ISO Kansas Rio info will swap info for eastern and merriams

[rgref522]

Well I'll keep it short. Currently in Kansas on day 1 of of our hunting trip and all 3 of my options are not available for hunting access. Don't get me wrong im re-mobilizing a plan here but would appreciate some help.  I'm willing to swap info/access for private land and public land opportunities in WI for Easterns and also public and private land opportunities in Nebraska for Merriams. Im currently in zone 1 in Kansas but will likely be moving into Zone 2 by early/mid week. 

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[AndyN]

Normally I'd be all over that as I'm planning a WI trip in the next couple years but our birds on public in units 1 & 2 have taken a beating this year. Generally it's not too hard to get on birds, this year that's certainly not the case after opening weekend. I was fortunate enough to shoot two during archery season before the shite storm hit. Many guides are only allowing one bird and telling their clients to go to public if they want to try to get another. With less birds trespassing is also up. My morning started with a call from my usual archery spot landowner asking if I was out there. Posted signs every 100yds and someone still drove in there and shot 3 times (presumably from the truck) and left.

[rgref522]

keep me in mind if you come to Wisconsin, i may do this trip again and can swap you my info first.


i can't believe the amount of people out here.  don't get me wrong i knew the population and habitat this way was more limited, i was hoping the amount of people would be to. 

it feels like opening day of our wi gun deer season every day where there are 12 trucks in the parking area and you can see orange bodies every way you look. except everyone is hiding in the bushes pointing a gun out. god forbid a turkey gobbles on a wiha right now cause it will be like Armageddon.

even running into multiple people on private,  and seeing people running around like you're saying. the original private i had lined up shared similar stories to what you're seeing.

i enjoy the challenge of hunting public or pressured birds. i really do but it is a whole different level of crazy out here right now.

halfway through the trip so far and just need that 5 minutes to make it happen.  this one will be earned if it happens.

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[deerhunt1988]

Welcome to the new age of turkey hunting! You can thank, social media and YouTube!

[rgref522]

haha i said that years ago.  it's great to support to the sport,  but at what cost.   i know plenty of guys that are more worried about shooting their turkey and buck every year so they can post it and get 500 likes and share it to every page to try and get some sort of fame.

I'm just sitting in the woods trying to find some brood surveys, harvest results etc to make our next move.  isn't there an app for this? do i actually have to search for this information? (insert sarcasm)

for anyone following my struggle, yesterday i sat a knoll on a 3000 acre wiha, just listening for gobbles, and hoping to watch birds funnel in and out of the area. 6 guys walked in on the same gobbling tom. 3 down the same path about 10 minutes behind one another,  and the others from other directions. i did some measurements on onyx and figured that Tom was roosted in about 2 acre area at the end of a finger. i don't know how he made it out of there alive.  i watched everyone leave by 8 oclock, no shots fired

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[PNWturkey]

haha i said that years ago.  it's great to support to the sport,  but at what cost.   i know plenty of guys that are more worried about shooting their turkey and buck every year so they can post it and get 500 likes and share it to every page to try and get some sort of fame.

I'm just sitting in the woods trying to find some brood surveys, harvest results etc to make our next move.  isn't there an app for this? do i actually have to search for this information? (insert sarcasm)

for anyone following my struggle, yesterday i sat a knoll on a 3000 acre wiha, just listening for gobbles, and hoping to watch birds funnel in and out of the area. 6 guys walked in on the same gobbling tom. 3 down the same path about 10 minutes behind one another,  and the others from other directions. i did some measurements on onyx and figured that Tom was roosted in about 2 acre area at the end of a finger. i don't know how he made it out of there alive.  i watched everyone leave by 8 oclock, no shots fired

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I lived and hunted in KS for many years long before youtube ever existed.  Was not ever crowded as you describe, though I have only ever hunted private in KS.

Most KS resident hunters that I knew had plenty of private options and never hunted public WHIA as you did.  Of the multiple trucks that you were seeing on the WHIA, were most from out of state?

Why do people think KS is such a hotspot, compared to neighboring states with solid turkey hunting such as IA or MO?  Are they trying for one of the furthest-east options to shoot a Rio in pursuit of a Grand Slam? 

[owlhoot]

haha i said that years ago.  it's great to support to the sport,  but at what cost.   i know plenty of guys that are more worried about shooting their turkey and buck every year so they can post it and get 500 likes and share it to every page to try and get some sort of fame.

