Kansas Turkey Adventures
- Thread starter kansasdad
- Start date
A couple of weeks ago on my private access land I saw the boys all hanging out together. A baker's dozen with no hens around, just on the wrong side of the road. Once the hens start heading up to their nesting areas, the boys will follow.
Out at my favorite public access wildlife area, there has been some significant changes to the land. One of the major nesting areas that had nasty thorny tall grass, thick undergrowth has been burned/cleared in what appears to be an attempt to beat back the woody invasion of what would have been native prairie. Ag fields were rotated so that my favorite field to hunt (and the furthest away from the roads.....not un-coincidentally) was soybeans last fall. I find "my" turkeys prefer to be in cut corn or milo compared to soybeans. And in all my hiking there was not one bird seen or heard, with no tracks noted.
As a reminder to all who would pursue turkeys in Kansas, you can save a few dollars by purchasing your "combo" tag (first permit, and second tag good for the two zones that allow the taking of more than one turkey) while it is still March.
Happy hunting to all you rascals. Here's to early morning gobble fests, and toms that follow the script.
Out at my favorite public access wildlife area, there has been some significant changes to the land. One of the major nesting areas that had nasty thorny tall grass, thick undergrowth has been burned/cleared in what appears to be an attempt to beat back the woody invasion of what would have been native prairie. Ag fields were rotated so that my favorite field to hunt (and the furthest away from the roads.....not un-coincidentally) was soybeans last fall. I find "my" turkeys prefer to be in cut corn or milo compared to soybeans. And in all my hiking there was not one bird seen or heard, with no tracks noted.
As a reminder to all who would pursue turkeys in Kansas, you can save a few dollars by purchasing your "combo" tag (first permit, and second tag good for the two zones that allow the taking of more than one turkey) while it is still March.
Happy hunting to all you rascals. Here's to early morning gobble fests, and toms that follow the script.
I must confess to being slightly downhearted about turkey hunting in Kansas this spring. We certainly have had spells of wacky weather swings, but it seems to me that the wind which is always with us, because it is Kansas, has been extra squirrely this spring.
I went out to both public lands and private hoping to get my first bird of the year with my crossbow. No sightings of legal to take birds. No hearing the usual early morning chorus of birds gobbling their heads off. No tracks down by the creek. No feathers dropped from a roost. Not even any turkey poop laying in the trail or findings of active dusting spots.
I've taken my 12 gauge out for several armed hikes. I have seen hens and jakes, but no toms. Did multiple folks beat me to the punch and have already harvested the toms, were they never there to begin with, or are they just super sneaky and bent on survival.
I'm left asking.......where are you hiding, silly turkeys?
We have all heard how the turkey population in general is down significantly over the last handful of years. Drought, untimely rains, diseases and predation have all been used as possible causes for the reduction in flock numbers. On one hand, I don't care about the why, I just want to get a turkey. On the other hand, I'm very concerned about what is going on, and I'm asking myself what can I do to help out the birds.
For the land that I have permission to be on, I know that there are more raccoons than ever. I'm confident that the guy with his corn feeders are attracting these furry varmints in higher than ever concentrations. That can impact ground nesting birds numbers significantly. I think this means that I need to get some dog proof traps and get busy reducing the bandits numbers.
I still have 5 weeks of spring season to get a bird. Life and medical procedures will cut into my time. I will hit a new spot this weekend, even though the weatherman is forecasting gusty south winds of 20-40 MPH, and high temps into the 80's. I know I won't get a bird sitting at home watching NBA playoff basketball.
I went out to both public lands and private hoping to get my first bird of the year with my crossbow. No sightings of legal to take birds. No hearing the usual early morning chorus of birds gobbling their heads off. No tracks down by the creek. No feathers dropped from a roost. Not even any turkey poop laying in the trail or findings of active dusting spots.
I've taken my 12 gauge out for several armed hikes. I have seen hens and jakes, but no toms. Did multiple folks beat me to the punch and have already harvested the toms, were they never there to begin with, or are they just super sneaky and bent on survival.
I'm left asking.......where are you hiding, silly turkeys?
We have all heard how the turkey population in general is down significantly over the last handful of years. Drought, untimely rains, diseases and predation have all been used as possible causes for the reduction in flock numbers. On one hand, I don't care about the why, I just want to get a turkey. On the other hand, I'm very concerned about what is going on, and I'm asking myself what can I do to help out the birds.
