Kansas Turkey Adventures
- Thread starter kansasdad
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Southwind
New member
They don't get too excited if you climb the fence with your shotgun in tow.So we are temporarily down to one car so my wife and daughter picked me up at the end of the work day. Driving through the neighborhood that has the suburban flock, we found them in one of their favorite evening spots. With windows rolled down, we watched a couple of jakes in a dust up and then Lynne exclaims " I can't believe how fast that bird ran!"
I tell Julia, "make them gobble".
"Hello turkeys!!" In a singsong tone. Gobbling breaks out.
Lynne tries, " Hello turkeys". Dead silence.
Laughter in the car as ever time Julia calls, the boys respond with a gobble. Everytime Lynne tries, there is stone cold silence.
Silly turkeys
I tell Julia, "make them gobble".
"Hello turkeys!!" In a singsong tone. Gobbling breaks out.
Lynne tries, " Hello turkeys". Dead silence.
Laughter in the car as ever time Julia calls, the boys respond with a gobble. Everytime Lynne tries, there is stone cold silence.
Silly turkeys
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The tick thread started his weekend by pointingdogsrule has my scalp all itching. I had a big one attached on Saturday. Have I mentioned I HATE HAT HATE ticks?
This guy may have been trying to get to one of those hard to reach creepy things as well. Although I find lots of mites when I am processing a turkey, I can't ever recall finding one with a tick attached.
This guy may have been trying to get to one of those hard to reach creepy things as well. Although I find lots of mites when I am processing a turkey, I can't ever recall finding one with a tick attached.
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backsmasher23
Member
Old bag, does Kansas have a fall season? In WI, fall turkey is either sex.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Man, awesome pictures and thanks for writing up your hunts!!
I get to be afield after turkeys for nearly half the year. Two months of spring turkey, bearded birds only April 1st through May 31st to get two spring birds in most of the state. October through January with a break during deer firearms season, for a fall season. Any bird, bearded or not, is legal for the fall. Last year they reduced the tag numbers to one bird in most of Kansas for the fall season.
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putm2sleep
New member
Great thread - great turkey post!
Saturday was a total washout rain day. Some areas in south central kansas recorded over 3 inches rainfall in less than 12 hours. Driving towards "my" acreage for a Sunday afternoon attempt at a tom we saw where the ditches flowed up and over the county road, weaving little rivers into the washboarded gravel.
Compared to the last several drought years, the hayfield is looking much better for the landowner. We risked being seen by any watchful turkey and scooted up close to the corner of the field where it meets the trees lining the creek. We set up a couple of hen decoys and sat down under a headgeapple tree. After a few minutes I scratched out a few tentative clucks on the slate, followed by some yelps from a mouth call and Katie and I enjoyed the warm breeze. Switching to a different slate call later into the evening brought a thunderous gobble from behind us, and he was close! Sadly for us he was on the adjacent property and came no closer than the little ridge in the cut milo field where he teased us with gobbling just about every time I called. Watching him through the treeline, we could see that he never fully extended his fan, and although he would move along the ridge eating and gobbling he never mad a move towards us.
In one last "Hail Mary" attempt to get him to commit to leaving his field for ours, I slithered down the ditch calling as I went, then got to the bank of cedar trees to act as a screen, and moved away from him trying to make it seem as if the loneliest hen in the world was walking out of his life. Too smart to fall for that trick, the old tom lives to see another day.
The attached picture is not from this adventure in the turkey woods, but is posted as a memento of past rainy day trips.
Compared to the last several drought years, the hayfield is looking much better for the landowner. We risked being seen by any watchful turkey and scooted up close to the corner of the field where it meets the trees lining the creek. We set up a couple of hen decoys and sat down under a headgeapple tree. After a few minutes I scratched out a few tentative clucks on the slate, followed by some yelps from a mouth call and Katie and I enjoyed the warm breeze. Switching to a different slate call later into the evening brought a thunderous gobble from behind us, and he was close! Sadly for us he was on the adjacent property and came no closer than the little ridge in the cut milo field where he teased us with gobbling just about every time I called. Watching him through the treeline, we could see that he never fully extended his fan, and although he would move along the ridge eating and gobbling he never mad a move towards us.
In one last "Hail Mary" attempt to get him to commit to leaving his field for ours, I slithered down the ditch calling as I went, then got to the bank of cedar trees to act as a screen, and moved away from him trying to make it seem as if the loneliest hen in the world was walking out of his life. Too smart to fall for that trick, the old tom lives to see another day.
