(P) Where Did the Turkeys Go?

Well, it was the third week of turkey season here in Kansas and things got a little tough. Shotgun season opened this week so we planned a guys weekend down at the farm to chase some birds. My brother Jeff and I were going to try a take our second bird with our bows. However, our priority was to get my Dad and our other brother, Dustin, their first bird of the season.

Jeff and Dustin hunted Saturday morning in a ground blind on the edge of a historically productive field. As usual, the gobblers were sounding off at day break almost surrounding them. They were pretty optimistic that in a matter of a few hours, a bird or two would be on the ground. We had called in a mature tom on almost every outing this year so far, so it was easy to feel confident. However, they hunted until noon without success. They saw a few birds but nothing to shoot at.

I met up with Dustin in the afternoon and we hit it again. We called in a jake but no toms. We moved to a couple other spots with out success. Then we checked a small field that always seems to produce for me. However, we arrived too late and birds were already in the field. We tried to circle and get ahead of them but they went in a different direction which was not their typical pattern. Oh well, we knew where they roosted so we could get on them the next morning.

The next morning Jeff and Dustin went back to where they started the previous day. Most of the toms seemed to be on the neighbors property. I almost took my Dad to a spot that was three fields over from them but elected to try the field that Dustin and I were in the previous night as we put the birds to bed. As luck would have it, the birds flew out of their roost to a field in the opposite direction. Dad and I struck out by not seeing one turkey. Jeff and Dustin said that there were a few toms in the field that I almost chose to hunt that morning which was three fields over from them. Sometimes the birds just get lucky.

We took a break during the mid-day and headed back out in the early afternoon. We split up again and chose to set up our ground blinds on two productive fields that were being visited almost every evening just prior to dark. We had seen the birds in these two fields the night before, feeding before they headed up to roost. Once again we were disappointed as only hens showed up. Dustin and Jeff could see numerous birds and toms in an adjoining field which was one of the areas Dustin and I hunted the previous night. It was like the birds new where we were going to be. Dustin and Jeff attempted to make a stalk on the birds in the field but they had to walk almost a half mile to circle around the field. By the time they arrived, the turkeys were gone.

Jeff and I really wanted to get Dustin and my Dad a bird over the weekend. We had talked up our successful season from the previous two weeks. It was important for me to get my Dad a bird because he has never shot one before. He hasn't shown a strong interest in turkey hunting but I know that may change once he shoots one. I was frustrated but I also knew what was hurting our hunting.

The first two weeks were successful for us because the hens weren't being bread yet and the toms were still establishing their dominance. However, this week we were seeing a lot of lone hens and no toms. After day break, nothing seemed to be responding to our calls with the exception of an occasional jake. I am confident that the hens are now on their nests and laying eggs. Just like the lock down period of deer hunting when the mature bucks have have found their does to bread. Nothing is moving and it feels like the woods are empty.

Well, we are going to give the birds a couple of weeks to finish their breading cycle and then the toms should be on the move again and responding to our calling. I know a couple of good turkey hunters who don't start hunting hard until the last week of April for this reason. Hopefully things will pick up again later. So, in the meantime, I am going to concentrate on finishing our food plot plantings and spend some time with the family.

I ran into a co-worker (Dustin M.) today who advised me that he recently purchased a Killer B decoy by Primos. He said that he shot two mature toms with his bow while using the decoy. I am telling you that this thing really works and you need to get one. Good luck chasing the thunder chickens and let me know how your doing.

(P) Doubled up!

Opening Day-
Well, it was opening day of turkey season here in Kansas on April 1st. The day was fairly warm at 78 degrees with strong 25 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph. I headed down to the farm to turkey hunt and work on deer stands. The wind was blowing pretty hard so I decided to concentrate on hanging deer stands for the fall. I hung 3 stands and was pretty tired around 4 pm. I decided to change into my turkey hunting garb and locate some birds. I figured once I found them, I could put them to bed for the next mornings' hunt.