For the land that I have permission to be on, I know that there are more raccoons than ever. I'm confident that the guy with his corn feeders are attracting these furry varmints in higher than ever concentrations. That can impact ground nesting birds numbers significantly. I think this means that I need to get some dog proof traps and get busy reducing the bandits numbers.
I still have 5 weeks of spring season to get a bird. Life and medical procedures will cut into my time. I will hit a new spot this weekend, even though the weatherman is forecasting gusty south winds of 20-40 MPH, and high temps into the 80's. I know I won't get a bird sitting at home watching NBA playoff basketball.
reallyoldman
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2021
- Messages
- 149
I hunted Kansas with my two sons for three days this year. Bird numbers are down some but we still got our two bird limits....however: My trail cameras showed a hoard of raccoons and a few possum. The rancher told me that he had a trapper come in to thin the coyotes out as they were trying to kill newborn calves......got 60 in three weeks !
I discovered that I hadn’t put my strikers for my favorite slate call into my pack last weekend, so I got to do some “Mcgyvering” while listening to the 200+ gobbles from points north, south and 75 yards behind me.
With a little tinkering and practice, I was getting some righteous gobbles in reply to my oh so sexy “I’m over here boys” calling.
#whoneedsstorebought
#Mcgyverisproud
#whenwillmylegswakeup
With a little tinkering and practice, I was getting some righteous gobbles in reply to my oh so sexy “I’m over here boys” calling.
#whoneedsstorebought
#Mcgyverisproud
#whenwillmylegswakeup
It turns out you have to see a turkey to actually invite it to come home with your for dinner.
And that just means that I get to go hunt them another day.
Same farm as last post, only instead of over 200 gobbles, it was zilch, zero, nada this day. Thunderstorms had rolled through, and for whatever reason the birds (if they were even in the neighborhood) were silent.
The cellular trail camera guy had images of a bird rolling through in the early evening the day before, crossing in front of his camera looking down the top of the watershed dam. I had business to attend to in the early afternoon, so I left around noon. Wes texted me a photo of coyotes and neighbor's dogs on the dam, and then at almost exactly the same time as before, a tom crossing the dam.
I'm going to be posted right there for a "third times the charm" early evening stroll across the dam. BUT, this bird is sneaky squirrely, so it might be one more way for him to give me the slip.
The cellular trail camera guy had images of a bird rolling through in the early evening the day before, crossing in front of his camera looking down the top of the watershed dam. I had business to attend to in the early afternoon, so I left around noon. Wes texted me a photo of coyotes and neighbor's dogs on the dam, and then at almost exactly the same time as before, a tom crossing the dam.
I'm going to be posted right there for a "third times the charm" early evening stroll across the dam. BUT, this bird is sneaky squirrely, so it might be one more way for him to give me the slip.
The birds were in good form yesterday afternoon, with cloudless skies and gentle (for Kansas) breezes.
I settled down below the top of the dam that has been a fairly regular travel pathway for turkeys. Sporadic gobbling from the property drifted with the breeze, and I had a real hope that right around 5:50 this "trail camera runway model" bird would show up again and give me a shot.
As the sun began descending to the horizon, my shade tree left me out in the open. So I shifted a tad to the left and once again leaned up against the log pile. I was sitting there scanning the top of the dam, and also turning around to check the hayfield behind me. Some weak-sauce gobbles from off the property gave me the idea that there may be birds returning to the roost area from that direction. Shifting again, I was now trying to simultaneously hold still, yet see in front and behind me of where I was sitting.
Gobbling beyond the dam came closer and then seem to fade away, and again behind me some more jake-like gobbles were getting closer. Watching a trail opening onto the hayfield, a male turkey ghosted into the gap. I don't feel like I moved anything other than my eyes, but at 34 yards he seemed uneasy, and when his two fellow travelers arrived just behind them, there were 4 frozen creatures involved in a virtual stare down.
My gun was not close to being mounted to my shoulder, and there was no way I was going to shoot a jake this day. Burning holes into the lead turkey's beard area, I looked in vain for a significant length of beard. Silent and still as statues, these turkeys were looking for the reason for their discomfort. After a hot minute or two, they turned and headed upstream. Gobbling their little jake gobbles, I promised that in a year or two we would have another meet up, and things would go down differently.
