If only it was this easy!!
View attachment 70372
With heavy storms predicted for the weekend, I hit it hard Friday at "my" public land turkey woods. So far this season, the only other truck to use "my" parking lot was a fellow HuntTalker and his buddy coming in from out of state, and my heart was happy at O-Dark thirty when again I was alone to head into the woods. My knowledge of this corner of Kansas has been built over the years wondering around and chasing turkeys. Favorite feed fields change year over year based on last years crop (corn >soybean>milo) and adjacent nesting/roosting areas. My favorite field of years past is being used less this year, so I've had to change up my strategies. Hunting with a crossbow has also forced me to change my tactics a bit as well.
I arrived perhaps 15 minutes later than I should have, as the first gobbles had already sounded as I was snuggling in my hidey-hole on the side of the cropfield, the hens that were roosted just behind me were also beginning to talk. Overcast skies and a cool morning, the hens waited to flydown till long after legal shooting time. When the five hens launched into flight, the sound of the first bird made my jerk my head up, in time to see #2-5 fly directly over my spot, turn left and drop down into the cut corn field. I heard the two boys leave their roosts as well, but they dropped down into the trees, and made a gauntlet run out of the woods 45 yards to my left.
One of the hens came over to say hello to my decoys, and when they failed to behave like real birds, she started to send out the "somethings up" clucks. These birds drifted away from me and finally around the corner of the field.
Following them, I moved into a new spot alongside where I have seen these birds feeding and moving along the field edge. I decided to stay silent, and count on these birds bringing the tom back with them. As I sat there sharing texts with family, I looked up to see that two hens had already past my new hiding spot, and the third one sensed something was up as I put the phone down and reached for the bow. Coming over to the edge of the CRP strip where I was hiding, she gazed into the underbrush and once again I heard the dreaded "panic putts" of a disturbed hen. The hens exited to my right, with no tom in sight. I figured that meant that he had about-faced and went back to the left.
Sitting there is the warmth, I felt drowsiness creeping on. A full gobble from the adjacent field rang out, jolting me awake. I called back, and he gobbled. He gobbled at every crow caw, every rumble strip from a nearby highway, and just when he felt like it. He was moving away, gobbling the whole way until he reached the far end of the unseen field. I figured he was looking for his recently departed harem. Pausing in his gobbling, he worked his way through a CRP strip and onto my field. Over a quarter of mile away, I called and he responded. Heading my way, I had to decide if I wanted to stay put, or move into a better ambush spot.
As it turns out, I should have moved forward to the fullest CRP indentation into the field as he came gobbling the whole way, but stayed in the middle of the field. Had I moved he would have been inside my self imposed "limit" of my crossbow. As it was, he wound up at my max shotgun range, and seemed not at all willing to come any closer to the seductive hen unseen in the CRP. Spooking, he exited to my left.
Once I was sure he wasn't coming back, I decided to go into the same general direction that he traveled. Walking down the field, I found an area where the turkeys had been dusting themselves.
Moving into the woods and then into the next crop field, I waded through the poison ivy edge, and decided to explore further down river. Hoping to catch birds loafing beyond the next hedgerow, I went into ninja mode as I approached a spot I have taken multiple toms over the years. No birds seen, I went out into the middle of the heavy grass fallow field, and finally flushed a hen at 4 yards from where I was standing. Her clutch of eggs is larger than average, and after taking a couple of quick pics, I turned to leave so that she could once again incubate this years turkey crop.
I almost stepped right on this egg stealer hiding in the thick grass.
As my day of near misses came to an end, I was headed to the parking lot when I saw yet more birds of in the corner of yet another field. I have plans for you boys. Keep safe until I come to "meet you"!
?)
