening, top honors were given out; unfortunately our team didn’t pick up any prizes. Being the eternal optimist, I figure we’ll get them next year.

If you’re looking for a great area to hunt and some good old fashion competition, give the Nebraska’s Governor’s hunt a try as it’s one of those events that anyone whose an outdoorsmen or women would truly enjoy.

For more information on the Nebraska Governor’s hunt contact Main Street Beatrice at 402-223-3244.

Well there’s one “Triangle” that all outdoorsmen and women would love to be and that’s the Pheasant Triangle in South Dakota.

Located in South Central South Dakota, this area has the habitat and crops that make it a Mecca for not only pheasants, but also for deer, grouse and turkey.

Hamill, South Dakota is located right in the middle of the triangle where Steve and Donna Kubik own and operate Antler Ridge Lodge.

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of hunting pheasants with the Kubik’s during the South Dakota Governor’s hunt and was really impressed by not only the pheasant hunting, but also the facilities and the area itself.

Last Spring, Team Outdoorsmen Adventures member Tom Mitchell and I had the privilege of hunting and filming a spring turkey hunt at Antler Ridge.

When we drove into the place, there were antelope along the road, pheasants everywhere as well as deer and turkeys, I just knew that this was a place that I wanted to be.

There were Lots of birds as both Tom and I filled our tags our birds during some of the strangest spring weather I’ve ever come across.

Sixty degree one day, five inches of snow the next morning and back to fifty degrees that afternoon.

The accommodations were fantastic as was Donna’s down home cooking, with all of us getting more than enough to eat.

Since we had such a great hunt there last spring, we decided to do a pheasant hunt this fall with a few of our sponsors.

Once again, we weren’t disappointed as the pheasant population of the Triangle was amazing.

No matter what type of habitat we hunted, there were huge numbers of birds as this area has the habitat that not only allow the birds to survive, but also to prosper and prosper they have!

We came in one afternoon and after a tremendous lunch, went out for a couple of hours, got our limit of birds and then back to the lodge for cocktails and another hug dinner.

The following day was the same, a tremendous breakfast, we walked or should I say waddled out to our vehicles and headed for the field.

Once again we had hundreds of wild birds flushing out of every field, slough, shelterbelt and draw we walked.

Because of the excellent shooting by our guys, were limited out before noon, had another unbelievable lunch and were on the road headed for home with an our eleven man two day limit of pheasants.

It’s an amazing place, excellent hunting, tremendous facilities and Donna’s unbelievable cooking.

If you’re looking for a truly great outdoor experience, I’d recommend Antler Ridge Lodge, check out their web site at www.antlerridgelodge.com

The scenery was breathtaking as were the facilities and the pheasant hunting that we were about to experience.

Diamond A Ranch is located just down the road from Gregory and the habitat on the ranch is ideal not only pheasants, but also deer and turkey.

On this hunt Gary Kubicek and Bill McPherson from Consumer Supply, Sioux City, IA, joined us.

Consumer Supply is the manufacturers of the Country Vet Dog food a balanced nutritional dog food that we’ve been using for years.

Also joining us on this hunt would be my brother-in-law Tom Janssen and Dr. Ken Bird from Omaha.

Our first walk would be a milo field just down the road from the ranch and any one who’s ever hunted knows: milo is an excellent food source for pheasants.

Since it’s a short crop it’s easy to hunt, work dogs and since it produces such thick heavy over head cover it’s a great place for birds to feed and loaf while and not have to be concerned with the eagles and hawks flying over head searching for an easy meal.

Both my Lab Mo and Tom’s Lab Gus worked the fields helping us locate and retrieve the birds, these along with the dogs the guide had, gave us excellent coverage of all types of areas that we’d be hunting.

No matter where we went, there was an abundance of birds; both hens and roosters indicating that there would be plenty of birds down the road.

On both days, we worked our way through milo, corn, grass and tree plantings, bagging our limits.

There were some really great shots made, like the long distance one that the Tom and several of the other guys made as well as several of those “in your face” shots where the pheasant, not realizing it was or should have been dead flew away unscathed!

After a day of fantastic pheasant hunting we had some fantastic meals, this along with the relaxing atmosphere and great accommodations made this trip one that we’ll all remember.

If you’re looking for a great place to hunt and relax, give Jim and Andrea Olson a call at 712-281-0968 or look them up on the web at DiamondAPheasants.com

But try to tell that to the thousands of ring-necked pheasants that call this mixture of native grasslands and farm crops home.

Several were taking to the air right now and, with camera in one hand and gun in the other, I was at a loss for what to do.

As usual, I didn’t get the best effort from either.

“Who cares,” I thought. I’m just going to soak up the beauty of this land on an October afternoon on the Diamond A Ranch 14 miles north of Gregory.

