Kansas Turkey Adventures

Congrats! I've hunted Kansas public land the last two weekends and the wind has been killer. I went to my midmorning spot yesterday to find a gobbler standing 20 yards from where I parked my truck on the WRONG (private) side of the road. Typical turkeys proving that they are smarter than I am. I found that even during archery season pressure has been high in my area.

Sainte_Terrer said:

Congrats! I've hunted Kansas public land the last two weekends and the wind has been killer.

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Determining wind direction and intensity make some spots more or less likely to hold turkeys. My go to spots in high wind conditions are tucked into the lee side of woodlots, treelines, or in the undersides of hills (can I really say that Kansas has hills big enough to block gale force winds ?)

When Kansas gets rolling with wind, I also "make lemonade" as I find that the birds may tend to find more open areas for their safety as the hearing component of their defense gets masked. And sneaking along river bottoms full of dry crispy leaves will be easier with all of the noise of the creaking woods hiding my noises.

Very nicely done! The baseball schedule is panning out to give me a few days for the Hoosier season to try to tag a bird. I'd be surprised if I'm successful, but I know I'll have fun.

Aaron had never had turkey gizzard, so it was fun showing how to find the gizzard (the liver was left laying there!), then peel off the hard internal and external layers. Cooking involved just a little butter/olive oil pan fry and salt/pepper to taste. It tasted slightly sweet and had a very crunchy texture, almost like jicama. Eating the gizzard is a new tradition for us.

Easter-eve family dinner (minus one in Minneapolis) was a hit, and oh so easy. One half of one breast was cubed and browned in a touch of olive oil. Multi-colored peppers and onions were then sweated, and two BirdsEye bags of mixed veggies that had been microwaved to al dente added and the first dose of (gluten free) teriyaki added. The turkey was added, and a second shot of teriyaki was added as the yumminess simmered. Laid over a bed of rice, seconds (and thirds??) were had by all.

If there was such a thing as Murphy's Law for Hunting....

The day you see the bobcat trotting down the field edge, that's the day you left your camera at home

If you decide to leave your decoys in the field as you decide to chase a gobble in the field on the other side of the watercourse, be prepared to find turkeys amongst your decoys when you return.

kansasdad said:

If there was such a thing as Murphy's Law for Hunting....

The day you see the bobcat trotting down the field edge, that's the day you left your camera at home

If you decide to leave your decoys in the field as you decide to chase a gobble in the field on the other side of the watercourse, be prepared to find turkeys amongst your decoys when you return.

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Sounds like you and I get treated equally by the "hunting gods"...

From this Sunday's Wichita Eagle. Turkey hunting's latest rage: Fanning. Using a real or artificial fan to draw a turkeys attention. It works as seen on TV shows over the last several years. It worked so well that these three guys ended up stalking each other, and two of them getting shot from 30 yards with a turkey load. How someone didn't die ( they aren't in that kind of danger according to the story) or lose an eye (not covered in the story) is a miracle.


http://www.kansas.com/sports/outdoors/article145929249.html#navlink=SecList



I will occasionally put out decoys on public land, but I do so with an eye to make sure that anyone trying to put the sneak on a decoy will not have me in the background if they get turkey fever and shoot. And not just shotgun distance, but rifle distance as well. It is shotgun only in Kansas, but I don't put it past anyone to do something stupid in the woods. I also NEVER put out a legal bird (jake/tom) on public land. Too many yahoos out there.

kansasdad,

I enjoy reading your post and how you keep adding to it. Keep it coming. Still working on getting my first Kansas bird. Thank you.

kansasdad said:

From this Sunday's Wichita Eagle. Turkey hunting's latest rage: Fanning. Using a real or artificial fan to draw a turkeys attention. It works as seen on TV shows over the last several years. It worked so well that these three guys ended up stalking each other, and two of them getting shot from 30 yards with a turkey load. How someone didn't die ( they aren't in that kind of danger according to the story) or lose an eye (not covered in the story) is a miracle.


http://www.kansas.com/sports/outdoors/article145929249.html#navlink=SecList



I will occasionally put out decoys on public land, but I do so with an eye to make sure that anyone trying to put the sneak on a decoy will not have me in the background if they get turkey fever and shoot. And not just shotgun distance, but rifle distance as well. It is shotgun only in Kansas, but I don't put it past anyone to do something stupid in the woods. I also NEVER put out a legal bird (jake/tom) on public land. Too many yahoos out there.

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The issue of getting shot was my first thought when I saw the fans. I think they would work very well, but like you I'd be very careful of where I used one. If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd have one to use tomorrow.

Driving in to the office this morning, I saw a turkey laying in the road. Obviously dead, he was currently laying between the two westbound lanes, with wings flapping with every passing vehicle. I was going to motor on by like everyone else, and decided that this might be my chance to "do a good turn" today (Boy Scouts).



