After finishing a job near Wichita,KS, last month, I decided to try my luck for a Rio on some KS public land. I had been seeing turkeys strutting almost every day while I was in KS, so my fever was plenty high. Working out of state had cut my turkey hunting at home this year down to one unsuccessful close encounter, so I was vulnerable to any excuse that might come to mind.
The extended stay hotel where I was staying was across the freeway from the local KS Parks and Wildlife office, and there were turkeys all around us every morning. I had to go over there and search out all the information I could find, don't you know...
It didn't hurt that I was paid up for a full month at the hotel and the job was ending a week earlier. I mean, no sense to waste that extra week when it was already paid up! And the license and tag was only $72.50 and $32.50 respectively (about a tank of gas for my PU). How many excuses did a guy need?
How about a public property w/ good turkey habitat and population close enough to make it all feasible? I found many opportunities where I could turkey hunt on public land near Wichita, so now I just had to pick one... and the right one... It shouldn't be too hard, right?
Utilizing my laptop and Google Earth I was able to view each possible choice via aerial photos and narrow down my choices to a few promising locations. I had pretty much narrowed my choices down to a couple before talking to a local biologist and finally settling on the Byron Walker Wildlife Area about an hour west of my hotel.
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I had some paperwork to complete on Monday morning, but afterward I took a trip out to the 4600+ acre property for a quick initial scouting mission. It turned out to be a terrific day, even if the wind was blowing too hard (something the locals say is a function of all the blowhards in TX and all the suckers in NE). Wind in KS is just another condition that must be tolerated... kinda like in TX, don't you know...
Initially, I stopped by the headquarters to introduce myself and gather some more information about the property. The manager was very friendly and helpful in providing me w/ any information that I requested. He was proud of his place, and well he should be... It was a beautiful example of what habitat management can do for wildlife in an area. Outside of a few wheat fields, I didn't see anything but native vegetation. But there was plenty of that to go around. Proof positive that expensive food plots are not necessary to have quality habitat for wildlife. Food plots can help, but native vegetation is quite adequate when managed properly.
I pretty much spent 4 hours that day driving the roads and glassing the countryside. After studying the aerial photos I had a feel for the lay of the land, but the scouting was just the next step in the process. Later that evening, I would again study the aerial photos on my computer, further enhancing my knowledge of the lay of the land. It's amazing how you can enhance your perspective w/ aerial photos.
I spotted a hen in the road not long after leaving the headquarters. A little further down the road that morning I saw what I thought was a gobbler in the edge of one of the wheat fields, but I couldn't be sure even w/ binoculars. Those were the only two birds that I saw that day, but I saw enough to prompt me to buy my license that afternoon upon returning to Wichita.
KS has a law, as most states do, that you can't hunt on the day that you buy your license. That is to prevent people from shooting something before they go and buy a tag for it. Those kinds of people hunt for all the wrong reasons... It's the journey in life that's important, not the destination. I have some trophies on my wall, but nothing in the record books. However, my largest achievement has been that they have all come legally from public lands and waters w/o the benefit of a guide.
The next morning I was at the property an hour before daylight. I wanted to listen to the Byron Walker wake up...
I had realized on the way that I had forgotten my mouth yelpers in the refrigerator in my hotel room. Not a good way to start the day...
I still didn't know for sure where I wanted to hunt, but I was leaning toward the area where I had seen, what I thought, was a gobbler the day before. But, had I heard gobbling on the roost before daylight, I would have been inclined to head in that direction. As it happened, I didn't hear a single gobble before daylight, so I started out near where the gobbler had been the day before.
As the day began to break, the wind began to rise. I flushed a pair of quail as I eased around trying to hear anything that might give me a clue which way to go. Daylight was grey and cloudy, but the sun was still low yet.
Whoa! What was that? A gobble off to my SW? Maybe, but I couldn't be sure in the wind. There it was again. Yep! He was over there! But hard to say how far... He gobbled maybe 4 times and shut up! That was it!
