Parker & Paul Colburn Nebraska Turkey Hunt 1

By Darr Colburn

  

My mom and dad both grew up around Kearney, Nebraska.  My grandmother who will be 88 soon still lives in Kearney.  My boys had never been to Nebraska and I wanted to show them our family roots.  Last time I visited I could not believe the amount of turkeys I saw.  A trip was planned to visit family and take my boys turkey hunting, two things that are very important to me.  We flew into Denver and drove the 5 hours to Kearney.  We saw no less than 30 different gobblers on the drive!  We got in around 7pm and ran out to meet my friend Shay McGowan who invited us to hunt on his property.  We met up with Shay and roosted a couple birds for the next morning.  The first morning my brother and his son headed to one blind while Parker and I went to another.  It started raining right after first light and my brother texted us that he had shot a nice gobbler with his bow.  Parker got his chance around 9:30 am when a gobbler and hen came into the calling and decoys.  The bird saw movement as Parker drew his bow and was walking when Parker shot.  The arrow sailed high right over his back.  The weather turned bad so we headed back for the day to spend time with the family.  The next morning a bird was gobbling on the roost and we set up in a blind about 300 yards from the roost.  Again as it got light the rain started.  The birds stayed in the tree a little later than normal but eventually came in to my calling.  Paul made a great shot and we had the second bird of the trip down.  We called in a couple more birds but Parker never got another shot.  The property we hunted was an island on the Platte River.  The river was about 200 yards across.  To access the property we had to ride a gondola like platform that hung from a couple of steel cables across the river.  The gondola was powered by a Honda motor located on top of the gondola.  The gondola hung about 15-20 feet above the river.  We had a great time on our trip to Nebraska.  While watching the news the night before we left I noticed that they have an outdoors section on the newscast that they show hunting pictures and fishing reports.  I believe more kids are exposed to hunting and fishing due to things like this.  We will definitely be back to the Heartland of America where the people are friendly and the turkeys are plentiful!

Old barn and farm house out in the country.

Gondola loaded with Paul's Gobbler about to head back across the Platte River.

There were lots of ticks out.  We sprayed down with OFF before heading out each morning.

Paul's Nebraska Rio Grande turkey. 

Parker "Getting Serious" in the Double Bull blind waiting for a gobbler to show up.

Nebraska Gobbler

Albino bearded hen we saw the last morning on another farm.

Happy turkey hunter Paul Colburn with his Nebraska Rio Grande turkey.

Looking across the Platte River towards the island we hunted.