At roosting time, I was mentally pinpointing where each of these turkeys would be spending the night. And I had a plan to deal with them early Sunday.
I settled down below the top of the dam that has been a fairly regular travel pathway for turkeys. Sporadic gobbling from the property drifted with the breeze, and I had a real hope that right around 5:50 this "trail camera runway model" bird would show up again and give me a shot.
As the sun began descending to the horizon, my shade tree left me out in the open. So I shifted a tad to the left and once again leaned up against the log pile. I was sitting there scanning the top of the dam, and also turning around to check the hayfield behind me. Some weak-sauce gobbles from off the property gave me the idea that there may be birds returning to the roost area from that direction. Shifting again, I was now trying to simultaneously hold still, yet see in front and behind me of where I was sitting.
Gobbling beyond the dam came closer and then seem to fade away, and again behind me some more jake-like gobbles were getting closer. Watching a trail opening onto the hayfield, a male turkey ghosted into the gap. I don't feel like I moved anything other than my eyes, but at 34 yards he seemed uneasy, and when his two fellow travelers arrived just behind them, there were 4 frozen creatures involved in a virtual stare down.
My gun was not close to being mounted to my shoulder, and there was no way I was going to shoot a jake this day. Burning holes into the lead turkey's beard area, I looked in vain for a significant length of beard. Silent and still as statues, these turkeys were looking for the reason for their discomfort. After a hot minute or two, they turned and headed upstream. Gobbling their little jake gobbles, I promised that in a year or two we would have another meet up, and things would go down differently.
At roosting time, I was mentally pinpointing where each of these turkeys would be spending the night. And I had a plan to deal with them early Sunday.
4 AM alarm clock, and I decide that today would be a fine day to finally get my south central Kansas tom.
Walking from the car, I was about 1/2 way to my hunting spot when I discovered I had left my shooting sticks on the roof of the SUV. Having already heard several dozen gobbles and the sky in the east lightening, I kept moving up the creek bed. All of the gobbling was from spots north of where I had planned to setup, so I kept moving northwards.
Placing the hen decoy out a bit from the edge of the woods, I returned to to arrange my calls and stadium seat. Jake gobbles directly north of me, and deeper more mature sounding gobbles were north and west of where I set up on the side of the "pond".
I put quotations around "pond" as this watershed pond washed out the face of the dam years ago. Most of the year the deepest portion of the "pond" is less than 6 inches. And the wood ducks and teal love it.
70+ gobbles had already happened as I made it to my destination, and as the sky brightened, they slowed down and consolidated in one location west of me. Moving along the far side of the creek bottom, they were headed to the dam for a nice early morning strut. I called and they replied, so I determined to play hard to get.
Some of the birds continued south while one (or more) sounded like they had reached a strutting/gobbling spot directly across the pond from me. He would pipe off every five minutes or so, and sometimes other turkeys in the area would respond.
Between me and the pond was a very thick layer of just now leafing small bushes and several tree trunks as well. Trying to wisely use my time and range finder, I tried to find small holes in the vegetation that would allow me to get a shot off if it were to happen that a bird would stroll by (literary foreshadowing!!)
By 8:45 the gobbles were on the move again, with several toms making a rendezvous below the dam. And then I saw several hens coming down the slope to feed on the now dry pond bottom. OnX line tool showed them to be 103 yards away. And even more excitingly, they had two toms in tow. One was fanned out with an intensely white head, and his buddy was a few steps behind with just a tad amount of flared out feathers. I could here the strutter spit but didn't hear the drum of the spit&drum.
I waited until the next train coming through started to blare its horn for my next call. I now had six turkeys looking towards me.....I mean 8, as two more toms descended the far bank and joined the other birds.
The hens looked like they were going to drift off into the woods, and I called again using a different slate/striker combo, trying to sound like there were more birds than just one on my side of the pond. Watching these relaxed turkeys preen, eat, scratch and strut was super fun. Once again I'm mad at my camera for only having auto focus mode, so that most attempts result in a foreground of leaves and a tiny red head in the distance, horribly out of focus. The call did the trick and they once again started towards me on the back side of the pond.
I was watching the newcomers with the binoculars when I realized that the hens had led the toms close enough and were now in range. Two problems now.....I didn't have my gun close to shooting position, and there were only a few holes in the shrubbery that would allow a shot to get through generally intact. It seemed to me that the two original toms had maybe started to think that something was amiss, and they reversed course. Slowly mounting my gun, I was able to see a small hole in the shrubs that might intersect with the lead tom. Making sure the other bird was far enough to not get hit with some flying pellets, I got the bead and bird lined up and took the shot.