I was on the east side of what the manager called the T-draw when I heard that gobble, and I was hunting where I had never been before. So, to stay as hidden as possible, I used the edge of the timber to make my way in the direction of those gobbles, which appeared to be coming from the west side of the T-draw and to my SW.
As I slipped along the edge of the timber trying to find a way through the thickets, I heard some very faint tree yelps coming from up ahead. But again the wind made it hard to tell how far up ahead, plus I'm sure that I don't hear as good as I did anymore, don't you know...
Suddenly, two hens flushed from a huge cottonwood tree as I stepped from a plum thicket, still on the east side of the T-draw because it was too thick to find a way through to the west side. (Most of the area is pretty open, but where there are thickets... there are thickets... ) The two hens flew off toward where the gobbler had been. It was just now 6:30.
I found a way through where a game trail made it's way across the draw. It wasn't very far before it opened up again, but it was very thick in the bottom of the draw.
I eased up to the fence on the west side and crossed it. There was a small cottonwood and cedar draw w/ a pasture to the SW that looked promising, so I headed in that direction.
It had been some time since I had heard the gobbles, and I had little hope of finding that bird. But the hens had flown that way too, so I might as well ease over there and try calling a little. Up to now I hadn't even made a call except w/ my locater calls. I wanted things to settle down after flushing those two hens off the roost. No sense in educating them anymore...
As I eased up the small draw, I found a small pond near a 6-8 acre wheat field that was somewhat shielded from me by plum thickets and cedar trees. I decided to put my decoys up on a little knoll out in the pasture and set up behind a cottonwood log to do some calling. As I crawled out toward the little knoll to place my decoys, something dark caught my eye in the middle of the wheat field about 150 yds. to my right.
Whoa! Turkey! Get back behind that plum thicket! There was a gobbler in full strut in the middle of that wheat field... And he hadn't seen me yet! Whew!
I eased back to the edge w/ my binoculars and, sure enough, there he was in full fan. And there were some hens w/ him too. One, two, three, FOUR of them! Fat chance he would leave them and come to me unless the hens did first. Well, I had to try...
That plum thicket provided me w/ some cover so I could get my decoys set up and start calling the turkeys. The thicket was on my side of the fence that surrounded the wheat field where the gobbler was strutting. I moved closer to the thicket and set up to start calling. I positioned myself where I could see the turkeys as they meandered around in the wheat field, occasionally showing themselves on each side of the plum thicket.
The gobbler seemed like he was herding the hens as they meandered around pecking the ground. He would move back and forth around them strutting his fan off. What a show!
I pulled out my box call and my slate and began calling softly at first w/ some soft mating yelps, and purrs and clucks. The wind was still blowing, but not as badly as before, and the sun was breaking through the clouds at times.
Each time I would call, the gobbler would drop his fan and raise his head, but he would not answer me. The hens would look too, so I know they knew I was there. But they wouldn't come... or answer me.
So I picked up the box call and let her rip w/ 4-5 sharp mating yelps to see if that would get a better response. Same reaction... so I did it again. This time the hens started slowly easing away toward the other side of the field... so I shut up. I never made another call that day.
I swear, that gobbler pranced around those hens and herded them back to the middle of that field. My shutting up must've convinced those hens that those other hens weren't a threat anymore, because they settled down and went back to feeding and the gobbler kept prancing around them, back and forth.
So there I sat somewhere between 100-150 yds of this gobbler and four hens that wouldn't make a sound or come to my call. I could wait for them to leave him and try to call him to me after he was alone, which might take a long time... if it happened at all. Or I could try and put a sneak on them?
Several years ago out in west Texas I had slipped up on a hard gobbling Rio strutting in a stiff wind, but he would gobble everytime I called to him and there was plenty of cover to hide behind as I moved up. And even then he had gotten away from me... because I missed him... But I did get a shot off.
That was before my Uncle Wink died, and he had remarked that he didn't think he could remember anyone who had ever sneaked up on a turkey before. Not saying it couldn't be done, but it was a rare thing to be successful at it.
