Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

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jhogue
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Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

Dad and I are going to Kansas next week for a late season hunt on private land. I believe it is in Central Kansas. I’m used to hunting the woods, so this will be a little switch for me. Does anyone know if birds are still gobbling up there and if we should expect gobbling next week if birds are there? I’m taking a blind to use if things are really quiet and there aren’t any good run and gun options. I’m open to any advice as we go into this hunt. Dad thinks the land is mostly fields. I don’t have the location yet to do some map recon. Looking forward to spending time with Dad and a last chance to get a gobbler this year. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Jstocks
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by Jstocks »

Cottonwoods on creeks are usually roosts. Rios move a lot during the day. They should be close to the wheat. It's been a strange year and the birds are scattered. They should still be gobbling and strutting. I just got back from there 5 days ago.
dirtnap
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by dirtnap »

It's Kansas. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.
jhogue
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

dirtnap wrote: May 9th, 2018, 10:01 pm It's Kansas. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.
That's what I'm hoping for. Found out where we are specifically going. Looks like we will be in Coffey and Lyon Counties. A little further east than I was thinking. Definitely in Eastern territory. Looks to be more woods than I was originally expecting, probably 15% of the property at best and just a creek running through fields in some properties (closer to what I expected). My Dad's friend that lives and hunts there says he generally runs the roads in his truck till he hears one gobble. I think we will be doing a lot of learning the ground the first day. If we don't get gobbling action in the morning, we will do some driving in the afternoons to try to locate field birds. Looking forward to trying it out. With details I have and anyone else's knowledge, would you try running the roads in the morning, or pick some woods and walk them tyring to locate a bird like I am used to in more wooded areas like I hunt in Arkansas?
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poorcountrypreacher
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by poorcountrypreacher »

I hunted Monday and Tuesday in KS and heard all sorts of gobbling. I got one each day and probably could have limited out Monday if I had really wanted to finish early.

If you have access to several places, riding the road at daylight to listen is a good tactic, but you can't move around after fly down the way you can in Arkansas. I was hunting a little further north than the area you mentioned, but they should be gobbling there too. We hunted in OK last week and tagged out there on birds that all gobbled a lot.

Good luck
jhogue
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

poorcountrypreacher wrote: May 9th, 2018, 10:26 pm We hunted in OK last week and tagged out there on birds that all gobbled a lot.
I didn’t have that luck in Oklahoma last week. I went two different days that were both decent weather in SE Oklahoma and didn’t hear a gobble. I couldn’t hunt Saturday, and apparently they were gobbling their heads off that morning. That’s been my luck most of the year. I’m hoping for a turn around for a good finish in Kansas.
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Grumpy
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by Grumpy »

Good Luck and I hope dad gets some shooting and a nice bird too.
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dsunday
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by dsunday »

In that area definitely look hard for cottonwoods on the creek beds. The brome may be getting tall enough they won't be in it, but the native grasses and crop fields should hold birds
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Fatmo
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by Fatmo »

You are gonna be fine!! Just got back from north central Kansas . Cottonwoods along creeks and you have birds. Milo, Soybean and wheat fields along with any lanes along the edges of the woods.
jhogue
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

I'm sure I'll be able to find cottonwoods when I start looking on the ground, but is there anyway to identify them on aerial maps ahead of time. Some of the land I have access to has very narrow wooded sections along the creeks, while other areas have much wider areas of woods. Should I expect birds in the areas with larger spans of woods to spend more time in the woods after flydown, or will they move to fields pretty quickly? I'm assuming on the areas with very narrow woods, that if birds are there, they will be in the fields pretty quick.

