Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Nebraska, Late Season

I am going to be in Nebraska May 22-25. I've made several trips to the property and there are always tons of turkeys. I've just never been this late in the season and I am wondering what to expect. I am hoping for lots of hens nesting and lonely, love-starved gobblers. Has anyone hunted north central NE this late?

Thanks for the info.

We hunted late May last year expecting/hopeing hens to be on the nest and lonely gobblers. No such luck for us. We tagged out but still had to deal with gobblers with lots of hens.

I live in northwest Nebraska and it seems that the gobblers always have hens. It has been a cold spring, but as of late the gobblers have been responding very well to calling.

I am assuming by north central you are within a short distance to Valentine. They have had a mixed bag of weather in the area but the weather should be calmer then. The turkeys will still be turkeys and if you hit a hot gobbler you may have some luck. I have not seen much difference in the time of year or the number of "hened up" gobblers. You can call them away from the main flock if they are greedy and you can't when they don't feel like it. I personally don't like to use a full sized gobbler decoy, late. By this time the pecking order has been established and the lesser toms don't want to get the hell beat out of them so they shy away from gobbler dekes. Have a great trip.-Mike

Thanks for the input. We will be about an hour and a half east of Valentine.

We will take whatever comes our way, but it is fun to dream of lonesome gobblers!

We've made the trip out there a few times. A good friend has access to some primo property. He lives out of state now so this a get together for a few of use. We catch up, chase some gobblers, camp out and just live the good life for a few days. We usually go earlier in May (the snowstorm that one year changed our attitude about going in April, but boy was that a fun trip) but pretty much we go whenever the crew can schedule around work and kids and responsibilities. This is the latest in the season we have ever gone.

I sure do love this trip!

Then you will be near Long Pine or Bassett area. Have not hunted that late in May, but did have some success the first weekend in May on private property.

There was a handicapped youth hunt that same weekend that they were having some good success, but birds were a bit stubborn.

They were very spooky and hung up last week in SW NE. Saw a bunch. The gobblers were still very much henned up and wouldn't leave their ladies. Also saw a couple of the hens badly spooked by dekes. I stopped using dekes the second day and went with very soft and very infrequent calling. The birds made lots of noise in the trees at night and morning, but shut up completely when they hit the ground. Saw several wandering gobblers that didn't seem interested in anything but eating.

Heading back next week for a last try.

Went out this morning and they gobbled good on the roost and for a couple of hours after they hit the ground and they came to the call from near and far, my friend just could not shoot well so it is looking like you will have a good time if the weather holds.

Just a few more days . . . can't wait!

Last few days IV seen lots of toms wondering around alone..should be some good hunting right now.

Everything is packed up and ready to go. I will begin the long drive in the morning and if all goes as planned, will be chasing Nebraska gobblers on Thursday afternoon!

Just got back from SW NE. The gobblers are blazing hot, but still henned. Even then, I had little trouble shooting two nice toms. Watched lots of others strut for hours. Great time. It was very warm with rain one night.

I got back from my trip earlier this week. I've been so busy trying to catch up at work and home that I haven't had time to post.

As always, the trip was great. I enjoyed catching up with a couple of good friends that I don't see often. The turkey hunting was good too. I filled both the tags I bought. I was surprised at how many hens that I saw, but I did find a few gobblers willing to respond to my calls.

That's what we wanted to hear. Glad you found some willing gobblers. Some of the local birds finally got out the week before memorial day and started to display. Very strange late year here.-Mike