Spring Turkey

Gove County Britts said:
Went out last night just looking at a couple spots i wont have to go very far only went 2 miles outside of town and found about 150 with alot of toms and jakes
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Wow! That's alot of birds still together. How long before they split up? We are still getting hammered with snow here in MI, last year on this day it was 80 degrees out.

My Dad, brother, and I are counting down the days. Can't wait to head to KS!
 
I'm planning on turkey hunting Kansas this year for the first time....I would like to shoot a Rio or Merriam....I been living in IL now for 5 years. I hate fact they only allow you 3 tags per year. In NJ where I lived my entire life....you could buy as many tags as that zone had available....If you have enough different areas in different zones you could buy as many $25 tags per bird that your wallet would allow....at least you could hunt the entire 5 weeks of the season if you wanted. I drew 2 tags this year here in IL and they're both for opening week. After that I will need to look elswhere. MO is the obvious choice because its soo close but non-res tags are $111 any you can only get one I believe...I love Kansas anyway and tags are less than half the price...Id rather give KS my money
 
rascal said:
I'm planning on turkey hunting Kansas this year for the first time....I would like to shoot a Rio or Merriam....I been living in IL now for 5 years. I hate fact they only allow you 3 tags per year. In NJ where I lived my entire life....you could buy as many tags as that zone had available....If you have enough different areas in different zones you could buy as many $25 tags per bird that your wallet would allow....at least you could hunt the entire 5 weeks of the season if you wanted. I drew 2 tags this year here in IL and they're both for opening week. After that I will need to look elswhere. MO is the obvious choice because its soo close but non-res tags are $111 any you can only get one I believe...I love Kansas anyway and tags are less than half the price...Id rather give KS my money
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I think most Kansas farmers would like you to take some of their turkeys also.:thumbsup:

My friend N of Manhattan has been reporting strutting birds for a couple weeks now, and said the flocks are "not bad". He said the field my daughter and I generally hunt had 150 in it last week when the weather was nice. Not bad!
 
rascal i think your turkey tag prices need a 2nd look??? a non resident MO turkey license coast 190$$$ 2 birds a season total 1 the 1st WK of season 1 a day the remainder of the season... as for a KS non resident turkey license that coast you 130$$$ for 2 birds that can be harvested on the same day...

KS only has eastern's in the eastern part of the state & rio grande the western 2/3 wear the 2 overlap there are hybrids eastern/rio grande in the extreme SW of the state of KS there is merriams/rio grande hybrids but that is a draw hunt for residents only so you will only be able to shoot easterns or rio grande on your hunt to KS...

if you want merriams & rio grandes hunt nebraska

if you just want a lot of turkeys around you every morning of the hunt KS is the best bet!!!
 
stinky rio grandes only kinda break up from there winter flocks they go from 150-300 birds in a winter flock to like 20-40 birds in a breeding flock lol ive been out in KS on a warm year when they birds were supposed to be broke up & was still seeing flocks of 20-40 birds its not uncommon to see that on opener its a challenge to get a bird out of a flock that size man!!! i gets your heart going to see that many but killing 1 out that flock is hard work...

but there will be plenty of the satellite gobblers that dont have girl friends roaming around looking for a willing hen to play with thats were we come in to play... lol good luck this yr
 
turkey stuff

spent much of the last two days in kansas. didn't look like any turkey had died since i was there a couple of weeks ago. the flocks were still really big for the most part but were spread out some, saw several groups of males from 3 to 9 birds and several other bunches of around 30. mostly there were several hundred in the area. quite a lot of strutting, one ol' boy looked like he was about to get a little, but alas. saw a number of roosters, no hens, but that is kinda usual, hens are smart enough to keep their heads down. got a 1/16 " of rain and snow on the way. pic. ain't much but then that is good as my brownie will do
 
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I have been out to my place a couple times since I got back from my trip. I have been seeing tracks, some feathers, but I have not gotten a turkey on my game camera or seen one yet.

But the dogs have been finding the quail and a pheasant or two.
 
New way to hunt Turkey

I took the dog for a run yesterday. Found a covey of quail.

But then Ace had this find.

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Well, when you are expecting a quail, and a full grown Tom, with 11" beard, spurs and all comes out, it take a while to get the camera up and take a picture. Ace has done this to me many time, at least he is smart enough to let them get away.

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Scouting/ Flats & Fish

Well went out to the farm yesterday to scout and saw quite a few birds. It looks like the toms are seperating from the hens and searching. Trying to burn my crp off but the wind is working against me. I did manage to get a sidewall flat:mad: that took a new tire today to fix. I went fishing on a pond for a couple of hours and did catch 26 crappie over 10 inches which I kept and another 10 or so bass and bluegills that I threw back. Taking the filets to W. KS for dinner on our Rio hunt. :thumbsup:

PS. I tested the new CZ612 Wildfowl this week and shot 5 manufactures loads out of it to pattern it. I look forward to trying it on live targets.
 
