At least the fourth time but who is counting?
This writer is in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he is “visiting” sister Pat Wolf. My trip to see her seems always to coincide with the Kansas spring turkey season. However, this year, for the second time in three years, my application for a Kansas turkey permit was not one of those chosen, so there would be no spring turkey hunting for me in the Land of Oz. The last time, Pat reached out to a friend in nearby Missouri and that resulted in my hunting his property and bagging a nice tom, and the plan was to do that again.
The Kansas situation is not unique as wild turkey populations throughout the Midwest and South have declined sharply in recent years. Three years ago, in response, the Kansas Game Commission voted to eliminate the fall turkey season, cut spring tags from two birds to one, and only issue non-resident permits to 25% of applicants. That meant a Missouri license again for me and a chance to hunt the same beautiful land.
This trip, unfortunately, was plagued from the get-go. After purchasing my Missouri license online, it was time to book airfare. What a nightmare! With President’s Trump’s invasion of Iran, airfares skyrocketed. After too much time spent searching, a more reasonable fare was found on Expedia and booked for an American Airlines flight that seemed good until Friday, when a text message on my iPhone informed me that my flight was canceled as I was driving to the airport!
To make a long story short, an hour on the phone with an American Airlines reservation representative resulted in my flying out of Providence instead of Bradley the following morning at 6 a.m. That meant dragging my butt out of bed Saturday morning at 2 a.m. to make that flight, but at least the trip was still on.
The next glitch involved the shotgun that had been won at the Nashua River Ducks Unlimited event a month ago. It had been shipped out last Saturday to an FFL dealer in Leavenworth to become my Kansas turkey gun, so it would no longer be necessary to bring one with me on the plane every trip. Again, making a long story short, it did not arrive in time for the Missouri Monday morning season opener, but fortunately, my good Kansas friend Kin Hickman agreed to lend me his New England Firearms 12-gauge pump.
Now for that Monday morning hunt…. After hearing gobbles on Sunday at dusk while scouting, there was lots of optimism for Monday morning. That diminished as I was putting out the decoys when a pre-dawn “putt” from a roosted gobbler 100 yards away meant he could see me. Upon taking my position to wait, it became even worse when a second gobbler sounded off from the roost 25 yards behind me! So, the results after fly-down were predictable. No gobbles and the two mature males and five hens just walked away across the expansive pasture.
My next gaffe occurred when moving to relocate, as another audible “putt” came from yet another gobbler fleeing along the edge of the field. My blunders were not yet finished, though. After setting up and doing some calling at a deeper pasture on the property, my impatience again led me to decide to move 100 yards. Of course, my first movement spooked another tom that was coming in “silent” in the field 50 yards away. So much for Monday!
Having hopefully learned from these mistakes, my selected location to set up Tuesday was a distance from the previous day’s roosting location. The Avian-X hen decoy was set perfectly, and it moved just right in the wind. Then came 90 minutes of turkey silence. Not a single pre-dawn or daybreak gobble to be heard. That is, until my dumb impatience once again led me to relocate. My on-the-move yelp using a diaphragm turkey mouth call resulted in a strong immediate response. Now, however, this turkey hunter was caught in “no man’s land” with the gobbles getting closer.
That resulted in my retreating back to the spot where the day began, kneeling and waiting. And then the gobbles stopped. Nothing for over 20 minutes. Then, when I shifted the position of the gun, a nice big bearded gobbler, who had come in silent and unseen, started running off across the pasture. The names I called myself! But then a movement from the left caught my eye and not one, but two more mature gobblers were alarmed, but walking into view and well within range.
The trailing bird tumbled to a load of Federal TSS #7 shot and suddenly the sun was shining, the air was warm, there was a smile on my face, a bounce in my step and “life was good.” There may be a moral to this story but it is indeed better to be lucky than good! The bird was another heavy Midwest gobbler and fortunately it was not all that far back to the truck to lug the bird, the gun, the turkey chair and the decoys. Two trips were made – must be getting old!
The weather in Kansas as this column is being written is in the low 80s while you folks back home are having a brief return of winter. Sorry I missed it! My flight hopefully arrived with no drama last night and my focus can now be Massachusetts and New Hampshire turkeys and catching some nice big trout.
Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.