jkratz5
Well-Known Member
For the second year in a row we headed to Kansas to chase some Rios around. This year my brother, good buddy Justin and his brother Joel made the journey west. We arrived in Kansas late in the afternoon on Thursday.
We unpacked and immediately headed out to do some scouting. We found birds in nearly every location we went to and with the birds out and active and knowing that we were in for some poor weather on Friday, we decide to head out for an evening hunt.
Not 15 minutes after I dropped my brother off I get a text, 1st bird down. Turns out that he had setup the dekes, sat down and 10 minutes after making his first series of calls a bird appeared in full strut less than 100yds from his setup. The gobbler strutted his way to the dekes, and the ol 10 gauge delivered the first nap of the year.
45 mintues later, I was finally setup in a location we had hammered a few birds the year before. I get a second text from my brother, this one says "I'm done" and just like that his KS tags were full. After the first bird went down he continued to hunt and was greeted by 6 birds sprinting to his decoys. The last of the birds was a beautiful, mature Rio and just as it stepped into the dekes my brother said he went into full strut and gave the jake deke the ol wing smack. My brother let the 10gauge eat again and yes within an hour in KS he was tagged out, talk about an awesome hunt. The rest of the evening was eventful for the rest of us, with many birds being spotted, however no other shots were fired. Both birds were 22lbs, 9" beards and 3/4" hooks.
Brother with his two Rios
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Day Two:
Day two started off not so hot. We awoke to 60mph steady winds, with hurricane force gusts of 75mph, combined with 38 degrees, rain and snow. I have hunted in a lot of bad weather, but there was no way in hell I was sitting in that.
We decided to make the best out of the situation and check out some more ground about 30 miles from where we were hunting and hope that the weather would break by mid afternoon for a hunt. The rain had let up by 4:00 or so, however the winds were still the same. We made the decision to head to a spot that was a bit out of the wind and see what we could do. To my suprise we saw birds, including a group of gobblers that evening, however the wind permitted them from moving much and the birds were absolutely unresponive to calling. However, I was pretty confident with the number of gobblers that we spotted that the morning would bring a pretty good hunt.
Day 3:
Day 3 started out how I remembered KS. Lots of birds going crazy on the roost. At fly down I watched 50+ birds pitch down out of the same tree, however they had plans that did not include our setup for the morning. I decided to make a move on the birds after watching them strut for 2 hours. When I thought I had gotten in front of the birds I setup and started calling. I was immediately greeted with several close gobbles. For the next hour birds came in and out of our setup, first hens, then jakes, then more hens. The gobblers seemed to be hung up about 100 yds away so I got a bit more aggressive with the calling. By the time I ended the series of calls the birds were fired up, gobbling at just about anything. I let out one last series of yelps and then set the call down. About 10 minutes later I was treated to a thunderous greeting. 5 birds sounded off simultaneously and had closed to 60yds or so. I still couldn't see them as they were on the opposite side of some tall switch grass. Finally, they stepped into the timber and all five of them put on a strutting show. They made there way to 30 yds spitting and drumming and finally I dropped the hammer on the biggest of the five (Bird #3 down).
A few hous later we decide to make a move to a new farm. Got the Pretty Boy Jr and the Zink Hen out and the second series of yelps was answered with a close gobble. I let out one last series of yelps and then put the call away. About 10 minutes later the ol gobbler showed up looking for love and when he got inside the dekes I delivered the dirt nap (Bird 4 down). 1st bird was 22lbs, 3/4" spurs and 9" beard. Second bird was also 22lbs, 10" beard and 1" hooks.
My Birds:
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That same evening Justin took down a nice gobbler. Not much of a story as they looked out the blind window to catch two birds working away from them at about 40yds. Grabbed the gun and smoked him (5 down).