Pandemonium ensued as my tom was flopping in the swampy pond bottom and other birds were scrambling to leave the area. One of the newcomers came over to check out the splashing shuddering tom, and I thought about how in the good old days of Kansas hunting, I would have been able to double up through the same hole in the shrubs.
I waited a lot longer than I would normally wait to go get my tom, as I wanted to let the other birds get out of sight, and hoped that they wouldn't see me picking him up, as Wes had shared with me that he would be coming out this afternoon.
Turning around to see what my bird might have seen that made him feel safe and then perhaps a little hinky, I snapped a turkey's eye view of my hidey hole. I was sitting low enough that perhaps only my head would have been skylined, yet screened by the shrubbery.
BOOOOOM!! is my traditional way of texting to Mrs kansasdad and family when it happens. Out went the texts, and then I got to load up and get out of the area, leaving the other turkeys relatively undisturbed.
Walking from the car, I was about 1/2 way to my hunting spot when I discovered I had left my shooting sticks on the roof of the SUV. Having already heard several dozen gobbles and the sky in the east lightening, I kept moving up the creek bed. All of the gobbling was from spots north of where I had planned to setup, so I kept moving northwards.
Placing the hen decoy out a bit from the edge of the woods, I returned to to arrange my calls and stadium seat. Jake gobbles directly north of me, and deeper more mature sounding gobbles were north and west of where I set up on the side of the "pond".
I put quotations around "pond" as this watershed pond washed out the face of the dam years ago. Most of the year the deepest portion of the "pond" is less than 6 inches. And the wood ducks and teal love it.
70+ gobbles had already happened as I made it to my destination, and as the sky brightened, they slowed down and consolidated in one location west of me. Moving along the far side of the creek bottom, they were headed to the dam for a nice early morning strut. I called and they replied, so I determined to play hard to get.
Some of the birds continued south while one (or more) sounded like they had reached a strutting/gobbling spot directly across the pond from me. He would pipe off every five minutes or so, and sometimes other turkeys in the area would respond.
Between me and the pond was a very thick layer of just now leafing small bushes and several tree trunks as well. Trying to wisely use my time and range finder, I tried to find small holes in the vegetation that would allow me to get a shot off if it were to happen that a bird would stroll by (literary foreshadowing!!)
By 8:45 the gobbles were on the move again, with several toms making a rendezvous below the dam. And then I saw several hens coming down the slope to feed on the now dry pond bottom. OnX line tool showed them to be 103 yards away. And even more excitingly, they had two toms in tow. One was fanned out with an intensely white head, and his buddy was a few steps behind with just a tad amount of flared out feathers. I could here the strutter spit but didn't hear the drum of the spit&drum.
I waited until the next train coming through started to blare its horn for my next call. I now had six turkeys looking towards me.....I mean 8, as two more toms descended the far bank and joined the other birds.
The hens looked like they were going to drift off into the woods, and I called again using a different slate/striker combo, trying to sound like there were more birds than just one on my side of the pond. Watching these relaxed turkeys preen, eat, scratch and strut was super fun. Once again I'm mad at my camera for only having auto focus mode, so that most attempts result in a foreground of leaves and a tiny red head in the distance, horribly out of focus. The call did the trick and they once again started towards me on the back side of the pond.
I was watching the newcomers with the binoculars when I realized that the hens had led the toms close enough and were now in range. Two problems now.....I didn't have my gun close to shooting position, and there were only a few holes in the shrubbery that would allow a shot to get through generally intact. It seemed to me that the two original toms had maybe started to think that something was amiss, and they reversed course. Slowly mounting my gun, I was able to see a small hole in the shrubs that might intersect with the lead tom. Making sure the other bird was far enough to not get hit with some flying pellets, I got the bead and bird lined up and took the shot.
Pandemonium ensued as my tom was flopping in the swampy pond bottom and other birds were scrambling to leave the area. One of the newcomers came over to check out the splashing shuddering tom, and I thought about how in the good old days of Kansas hunting, I would have been able to double up through the same hole in the shrubs.
I waited a lot longer than I would normally wait to go get my tom, as I wanted to let the other birds get out of sight, and hoped that they wouldn't see me picking him up, as Wes had shared with me that he would be coming out this afternoon.
