Kansas 2013 Trip

[muddy]

I hem hawed around on a place to hunt but finally settled on Kansas, the same place where I went a few years ago and doubled up in one afternoon.

Little preface here... After the death of my dad a couple months ago I decided to hunt out this year with his bow. I cranked it up and got it sighted in and this was the maiden voyage. Along with were several of his hunting pieces of equipment.

My buddy Nate and I got a late start and finished our 8 hour drive at about 0230 in the morning at a gas station near the hunting area. We changed clothes in the lights of the gas pumps and got our stuff situated. I basically made him walk in and we got set up in our field by 0400 and laid down in the blind to try and catch some ZZZZs. I was afraid if we slept in the truck we'd lose the spot to another hunter or sleep late. Anyway, the cold front came thru and with it a high 25+ mph wind from the north... the double bull is not a great tent. It kept the main gusts off but it was cold out there, VERY cold.

We dozed and at about 0530 I heard one of the decoys rolling around, we hopped up and looked out and in the moonlight there was a great horned owl straddling both of the DSD hen decoys pecking/biting their heads!! It was one of the crazier things I've seen! He flew off and I got the deeks set back up and settled back into the blind. 45 minutes later the birds cut loose.

There were a lot of birds in the area and as best as I could tell we had 3 gobblers and numerous jakes battling it out from the tree tops. They all flew down and continued the noisy serenade thru the first bits of dawn. I kept working the birds and finally 2 fans made their way to the tree line and out into the field on a run right at BigBoi the worlds best decoy. A few feet shy of him they both screeched to a hault and got all wussy on us, I think these small Rios were a little intimidated by a full body Eastern decoy/mount. I pulled back and settled the pin and touched it off a bit too quickly as I managed to only draw a huge pile of tail feathers. The birds retreated and that was that.

A few minutes later they followed a large group of hens into the field and were themselves followed by a gaggle of jakes. Once on the other side of the field one of the same 2 gobblers decided he wanted to flog on my newly acquired DSD jake decoy. He tuff walked up and my buddy dew, anchored, and shot... thru the blind.

As he sat there cussing I was already at full draw batting clean up and immediately put an arrow right through the sweet spot on the gobbler. He pretty much went down like a hammer hit him and as soon as he flopped a few times the army of short beards CHARGED. I whispered to my buddy, "Dude, get ready, they're charging and its ON!" The group of 8 jakes jumped on my dead gobbler in a frenzy as he came to full draw and sailed an arrow right under another one. They did a chinese fire drill around the decoy and dead bird but by that time I was back to full draw myself and put an arrow thru the closest one. He ran about 5 steps and face planted into the dust. The other jakes ran off but my buddy opted to pass on the far off shot.

The birds all worked off and after some time we decided to get outta the area and go hit some other public walk in areas and then return later in the afternoon. This was an optimal time for some heroes.

We did get on numerous birds at 2 different locations, but couldn't quite get the birds to commit close enough. In the end we made the long trek back to the canyon field and set up. I took a quick nap and then 10 minutes into my buddy's nap I noticed a white tipped fan 200 yards away. It was on like donkey kong again. I worked the gobbler with his hen and eventually called the hen right up to the decoys, bringing with her the lone gobbler. As the hen turned and started away the gobbler made that critical step towards the DSD jake and at 12 yards my buddy made a PERFECT shot on a helluva Rio gobblers. He went right down and that was the 3rd bird down on this field today.

My gobbler was probably a 2 year old with the typical 3/4 inch spurs but his had over 1 inch spurs, a very nice and beautifully colored bird.

We finally ended up at a cabin for some shut eye and the 5 hour sleep was not long enough. We had a great set up in the morning but it didn't pan out. As we watched 8 birds strutting on private leased land we decided to leave early and get home before dark. Great trip, we had out chances and still managed to tag 3 outta 4.

[CouesWhitetail]

Very cool!! Great write-up! Congrats on the birds!

[Big Browns]

Great Job! How much is the tag in Kansas?

[muddy]

Great Job! How much is the tag in Kansas?

 

$125 bucks for license and 2 tags, dirt cheap.

[Big Browns]

That's about what it cost's to hunt New Mexico, Cheap! Is there a lot of public land to hunt?

[IA Born]

That's about what it cost's to hunt New Mexico, Cheap! Is there a lot of public land to hunt?

You now have to buy your $65 big game license. Grand total this year is $175.

 

Once again, Matt, nice job on the KS birds. I may make a trip up there and meet you one of these times. When you want to go after real Merriams give me a shout!

[muddy]

That's about what it cost's to hunt New Mexico, Cheap! Is there a lot of public land to hunt?

 

Depends on the part of the state you visit. I would say there's a lot of public land, but the walk in areas are pretty small chunks all over the place.

[P.R.I]

What part of Kansas were you in, western?

[muddy]

What part of Kansas were you in, western?

 

South central. I could get more specific, but then I'd have to kill you.

[IA Born]

What part of Kansas were you in, western?

 

South central. I could get more specific, but then I'd have to kill you.

South central Kansas is a long day's drive from my house. Just saying....