Kansas Hunter
Sharing your passion for the great outdoors
Hunting Kansas longbeards in the middle of the day is one of my favorite tactics in the spring. Anytime gobblers are by themselves your chances of persuading them into gun range are higher than when they are flocked up with hens.
Gobblers on the Run
Photos and story by Drew Palmer
Any seasoned turkey hunter will tell you that a lonesome gobbler in the middle of the day is worth your effort to hunt. Any seasoned turkey hunter will also tell you about how many times that gobbler has “hung up” on creeks, fences, hollers and other not-so-difficult obstacles in his path between temptation and sweet love in the decoys.
It was mid May when my good friend and lifelong hunting partner Devin Avery and I set out to a large ranch in the southern Flint Hills. The ranch hadn’t been turkey hunted in years, and we had the invite to hunt some new country and hopefully fill a few tags on some unpressured gobblers.
The terrain proved to be somewhat of a nightmare as the property set up north and south and had one major canyon running for nearly two miles. The birds roosted in the same
tree in the middle of the property or vanished like ghosts into the wind-swept grasslands. It took several attempts to pinpoint and formulate a semi-educated plan for what we thought their pattern was, and at what times we could have opportunity.
After three failed attempts and weather keeping us from accessing the ranch, we were finally able to sneak out mid afternoon on a rare calm and sunny day in May. Before we even crossed the cattle guard onto the ranch property, we spotted four gobblers in the neighbors alfalfa field nearly a mile from our nearest point of access. Knowing that the gobblers were by themselves and headed somewhat in our direction, we parked at the closest entrance to the ranch property and formulated a plan.
With the slight breeze actually helping us, we sent out a couple long box call sequences towards the four red-headed suspects. After not hearing any response for nearly five minutes, I told Devin to get all the cameras, gear, and decoys across the fence and ready to move. My plan was to walk down the gravel road several hundred yards and yelp on the box call in hopes of luring and triggering a response out of the gobblers. If I could get a response, my next move was to work them back to where Devin was set up on our property in an open hayfield. If everything worked, these birds would have covered nearly a mile to get to our setup.
As I walked to within 400 yards of where I thought the gobblers were in the alfalfa field, I cut and yelped several times on the box call. After about the third yelp, I heard a roar of excited gobbles that couldn’t have been more than 75 yards away. Realizing that the birds had heard my calling clear back from the truck, my heart sputtered as I heard them light up in the creek bottom again. I went from thinking we had maybe a 5 percent chance to kill these birds, to pure panic as I stumbled all over myself.
Shifting out of my normal 4-wheel-drive low, I sprinted the 1/4 mile back to the truck at full speed in my rubber boots. My quads and hamstrings were immediately on fire and begging for mercy. Thinking back on it now, that run had to have looked pretty similar to Forrest Gump when he ran out of his knee braces on that dirt road in Alabama, but it was worth it.
I knew how killable these toms were and how fast they were coming. Thankfully years of hunting together sparked Devin’s move well ahead of my arrival. He had seen me coming and jumped the gate onto the ranch property and was running both of our vest, gear, and cameras down to the grassy meadow we had planned on.
Gasping between breaths and trying not to choke on my mouth diaphragm, I communicated with him that these birds were coming and coming fast. I had no more thrown my camera on the tripod when I looked up to see four huge birds flying across a creek, a gravel road, two fences, and landing in the same meadow we were setting up in. In disbelief and with a strong sense of hurry the heck up, I crawled the decoy strutter a short 10 yards in front of us and set it up, way to close for a Jeb’s XFull turkey choke. Before I put the fan on the decoy I held it up above the terrace and called to the toms that were looking for that sexy lady they heard. They spotted the fan within seconds and began a wild gobbling running race to our setup.
I didn’t have time to even get my gloves or facemask on before the gobblers had closed the last 200 yards through the meadow. I turned the camera on with shaking hands as my adrenalin was out of control. They barreled through the last fence at 40 yards and started their aggressive sideways strut to the decoys. While I was still gasping for air I got a few words out to Devin as he was within arms reach of me on a nearby tree, “I’m on them.” I heard his safety go off as the birds bull rushed the decoy at 10 steps away. The first tom was almost ready to tackle the decoy when I heard a couple muttered words from Devin then the shock of his gun go off. The biggest tom looked like he took a tank round to the face as it blew him backwards. The second tom made the mistake of pausing for a split second to figure out what just happened and that was all it took for Devin to get a green bead on a red head.
Game over.
I was in pure disbelief that we had just filled both his tags in less than 10 minutes after spotting these four gobblers nearly a mile from where he put the hammer down. This sequence cemented my previous thoughts that, during the middle of a calm, sunny day, gobblers will do some crazy things to find love. You can’t kill ’em on the couch…
