| We arrived at Northstar Trophy Outfitters on Thursday afternoon where we met up with Jamey Shelley who had come all the way from Headland Alabama. We got everything situated at their very comfortable lodge with time to go roost some of those beautiful Merriam longbeards. Our first morning started off with the excitement of knowing the birds were roosted behind us on the Missouri River. Reality soon set in with daylight and the wind gusting up to 40 mph,but we managed to hear some gobbles. We chased them all morning long with no success. With a little better knowledge of their routines, we set up a blind for the evening hunt in hopes of catching them coming back from the alfalfa fields as they were heading to roost. About the time we got out of the truck and headed to the blind, the skies opened up and it began to rain, thunder, and lightning for the next three hours. Despite of the bad weather Jamey and myself along with pro-staffer's RLO and Zach Dorr, stuck it out in the blind and actually saw turkeys all through the storms. Around 6:30, we saw more turkeys come from the alfalfa fields and when the long beard appeared. After some sweet calling fr om the Champion Custom Calls, he was in range of Jamey's gun. With two camera angles and the bird strutting a hundred yards out we got some awesome footage. Finally the bird gave Jamey the greenlight to shoot. I think his nerves were a little rattled between this being his first Merriam and be videoed. because it took two shots to seal the deal. But hey, we got it done! The bird had a 10" beard and 1 1/4 spurs. With one bird down we had two days to get his other bird! After walking and crawling up and down those hills for two days, and putting plenty of miles on our feet, we never could get that second bird. However, we had an absolute blast the entire weekend with excellent food and hospitality provided by Northstar Trophy Outfiters. Several new friendships were made and many gereat memories with it all being captured on film for Real Life Outdoors. |
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| Jamey Shelly, winner of the Pursuit Channel Merriam Turkey Hunt to Northstar Outfitters, NB |
| hunt in beautiful Nebraska. After thousands of entries, we drew the name of a Mr. Jamey Shelly from Headland, Alabama. The men over at hunt provided by Northstar Trophy Outfitters, and it was hunt that promised to land him a longbeard to always remember. Here is the story as told by David Hendrickson of Real Life Outdoors. |