Hey that sounds like time well spent!:thumbsup: Except for the flat tire...

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Here was my experience on Friday when I headed over to the farm to work on my food plots. Of course I didn't bother to bring my air bubble, tool box, or my bottle jack... So I improvised...:thumbsup: Used the jack and 4-way from my truck to pull off the wheel and tossed it in the truck bed,,, and then drank beer by the river and watched the ducks and geese instead. I didn't get S accomplished, but it was certainly a good Friday. :laugh:

Glad you are seeing some gobblers at your land. I'm hoping that a little soil disturbance and maybe some green popping up in the food plots will attract a few to my place as well.
 
ThanksToad... I think that anytime you can get away is time well spent. I too enjoyed a farmer beer (Busch Light:D) or two while cleaning fish on the tailgate.

Taking the youngest kid this weekend for turkey's and I will tag along with my bow incase we get the chance to double.
 
turkey

just got back from my kansas turkey hunt, the turkey won. one flock was at 238 birds, did see several smaller groups and a couple of singles. males were vocal morning and night and not much else. lots of strutting, no sex that i could see and no groups of jakes running around, couple days were really cold sitting in the blind, shoulda brought with me a bigger book to read. taking the 14 ga. out on thur. and probably one of my bows.

cheers
 
My future SIL went on a turkey hunt on my place this morning. They set up but end up right under some of the birds roost. They flew down and never gave them a shot.

Here are a few of the pics from my game camera.

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my brownie

same thing happened to me, 5 toms were roosted right over my blind, they are all still alive. got bored after i finished my book so got the camera out just to keep awake. here are a couple of them

cheers
 
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no luck this am,wind blowing 100 mph didn't help,birds didn't work,nothing.
Boy has prom tonight and had track meet in Paola last night,so he needs his beauty sleep. Called it a day early. Might go for a walk in the woods,might find some
 
mustistuff said:
same thing happened to me, 5 toms were roosted right over my blind, they are all still alive. got bored after i finished my book so got the camera out just to keep awake. here are a couple of them

cheers
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:laugh: Hey, those look like pictures from some of my deer hunts!!!:thumbsup:

Here's a pic from this last Friday from when I was tilling my food plots. He was playing hide-n-seek in my boot tracks... I had to grab him and move him to safety so he didn't get chopped up!:eek:
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Spring is springing!
 
Good Luck to all who are going this weekend.:):) We decided today at the office to mount a Midland XTC 350 to the head of my gobbler decoy and put it on a remote stake. We are calling it the Decoy cam:thumbsup:

I hope to get some different footage of turkeys before I give them a lead headache. In total my buddy and I have 4 cameras rolling if they all work. :eek:

Be Safe and make sure of your target!

Kick'em up
 
This weekend was my only possible chance to hunt due to having to go to flippin' Texas for work for the next 6 weeks. :(

Anyways, Friday night drove to my buddy's river bottom field that we've had success in the past. Far SE corner of field had 3 birds, couldn't tell what they were, guessing hens. Hot footed it out of there to not disturb them.

This morning dad and I are sitting where they were Friday night with decoys out at 6:00 am, legal time is 6:20. About 6:10 start hearing gobblers east of us across the river, and to the far north of the field against the river, was thinking on the wrong side as well.

They gobble hard from 6:10 to 6:30, then for the most part, silence. At 7, we start shuffling around, can't really see the far side of the field, and are thinking about relocating. Stand up to discuss and see a hen 150 yards from us. Then another hen flies down and another. Pop back on the stools and start doing a little more calling. Then start seeing tom's strutting on the far end of the field, closer to where we parked the truck, where I shot one last year. Always the luck, never in the right place.

For the next 2 1/2 hours there were 3 or 4 big toms strutting and courting a handful of hens. There were several hundred yards off, from sitting position we could just see their fans over the rise of the field. They were back and forth, working a 100 yard stretch of field against the river bank. At one point, the hens worked around the river and got within a couple hundred yards of us, but that was as close as they were coming. As they started going away, I really got on the slate call hard, cutting and clucking and yelping. They were gobbling at me, but going the other direction with the hens. Dad's getting restless, stretches out and in his loud whisper 'to our left'. In perfect formation are 4 gobblers, turns out when they got closer to be just jakes with about 5" beards. They come in hard to the decoys, full strut, dragging wings, chest bumping our jake decoy to show who was boss.

Again, this is my only weekend to hunt, so I let the closest one have it. Dad wasn't going to shoot a small one, but I yelled at him to get one, so he does, then I filled my second tag on another. Turns out dad's was a double beard, equally heavy and about 5" long. One of mine was a double beard, 5" long average heaviness, but the second beard on it was about an inch long and as heavy as a mixing straw.

2 1/2 hours of watching tom's strutting and gobbling sure was fun, wishing they'd have got a little closer though.
 
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