Turning around to see what my bird might have seen that made him feel safe and then perhaps a little hinky, I snapped a turkey's eye view of my hidey hole. I was sitting low enough that perhaps only my head would have been skylined, yet screened by the shrubbery.
BOOOOOM!! is my traditional way of texting to Mrs kansasdad and family when it happens. Out went the texts, and then I got to load up and get out of the area, leaving the other turkeys relatively undisturbed.
I enjoyed a nice lunch with our youngest and her husband after getting home with my bird, and thought about taking a nap. Instead, I did the adult thing which was to break down my bird and get him ready for future meals.
Weighing him showed a nice 22 pound bird, 9 7/8 inch beard and 1 inch sharp spurs. Breasts wrapped for the freezer, tenderloins for a birthday celebration later this week (perhaps with some morels of I can get across the flooded creek bottom to where I found morels last year) and I put the leg/thigh combo into the crock pot to get the carnitas meat ready.
Needs more time than anticipated. I eventually left them on low overnight and did the shredding extra early the next morning.
When the family gathers next weekend for Julia’s college graduation, it will be a carnitas fest with roll your own burritos.
Hank Shaw's recipe for the win. The shredded meat will thaw, and be crisped up in some oil (he likes lard for this) with lime and honey sprinkled on after taking the heat.
Living in Kenya as a kid, we learned to add lots of different toppings on our curries, so there will be traditional burrito ingredients as well as tropical fruit additions such as pineapple, mango, papaya coconut and raisins.
Weighing him showed a nice 22 pound bird, 9 7/8 inch beard and 1 inch sharp spurs. Breasts wrapped for the freezer, tenderloins for a birthday celebration later this week (perhaps with some morels of I can get across the flooded creek bottom to where I found morels last year) and I put the leg/thigh combo into the crock pot to get the carnitas meat ready.
Needs more time than anticipated. I eventually left them on low overnight and did the shredding extra early the next morning.
When the family gathers next weekend for Julia’s college graduation, it will be a carnitas fest with roll your own burritos.
Hank Shaw's recipe for the win. The shredded meat will thaw, and be crisped up in some oil (he likes lard for this) with lime and honey sprinkled on after taking the heat.
Living in Kenya as a kid, we learned to add lots of different toppings on our curries, so there will be traditional burrito ingredients as well as tropical fruit additions such as pineapple, mango, papaya coconut and raisins.
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TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
Great job putting that bird on the ground.
Fall season opens tomorrow for Kansas. Gonna go after a Thanksgiving bird and be ready for a granddaddy deer to possibly pop out for the crossbow.
The overall reports for southcentral Kansas aren't stellar for turkeys. Drought, predators, west nile and other viruses are taking their toll on the flocks. Although the season is a "any turkey" season, I will do my part for my little neck of the woods and take a tom only. Gotta save the brooding hens.
The overall reports for southcentral Kansas aren't stellar for turkeys. Drought, predators, west nile and other viruses are taking their toll on the flocks. Although the season is a "any turkey" season, I will do my part for my little neck of the woods and take a tom only. Gotta save the brooding hens.
reallyoldman
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2021
- Messages
- 149
Hunted NW Kansas and only saw a total of nine birds in three days. Five years ago we would see 100 or more. Bone dry. Farmer told me he was 2,000 bales short of his normal year and the price was @$250 a ton.. The flood 4-5 years ago really took a toll on birds and deer. We had 6 game cameras out and only got one 21/2 buck and a few does. Very few does with fawns. It is going to take years to recover.
Talking with the landowner and the other hunter on the private section that I have permission to hunt, they have been seeing a tom/two jakes somewhat regularly on their cellular trail cameras. Wes also reported fewer than normal does/fawns and no sightings of any bucks. And about 50k raccoons at his feeders, as well as lots of coyotes on camera.
I decided to only take my shotgun down to the pond's edge on Saturday, so as to not have a divided attention of both turkeys and deer. No turkeys were seen or heard this morning, and of course I was visited by a big whitetail doe, a fawn and two little bucks who stood around for quite some time while in archery range.
I'm looking forward to mentoring with Outdoors Mentors during next weekend for the antlerless whitetail weekend. Always a good time to be out with youngsters helping them to have successful outings in the great outdoors.