I decided to set up my Primos Vision ground blind on a field edge, not far from some large trees that I knew was a traditional roosting spot. I had only been there for about 20 minutes when my youngest brother, Jeff, called me. He had been working all day and had finally arrived to meet me for a couple of days chasing the thunder chickens. I told him to set up on another field that I knew toms would visit frequently. I had jumped a few birds there earlier in the day while accessing a new tree stand location. Jeff agreed to set up his ground blind on the field and hunt until dark.

I sat there for another half hour or so when I became impatient and decided it was just to windy to hunt. There was no use in calling because the birds wouldn't be able to hear me anyways. It is bow season only, so I knew I would need a close shot to score on a thunder chicken. I decided to leave the ground blind for the next morning and left to meet Jeff at the other field. I knew he would probably have the same wind conditions that I was in so I did not want to waste our time sitting in a blind. My plan was to help him get his ground blind set up on the field for the next morning then cover some ground to put some toms to bed for the next day. I knew our wind would be better on day two.

As I approached the field that Jeff was on, I noticed that he had his ground blind positioned in the wrong location. I has suggested that he place the blind on the far side of the field but instead had placed it on the closest side of the field. Confused, I walked right up to his blind and said "Dude, why did you put your blind here?" He poked his head out the window and said "Shhhhh! There are turkeys out in the field and this was as close as I could get!" I felt like a rookie hunter and should have known better. I turned into stealth mode and crouched down behind behind his Primos Double Bull Dark Horse ground blind. I picked up my binoculars and glassed the field. Sure enough, there were 4 mature gobblers in the field following a group of hens back into the woods. I grabbed a couple of decoys (a strutting tom and a hen) and crawled up to the field edge. Once the decoys were in position, I jumped in the blind with him and we attempted to call to the birds. Again, I think it was just to windy for them to hear us and they moved off into a heavily wooded ravine. I knew the birds liked to roost there and would stay close to the field.

I continued to glass the birds as they moved off, out of sight. Jeff and I repositioned the ground blind to a natural pinch point on the field edge. We now had everything set up for the morning hunt. It was getting dark so we headed back to the vehicles to change. I was confident the toms would return to the field at first light. Jeff and I set up our camper then headed to the closest town for dinner. The weather forecast for the next day called for a nice morning. However, around 9am a big rain storm was scheduled to move in. Once the storm passed the weather man called for 90% showers for the rest of the day. I was becoming a bit concerned that if we didn't score on a turkey early in the morning, our quest would be over.

Day #2-
Jeff and I were up before sun up and in the blind by 6:15am. At first light we could hear the mature toms back in the ravine gobbling on the roost. I told Jeff that this was going to work, it was just a matter of time. Jeff had never harvested a turkey. I was so excited for him to get a shot at one, especially with a bow. I am no turkey expert or guide but I was determined to get him a shot at one. After approximately 30 minutes we had 5 hens come from exactly where we expected the toms to come from. I was certain the big boys would be right behind them. I had a Primos Killer B strutting tom decoy in the field about 15 yards away from us. Then, as the hens approached within 20 yard of the blind they could see my hen decoy on the field edge as extra enticement. However, when the hens saw the hen decoy they spooked, turned around and walked back into the woods where they came from. We tried calling to them but they seemed uninterested. I was confused about the situation but I new the hen decoy had to go. So, Jeff belly crawled out to the hen decoy and placed her back in the ground blind.

Around 8:00am we had approximately 25 hens come from behind us in the woods, walk within 15 yards of the ground blind, then work their way across the field. As we watched them walk away, unaffected by our tom decoy, we noticed the clouds building and changing color. Jeff and I decided to start clucking with our calls to simulate that the hens were still in the area in case the gobblers were close by. The sky began to darken and the temperature began to drop. Around 8:25 we could see the lightning in the distance and a significant rain storm headed our way. I told Jeff we could normally hunt in the blind during a minor rain shower, but this time we should head back to our vehicle. I was frustrated. Where did the toms go that we put to bed last night? We had been in the ground blind for over 2 hours without a glimpse of them. As I stood up in the ground blind I looked out a window behind me and saw 5 jakes headed our way. I told Jeff we should wait a few more minutes to see what would happen (we had rain gear with us). In my mind I thought if the opportunity presented itself, a jake would make a pretty good bow kill for Jeff's first turkey.