But if I boogered them they would just run off. And if I waited, they would probably take all day, and walk away anyway. So I had to try...
The plum thicket still provided cover to the fence, but that was still 75 yds. from the birds. To the right of the plum thicket, the cottonwood draw provided a funnel below the turkey's line of sight that would allow me to sneak up to the right of a cedar tree on the edge of the draw and just a few feet from the fence. If I could get to that tree w/o being seen, I might have a chance.
But I would still be at maximum range for my BPS w/ Federal Mag Shok #4's at best. I don't pay extra for the heavy shot, so I still don't like taking a shot over 40-45 yds. My gun will pattern 8-12 shot in a turkey target kill zone at 45 yds, but that's under ideal conditions.
So here we go! I half-crawl, half-walk slowly up this cottowood draw till I get to that cedar tree, but it's still too far. But they haven't seen me yet either. So now I get belly low and crawl up to the fence leaving only blue stem grass and barbed wire in front of me, and that cedar tree behind me. Very carefully, I sit up next to the fence and move my gun into position. The gobbler is still too far by maybe 10 yds, but I still haven't been seen. Nothing short of a miracle, but the wind was blowing the grass and the trees back and forth, and my camo was good.
So there I sit w/ my gun sticking between the strands of barbed wire waiting for this bird to prance around into effective range so I can take a shot. Hoping that I'm not seen and that I don't get a cramp, I wait for him to get into range.
Finally, after strutting back and forth keeping his girls herded into the middle of this field, he prances over to my side and gets into what I believe is effective range. And, finally, these four hens separate enough that I have a clear shot at him. But he's still all puffed up w/ his head pulled down on his chest, and I don't have any mouth yelper to make him stretch his neck out for a clean head shot. But he does present me w/ a profile of his head and waddles, and he does break his strut for just an instant... just long enough for me to take a fine bead and touch it off.
Boom! He flew forward about 10 feet and piled up in a heap. Turns out the shot was closer to 45 yds, but a clean kill. He had only a 9 inch beard, but 1 inch spurs... a 3 y.o. bird, and I put a sneak on him! Not bad for a fat old man of 63... if I do say so myself... Here's hoping people will excuse me, LOL.
The extended stay hotel where I was staying was across the freeway from the local KS Parks and Wildlife office, and there were turkeys all around us every morning. I had to go over there and search out all the information I could find, don't you know...
It didn't hurt that I was paid up for a full month at the hotel and the job was ending a week earlier. I mean, no sense to waste that extra week when it was already paid up! And the license and tag was only $72.50 and $32.50 respectively (about a tank of gas for my PU). How many excuses did a guy need?
How about a public property w/ good turkey habitat and population close enough to make it all feasible? I found many opportunities where I could turkey hunt on public land near Wichita, so now I just had to pick one... and the right one... It shouldn't be too hard, right?
Utilizing my laptop and Google Earth I was able to view each possible choice via aerial photos and narrow down my choices to a few promising locations. I had pretty much narrowed my choices down to a couple before talking to a local biologist and finally settling on the Byron Walker Wildlife Area about an hour west of my hotel.
I had some paperwork to complete on Monday morning, but afterward I took a trip out to the 4600+ acre property for a quick initial scouting mission. It turned out to be a terrific day, even if the wind was blowing too hard (something the locals say is a function of all the blowhards in TX and all the suckers in NE). Wind in KS is just another condition that must be tolerated... kinda like in TX, don't you know...
Initially, I stopped by the headquarters to introduce myself and gather some more information about the property. The manager was very friendly and helpful in providing me w/ any information that I requested. He was proud of his place, and well he should be... It was a beautiful example of what habitat management can do for wildlife in an area. Outside of a few wheat fields, I didn't see anything but native vegetation. But there was plenty of that to go around. Proof positive that expensive food plots are not necessary to have quality habitat for wildlife. Food plots can help, but native vegetation is quite adequate when managed properly.