Traffic was heavy, so turning around and parking in the nearest driveway was just a bit tricky. I imagine that by the time I had grabbed a trash bag from the car (Be Prepared.....Boy Scouts again!) over 100 cars had passed by this road hazard. Waiting for a pause in the flow of cars, I was finally able to dart into the road and carry him off to the other side of the road. His body was still very warm, so his demise was quite recent. I imagine if it was the last week of the season, with rain forecast every day, I might have been tempted to put my tag on the bird. The worst area of damage on the bird was right at the beard area, and a very cursory glance failed to verify the presence of this one item of legal versus non-legal spring bird identifying feature. I fought the breeze and finally got him into the trashbag for the ride to the office.

Once at the office, I put the trash bag on the breakroom floor in front of the refrigerator, and hatched a plan to "surprise" at least one of my staff members. Upon returning to the break room, Angela was standing in front of the opened frig door, obviously having moved the trash bag.

"I have a surprise for you, Angela", I said. "What is in there?, it feels like a dead body", she replied. With a mischievous grin, I said, "It is a dead body! Take a look". Angela, thinking that I was just my usual goofy self, reached down to open the bag and saw the somewhat bloody feathered mess in the bag, let out a shriek, jumped back, and ran out of the room still shrieking and laughing simultaneously. Had I been thinking, I might one day be $10K richer with an "America's Funniest Video" moment of Angela's facial expressions and noises over this turkey in a trashbag.

Wanting to do the "right thing", I called the regional office of KDWPT and inquired if I needed to do anything with the carcass, and wondered if I could keep some of the feathers. The lady who answered the phone transferred me to a Captain with KDWPT, who gruffly informed me that I was currently in possession of a carcass without a tag, and in violation of the law, and possibly subject to a fine. He told me that at most, I should have moved the turkey off the road, (reducing the road hazard) but left it there, until such time as a sheriff or KDWPT office would issue me a "salvage" tag. The Captain suggested that I call the Sedgwick county officer to see what I should do next.

Calling Lt Barker, I informed him of the circumstances of the morning, and asked him what should I do with the bird. He said he was on the other side of the county, but headed my way, and would come pick up the bird. Now double bagged, the bird was out the door in Lt Barker's capable hands, and fortunately for me, I did not get in trouble for an untagged bird in possession.

Whew.

Wet and chilly hens trying to keep those eggs incubating.

If only it was this easy!!


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With heavy storms predicted for the weekend, I hit it hard Friday at "my" public land turkey woods. So far this season, the only other truck to use "my" parking lot was a fellow HuntTalker and his buddy coming in from out of state, and my heart was happy at O-Dark thirty when again I was alone to head into the woods. My knowledge of this corner of Kansas has been built over the years wondering around and chasing turkeys. Favorite feed fields change year over year based on last years crop (corn >soybean>milo) and adjacent nesting/roosting areas. My favorite field of years past is being used less this year, so I've had to change up my strategies. Hunting with a crossbow has also forced me to change my tactics a bit as well.

I arrived perhaps 15 minutes later than I should have, as the first gobbles had already sounded as I was snuggling in my hidey-hole on the side of the cropfield, the hens that were roosted just behind me were also beginning to talk. Overcast skies and a cool morning, the hens waited to flydown till long after legal shooting time. When the five hens launched into flight, the sound of the first bird made my jerk my head up, in time to see #2-5 fly directly over my spot, turn left and drop down into the cut corn field. I heard the two boys leave their roosts as well, but they dropped down into the trees, and made a gauntlet run out of the woods 45 yards to my left.

One of the hens came over to say hello to my decoys, and when they failed to behave like real birds, she started to send out the "somethings up" clucks. These birds drifted away from me and finally around the corner of the field.






Following them, I moved into a new spot alongside where I have seen these birds feeding and moving along the field edge. I decided to stay silent, and count on these birds bringing the tom back with them. As I sat there sharing texts with family, I looked up to see that two hens had already past my new hiding spot, and the third one sensed something was up as I put the phone down and reached for the bow. Coming over to the edge of the CRP strip where I was hiding, she gazed into the underbrush and once again I heard the dreaded "panic putts" of a disturbed hen. The hens exited to my right, with no tom in sight. I figured that meant that he had about-faced and went back to the left.

Sitting there is the warmth, I felt drowsiness creeping on. A full gobble from the adjacent field rang out, jolting me awake. I called back, and he gobbled. He gobbled at every crow caw, every rumble strip from a nearby highway, and just when he felt like it. He was moving away, gobbling the whole way until he reached the far end of the unseen field. I figured he was looking for his recently departed harem. Pausing in his gobbling, he worked his way through a CRP strip and onto my field. Over a quarter of mile away, I called and he responded. Heading my way, I had to decide if I wanted to stay put, or move into a better ambush spot.

As it turns out, I should have moved forward to the fullest CRP indentation into the field as he came gobbling the whole way, but stayed in the middle of the field. Had I moved he would have been inside my self imposed "limit" of my crossbow. As it was, he wound up at my max shotgun range, and seemed not at all willing to come any closer to the seductive hen unseen in the CRP. Spooking, he exited to my left.