I decided to only take my shotgun down to the pond's edge on Saturday, so as to not have a divided attention of both turkeys and deer. No turkeys were seen or heard this morning, and of course I was visited by a big whitetail doe, a fawn and two little bucks who stood around for quite some time while in archery range.
I'm looking forward to mentoring with Outdoors Mentors during next weekend for the antlerless whitetail weekend. Always a good time to be out with youngsters helping them to have successful outings in the great outdoors.
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Friday I decided that I needed to go see my public land Wildlife Area and see what was going on out there. According to the weather map, my part of Kansas is in "Severe drought" status. Cow pastures are nothing but short stubble, non irrigated corn will not make any money for the farmers, milo is average at best, and soybeans might break even. Farmers have gambled and planted winter wheat, but have to hope that the next precipitation will be enough to both cause germination, but also replenish the moisture in the topsoil to allow for starting of growth.
There were no vehicles at any of the parking lots at the public lands as I made my way to my favorite spot. Gates have replaced cables stretched across the entrance to the ag fields, and the area farmers were harvesting soybeans, and planting winter wheat. Walking along the road used by the farmers, it was evident that lots of maintenance had taken place since I last visited last spring. Shrub and woods encroachment had been cut down, with a large CRP strip had been burned with little regrowth due to the drought. Sneaking around these fields will be a lot harder over the next several years with the reduction of screening shrubs/trees, and I wonder if nesting spots for ground nesting birds (quail, pheasant and turkey on this wildlife area) will suffer.
A field that had lots of deer encounters for me was already harvested of its soybeans, and true to tradition, there were strips of beans not harvested along the perimeter and a stripe down the middle. I saw very little deer sign, but the burnt earth will not leave hoofprints in spots where there might be easy to find deer trails.
Sundown came, with no deer seen, and no turkeys seen or heard. I walked towards the back of the property and found out that the millet was out, so there shouldn't be any more harvesting activity in "my" neck of these woods.
Heading back to the parking area, I was moving under red light from the headlamp, and up ahead I saw glowing eyes looking back at me. Switching over to a stronger white light, I saw 5 sets of eyes close-ish to each other ahead. Getting closer I saw two whitetails bedded, two raccoons digging nearby, and a skunk heading in my general direction. Not showing any interest in this human walking along in the cut milo, I walked past these two deer in the dark, not any further than 35 yards.
Thinking that this area as per usual would not be a hotbed of fall turkey activity, I planned to focus my efforts on some private land north of Wichita.
There were no vehicles at any of the parking lots at the public lands as I made my way to my favorite spot. Gates have replaced cables stretched across the entrance to the ag fields, and the area farmers were harvesting soybeans, and planting winter wheat. Walking along the road used by the farmers, it was evident that lots of maintenance had taken place since I last visited last spring. Shrub and woods encroachment had been cut down, with a large CRP strip had been burned with little regrowth due to the drought. Sneaking around these fields will be a lot harder over the next several years with the reduction of screening shrubs/trees, and I wonder if nesting spots for ground nesting birds (quail, pheasant and turkey on this wildlife area) will suffer.
A field that had lots of deer encounters for me was already harvested of its soybeans, and true to tradition, there were strips of beans not harvested along the perimeter and a stripe down the middle. I saw very little deer sign, but the burnt earth will not leave hoofprints in spots where there might be easy to find deer trails.
Sundown came, with no deer seen, and no turkeys seen or heard. I walked towards the back of the property and found out that the millet was out, so there shouldn't be any more harvesting activity in "my" neck of these woods.
Heading back to the parking area, I was moving under red light from the headlamp, and up ahead I saw glowing eyes looking back at me. Switching over to a stronger white light, I saw 5 sets of eyes close-ish to each other ahead. Getting closer I saw two whitetails bedded, two raccoons digging nearby, and a skunk heading in my general direction. Not showing any interest in this human walking along in the cut milo, I walked past these two deer in the dark, not any further than 35 yards.
Thinking that this area as per usual would not be a hotbed of fall turkey activity, I planned to focus my efforts on some private land north of Wichita.
Saturday was predicted to be warm with wind gusts up to 30 mph, with Sunday up to 45 mph, with extremely dangerous fire conditions across Kansas. I headed north for an scouting/hunting trip trying to learn how the turkey (if any) and deer were using the fields, and to look for indications that rubs/scrapes might be starting to show up on the farm.
