Just had to tell my "story".
I arrived late Thursday but tried to find a place behind Hale Ponds where I was camped. The GW, Dave Nichols, told me of a way to loop back thru Kansas. Anyway, I missed a road and drove way out of the way and by the time I got back, it was too late to hunt. That night a windstorm woke me me up and kept me up for about an hour but by morning it was calm. I had all ready measured the road distance to what looked like a good spot and drove there and walked in about a half mile. My knee held up well and is not as stiff now but my stamina and strength were a bit lacking. I saw my doc for a 90 day checkup Wednesday and he told me I would be gaining strength for up to a year. Then he told me he was happy with the results and to go out and kill some more birds. So, I thought I might as well!
Back to the hunt. Saw a few hens and one gobbler way off. Did hear four gobbles on my walk in. Friday evenining, I tried another good looking place where I could reach the "river" easily. I saw 2 hens and two gobblers but the gobblers were way off.
Saturday morning I got up about 30 minutes earlier as I was woke up by coyotes at 3 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Had alarm clock set earlier but didn't need it. It was 41 degrees early in the morning. Went back to same spot I hunted Friday afternoon. I saw 1 lone hen at about 25 yards and 3 turkeys about half a mile off, two males and a hen. Then nothing until 8:35. Then I saw 4 jakes and a gobbler at about 75 yards. They just kept coming closer. The gobbler distracted himself by running at the jakes. Then they came a bit closer. At 40 yards the gobbler fanned out and was facing me head on. I all ready had the safety off and the gun resting on my knee. The red dot settled on his neck and I touched her off. The gobbler dropped in his tracks. He had an 8 in beard and got heavier all the trip back to my truck, think he was 75 pounds by the time I got back, LOL. I did not have my 1 man chair blind with me this time but still had my heavy gun, binocs, decoys, my bird, and too many clothes. I stripped out of two thirds of my clothes, including my bibs, a shirt and a light coat and stuffed them into my decoy bag. I made it about 150 yards with all this then leap frogged back and forth with about half of my stuff, then dropping half and going back. Took me over an hour to get back to my truck but I managed. It was 85 degrees at the truck. Again, knee was OK but I was exhausted by the time I got back to the truck. Then I headed back to camp and removed the breast and legs, packed up and headed home. I wish I would have brought my fishing rod as the trout were biting really good on worms, power bait or artificials. The pond where they were biting was a good 20 feet from my camper. Overall, a fine trip, camper with my amateur brake replacement and bearing replacement and packing worked fine.
Too bad it takes so long to draw this tag. This year, if you hunt on private land on this unit you can buy an OTC tag.
The only thing bad is it all ended too quickly!
Ray
