Post by jkratz on Apr 20, 2010 15:23:36 GMT -5
Well, three of us headed to KS Thursday on a Rio Hunt and to hopefully complete letg 3 of the grand slam. We arrived Thursday evening and were pumped up to see and hear a bunch of birds. We put about a dozen gobblers to bed and split up for the morning hunts. Unfortuantely the weather did not cooperate, cold, windy (30-40mph) and raining the first mornin which produced absolutely no action. However, about 10:00 the weather cleared and the birds started to show up in bunches. We had met at the truck to devise our afternoon plan when we spotted 5 toms working there way through a Milo field about 1/2 mile from where we were sitting. The land on that side of the road was a large section of Walk In Hunting Ground so we knew we could get swing around on the birds and hopefully setup on them as they returned to the timber. Only bad part of the whole deal was the the birds were on the south side of the river, opposite of the walk in entry point and the river was up quite a bit from all the rain the previous night. Well, after some hesitation we were in waist deep water making our way ot the other side of the river and finally into position on the birds. Just as we were setting up the birds appeared over a small terrace in the milo field and with some soft yelps and purrs they were on there way. The guns were up, and the three of us were sitting close enought for me to let out the quiet 1......2......3......BANG, Three shots rang out and three dead toms lay at 40 yds. First triple, and man were we pumped.
The rest of the day produced some awesome hunts, all of which produced jakes in shooting range with long beards just hanging up. Saturday morning roles around and we are back to one of our original hunting locations from Friday with a new plan, get in and get in close. The only problem was we ended up running a bit late and the birds were hammering before we made it to our setup. We had to scrap plan A which was to have a blind within 100yds. of the birds in a large pasture and go with plan B. This involved no blind and us laying on the upslope of the riverbank with the dekes about 10yds out and with no sight of the large pasture. This was the only feasible plan as every tree in the area was on the downslope of the riverbank and provided a very poor view of the field. We figured we would be able to see the turkeys heads when they got to the decoys so the plan was to pop up and crack them once they had advanced that far. 6:45 roles around a single gobbler is letting us have it, he has gobbled 150-200 times since he has hit the ground and finally I lay off the call. 2 minutes later I see the first turkey's head, a hen and she is much closer than I ever thought. She actually was about 1 yd. from my head on the top of the river bank, I can't believe she didn't bust me but kept on walking and onto the dekes. A few seconds later I about needed to chage the drawers as the tom sounded off from 20 yds away or so, still not visible. Finally, I heard the familiar spittin and drummin and saw the large tail fan over the top of the bank. However, instead of working toward the dekes the tom actually had the sound dead pegged and came and peaked over the riverbank. Bad idea as he was met with the roar of the 10ga, bird 4 was down for the count.
Again the rest of the day involved some serious close calls, but no gobblers to be had. Finally, Sunday roled around and we were treated with an awesome hunt. We had setup in a location where we had seen a ton of birds during the week all of which worked over a 300ft. bluff or so in the early morning and then back in the evening. We were setup and within 30 minutes or so the bluff was covered up with birds. I would guess somewhere between 40-50 birds made there way to us and once 4 jakes were within range the fellas gave it the ol bang, bang. Game, Set, Match we were tagged out in KS. After some high fives and hand shakes on a great trip we headed back to the hotel and met some of the locals our for some celebratory cold ones. Kansas is a great place, beautiful country and no one around. We hunted all public walk in areas the whole time and only saw 1 hunter the last day we were there. We are definitely heading back in the near future.
Kratz
The rest of the day produced some awesome hunts, all of which produced jakes in shooting range with long beards just hanging up. Saturday morning roles around and we are back to one of our original hunting locations from Friday with a new plan, get in and get in close. The only problem was we ended up running a bit late and the birds were hammering before we made it to our setup. We had to scrap plan A which was to have a blind within 100yds. of the birds in a large pasture and go with plan B. This involved no blind and us laying on the upslope of the riverbank with the dekes about 10yds out and with no sight of the large pasture. This was the only feasible plan as every tree in the area was on the downslope of the riverbank and provided a very poor view of the field. We figured we would be able to see the turkeys heads when they got to the decoys so the plan was to pop up and crack them once they had advanced that far. 6:45 roles around a single gobbler is letting us have it, he has gobbled 150-200 times since he has hit the ground and finally I lay off the call. 2 minutes later I see the first turkey's head, a hen and she is much closer than I ever thought. She actually was about 1 yd. from my head on the top of the river bank, I can't believe she didn't bust me but kept on walking and onto the dekes. A few seconds later I about needed to chage the drawers as the tom sounded off from 20 yds away or so, still not visible. Finally, I heard the familiar spittin and drummin and saw the large tail fan over the top of the bank. However, instead of working toward the dekes the tom actually had the sound dead pegged and came and peaked over the riverbank. Bad idea as he was met with the roar of the 10ga, bird 4 was down for the count.
Again the rest of the day involved some serious close calls, but no gobblers to be had. Finally, Sunday roled around and we were treated with an awesome hunt. We had setup in a location where we had seen a ton of birds during the week all of which worked over a 300ft. bluff or so in the early morning and then back in the evening. We were setup and within 30 minutes or so the bluff was covered up with birds. I would guess somewhere between 40-50 birds made there way to us and once 4 jakes were within range the fellas gave it the ol bang, bang. Game, Set, Match we were tagged out in KS. After some high fives and hand shakes on a great trip we headed back to the hotel and met some of the locals our for some celebratory cold ones. Kansas is a great place, beautiful country and no one around. We hunted all public walk in areas the whole time and only saw 1 hunter the last day we were there. We are definitely heading back in the near future.
Kratz