Heading west from the landowners barns, I looked down the hill to see 5 turkeys in the middle of the hayfield. Statue still, I hoped that the 300ish yards distance and my ninja camo would not alert these birds to my presence. Ducking down and altering my intended pathway to put a hill contour between us, I made it to the edge of the field where these birds were feeding and pulled up behind an Osage Orange tree to make an evening of observing these birds.
It seemed that there was one 2+ year old tom, and perhaps 4 super jakes loafing and eating. Every so often one or more would pull a semi-fan display as they moved up and down the woods edge. Last week I had come out for a morning attempt at a deer, and on my way out had stopped to clear branches and debris in a couple of ground hunting spots, and these birds had stopped and semi-strutted 10 yards out in front of one of these ambush locations.
As the sun moved westerly and burned orange, the birds moved closer to known roosting trees, eventually one after the other ascending into the yellow leafed cottonwoods, the browning leafed hedgeapple tree, and the still green walnut tree alongside the dry watershed pond.
With the weather predictors still showing strong overnight breezes, I carefully marked the roost trees picked by these birds with a plan to sneak in extra early using the wind and nearby train noises to get in tight and lay one of these tasty birds to rest.
Heading west from the landowners barns, I looked down the hill to see 5 turkeys in the middle of the hayfield. Statue still, I hoped that the 300ish yards distance and my ninja camo would not alert these birds to my presence. Ducking down and altering my intended pathway to put a hill contour between us, I made it to the edge of the field where these birds were feeding and pulled up behind an Osage Orange tree to make an evening of observing these birds.
It seemed that there was one 2+ year old tom, and perhaps 4 super jakes loafing and eating. Every so often one or more would pull a semi-fan display as they moved up and down the woods edge. Last week I had come out for a morning attempt at a deer, and on my way out had stopped to clear branches and debris in a couple of ground hunting spots, and these birds had stopped and semi-strutted 10 yards out in front of one of these ambush locations.
As the sun moved westerly and burned orange, the birds moved closer to known roosting trees, eventually one after the other ascending into the yellow leafed cottonwoods, the browning leafed hedgeapple tree, and the still green walnut tree alongside the dry watershed pond.
With the weather predictors still showing strong overnight breezes, I carefully marked the roost trees picked by these birds with a plan to sneak in extra early using the wind and nearby train noises to get in tight and lay one of these tasty birds to rest.
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Sunday the alarm went off, and I went about making a to-go breakfast and getting on the road north. Today the goal was to get my fall turkey, and I hoped that I could do it with my crossbow, but I was also bringing my 12 gauge to be ready either way.
Parking on the road in an attempt to keep the farmhouse dog from awakening the sleeping landowners, I was glad that the predicted winds were strong and variable. I was going to be able to waltz right into position to be close to the roost. Finding my prepped ambush spot, I settled in for the hour long wait for the eastern skies to start brightening.
Several meteors streaked across the cloudless sky, and if I looked carefully I could see jetliners flying over me here in "flyover" country. I strained to hear possible footsteps down in the adjacent creek bottom, or was it just leaves tumbling in the wind? I turned and tried to spy where I thought a couple of the roosted birds must be if they hadn't shifted spots after I stopped watching them. I didn't find any turkeys snoozing on their branches.
Looking directly east, I could see the rising moon lift off of earth's surface. Only the bottom of the moon was illuminated brightly, and for a moment I imagined a Independence Day type of alien spacecraft rising on the horizon with fiery thrusters causing the ship to rise into the sky.
With the coming of the dawn, I had my sticks supporting the crossbow and I was facing the trail that deer use to come onto the hayfield out of the woods. I was 40-ish yards from the trail upwind, and downwind I was about 30 yards away from the road up to the face of the watershed dam. I imagined that from the start of legal shooting time I would be mostly expecting deer to be moving, and then I would turn around downwind to where I was expecting the birds to pitch down onto the field.
No deer came early, and I was thinking that in about 5 minutes the birds would start awakening and perhaps doing a little tree talking to each other before coming down to start looking for breakfast. The unmistakable sound of a huge bird launching themselves out of a tree and flapping a couple of times to direct flight came from directly overhead. I tried to slow-quick direct my attention towards the noise, only to seen nothing but leaves falling from where they had just been dislodged. I never saw this turkey as I suppose he glided out beyond the roll of the field or behind some haybales 75 yards out into the field.
