Turkey hunting Nebraska: Pine Ridge Region

[Easternhunter338]

Coming from Pennsylvania, I got invited on a turkey hunt to Nebraska this spring in the north west corner around the Pine Ridge Region. I have not ever been to this area and the person who invited me hasn't been there in a few years. I was wondering how the turkey population has been and kind of what to expect in late April-May time frame? Lots of other hunters on public land? Thanks everyone!

 

[Bukwild3]

I'll be up there Mid April. Not sure when u are going but if u pm me I might be able to help out when y'all go. Biologist said numbers were good. I'm expecting high Hunter numbers. But I am keeping my options wide open to be able to move around.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Numbers are rebounding from the storm 3 years ago. Should be good numbers. If hunting the public land in the hills.... hope for warm weather so that the turkeys move from the private bottom ground and up into the hills. When hunting public get a map and find the most remote area that you can (not pressured) where no others hunters will go. Not sure where you are staying, however, the "Westerner Motel" is a great place to stay. Locally owned, very nice people, can back up to the door to unload, can clean your birds out back, they have a freezer for your birds. Last time I stayed there... $45.00 per night. I always stay there.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[Easternhunter338]

Numbers are rebounding from the storm 3 years ago. Should be good numbers. If hunting the public land in the hills.... hope for warm weather so that the turkeys move from the private bottom ground and up into the hills. When hunting public get a map and find the most remote area that you can (not pressured) where no others hunters will go. Not sure where you are staying, however, the "Westerner Motel" is a great place to stay. Locally owned, very nice people, can back up to the door to unload, can clean your birds out back, they have a freezer for your birds. Last time I stayed there... $45.00 per night. I always stay there.

good luck to all
the dog

That motel sounds like a pretty good spot, hopefully the birds are still gobbling around late April. This will be my first Merriam's hunt so I'm excited. Do the turkeys tend to favor the private over the public land? Most the public land looks like hilly "mountainous" areas.

 

[JDH]

That motel sounds like a pretty good spot, hopefully the birds are still gobbling around late April. This will be my first Merriam's hunt so I'm excited. Do the turkeys tend to favor the private over the public land? Most the public land looks like hilly "mountainous" areas.

When I was in the area last fall the birds seemed to be on both public and private. A majority of the ones that we saw were near drainages or ag/hay fields.

 

[Easternhunter338]

When I was in the area last fall the birds seemed to be on both public and private. A majority of the ones that we saw were near drainages or ag/hay fields.

I'm just excited to get out there and see the country. Living in PA I expect turkey hunting out there is much different. Hopefully they're still gobbling into May

 

[Chad Gus]

Hunted there a few times in the last 5 years and numbers were pretty solid. You will definitely have company on public land, but you can find plenty of area's with little to no hunting pressure. I typically go the first week of may and the toms are going strong.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

That motel sounds like a pretty good spot, hopefully the birds are still gobbling around late April. This will be my first Merriam's hunt so I'm excited. Do the turkeys tend to favor the private over the public land? Most the public land looks like hilly "mountainous" areas.

I won't steer you wrong on that motel. There are "two types" of turkeys out there. The HILL turkeys and the RIVER BOTTOM turkeys. The river bottom birds will roost in cottonwoods and stay around ag fields (private land). The hill turkeys will migrate into the hills (public land). Very beautiful land and they are lots of fun to hunt. NOTE: you can hunt them like eastern birds.. sit and call, however, don't be afraid to get aggressive and move a lot to locate them. Lots of wide open spaces out there. You will have a blast. Don't worry about the birds still gobbling, heck I usually don't go out until the first or second week in May. That way I hope to avoid the snow storms.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you drive the dirt roads on public land... Have GOOD tires and if it rains they can get slick

good luck to all
the dog

 

[hobbes]

I prefer May in The Pine Ridge. Less likely for snow. I actually like the end of season. Less gobbling and the possibility of hot weather at the end but fewer hunters too.
Birds will be gobbling in May.

 

[Easternhunter338]

I prefer May in The Pine Ridge. Less likely for snow. I actually like the end of season. Less gobbling and the possibility of hot weather at the end but fewer hunters too.
Birds will be gobbling in May.