The attached picture is not from this adventure in the turkey woods, but is posted as a memento of past rainy day trips.
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RUT JUNKEY
Well-known member
Great write ups my friend! Have you been back to Applecore again? Seems like it has a lot of birds in and around it this year. That standing corn is a blessing and a curse at the same time!! lol
Southwind
New member
Another rain filled weekend forecast, stay vigilant I'm seeing activity.
They will never know I'm a killer
Aaron and I went out for a late afternoon outing Friday, and we put on a full blown ninja apache move and made it happen. Aaron has a bet with his "flat mates" from India who will get the biggest turkey this spring as all of the men are home on "leave". There were three toms strutting in the corner of a newly planted corn field. I spotted them from the road as we were headed to a much more familiar spot of public hunting land. We debated for several minutes, and decided to make a play for these birds. Camo on, we left the car and quick stepped through the field to get to the treeline bordering the field. One of two main tributaries to the lake flows through this part of the public land, and recent rains had swollen the creek. The birds (and us) were effectively trapped on one half of the public section.
As we neared the spot where we had last seen the little flock of six, we heard a gobble beyond the trees. Now on full alert with our advance slowed we were glad for the overcast that kept us in deep shadows amongst the trees, and a dandy breeze was providing a constant noise covering rustle of leaves and grasses. Aaron took the lead, and we snuck forward towards the gobbling. At 90 yards we saw the birds working the intentionally un-harvested corn cobs for a nice evening meal. We moved just abiut as close as we dared, and then began to line up a shooting alley. We sat back about 5 yards from the tree/field edge, and my brain estimated the birds were 50 yards away from the treeline. Due to the bet, Aaron was hoping to intentionally double up with one shot. I was going to try to get the strutter on the right. I was surprised that Aaron didn't shoot as from where I was, it seemed that the two birds on the left were inline with each other to give him the opportunity to go two for one. Later he said that the forward bird had put his head down to peck at some morsel on the ground at just the wrong moment.
I relaxed my site picture just as Aaron took his shot. I probably lifted my head off the stock at his shot, and airmailed my long distance shot. Aaron's bird was down, and as he approached it he remarked that this was his first fully mature bird ( having taken a nice boatload of tasty jakes over the years).
Tagging time brought a little surprise. In Kansas there is no notching of the tag with a knife, instead we write down county, date and time of the kill. Guess who didn't have his customary plethora of pens in his pack..? Good ol kansasdad, that's who.
As Aaron had no pen to write down his required info, we scratched onto the plastic tag material the required info, "just in case the warden is around to check us when we get back to the car". For those of you reading ahead, that little scenario played out just as you may have suspected. The warden was very cool about it, and even gave Aaron the pen he loaned to him as a memento of the occasion of his nice bird. (And bonus points towards winning the bet for using the wardens pen!!).
Heading back home, I thought it would be nice to stop at the local Braums store ( regional burger/ice cream store) to bring home a couple of flavors of ice cream.
Aaron said, "they won't even know I'm a killer" as we were walking into the store.
"A ninja-like apache turkey killer" I replied.
Aaron and I went out for a late afternoon outing Friday, and we put on a full blown ninja apache move and made it happen. Aaron has a bet with his "flat mates" from India who will get the biggest turkey this spring as all of the men are home on "leave". There were three toms strutting in the corner of a newly planted corn field. I spotted them from the road as we were headed to a much more familiar spot of public hunting land. We debated for several minutes, and decided to make a play for these birds. Camo on, we left the car and quick stepped through the field to get to the treeline bordering the field. One of two main tributaries to the lake flows through this part of the public land, and recent rains had swollen the creek. The birds (and us) were effectively trapped on one half of the public section.
As we neared the spot where we had last seen the little flock of six, we heard a gobble beyond the trees. Now on full alert with our advance slowed we were glad for the overcast that kept us in deep shadows amongst the trees, and a dandy breeze was providing a constant noise covering rustle of leaves and grasses. Aaron took the lead, and we snuck forward towards the gobbling. At 90 yards we saw the birds working the intentionally un-harvested corn cobs for a nice evening meal. We moved just abiut as close as we dared, and then began to line up a shooting alley. We sat back about 5 yards from the tree/field edge, and my brain estimated the birds were 50 yards away from the treeline. Due to the bet, Aaron was hoping to intentionally double up with one shot. I was going to try to get the strutter on the right. I was surprised that Aaron didn't shoot as from where I was, it seemed that the two birds on the left were inline with each other to give him the opportunity to go two for one. Later he said that the forward bird had put his head down to peck at some morsel on the ground at just the wrong moment.