The 5 jakes headed our way, but stopped short of our decoy as if they were intimidated. I looked back into the woods line where they came from and saw 3 toms strutting and heading our way. I began to get excited and nervous. I told Jeff to get his bow ready and that he was going to get a chance at one of them. I reached for the video camera but Jeff told me to grab my bow so we could both shoot one. It did not take much convincing on his part. By the time we had our arrows nocked, the toms had run up to our decoy. They wanted to thump this impostor a good one. I told Jeff that we would shoot at the same time on the count of 3. Jeff agreed and said he would take which ever bird was on the left. We both drew our bows with the 3 toms at 20 yards. They were so busy strutting and interested in the decoy, that they never knew we were there.

With both of us at full draw, I began to count to 3. I held my pin just in front of the middle bird guessing at where he was going to be when I said 3. As I maneuvered to get in a better position I accidentally sent my arrow flying on 2 instead of 3. Jeff shot on 3 and drilled his bird. The tom ran approximately 10 yards and went down right in the middle of the field. However, I had shot early and saw my arrow whiz by the front chest of the bird. It was a clean miss. The two remaining turkeys did not know what had just happened so they ran over to Jeff's dead bird and began to beat him up. I quickly loaded my Mathews Z7 with another arrow and asked Jeff to range the birds. Jeff stated "They are 25 yards!" Then one of the birds turned and headed back to the decoy. I sent an arrow on it's way when the bird reached 20 yards. It was a perfect hit and the bird ran about 15 yards before dropping in the field.

The remaining tom was now the dominant bird and he ran over to my turkey and went kung fu on him. I asked Jeff if I should fill my second tag and he said "Go for it!" I nocked my third arrow and drew back. I asked Jeff to range the bird. Jeff said he was at 35 yards. However, I had a bad angle on the bird with some brush in the way. I tried to move a couple of feet further to my right in the blind while at full draw. I should have let up but I tried to hold the bow in front of me maintaining my draw. Mistake! The cam rocked forward enough to send the arrow on it's way. I didn't know where the arrow went and the turkey was unaffected. I nocked my forth arrow and drew back as the bird began to walk away. I sent the arrow in his direction guessing he was now at 39 yards. I drilled him through both wings and watched the bird slowly wander into the woods. Wow! Everything happened so fast. Jeff and I rejoiced in the blind and congratulated each other on a good hunt. We shot the birds in the nick of time because the rain started to fall. Then it began to down pour hard. So we headed to the Polaris Ranger and drove back to the vehicle. We left the birds in the field for about 45 minutes until the rain lightened up.

We returned to the field and gathered our two mature thunder chickens. Jeff's bird had a 9" beard and my tom had a 9 5/8" inch beard. I was sure my bird was in the 25 pound range and both toms had spurs slightly over an inch. We gathered up our arrows and then looked for the second tom that I had hit. We found a good initial blood trail but never could find the bird. We searched 3 hours for him, checking every log and hiding spot in the area without success. I was disappointed and humbled but still happy with the first bird that I had harvested. Turkeys are incredibly tough. The upside is that I still have one more tag to try and fill this season. The down side, I injured a bird, and probably the largest one of the 3. It was one of my best hunting days and I was extremely proud to spend it with my brother, Jeff!

There are two key lessons that I learned on this hunt. Put your toms to bed the night before your hunt and set up on them the next morning. Be patient. In early season, use a strutting tom decoy like the Primos Killer B. The decoy is smaller than a mature tom and looks like the runt of the litter. This makes a mature tom angry and he is quick to show the impostor his dominance.