The weather looks sketchy for part of the week, so that may be interesting, but that's been the story of my season.
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Stinky J Picklestein
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by Stinky J Picklestein »

I hunted near Salina Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't hear anything on Wednesday until about 7:30pm, and that what was just a few gobbles before flyup. On Thursday morning, I heard a few roost gobbles and worked a strutter all morning. He stayed glued to three hens and followed them off to what I'm assuming were nesting areas on other farms. He stayed at the farthest point away from any cover, and wouldn't follow the hens within 100 yards of any place I could set up. Having a blind set up out there would've been nice, BUT it was over 90 degrees outside, and that sucker would've turned into an oven.
jhogue
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

It’s been slow this week since we started Tuesday. I heard gobbling on the roost Tuesday morning. Turned out to be some jakes, then no gobbling the rest of the day. Saw 6 total turkey, 4 jakes and two hens. One Jake is now named Limpy as he has something significantly wrong with one of his legs and hops around. Dad or I will kill him if we get the chance. Wednesday morning I heard a bird gobble three times between 6:45-7:00. The bird was closer to Dad so I left it. No cell service prevented me from confirming that dad was going to the bird. He ultimately got a free pass that day. Thursday morning I set up to hunt him where Dad I and I had triangulated his location. He did not disappoint. Gobbled first time at 5:21 and about 50 times on the roost. There were 4 hens with him that started talking some a little before fly down at 6:00. Two hens walked straight into decoys after flying down. Another stayed with the gobbler out of sight and another stayed in the woods calling to the gobbler. He decided he was worried about her and moved back her direction. The other hen walked in front of me and followed the first two. 20 minutes later he began crossing out front but was skirting me wide at about 120 yards. I stopped him and got a heck of a show, but he never made a move to me. I tried to get around him and it didn’t pan out. Tried to set up on him in the evening and saw the hens, but no gobbler. Same result this morning, so I guess he skipped town for now. I decided to try different location this afternoon that I had located a decent amount of tracks in on Wednesday. I heard a bird gobble on his own about as soon as I got to my listening spot at 3:34. I tried to work to him, but between the creek and him shutting up, nothing happened. I returned to the listening spot on top of a hill overlooking a field. I got restless a few times and adjusted position a couple times and move my decoy once. At 7:15, I got a gobble immediately after my first string of yelps. He was definitely across the creek admins down the hill. I had no means to cross the creek, or rights to hunt that property. 2-3 minutes later I called again and he cut me off, definitely closer this time. 2 minutes after that I called and he was 50-100 yards across the creek. I became nervous about my next steps. I ultimately determined that I could kill him where I was sitting. I backed up 50 yards on the hill and called a few more times. After about 5 minutes I heard a sound that could have been a bird flying across the creek, but didn’t sound loud enough. I called a couple more time with still no response. I shut up and waited. A couple minutes later I spotted the gobbler already out in the opening, heading to my decoy, that was now behind me. I was able to swing on him without him noticing. He went straight down and a bird started nervous clucking. I couldn’t call it in, but believe it was another gobbler. Great to finally get one after some much work this year. Can’t seem to attach from my phone due to file size. Two more days for Dad and I to try to do some more damage.
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OLE RASPY
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by OLE RASPY »

Good job. Well deserved bird sounds like. 👍🏻
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timbrhuntr
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by timbrhuntr »

Congrats on the bird. Love hunts like that where they make ya work for it. !
jhogue
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by jhogue »

timbrhuntr wrote: May 19th, 2018, 9:35 am Congrats on the bird. Love hunts like that where they make ya work for it. !
Kind of felts like I worked for it all season, and I waited him out for nearly four hour unintentionally. But when he returned my call at 7:15, it happened really quick. I’m glad I left the decoy where it was and made the decision to back up the hill at the right time. Heck, some luck or all, I’m tickled to have the bird. Felt like it might not happen this year the way my season has gone. Thanks!
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poorcountrypreacher
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by poorcountrypreacher »

Congrats on your bird!
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RapscallionVermilion
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

Congrats, and well done. Enjoyed your write up.
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Hoobilly
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Re: Hunting in Kansas next week, need advice

Post by Hoobilly »

Hope your pops kills a goodn also!

Thanks for sharing!
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