I relaxed my site picture just as Aaron took his shot. I probably lifted my head off the stock at his shot, and airmailed my long distance shot. Aaron's bird was down, and as he approached it he remarked that this was his first fully mature bird ( having taken a nice boatload of tasty jakes over the years).
Tagging time brought a little surprise. In Kansas there is no notching of the tag with a knife, instead we write down county, date and time of the kill. Guess who didn't have his customary plethora of pens in his pack..? Good ol kansasdad, that's who.
As Aaron had no pen to write down his required info, we scratched onto the plastic tag material the required info, "just in case the warden is around to check us when we get back to the car". For those of you reading ahead, that little scenario played out just as you may have suspected. The warden was very cool about it, and even gave Aaron the pen he loaned to him as a memento of the occasion of his nice bird. (And bonus points towards winning the bet for using the wardens pen!!).
Heading back home, I thought it would be nice to stop at the local Braums store ( regional burger/ice cream store) to bring home a couple of flavors of ice cream.
Aaron said, "they won't even know I'm a killer" as we were walking into the store.
"A ninja-like apache turkey killer" I replied.
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Southwind
New member
Congrats, just in time. The rest of the weekend looks like a wash out. Just remember to pick up those guns when your done
Paul Harvey demands the "Rest of the Story"
.......and now, the rest of the story......
Aaron and his turkey (on the turkey sling) are headed back to the car to put the finishing touch on his tag....and his encounter with the cool Department of Wildlfe and Parks warden. I think that maybe I can get lucky and find a bird in an adjacent field and start to sneak through the tree line. Still in super ninja mode I ghost through the woods and peek forward into the weedy field. Male turkey headed my way!! We probably saw each other at the exact same moment, but unlike the turkey, I know exactly what I'm seeing. The turkey on the other hand was just shot at 20 minutes ago, and now is on high high alert and sees an unfamiliar blob just about to come out of the woods. In hindsight, had I held statue still, he may have relaxed just enough to allow me to slowly raise my Winchester and line up a well placed shot. Instead I hastily shouldered my gun and once again let loose with a failed shot. He bailed for the woods, and I shot again, hitting where he had been a split second before. I ran towards the last place I saw wings flapping and tried to convince myself,that either one of my shots mig have connected in a meaningful way, and held out hope that he might be found dead in the undergrowth. I searched for many many minutes working my way from initial sighting to last known position, and beyond, and still no turkey to be found.
Driving home, Aaron and I replayed our moves this evening. We believe we could have ninja'd our way only 2-3 yards closer, but we could have communicated the shot timing much better to allow for simultaneous shots. We need to be sure to be ready to fully complete the tag info in the field. And I finally quite kicking myself in the head over the poorly placed shots.
One more full week to go this spring season. Please Mr Weatherman, turn off the storms!:W:
.......and now, the rest of the story......
Aaron and his turkey (on the turkey sling) are headed back to the car to put the finishing touch on his tag....and his encounter with the cool Department of Wildlfe and Parks warden. I think that maybe I can get lucky and find a bird in an adjacent field and start to sneak through the tree line. Still in super ninja mode I ghost through the woods and peek forward into the weedy field. Male turkey headed my way!! We probably saw each other at the exact same moment, but unlike the turkey, I know exactly what I'm seeing. The turkey on the other hand was just shot at 20 minutes ago, and now is on high high alert and sees an unfamiliar blob just about to come out of the woods. In hindsight, had I held statue still, he may have relaxed just enough to allow me to slowly raise my Winchester and line up a well placed shot. Instead I hastily shouldered my gun and once again let loose with a failed shot. He bailed for the woods, and I shot again, hitting where he had been a split second before. I ran towards the last place I saw wings flapping and tried to convince myself,that either one of my shots mig have connected in a meaningful way, and held out hope that he might be found dead in the undergrowth. I searched for many many minutes working my way from initial sighting to last known position, and beyond, and still no turkey to be found.
Driving home, Aaron and I replayed our moves this evening. We believe we could have ninja'd our way only 2-3 yards closer, but we could have communicated the shot timing much better to allow for simultaneous shots. We need to be sure to be ready to fully complete the tag info in the field. And I finally quite kicking myself in the head over the poorly placed shots.
One more full week to go this spring season. Please Mr Weatherman, turn off the storms!:W:
Southwind
New member
Hope you get in some more hunts, with the sun out I am seeing birds out once again. Get your Ninja on and make it happen.
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