Kansas City Star Newspaper Article
Jon Nee Sr. examines the result of a successful youth hunt Friday, a spring turkey taken by his son, Jon Jr.
S P O R T S DA I LY S P O T L I G H T
Hunter’s tip: Take patient approach
by Brent Frazee / The Kansas City Star
Jon Nee Sr. isn’t a ridge-runner. Some turkey hunters, especially those in the Ozarks, aren’t happy until they’re standing on a ridge on opening day, trying to get a gobbler to sound off, then taking off running in the direction of that faint call. That’s not for Nee. He would much rather take a more relaxed approach. He would rather have a good idea of where the birds are going to be before he even enters the woods in the morning.
"Everyone has their own way of hunting turkeys," said Nee, who runs the Mid-America Hunting Association, a Kansas City-area business that leases hunting land. "For me, scouting is what pays off. "I like to know as much as I can about the birds I will be hunting. I want to put them to bed the night before and know where they are roosting and where I will be setting up. "It doesn’t always work. But I’ve had a lot of quick hunts that way."
Nee goes so far as performing a dress rehearsal before some of his hunts. He will go through the paces of where he will park, where he will enter the woods and where he will set up. The turkeys, of course, can be unpredictable. But Nee at least has a game plan. He also relies on other tactics to fool the spring turkeys.
EARLY BIRD: Nee believes in setting the alarm clock for early when he’s going turkey hunting. He likes to head to his hunting spot in the dark, long before shooting hours. That way, the woods will settle down as daybreak approaches and the turkeys will have a false sense of security, he said.
DON’T CROWD ‘EM: Even when Nee knows where the turkeys are roosting, he is careful not to set up too close to them. He usually chooses a spot about 75 yards away from the trees where the birds spend the night. And he looks for a spot where the decoys will be immediately visible to the birds that fly down.
TRUE CALLING: Nee will call softly and is careful not to overdo it. He believes some hunters scare turkeys away by calling too loudly or too often.
PATIENCE PAYS: When Nee watches turkeys leave the area he is hunting, he often resists the urge to pick up and head to another spot. "A lot of times they’ll be back if you’re just patient," he said.