Day 4 (The final show):
The goal for the morning hunt was to get Joel his first Kansas Rio. My brother and I had put a few birds to bed the night before and we decided to head to that location for the morning hunt to get Joel on a bird. We got setup that morning and were greeted by 5 gobblers on the roost. As they pitched down they headed to a pasture about 300yds north of our setup where they decided to settle in for the morning ritual. We realized that we could use the terrain to our advantage and get close to the birds so decided to make a move. We got within a 150yds or so and setup again. We watched 5 gobblers strutting, gobbling, and breeding for the next two hours. Finally, after the dominant bird bred one last hen he decided he couldn't take anymore and he had to check out our setup. As he headed our way we slid into the timber and we temporarily lost track of him (about 80yds out). A few minutes later he was nearly in my lap (literally) as he stepped out of a small thicket to my right that was less than 5 yds away. He had no clue that any of us were there and eventually made his way in front of Joel and BAM, bird 6 was down. Biggest bird we killed, 24lbs, 1 1/4" spurs and a 10" beard
Joel with his first KS Rio:
The whole time we were working these birds we heard several other birds about 500yds to our south sounding off. As soon as we had this guy down we decided to make a move on the birds to the south. We got to within 150yds or so and the birds sounded off to some passing crows. The four of us setup on a fallen log and as soon as I let out the first series of yelps we were treated with a double gobble, then another, then another, then another. This went on for five minutes or so with the birds gobbling every 5-10 seconds. The two birds made there way to about 30yds. where they stood behind two small cedar trees and gobbled for at least 10 minutes. And when I say gobbled, I mean gobbled. During this time each bird gobbled a minimum of 200 times, shaking the ground and I could actual feel the gobbles rippling through my body. These dudes just absolutley put on a show, it was truly an amazing sight. Finally, to pull them around the pine trees I let out a soft purrr and after a few more gobbles they stepped out. 1, 2, 3 BANG. Both birds were doing the death kick and our KS hunt had ended with 8 mature gobblers taking dirt naps. High fives, hand shakes and hugs followed as we had closed out another great trip with one of the best turkey hunts I had ever been on.
I had a blast fellas and I look forward to heading to KS with you again next year.
Kratz
We unpacked and immediately headed out to do some scouting. We found birds in nearly every location we went to and with the birds out and active and knowing that we were in for some poor weather on Friday, we decide to head out for an evening hunt.
Not 15 minutes after I dropped my brother off I get a text, 1st bird down. Turns out that he had setup the dekes, sat down and 10 minutes after making his first series of calls a bird appeared in full strut less than 100yds from his setup. The gobbler strutted his way to the dekes, and the ol 10 gauge delivered the first nap of the year.
45 mintues later, I was finally setup in a location we had hammered a few birds the year before. I get a second text from my brother, this one says "I'm done" and just like that his KS tags were full. After the first bird went down he continued to hunt and was greeted by 6 birds sprinting to his decoys. The last of the birds was a beautiful, mature Rio and just as it stepped into the dekes my brother said he went into full strut and gave the jake deke the ol wing smack. My brother let the 10gauge eat again and yes within an hour in KS he was tagged out, talk about an awesome hunt. The rest of the evening was eventful for the rest of us, with many birds being spotted, however no other shots were fired. Both birds were 22lbs, 9" beards and 3/4" hooks.
Brother with his two Rios
Day Two:
Day two started off not so hot. We awoke to 60mph steady winds, with hurricane force gusts of 75mph, combined with 38 degrees, rain and snow. I have hunted in a lot of bad weather, but there was no way in hell I was sitting in that.
We decided to make the best out of the situation and check out some more ground about 30 miles from where we were hunting and hope that the weather would break by mid afternoon for a hunt. The rain had let up by 4:00 or so, however the winds were still the same. We made the decision to head to a spot that was a bit out of the wind and see what we could do. To my suprise we saw birds, including a group of gobblers that evening, however the wind permitted them from moving much and the birds were absolutely unresponive to calling. However, I was pretty confident with the number of gobblers that we spotted that the morning would bring a pretty good hunt.