I'm just sitting in the woods trying to find some brood surveys, harvest results etc to make our next move.  isn't there an app for this? do i actually have to search for this information? (insert sarcasm)

for anyone following my struggle, yesterday i sat a knoll on a 3000 acre wiha, just listening for gobbles, and hoping to watch birds funnel in and out of the area. 6 guys walked in on the same gobbling tom. 3 down the same path about 10 minutes behind one another,  and the others from other directions. i did some measurements on onyx and figured that Tom was roosted in about 2 acre area at the end of a finger. i don't know how he made it out of there alive.  i watched everyone leave by 8 oclock, no shots fired

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I lived and hunted in KS for many years long before youtube ever existed.  Was not ever crowded as you describe, though I have only ever hunted private in KS.

Most KS resident hunters that I knew had plenty of private options and never hunted public WHIA as you did.  Of the multiple trucks that you were seeing on the WHIA, were most from out of state?

Why do people think KS is such a hotspot, compared to neighboring states with solid turkey hunting such as IA or MO?  Are they trying for one of the furthest-east options to shoot a Rio in pursuit of a Grand Slam?

Has been about 10 years since I hunted Kansas , hunted walkin a few years. No problems lots of places to go. The best day in Missouri public was worse than the worst day in Kansas. Back then.

[HookedonHooks]

Why do people think KS is such a hotspot, compared to neighboring states with solid turkey hunting such as IA or MO?  Are they trying for one of the furthest-east options to shoot a Rio in pursuit of a Grand Slam?

With people being open about Oklahoma being down bad the last couple years, I think a lot of single season slammers have been headed to Kansas for that exact reason. Easy enough to jump west or north from here for their Merriam. Western Kansas is pretty down bad now though too it sounds like, next will be southern Nebraska or eastern Colorado to get raped for the Rio.

Rio's have a boom or bust recruitment that's very precipitation based. And we've either been above or below the slot that they thrive best in the last several years. That and the hunting pressure have really hurt OK and West KS

[turkeyfool]

I ran around out west the past few years and I think the only place where I thought myself "this is ridiculous" as far as the # of hunters was Nebraska. While I guess I've just done a good job of avoiding crowds or simply haven't noticed, I do remember reading on here a few weeks ago that someone said the farm they knocked on in Connecticut had 10 or so people knock the past few years. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know. That's pretty bad

[arkrem870]

I've hunted Kansas for close to 20 years. Had permission on farms for the entirety. One of my best farms neighbor enrolled in wiha. I pulled up at landowners house and she wouldn't answer the door. I ended up talking to them the next day and she said all kinds of hunters with fancy cameras and matching camo had knocked on their door this year. Said they were all trying to film shooting turkeys. That tells me what I already know.

I started in Mississippi.....got there the Friday before season and set up camp. Scouted sat/sun. Sunday scores of hunters were showing up. Everyone camping/sleeping at gates. Matching bottomland and cameras were everywhere. I've hunted this area of Mississippi for many years but hadn't been there in the last 5-6. Wow have things changed. This YouTube/social media is turning this sport into a cluster

[deerhunt1988]

I do remember reading on here a few weeks ago that someone said the farm they knocked on in Connecticut had 10 or so people knock the past few years. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

That was me.

A farm where they rarely had ANYONE ask for permission up until a couple years ago...This year alone that same farm had ~15 non-resident vehicles stop and ask! Several of the non-residents haven driven over 1,000+ miles to that location.

This same stuff has already happened to some of the mid-western states the past decade. And now it is just catching up to other regions of the U.S.

[turkeyfool]

There's a state a little bit north of CT that I've really enjoyed hunting the past few years. I know of 4 different YouTubers who had planned on going there. If that blows it up in 2022, I'm not going to lie I'll be pretty pissed about it. But I guess that's no different than what someone who lives in Mississippi for example is already going through

[PNWturkey]

Why do people think KS is such a hotspot, compared to neighboring states with solid turkey hunting such as IA or MO?  Are they trying for one of the furthest-east options to shoot a Rio in pursuit of a Grand Slam?

With people being open about Oklahoma being down bad the last couple years, I think a lot of single season slammers have been headed to Kansas for that exact reason. Easy enough to jump west or north from here for their Merriam. Western Kansas is pretty down bad now though too it sounds like, next will be southern Nebraska or eastern Colorado to get raped for the Rio.

Rio's have a boom or bust recruitment that's very precipitation based. And we've either been above or below the slot that they thrive best in the last several years. That and the hunting pressure have really hurt OK and West KS

Thanks for the insightful comments.

Let's hope that the "single season slam" fad passes soon, either because people are back at work now that COVID restrictions are easing or just that the concept is no longer as much of a brag on social media since so many people are doing it...

[Jstocks]

Single season slam has very little to do with the issue. I wish we were back in the days where all people worried and talked about was how many grand slams they had.

[PNWturkey]

Single season slam has very little to do with the issue. I wish we were back in the days where all people worried and talked about was how many grand slams they had.

So, if Kansas only had Eastern wild turkeys, you still think all the nonresidents would be pouring into Kansas to hunt?