Back from the Land of OZ

[WyoHunter]

To say it was windy in NW Kansas would be a gross understatement! After listening to a few gobblers go to roost on Tuesday evening I was hoping for a classic "fly down and come to the call hunt" on Wednesday. The next morning the wind picked up speed as I walked in to my hunting area and heard a few birds gobble from the roost. The gobbling stopped when they hit the ground as they walked through the alfalfa on their way to the creek. Four jakes and six hens flew across the 6 foot wide creek and made their way past me. Calls from my old reliable Lynch box call along with other calls never raised a gobble in return so I started hunting along the creek in hopes of getting a gobbler to answer. The wind was now 25 - 30 mph which didn't help but I did call in a pair of jakes and a hen.

I went back to the truck and droveto a secluded canyon back off the road in hopes the wind wouldn't be as bad back there. When I got there I was relieved that the wind was not near as bad. I had visited this canyon last fall while bowhunting whitetails and had seen turkeys there. I started calling with the Lynch as I walked down into the timbered bottom. I checked to see if there was water in the old trough the farmer used to water his cattle when he pastured them in there. It was almost dry. I walked a few yards and called again. From behind me a couple of jakes gargled a gobble and then a gobbler sounded off from the pasture behind me.  He looked own and I called again and another gobbler joined him. I cut a few times on the box and they started my way. But now there was three! I knelt beside a small tree with the Beretta ready for action. Out stepped not three but four mature gobblers. The second one had the best beard so I waited while the first bird cleared and then sent a swarm of Hevi-13 7's his way. The distance was 31 yards and he never flopped although his buddy danced around him in a display of dominance. I went down to him and admired his 9" beard and 1" spurs. After saying a prayer of thanks I started the steep trek out of the canyon.

Unfortunately my camera went dead after a couple of pics. Enjoy the two I got. 

[cannonball]

Beautiful bird.

[clarksvalley]

congrats on a nice gobbler.is it me or is that a merriam,if it is i didn`t know they were in kansas.

[TRKYHTR]

Nice pics. Sweet gobbler. Congrats,

TRKYHTR

[trkycaller]

Nice!!

[BOFF]

What a pretty bird!!

Congrats on your persistence. It definitely paid off.


Absolutely terrible though on the camera. I've had that happen to me in the past, and to put it bluntly, it sucks!!

Although.............................








two pics is a WHOLE lot better than none!! 

Hope you were able to get some more pics to save the memories!!

God Bless,
David B.

[JVA54]

          Congrats!!

[Ol'Mossy]

Congrats, nice bird

[WyoHunter]

congrats on a nice gobbler.is it me or is that a merriam,if it is i didn`t know they were in kansas.

Supposedly all the birds in western Kansas are Rios and Easterns in the eastern part. Gobblers I've killed in NE and WY which are Merriam's look exactly like this bird. Last year my grandson killed one with the coloration of a Rio and not 400 yards from his kill I shot a gobbler with the coloration of a Merriam's. Go figure!

Update to the above:

I talked to my son today and he said he was told by a KS DOW person that Merriam's had been introduced years ago along with Rios to see which would be the most successful in repopulating the area. That would explain the coloration of my gobbler.

[boomer]

Congrats!!

[Wrangler95]

Very nice gobbler,congrats!!

[turkey slayer]

Congrats!! great bird!

[bowhunter84]

congrats