Day 3:
Day 3 started out how I remembered KS. Lots of birds going crazy on the roost. At fly down I watched 50+ birds pitch down out of the same tree, however they had plans that did not include our setup for the morning. I decided to make a move on the birds after watching them strut for 2 hours. When I thought I had gotten in front of the birds I setup and started calling. I was immediately greeted with several close gobbles. For the next hour birds came in and out of our setup, first hens, then jakes, then more hens. The gobblers seemed to be hung up about 100 yds away so I got a bit more aggressive with the calling. By the time I ended the series of calls the birds were fired up, gobbling at just about anything. I let out one last series of yelps and then set the call down. About 10 minutes later I was treated to a thunderous greeting. 5 birds sounded off simultaneously and had closed to 60yds or so. I still couldn't see them as they were on the opposite side of some tall switch grass. Finally, they stepped into the timber and all five of them put on a strutting show. They made there way to 30 yds spitting and drumming and finally I dropped the hammer on the biggest of the five (Bird #3 down).
A few hous later we decide to make a move to a new farm. Got the Pretty Boy Jr and the Zink Hen out and the second series of yelps was answered with a close gobble. I let out one last series of yelps and then put the call away. About 10 minutes later the ol gobbler showed up looking for love and when he got inside the dekes I delivered the dirt nap (Bird 4 down). 1st bird was 22lbs, 3/4" spurs and 9" beard. Second bird was also 22lbs, 10" beard and 1" hooks.
My Birds:
That same evening Justin took down a nice gobbler. Not much of a story as they looked out the blind window to catch two birds working away from them at about 40yds. Grabbed the gun and smoked him (5 down).
Day 4 (The final show):
The goal for the morning hunt was to get Joel his first Kansas Rio. My brother and I had put a few birds to bed the night before and we decided to head to that location for the morning hunt to get Joel on a bird. We got setup that morning and were greeted by 5 gobblers on the roost. As they pitched down they headed to a pasture about 300yds north of our setup where they decided to settle in for the morning ritual. We realized that we could use the terrain to our advantage and get close to the birds so decided to make a move. We got within a 150yds or so and setup again. We watched 5 gobblers strutting, gobbling, and breeding for the next two hours. Finally, after the dominant bird bred one last hen he decided he couldn't take anymore and he had to check out our setup. As he headed our way we slid into the timber and we temporarily lost track of him (about 80yds out). A few minutes later he was nearly in my lap (literally) as he stepped out of a small thicket to my right that was less than 5 yds away. He had no clue that any of us were there and eventually made his way in front of Joel and BAM, bird 6 was down. Biggest bird we killed, 24lbs, 1 1/4" spurs and a 10" beard
Joel with his first KS Rio:
The whole time we were working these birds we heard several other birds about 500yds to our south sounding off. As soon as we had this guy down we decided to make a move on the birds to the south. We got to within 150yds or so and the birds sounded off to some passing crows. The four of us setup on a fallen log and as soon as I let out the first series of yelps we were treated with a double gobble, then another, then another, then another. This went on for five minutes or so with the birds gobbling every 5-10 seconds. The two birds made there way to about 30yds. where they stood behind two small cedar trees and gobbled for at least 10 minutes. And when I say gobbled, I mean gobbled. During this time each bird gobbled a minimum of 200 times, shaking the ground and I could actual feel the gobbles rippling through my body. These dudes just absolutley put on a show, it was truly an amazing sight. Finally, to pull them around the pine trees I let out a soft purrr and after a few more gobbles they stepped out. 1, 2, 3 BANG. Both birds were doing the death kick and our KS hunt had ended with 8 mature gobblers taking dirt naps. High fives, hand shakes and hugs followed as we had closed out another great trip with one of the best turkey hunts I had ever been on.
I had a blast fellas and I look forward to heading to KS with you again next year.
Kratz