Fully in turkey hunting mode now, I awaited the next flap flap flap noise which came just over my right shoulder. This turkey hit the ground, 15 yards out, squawked, juked left, veered right and took flight again. He most likely figured out that the moving blob at the base of the tree was not to be trusted and vamoosing was in order.
A couple of minutes later, there was a cacophony of wing flapping to my left. Lifting my shotgun I picked out the closest (and largest bodied) turkey and pulled the trigger when the bead covered his head. He had been on the ground for less than 5 seconds when I shot. A little problem here as the butt of the gun was not firmly tightened into my shoulder pocket. OUCH!
He stumbled and shuddered, as I cycled another round into the chamber. The other turkeys were running at full sprint mode, my bird was weaving like a drunk man. (At processing, I found a broken leg bone) Wanting to make sure, I did a better job of settling my cheek down and pulling the butt into my shoulder and made sure of the situation.
He flopped a bit, and ultimately came to rest in a rather pleasing body position.
Even though it was only 7:30 am on a Sunday morning, I followed kansasdad tradition and sent out a family group text:
Boom!
A free range Kansas turkey will be making a Thanksgiving weekend appearance. Looking forward to the festivities.
I stayed in my ambush spot fantasizing that perhaps a deer might still come out and allow me to harvest one of each species. But it was not to be.
Parking on the road in an attempt to keep the farmhouse dog from awakening the sleeping landowners, I was glad that the predicted winds were strong and variable. I was going to be able to waltz right into position to be close to the roost. Finding my prepped ambush spot, I settled in for the hour long wait for the eastern skies to start brightening.
Several meteors streaked across the cloudless sky, and if I looked carefully I could see jetliners flying over me here in "flyover" country. I strained to hear possible footsteps down in the adjacent creek bottom, or was it just leaves tumbling in the wind? I turned and tried to spy where I thought a couple of the roosted birds must be if they hadn't shifted spots after I stopped watching them. I didn't find any turkeys snoozing on their branches.
Looking directly east, I could see the rising moon lift off of earth's surface. Only the bottom of the moon was illuminated brightly, and for a moment I imagined a Independence Day type of alien spacecraft rising on the horizon with fiery thrusters causing the ship to rise into the sky.
With the coming of the dawn, I had my sticks supporting the crossbow and I was facing the trail that deer use to come onto the hayfield out of the woods. I was 40-ish yards from the trail upwind, and downwind I was about 30 yards away from the road up to the face of the watershed dam. I imagined that from the start of legal shooting time I would be mostly expecting deer to be moving, and then I would turn around downwind to where I was expecting the birds to pitch down onto the field.
No deer came early, and I was thinking that in about 5 minutes the birds would start awakening and perhaps doing a little tree talking to each other before coming down to start looking for breakfast. The unmistakable sound of a huge bird launching themselves out of a tree and flapping a couple of times to direct flight came from directly overhead. I tried to slow-quick direct my attention towards the noise, only to seen nothing but leaves falling from where they had just been dislodged. I never saw this turkey as I suppose he glided out beyond the roll of the field or behind some haybales 75 yards out into the field.
Fully in turkey hunting mode now, I awaited the next flap flap flap noise which came just over my right shoulder. This turkey hit the ground, 15 yards out, squawked, juked left, veered right and took flight again. He most likely figured out that the moving blob at the base of the tree was not to be trusted and vamoosing was in order.
A couple of minutes later, there was a cacophony of wing flapping to my left. Lifting my shotgun I picked out the closest (and largest bodied) turkey and pulled the trigger when the bead covered his head. He had been on the ground for less than 5 seconds when I shot. A little problem here as the butt of the gun was not firmly tightened into my shoulder pocket. OUCH!
He stumbled and shuddered, as I cycled another round into the chamber. The other turkeys were running at full sprint mode, my bird was weaving like a drunk man. (At processing, I found a broken leg bone) Wanting to make sure, I did a better job of settling my cheek down and pulling the butt into my shoulder and made sure of the situation.
He flopped a bit, and ultimately came to rest in a rather pleasing body position.
Even though it was only 7:30 am on a Sunday morning, I followed kansasdad tradition and sent out a family group text:
Boom!
A free range Kansas turkey will be making a Thanksgiving weekend appearance. Looking forward to the festivities.
I stayed in my ambush spot fantasizing that perhaps a deer might still come out and allow me to harvest one of each species. But it was not to be.
