Dear Mid-America, After joining the Association in February of this year, I'm very impressed with what I encountered. I've been comparing the various hunting clubs in the KC area for over three years now; I have to say yours is the best for me. Starting in February, I scouted a number of properties for deer and turkey on the Kansas and Missouri side. I was happy with my findings to say the least. The [location deleted] turkey season was my best season to date; i tool both of my turkeys on club land, and one of my birds was the biggest I've ever killed. On opening morning, I went to a farm where i had previously located a number of active gobblers. While I was seated in the morning darkness, I could hear gobblers and hens all around me. By 7 a.m. that morning, I had two longbeards come into my decoy spread. The gobblers were so close together, I had to wait until they got twelve yards away before I could shoot! Finally, they separated and it was safe to take a shot! The bird I shot was a nice 2 and 1/2 to three year old mature tom. He weighed 20.5 pounds with a ten inch beard. The other turkey that was with my gobbler, came back and actually attacked my dead bird! It was an exciting hunt which ended my first week of hunting in [location deleted]. The second week of the season was cold and rainy, which made turkey hunting tough to say the least. On my second hunt to club land, I called in a jake, but elected to pass this bird; I like to let those jakes grow up, so they can gobble the next year. After the jake, I couldn't get much else to answer me. The third week of the season brought better weather for hunting. I went to a farm that I had only scouted one time in February. I had a hunch there might be birds on the property, so I decided to hunt. After daylight that morning, I made my first aggressive calls of the day, but nothing answered me close by. Off to my right something black appeared in the field and it was a big gobbler all by himself. As they so often do, this old turkey did not gobble too much. It took him over 40 minutes to walk 75 yards to my decoys! The bird was strutting the entire time he walked towards me; after watching this bird for over 45 minutes, my nerves were rattled. Finally, he presented a thirty yard shot, and i got him with number 6 hevi-shot. This gobbler is my biggest turkey to date! He weighed an impressive 25 pounds, and had a double beard. The first beard was 11 inches and the second 7 inches. The spurs on this bird were an impressive1 and 1/4 inches long.
Sincerely Chantz
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I've enclosed pictures of both turkeys in the envelop. The turkey with the ruffled feathers is the 20.5 pound bird; his feathers are messed up because of the other turkey did a number on him! Out of three turkey hunts on club land, I harvested two birds. An impressive 67% success rate! This was made possible because of diligent scouting efforts to new areas. Hopefully, bow season for deer will go just as good. If so, I'll write another detailed letter on my experiences. Thanks a lot for providing the fishing and hunting opportunities you provide. You'll have me a member for the rest of my hunting and fishing days.
