I returned this week from visiting my sister Pat in Kansas. She, her husband Jim Wolf and three horses live on their very nice country property in Leavenworth.
Obvious prison jokes aside, her property has an immaculate four-stall horse barn and enclosed riding ring. My “favorite” sister really loves horses, and has always been infatuated with everything equine.
Her passion is riding on foxhunts with other members of the Leavenworth Hunt Club. Her association with that group is great for me, as it opens doors to many excellent properties where I can hunt turkeys.
This year’s visit got off to a rough start. I discovered that there was a 7 p.m. flight as well as one in the morning. That is a detail that I learned the hard way – one should consider when booking airline tickets. By the time I discovered that my 7 a.m. flight from Hartford was really a 7 p.m., it was too late to avoid the midnight arrival into Kansas City International Airport.
My doting sister was really very good about that, particularly when you consider her days start pre-dawn when she must attend to the horses (which are spoiled rotten, by the way) every morning. It also meant that my early morning start to get out turkey hunting would leave me with a very short night.
The next morning was the turkey opener, and I was filled with optimism. In a nutshell, though, it was not a good day. There were high winds and very cold temperatures. It was the first time ever in Kansas that not one gobble was heard in the pre-dawn, or, for that matter, all morning.
The day was cut short so that some very much needed rest could be had, but a phone call from Massachusetts alerted me to a family situation that needed a father’s intervention. It turned out to be no big deal, but it did prevent any napping, and it consumed some time over the next couple days.
As a result, my butt was dragging and some predictable symptoms put me slightly under the weather. Not bad enough to keep me from hunting, but limiting, none the less.
The other parts of a Kansas trip, namely eating lots of great barbecue and visits to the huge Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops mega stores that are nearby, took place as scheduled. The hunting featured early morning gobbling, followed by silences, as there lots of toms, but also lots of hens to keep them occupied. After that scene played out again on Friday morning, my confidence in my calling and turkey hunting in general was very low.
After some thought, my decision was to return late morning to a spot where birds had been gobbling the previous day to see if maybe a lonesome gobbler might be around.
That led to setting out a sole Avian-X hen decoy to “twist in the wind,” while I did some soft calling – then, waiting. Sure enough, a distant gobble answered, and I patiently waited, and then did a call and answer soft hen call. That got things moving, and a return gobble was closer.
After what seemed like an eternity, a tom popped up in the corn field about 75 yards away. He displayed without gobbling, and moved ever-so-slowly along toward the decoy. It seemed like an hour, but was probably half that, when I decided that he was within range of the Federal 3RD Degree 3½-inch load that was a blend of #5, #6 and #7 shot.
The bird’s head filled the reticle of the TruGlo 4X camo shotgun scope, and he tumbled on the shot. That was when the fun ended and the work began. He looked big on the ground after I affixed the tag, but it took real effort to lift him over my shoulder to carry him the half-mile to the truck. It was a real chore, with him tipping the scale at 25.4 pounds. Easily, the biggest turkey this hunter has ever taken.
My last morning, there were two even bigger toms, both with beards over a foot long, that should have been taken. Unfortunately, two hens that I thought had moved on, were actually close enough to sound alarm “putts,” and the gobblers escaped without a shot. Oh well!
Massachusetts turkey season opens statewide Monday. Hunters are reminded to think safety, and are required to have a “Be Safe!” sticker affixed to the comb of their shotgun, where it is visible as you mount the gun. As always, be sure of your target and avoid wearing anything with the colors red, blue or white, as these are the colors of a tom turkeys head. The season runs from a half-hour before sunrise to noon each day.
New Hampshire turkey season opens May 3, and both Vermont and New York open May 1. As always, my dream is to hunt all states, but something always gets in the way. I have a New Hampshire license and plan on going to Maine for a weekend. Maybe this will be the year of multiple toms.
Wishing a full and complete recovery to my friend and classmate Dave Zink. Like so many great athletes who are a little past their prime, he suffered a pulled muscle while fishing at Lake Mattawa after making a quick move to grab a rod a trout was biting. Hopefully, he will get some treatment, and he’ll soon be back there on top of his fishing game.