Osage Outfitters

By Doug McDougal

Osage Outfitters has once again lived up to its reputation for primo turkey hunts. This past April (2010), a group of NAHC Life members arrived in Nebraska to see if they could outdo the results of the ’08 Life Member turkey hunt. It is tough to beat 100% success. We came close but didn’t quite make it.

Dave Bergmark (Garden prairie, IL), a Life Member hunt frequent flyer, tagged 2 mature Toms, 1 of them had 2 beards. Dave has already signed on for the February ’11 Life Member Hog hunt in Texas.

Nick Tursi (Albertson, NY) put in his hours hunting. It took Nick 3 days but he was able to fill both of his tags with big Nebraska Toms. Nick works for the City of New York transportation department. It was interesting to hear his stories about 911.

The “killer” of the group was Larry Wise (Dowagiac, MI). Larry couldn’t get in his blind without a suicidal Tom running to him. Larry’s guide extraordinaire, Jay Olson, may have had something to do with it. Larry spent many years in the apple business. He treated the group to bushels of tasty Michigan apples. Mike Rogge, owner of Osage Outfitters, turned the apples into some delicious pies and crisp!

Rookie turkey hunter Bart Peirsol (Farnam, NE) had a rough time of it. Bart made the turkey hunting task even more difficult by hunting with a crossbow. Despite many hours afield and an eventual switch to a shotgun, Bart was not able to connect with a turkey. Bart’s goal for the trip was to gain some turkey hunting experience. He got plenty of that!

As usual, Nebraska was really good to me. Opening morning, I coaxed a Tom and hen from the roost into a pasture. When the hen dragged the Tom away, I did and end-run and stole her fell’a with some 5 shot. The next morning as 3 vocal and dominant Toms followed hens away from me, 2 more subdued birds tried to sneak in the back door. Only 1 made it past my shotgun.

Thanks to Osage Outfitters for a great hunt. Good food, good friends, and good hunting – what else could you want?

Source – http://www.huntingclub.com/member-benefits/past-life-member-hunts.aspx

The Life Members who participated in the April ’08 NAHC Life Member hunt were definitely not disappointed. Over 3 days, everybody tagged at least 1 bird, 14 of 15 tags were filled, and the only open tag was literally inches from being filled.

On day 1, the group put down 4 birds. Shocking success considering the poor weather. Gerry Weaver (Calhoun, GA) scored on a 4-beard, 30 pounder. Dave Bergmark (Garden Prairie, IL) and Frank Youdleman’s (Tucson, AZ) 13 year old son Robbie each bagged their first turkeys ever! The fourth Tom was taken by Dave Randall (Ft. Collins, CO).

I lead off the second day by dropping 1 of 4 Tom’s that strutted in to me off of the roost – a real beauty – 25 pounds and 2 beards! A couple of hours later, my hunting partner, Steve Kohles (Tooele, UT) got on the board with a 28 pounder. Back at the lodge, I learned that Dave Weekley (Berlin Center, OH) had shot 2 Tom’s within an hour. Charles Randall had also taken a nice bird.

That evening, it seemed appropriate to have a little celebration of our hunting success, so we headed into Pawnee City for some libation at the Schilling Bridge Winery & Microbrewery. It was pretty tough to decide which tasted better, the fine wines we sampled, the “Git-R-Done” lager (named for a local favorite son –guess who?), or the homemade Root Beer. This place was fun! I’d go back even if there weren’t tons of turkeys in the area.

The morning of day 3, Frank Youdleman was still working hard at getting a bird, so he asked me if I’d take his son Robbie out after another bird. While Robbie and I hunted, Kevin Ellert (Kendallville, IN), Frank Youdleman, Steve Kohles, and Dave Bergmark all killed birds. Robbie and I spent the day playing cat and mouse with birds, but he didn’t fill his tag.

Source – http://www.huntingclub.com/member-benefits/past-life-member-hunts.aspx