I pretty much spent 4 hours that day driving the roads and glassing the countryside. After studying the aerial photos I had a feel for the lay of the land, but the scouting was just the next step in the process. Later that evening, I would again study the aerial photos on my computer, further enhancing my knowledge of the lay of the land. It's amazing how you can enhance your perspective w/ aerial photos.
I spotted a hen in the road not long after leaving the headquarters. A little further down the road that morning I saw what I thought was a gobbler in the edge of one of the wheat fields, but I couldn't be sure even w/ binoculars. Those were the only two birds that I saw that day, but I saw enough to prompt me to buy my license that afternoon upon returning to Wichita.
KS has a law, as most states do, that you can't hunt on the day that you buy your license. That is to prevent people from shooting something before they go and buy a tag for it. Those kinds of people hunt for all the wrong reasons... It's the journey in life that's important, not the destination. I have some trophies on my wall, but nothing in the record books. However, my largest achievement has been that they have all come legally from public lands and waters w/o the benefit of a guide.
The next morning I was at the property an hour before daylight. I wanted to listen to the Byron Walker wake up...
I had realized on the way that I had forgotten my mouth yelpers in the refrigerator in my hotel room. Not a good way to start the day...
I still didn't know for sure where I wanted to hunt, but I was leaning toward the area where I had seen, what I thought, was a gobbler the day before. But, had I heard gobbling on the roost before daylight, I would have been inclined to head in that direction. As it happened, I didn't hear a single gobble before daylight, so I started out near where the gobbler had been the day before.
As the day began to break, the wind began to rise. I flushed a pair of quail as I eased around trying to hear anything that might give me a clue which way to go. Daylight was grey and cloudy, but the sun was still low yet.
Whoa! What was that? A gobble off to my SW? Maybe, but I couldn't be sure in the wind. There it was again. Yep! He was over there! But hard to say how far... He gobbled maybe 4 times and shut up! That was it!
I was on the east side of what the manager called the T-draw when I heard that gobble, and I was hunting where I had never been before. So, to stay as hidden as possible, I used the edge of the timber to make my way in the direction of those gobbles, which appeared to be coming from the west side of the T-draw and to my SW.
As I slipped along the edge of the timber trying to find a way through the thickets, I heard some very faint tree yelps coming from up ahead. But again the wind made it hard to tell how far up ahead, plus I'm sure that I don't hear as good as I did anymore, don't you know...
Suddenly, two hens flushed from a huge cottonwood tree as I stepped from a plum thicket, still on the east side of the T-draw because it was too thick to find a way through to the west side. (Most of the area is pretty open, but where there are thickets... there are thickets... ) The two hens flew off toward where the gobbler had been. It was just now 6:30.
I found a way through where a game trail made it's way across the draw. It wasn't very far before it opened up again, but it was very thick in the bottom of the draw.
I eased up to the fence on the west side and crossed it. There was a small cottonwood and cedar draw w/ a pasture to the SW that looked promising, so I headed in that direction.
It had been some time since I had heard the gobbles, and I had little hope of finding that bird. But the hens had flown that way too, so I might as well ease over there and try calling a little. Up to now I hadn't even made a call except w/ my locater calls. I wanted things to settle down after flushing those two hens off the roost. No sense in educating them anymore...
As I eased up the small draw, I found a small pond near a 6-8 acre wheat field that was somewhat shielded from me by plum thickets and cedar trees. I decided to put my decoys up on a little knoll out in the pasture and set up behind a cottonwood log to do some calling. As I crawled out toward the little knoll to place my decoys, something dark caught my eye in the middle of the wheat field about 150 yds. to my right.
Whoa! Turkey! Get back behind that plum thicket! There was a gobbler in full strut in the middle of that wheat field... And he hadn't seen me yet! Whew!
I eased back to the edge w/ my binoculars and, sure enough, there he was in full fan. And there were some hens w/ him too. One, two, three, FOUR of them! Fat chance he would leave them and come to me unless the hens did first. Well, I had to try...
