Turkey Hunting: Nebraska Triple by OutdoorLife
In the early season鈥攚hen turkeys are still in big flocks鈥攖here鈥檚 a good chance that a handful of toms will strut into your decoy spread together.聽
A lot of guys hunt with a partner and the pinnacle of any spring morning in the turkey woods is doubling up on two mature toms. But,聽what鈥檚 the best way to kill two birds at once?
I got to thinking about this after a really cool early-season hunt in eastern Nebraska. Outdoor photographer Mitch Kezar and I had been routinely skunked going into the last morning of our trip. But we set up a blind and decoys on the edge of a big cornfield and Kezar killed a longbeard about two hours into the hunt. Soon enough, three jakes tromped into our spread and we got lucky, killing聽all three聽and punching聽our three remaining tags (as you can see in the video, we were pretty pumped).聽
Take Your Pick
One method for doubling on birds calls for the first shooter to count 鈥?, 2, 3, BANG,鈥?with both guys shooting聽on聽鈥淏ANG鈥? To be honest, I鈥檝e never pulled this one off (or seen it done successfully, in person). I鈥檝e heard a bunch of stories of it working, but there are even more stories about it going awry. Usually, one guy shoots too quickly. Then his buddy is caught off guard and either pulls his shot, or never gets to shoot. Sometimes the hunters can get so caught up in getting two good shots that neither one gets a shot opportunity at all. 聽
Another method has the first shooter simply fire when he is ready. The second guy waits, watching the other birds and then kills one if they hang out after the shot (which they sometimes do) or make too slow of an escape. The thinking here is that a gobbler in hand is better than two in the bush. 聽聽
So, do you and your turkey buddies set up a coordinated strike, or shoot one bird at a time?
Either way, here a couple things to consider:
1.聽Let the longbeards work all the way into the decoys.聽A strutting jake with a couple hens can be a killer setup in the early season. Besides bringing them 聽in closer, decoys (especially the jake) will distract the birds and give you a better chance to kill two.聽
2.聽Make sure your shots are clear. The hardest part of killing two turkeys can frequently聽be getting a clear shot. Oftentimes toms will come into a decoy spread wing聽to wing and scatter together when the shooting starts. Make sure there are no hens behind the toms and that your shooting lanes are totally clear.
3.聽Talk it over ahead of time. You鈥檙e probably going to have some time to kill waiting on the birds, so talk through the plan. Who鈥檚 going to shoot first? Are you going to count or wait? Is it shoot on 鈥?鈥?or after 鈥?鈥? Have a plan, and put it into action.聽