Once I was sure he wasn't coming back, I decided to go into the same general direction that he traveled. Walking down the field, I found an area where the turkeys had been dusting themselves.






Moving into the woods and then into the next crop field, I waded through the poison ivy edge, and decided to explore further down river. Hoping to catch birds loafing beyond the next hedgerow, I went into ninja mode as I approached a spot I have taken multiple toms over the years. No birds seen, I went out into the middle of the heavy grass fallow field, and finally flushed a hen at 4 yards from where I was standing. Her clutch of eggs is larger than average, and after taking a couple of quick pics, I turned to leave so that she could once again incubate this years turkey crop.





I almost stepped right on this egg stealer hiding in the thick grass.





As my day of near misses came to an end, I was headed to the parking lot when I saw yet more birds of in the corner of yet another field. I have plans for you boys. Keep safe until I come to "meet you"!

mcelweed said:

Where was this in Wichita? I was stationed at McConnell for almost 5 years in the late '90s. I lived on the NW side of town, near W 21st N and N 119th W. I never saw any turkeys, just lots of geese and ducks.

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This was on Central Avenue between 127th East and Greenwich (which for all you non-Kansas, non-Wichita guys is properly pronounced "Green-Wich", unlike the time meridian and famous city in England). The neighborhood to the south, (Jackson Heights) and the farmland along the turnpike holds a resident flock of turkeys that currently numbers upwards of 50 birds, less this unfortunate roadkill.

We must have just missed each other at McConnell AFB as I arrived in 1987 before the B-1's arrived, and left the hospital/dental clinic in 1992.

Plan A foiled by the truck parked where it was clear that the hunter/angler/mushroom hunter would be right where I wanted to be to intercept the late afternoon strutters. Just as I was leaving the parking area towards plan B location, a guy walked out into the open right where the strutters have been over the last two weeks.

Ghosting through the woods to the diagonal field, I saw fans galore out in the cut corn. Getting my ninja on, I moved down the watercourse woods to be in intercept position. Just as I thought I was square to this flock of feeding, strutting birds, they would drift further south. With little wind to cover any noise I might make, I had to wait for the train to increase the noise levels to make it safer to move.


With only a few minutes left of legal shooting time, the first hens launched up into the trees, landing nearly overhead. They were at first squabbling amongnst themselves, and then one of them caught me bring my shotgun to the ready, and began to ramp up their nervous clucking.

The boys were still chasing each other, and one particular jake was getting the brunt of the abuse. Watching the clock to keep legal, I knew that I was probably going to walk out without a bird, as at 75 yards out, and still strutting, these spooky birds were going to not come in close enough before the end of legal time.

Walking into the public land field, I was able to forgo any artificial lighting as the Milky Way and Venus gave enough light to scoot safely down the field, cross the creek and make my way through the CRP strip and nestle in to my hidey hole.

My plan today was to be a total stealth hunter......no decoys and no calling. Busting a bird from its roost halfway along my hike in let me know that at least one turkey was still using this area for roosting.

As the sky started brighten, round after round of gobbles started sounding off. I was far enough away that I didn't see or hear the main flock fly down. I did hear the tree clucks of a turkey aware that something strange was sitting in the shrubs right under him. Doh!

That aware bird flew right over my head, and went around the bend of the field to contact earth once more. Birds leaving the roosting area rallied together while eating on the cut cornfield, and started to head down the field moving in my general direction. Hens, jakes and toms headed my way, the first bird somehow sensed something was hinky, and they drifted towards the opposite field edge, and some turned back towards the roost side of the field. After eating some more, they again drifted my way, but were taking care to stay in the middle of the field, out of shotgun range.

Minutes later, I heard more sounds of feeding turkeys headed my way and I eased up my gun onto the shooting stick. Hens following the field edge came within a few yards of my position, and this time nothing made them spook.

Another 10 minutes went by, and I saw movement out front. A turkey walking down the middle of the field, which means he was in range. Pushing the barrel through the shrubs, he never knew what hit him.

Thanks Kansas!

Tease! We KNOW there's photographic evidence.

1_pointer, I confess to you that I do have tons of pics of turkeys on this field, but none on the "hoof" of the one who agreed to the offered ride home. While walking in the sunshine, there is iridescence galore, somehow never fully captured by film.

For these closeups I moved the bird into dappled shade as although the tag shows he was killed before 8 am, the pics were not taken until nearly noon. I also asked the exposure meter to reduce the automatic exposure by .7 to allow some of the darker colors to have some differentiation, and the shade helped the lighter areas not be overexposed and washed out.

Now that is what I've come to expect from your post on this thread! Well done and thanks for sharing.

I had a couple of close (one REALLY close) calls in getting a turkey to come home with me, but it just didn't happen. Kids' baseball season makes for a very short window for me to turkey hunt. Had fun nonetheless.