Matthew page 2
John...I've attached a pic of my daughter's opening morning gobbler. Dad might have gotten one too as we had another bird fired up around 8:00 but apparently the landowner is having his walnut trees logged off - and when the crew came in and started up their equipment and began running a saw he pretty well shut up. Matt
Well it's done. I never know quite what to do with myself once the season is over and/or I've filled all the tags I can. It all went by so fast, although that first morning nearly one and a half months ago sitting with one of my kids on the edge of the timber waiting on that first gobble seems much more distant than that. I've probably hunted more days this spring than any other in the past. The weather, fewer birds, less gobbling, and more hens (or so it seemed) made it one of the toughest springs I can recall for some time. But the kids and I had several memorable hunts and even managed to wrap our tags around several gobbler legs... we also had a few close calls and a couple of clean misses while hunting three different states but boy, was it a hard road. I'm not completely certain how many days I hunted or accompanied another hunter or one of my kids, but I do know that I didn't get much work done in April...I'll pay for that later this summer I'm sure.
From my perspective, the turkeys appeared to behave the same whether I was hunting Missouri or Oklahoma or Kansas...and the Kansas gobblers I hunted this past weekend acted no different from those I hunted a month ago. The only difference I could tell was the weather. The first time was very windy and cold...rain followed by freezing rain and sleet, mixed with a little snow for good measure. You had to pack on the clothes like you were November deer hunting in order to sit still for very long. My most recent Kansas hunt was the exact opposite, weather-wise anyway, but the turkeys did not appear to act any different than they did a month ago...gobble good on roost...gobble a little on the ground...then nothing...and more nothing...and hens all over the place. We found the first nest April 16...the hen was setting on 13 eggs. I found the last nest May 11...the hen was not around that I could see but there were 9 eggs. I even heard from a Missouri conservation agent of poults observed with hens as early as the third week of April.
But it was a good spring...and one the kids and I will be revisiting for a good while...and hopefully we learned something in the process too. We did a lot of walking, enjoyed some new properties, and had some nice chats around the fire. We also had some very entertaining encounters with deer and other critters that my daughter is still laughing about. I didn't always have a camera with me, especially when I was hunting by myself, but I've included a few photos of the season. My thanks to all MAHA staff...for providing us members with some great properties to hunt and for managing the club in a manner that provides us with such fine opportunities to pursue our passion. Now...time to go fishing!
btw...I warned my son that if he insisted on dressing that way around camp that he might find his picture on the website...
I've attached a pic of my opening day gobbler. I've been hunting turkeys for 35 years now and this was my shortest hunt ever. I roosted two longbeards the evening before, after watching them fight, gobble, strut, and breed hens for 3 hours. I had to get out there early in order to cross a large crop field and get to the timber edge and set up before it got too light. I set up between the two birds. They both started gobbling around 0600. Legal shooting time was 0623 on this particular morning...so a couple of minutes later I peeped out a soft tree yelp and that's all the calling that was required. This gobbler immediately pitched off his roost limb and landed in my decoys at 0626, leaving both his hens still up in the tree...I pulled the trigger and delivered a load of # 5's at 0627...
Its been my experience that it rarely happens this way so I thoroughly enjoy it when it does! The second day was much more difficult (and normal) and although I came close on two different birds I couldn't quite close the deal. Eventually the wind made me think my time might be better spent doing something else. But that's ok...I'll get to go again now and I've always enjoyed the later part of the season out there. Matt
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