A 2,000-acre hunting preserve owned by Jim and Andrea Olson, the Diamond A is not a diamond in the rough. It is a splendid, well-appointed preserve awash in wild pheasants, turkeys and deer.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., and I met Gary Kubicek and Bill McPherson, both with Country Vet pet foods out of Sioux City, Gary’s brother-in-law Tom Jansen and his friend Kenneth Bird, both of Omaha, for a couple days of bird shooting.

We never did get more than a half mile from the lodge. We walked milo strips mostly and the birds were there.

It was the second visit to the Diamond A by Howey and me. We had hunted here last year, the first year of operation for Jim and Andrea, who farm near Homer, Neb.

The lodge sits at the edge of a small lake stocked with bass and bluegills right at the foot of one of the big buttes which line the north side of the property.

A small creek spills from the dam and runs along the base of the bluffs.

Tall piles of rocks at the top of the butte, placed there by Indians or early white explorers, was a signal to prairie travelers that there is good water below, Jim told me last year.

The rocks serve no purpose now, only an historical anecdote. However, an occasional coyote howl or sounds of turkeys gobbling in the timber, is a reminder that not all of the wild is gone from this historic area

I ‘d filmed a Mieke snagging three years ago, but we’d never had the opportunity to fish together as she hadn’t had the best of luck drawing a tag.

Since the border for South Dakota and Nebraska is the river, both states have a limited number of tags available with a drawing being held for those permits

Well this year would be different as we’d both received tags.  I had my resident Nebraska as well a South Dakota non-resident paddlefish tag and she had a non-resident Nebraska tag.

When I headed out the door that morning, I couldn’t believe my eyes it was only October 12th and everything was covered with a heavy wet snow and it was still coming down.

Being the optimist that I am, I just knew it would quit shortly and gone before I knew it.

The snow was already disappearing as Larry Myhre, Sioux City, IA. and I headed north to meet our guide Marlyn Wiebelhaus, Wynot, NE and Mieke.

Arriving at the boat launch, it was good to see that Mieke had made the trip down, as she was all ready to go.

Marlyn arrived shortly there after and we launched the boat, preparing for another great day on the water.

As we pulled up below the dam at Yankton, there was only one boat there and he was already fighting a fish

Since the season is only open in October, we knew that it wouldn’t be long before more boats would be showing up.

Since Paddlefish are plankton feeders, the only way to catch them is by snagging, which is a much different method than most fishermen are used to.

Marlyn snags a little bit differently that a lot of folks, those that cast out yanking and cranking their line, heavy sinker and hook back in.

Marlyn’s method is more of a gentleman’s sport as he simply has the snaggers in his boat drop off line until they feel that they have enough line out and their weight is on the bottom at which time, he slowly trolls through the area that holds the fish. The anglers keep yanking on their rods until a hook up is made.

Since fish generally face into the current, our best luck came as we trolled across the current, giving us a larger target to try and hook with our small treble hook.

Just as the boat started to move, I gave a yank on the rod and was immediately pulled up from my seat by a solid fish.

I fought the fish in to the boat and it measured out 34” just below the 35”-45” slot where the fish need to be released.

Marlyn indicated that that was a pretty decent fish to tag, but since we were filming a show I didn’t want to quit after one fish, so we decided to release it.

We hadn’t gone too far after my fish when just as Mieke pulled on her rod, lifting the weight off the bottom her rod bent over hard.

For a minute or so, we weren’t sure if Mieke had the fish or if it had her as she wasn’t gaining a whole lot on the fish.

It didn’t take her long to start gaining on the fish and when she did, a nice fish came on board, another just below the slot, which also went back in the water.

It seemed like every pass, one of us would hook up and bring a fish into the boat, several were small hammer handles while others we’re larger 40”-41” fish, those in the slot.

There’s some big fish out there as one that weighed 67 pounds had been weighed in at Captain Norms.

Mieke tied into one fish that she could hardly move and after a short battle, the fish decided that he had enough of this and broke her 40-pound line.

Looking around at the 8 boats that were now below the dam, it appeared as if everyone was doing well as it wasn’t uncommon to see one or even two anglers in a boat hooked up and fighting a fish.

Along both shorelines, there were numerous people fishing from shore and they too were having very good luck.

Throughout the year the paddlefish stack up below the dam and will stay there until there until boat pressure forces them down stream or over into the closed area in the fast water below the turbines.

We were finished in a couple of hours snagging a total of 14 fish; with the fish we tagged being just over 30” from the eye to the fork o the tail.

They’ll both be excellent eaters as once cleaned properly, and with no bones in their body, they are one of the finest eating fish around.

Snagging may be a little work, but once you tie into one of these powerful prehistoric fish, you won’t be disappointed as they are one unbelievable fish.