2000
Excerpts from his letter, "...3 mornings and 1 evening hunt...saw turkey each time...this tom attacked the jake decoy like a sumo wrestler..." He also found two sets of sheds, the larger of the two measuring 151 P&Y.
Gary returned spring 2001 harvesting this tom during an afternoon Kansas hunt.
Other facts about Gary's turkey hunt include he has hunted the same farm for spring turkey and fall deer every year he has been in the Association. While he did hunt this one farm for several years he also did hunt and scout others to increase his options. The other comment he told us is that he is able to do in two days in the mid-west what he cannot achieve the entire season in Pennsylvania. In this case he referred to his turkey hunting success. 2002
Via email from Gary: Hi John and Jon, had another great turkey hunt. The self portrait photos were a bit tough to do in the wind, these are the ones that came out the best. The one with the tom's tail fan spread was where I was trying to show how beat up this bird was. He was missing a lot of body and tail feathers I think from fighting but even his tail feathers were jagged. At first I thought I had shot just a jake with a nice beard until I saw the tail band again. He certainly did strut well for the decoys. He was overall a big time scrapper or just unlucky and for the last time. I put him away, ran to Casey's to get a second tag and the girl behind the counter tried to give me two more tags thinking I was asking for two rather than the second. I could have had three tags, but I wouldn't let her do it. I no sooner got back to the same farm and set up when the second group of toms (6) came in from just hitting the box a couple of times. I had too many turkeys both jakes and mature birds and they would not separate. After 10 minutes I decided not to push my luck any farther and found one tom a little out and away from the others. But when I shot a jake that I didn't see must have gotten in the way and took the load protecting the mature tom. Oh well I still had a great turkey hunt and this year makes the second turkey season of the last three I tagged two birds in one day. Thanks for the great turkey hunting farms you have secured for us. I sometimes wonder why I should travel all this way just for a one day hunt, but days like today make it all worth while. I scouted some of my old deer hunting spots and found another that I want to hunt this season. A lot of good sign on three of the farms. Thanks from your member for life Gary. 2003
2004 Jon, On the opening day of Kansas 2004 turkey season I decided to go back and hunt the same farm that I did as a first year member. My work schedule did not allow any pre-season scouting, but my phone call to the office once again put this Pennsylvania hunter on good turkey hunting ground. I had hoped that the farming of the property had not changed since my first season and I wasn't disappointed.
Since it was so early and the weather was so nice I retrieved my bird and stayed put. Wanting to see what the rest of the morning may hold. This proved to be a good decision, because the farm has held a good flock of turkeys and I was able to fill my second tag later that morning. That tom had a thin 6 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. What a great opening day. I was done and back at the truck waiting for my hunting buddy so we could take pictures. He also got a nice tom by mid morning on the edge of a creek bottom wood line on the opposite side of the road. Thanks again, Gary 2005 via email: "John, It was bound to happen I went turkey hunting this year and didn't get a bird. Being a self employed contractor has taken my time and I took a job and cut my turkey hunting down quite a bit this spring. I did see turkeys every day of my short trip but just couldn't get the toms to come in. The birds were different this year and without any scouting time I simply went where I turkey hunted in the past. Their patterns were different and after trying a couple of different blind locations all I saw was different birds. I did see some coyote and a ringneck pheasant with two hens came by on two different days. The second day a small group of nearby hens did not like the ringneck being in the area at all and went putting the whole time the pheasant was in sight. MAHA land continues to be good and if I could have had one more day I bet I would be sending a picture. The wind and rain didn't help either. I left as I had another four jobs to bid on and had to go make some money. Deer season will be different. For that I will hold off on work. Thanks for all you do, Gary" |
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Pennsylvania second year member Gary Pizzuto with one of two turkeys harvested on his first ever Kansas turkey hunt.
Jon, I want to let you know that my second Kansas turkey season (2001) was enjoyable. 
I setup between a roost area and a wheat field strutting area and soon found myself in a hot location as the birds started to gobble in the locations around me. After one hour of working two toms on the roost I harvested a nice bird with 9 inch beard and 1 3/16ths spurs (see photos).