That's what I'm hoping for. The one guy I'm going with said there was close to 3 feet of snow through April out there...hopefully it won't be quite so cold!

 

[bcar]

I'm headed to Chadron State park area this weekend. My buddy has talked to the biologist and CO and they've said the numbers are high. They made it sound like hunter pressure wasn't really an issue. As of last week they said the birds were still pretty bunched up for winter and mostly on private ground was the impression I got. As soon as some spring weather starts showing up as others said the "hill birds" will split up and head into the public areas. They also said that it's pretty easy to get permission onto private ground, but some land owners might want a small trespass fee. Hopefully I'll have a good update for you after our trip this weekend, still trying to gain info myself.

 

[Easternhunter338]

I'm headed to Chadron State park area this weekend. My buddy has talked to the biologist and CO and they've said the numbers are high. They made it sound like hunter pressure wasn't really an issue. As of last week they said the birds were still pretty bunched up for winter and mostly on private ground was the impression I got. As soon as some spring weather starts showing up as others said the "hill birds" will split up and head into the public areas. They also said that it's pretty easy to get permission onto private ground, but some land owners might want a small trespass fee. Hopefully I'll have a good update for you after our trip this weekend, still trying to gain info myself.

I hope you do well out there! Let us know how it is. They should at least be starting to gobble pretty good. I know in PA they are

 

[bcar]

We're pushing our trip back to the last weekend of April due to the blizzard that's going to hit Chadron on Friday. All this anticipation and now I gotta wait 2 more weeks!

 

[hobbes]

Good decision. Early season is always a gamble, and this year winter does not want to loosen it's grip .

 

[Easternhunter338]

We're pushing our trip back to the last weekend of April due to the blizzard that's going to hit Chadron on Friday. All this anticipation and now I gotta wait 2 more weeks!

How's your hunt going? I'm heading there next weekend so hopefully they're still gobbling!

 

[bcar]

How's your hunt going? I'm heading there next weekend so hopefully they're still gobbling!

Leaving tonight and arriving just before daylight tomorrow to hunt through Sunday morning! Hopefully I'll have lots of pics to share on Monday

 

[pointingdogsrule]

How's your hunt going? I'm heading there next weekend so hopefully they're still gobbling!

I'll be there May 6 - 10. Good luck to all and leave a few birds for me.

As a side note.... talked to my friend around the Four Corners area of South Dakota / Wyoming and he stated that most of the back country roads were still closed with lots of snow. Hopefully these 70 degrees temps will melt a lot of snow fast

good luck to all
the dog

 

[Easternhunter338]

Good luck to all! I'll be in PA this weekend hunting for birds. Hopefully something pans out. Let us all know how you do!

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Good luck to all! I'll be in PA this weekend hunting for birds. Hopefully something pans out. Let us all know how you do!

Thought that you were headed to Nebraska this week????

good luck to all
the dog

 

[bcar]

Got back from our hunt around Chadron State Park last night. 2 full days of hunting plus a quick hunt Sunday morning. We killed 1 bird out of three hunters. The local biologist had made it sound like the turkey population was fairly high, however we hardly saw any birds on public. Probably saw/heard less 12 toms on public. Private ground had more birds but still probably only saw less than 15 toms. There's a lot of country and lots of trees so maybe we just weren't in the right spots or couldn't see the birds..? The birds we did see were henned up pretty bad, and the bird we shot was the non dominant bird and we got him shook off from the other gobbler and hens he was with. We wished we could've stayed another day or two.

We talked to a guy who has hunted out there for several years. He said after the wild fire in 2012 that the turkey numbers have never been the same. I googled the fire and it sounds like it was devastating. 140,000 acres burned which was more than half of the entire timber ground. It burned so hot that it sterilized a lot of the soil. This makes sense because a lot of the ground we were hiking on just seemed lifeless. Some grass was growing but no new tree sprouts anywhere.

Even though we only got 1 bird, my group seemed to agree that we would go back there next year just because of how cool the country was. It was definitely a tough hunt though. It felt like we were hunting the mountains. For people just starting to get into western big game hunting I would definitely recommend a turkey hunt here. We felt like we really had our eyes opened of how challenging it will be to elk/mule deer hunt the mountains.