That plum thicket provided me w/ some cover so I could get my decoys set up and start calling the turkeys. The thicket was on my side of the fence that surrounded the wheat field where the gobbler was strutting. I moved closer to the thicket and set up to start calling. I positioned myself where I could see the turkeys as they meandered around in the wheat field, occasionally showing themselves on each side of the plum thicket.
The gobbler seemed like he was herding the hens as they meandered around pecking the ground. He would move back and forth around them strutting his fan off. What a show!
I pulled out my box call and my slate and began calling softly at first w/ some soft mating yelps, and purrs and clucks. The wind was still blowing, but not as badly as before, and the sun was breaking through the clouds at times.
Each time I would call, the gobbler would drop his fan and raise his head, but he would not answer me. The hens would look too, so I know they knew I was there. But they wouldn't come... or answer me.
So I picked up the box call and let her rip w/ 4-5 sharp mating yelps to see if that would get a better response. Same reaction... so I did it again. This time the hens started slowly easing away toward the other side of the field... so I shut up. I never made another call that day.
I swear, that gobbler pranced around those hens and herded them back to the middle of that field. My shutting up must've convinced those hens that those other hens weren't a threat anymore, because they settled down and went back to feeding and the gobbler kept prancing around them, back and forth.
So there I sat somewhere between 100-150 yds of this gobbler and four hens that wouldn't make a sound or come to my call. I could wait for them to leave him and try to call him to me after he was alone, which might take a long time... if it happened at all. Or I could try and put a sneak on them?
Several years ago out in west Texas I had slipped up on a hard gobbling Rio strutting in a stiff wind, but he would gobble everytime I called to him and there was plenty of cover to hide behind as I moved up. And even then he had gotten away from me... because I missed him... But I did get a shot off.
That was before my Uncle Wink died, and he had remarked that he didn't think he could remember anyone who had ever sneaked up on a turkey before. Not saying it couldn't be done, but it was a rare thing to be successful at it.
But if I boogered them they would just run off. And if I waited, they would probably take all day, and walk away anyway. So I had to try...
The plum thicket still provided cover to the fence, but that was still 75 yds. from the birds. To the right of the plum thicket, the cottonwood draw provided a funnel below the turkey's line of sight that would allow me to sneak up to the right of a cedar tree on the edge of the draw and just a few feet from the fence. If I could get to that tree w/o being seen, I might have a chance.
But I would still be at maximum range for my BPS w/ Federal Mag Shok #4's at best. I don't pay extra for the heavy shot, so I still don't like taking a shot over 40-45 yds. My gun will pattern 8-12 shot in a turkey target kill zone at 45 yds, but that's under ideal conditions.
So here we go! I half-crawl, half-walk slowly up this cottowood draw till I get to that cedar tree, but it's still too far. But they haven't seen me yet either. So now I get belly low and crawl up to the fence leaving only blue stem grass and barbed wire in front of me, and that cedar tree behind me. Very carefully, I sit up next to the fence and move my gun into position. The gobbler is still too far by maybe 10 yds, but I still haven't been seen. Nothing short of a miracle, but the wind was blowing the grass and the trees back and forth, and my camo was good.
So there I sit w/ my gun sticking between the strands of barbed wire waiting for this bird to prance around into effective range so I can take a shot. Hoping that I'm not seen and that I don't get a cramp, I wait for him to get into range.
Finally, after strutting back and forth keeping his girls herded into the middle of this field, he prances over to my side and gets into what I believe is effective range. And, finally, these four hens separate enough that I have a clear shot at him. But he's still all puffed up w/ his head pulled down on his chest, and I don't have any mouth yelper to make him stretch his neck out for a clean head shot. But he does present me w/ a profile of his head and waddles, and he does break his strut for just an instant... just long enough for me to take a fine bead and touch it off.
Boom! He flew forward about 10 feet and piled up in a heap. Turns out the shot was closer to 45 yds, but a clean kill. He had only a 9 inch beard, but 1 inch spurs... a 3 y.o. bird, and I put a sneak on him! Not bad for a fat old man of 63... if I do say so myself... Here's hoping people will excuse me, LOL.
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