Kansas self guided turkey hunts

Good hunter, dependable producer of good hunts and a good friend to the Association. Kevin C with one more in a yearly tradition of Kansas success. In this case a midday tom, see no morning shadow.

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On many hunts the best spring season wild tom hunt is typically the first hour or two of the morning during the morning gobbling period and peak hen receptiveness on our private land and elsewhere.

Typically, this is more a result of hunters from morning hunt only states rather than hunters from all day long spring season localities. The all day long hunter has much more opportunity to study his toms and develop additional success techniques. The beauty of Kansas spring season is you can turkey hunt all day, unlike Missouri where you have to stop at 1 pm. This gives one more spring turkey season option and the capability to learn turkey patterns far more thoroughly than those that just study the morning activities.

Hunters with several seasons of afternoon Kansas spring turkey season under their belt have had consistent good luck with prime time between 12 and 2 pm. The attractions are toms on the prowl, typically not henned up and strutting areas are habitual even if for only a short string of days. Part of that habitual behavior is linked to the hens during the egg laying and pre nest sitting behavior of the days second feeding period starting as early as 11 AM and running through 3 PM.

A classic example is a hen that gets serviced at first light, moves off for a drink and some quick feed, lays an egg and is back grazing a greening up wheat field. The toms have the hen timed to the wheat field and a strutting area is developed. A pattern repeated many times over during the Kansas spring turkey season.

Just like mature deer, turkey and specifically mature gobblers seem to know the best time of the day to move is the time of day the least amount of human activity occurs. We don’t know for sure if this is a primary reason for this turkey movement, but it definitely makes sense as we all have seen how fast a turkey can run when we are spotted.

Another factor contributing to Kansas mid-afternoon turkey movement could be it’s the time of the day the hen sit on their eggs in the nest, which leaves the gobblers on the prowl. Any time the toms are not following a hen is always a plus and a more frequent observation during Kansas afternoon turkey hunts than elsewhere.

Traveling Kansas Turkey Hunter

Kevin's pictures are as valuable as proof of self guided turkey hunter success as they are of Kansas habitat showing a great deal of the background terrain where the birds occupy during the spring turkey season. Thank you Kevin for some very good pictures.

via email: John

Here are a few very belated pics from last spring turkey in [location deleted]. Last year's pics didn't come out at all. The hunt did last for a few days and all of the land was great and did not see anybody anywhere. The toms came to the call like they had never heard anyone call before. The hunt was pretty short. I pulled up to the property at 11 PM after an all day drive from PA. Caught a few hours of sleep in the cab and got up ready to hunt in the morning. I had an aerial photo since I had never been on this property before. I walked out to where I figured my starting point would be and waited for daylight. A few gobblers responded to an owl call, so I set up at the field edge about 100 yards away. Called in six long beards and shot the biggest one. The other five decided to put the spurs to him, so picked out the next biggest and shot him and watched the remaining four put the spurs to him. Very short hunt, but very memorable. I have never come home with an unfilled turkey tag. Can't wait for the spring season to start. Keep up the great work, I have nothing but good to say about this club. The properties, the staff and the other hunters I have talked with are all top notch. Thanks again, and looking forward to many more turkey seasons in MAHA.

Kevin

Thanks to Kevin that gives us all one more perspective on Kansas turkey hunts.

Read some more about Kevin's Kansas turkey hunts. Or, read the entire set of turkey hunting accounts

Continue this afternoon Kansas turkey hunting article

Afternoon Kansas Turkey Spring Season Hunts

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