Spring 2020 Recap – 5 States – All Public

[Garrett Trentham]

Spring 2020 Recap – 5 States – All Public

I thoroughly enjoy seeing y'all's pictures and stories throughout and after the season. I figured I'd throw some of mine together for y'all if you're interested. Hope you can get a fraction of the enjoyment that I did out of these hunts!


Plans to travel to the southeast were canceled this year due to COVID. By the KS opener, I was chomping at the bit to carry a gun in the woods. I planned to hunt an area in Southeast KS where I've killed turkeys in the past. It's no secret that the turkey population in that area is not doing as well as they were five or ten years ago. I got there the afternoon before the opener to do some scouting. Five miles of walking yielded me little positive sign and only one gobble on the roost. I eased back in to where I thought he was well before daylight the next morning. 6:15am found me watching cardinals chase through the hardwood bottoms and still having yet to hear a gobble.  Finally, one started gobbling, but he was a ways off. I gathered my calls and started his way. About time I thought I'd cut the distance in half, he gobbled and was just out of sight – maybe 250yds through the open bottoms. I found a big tree and sat down. Less than five minutes later I saw him and his buddy slipping towards me. They clammed up at 150yds and started clucking. I clucked back and they honed in on my position. Strutting and drumming along right towards me. 18yds was all I could take and my first bird of the season was on the ground.





By the fifth morning of the MO season, I had yet to get a longbeard within gun range. COVID had reared its head in the form of unreal hunting pressure. What would normally be one truck at every other parking area turned into five trucks at each parking spot and two or three scattered in between. I roosted a turkey one evening and had six trucks pull in behind me the next morning all planning to hunt the same ridge and draw. I pulled back and started hunting areas that were across water of some sort and more than a mile from a parking area – this tactic paid off nearly immediately. I got on a couple gobblers that were hot and heavy one morning off the roost. They had hens, but were still more than willing to answer each and every of my owl hoots and yelps. A couple strategic moves and I had one just over the ridge and coming. I got in a bind and wasn't in a great spot – the cold air and sun shining on me had me engulfed in a suspicious cloud of fog and steam. He saw me about the time I saw him and he was gone in a flash. Shortly after joining his buddy further up the ridge, they started gobbling again. I moved around on them again to a hardwood flat where I knew they liked to hangout mid-morning. They would answer me every now and then but weren't really coming my way. I started pouring the coals to them and they finally broke. Their last gobble was inside of 40yds and they were still out of sight. Once I saw them, they were well within 30yds. Head went behind a tree, I got the gun on him, he stepped out, I shot, and both gobblers ran off. Unbelievable.
I surveyed the area, I thought they were 35yds but they were actually well inside of 30. As I walked back to the tree I was sitting at to pick up my calls, I came across this...



This tree was about 15ft from the end of my barrel and clearly caught most of my pattern. I never saw it.


I gave those birds a day and went back in there. My gut told me not to, but my pride couldn't take it. Daylight came and went without action, I knew they had to be close by. I started slipping further and further into their house, fifty to seventy yards at a time. Calling softly, sitting down and waiting, cutting, and then easing in further. Finally about 10:30am, I got a gobble. He'd only answer incessant yelping – like 20-30 yelp strings – nothing else. I got setup above him and he went quiet. I waited about 20 minutes and called again – nothing. I knew he had to be in the draw beneath me so I backed out and dropped down to his elevation and slipped as far around the point of the ridge, into the draw he was in, as far as I dared go. I sat down and called lightly – nothing. I scratched in the leaves. I cut a couple times and ran into a long string of yelps – bang. He gobbled right where I thought he was a couple hundred yards away. I yelped back at his gobble. Ten minutes later I started another string of yelps, I wanted to ignore him this time and yelp on top of him if he gobbled. He gobbled in the same spot and I continued yelping on top of him for another ten or so yelps. He gobbled again when I was done – bingo. Ten minutes later I knew he could be close. Soft calling got no response so I started yelping – he cut me off and was inside of 70yds. I set my call down and got my gun up. Five minutes later – no gobble, no drumming. I'm wondering where he is. I wanted to pick up my call again but was worried about him seeing me. About that time I see his back shining through the brush as he's slipping towards me. He'd take three steps, peck the ground, stand erect and look real hard for a few seconds, then take three more steps and repeat. He stepped into a clear opening at 20yds and The Black Mamba found her mark.





The next week I had a good buddy come in from out of town. We chased turkeys for a couple days and decided to try a new spot we hadn't hunted this year. We got on a bird on the roost and got set up in a pretty opportune setup. The gobbler answered us on the limb and after flydown really opened up. He got to about 100yds and hung up hard. I went quiet and he started slipping off. I started cutting at him and cutting on top of his gobbles. That was enough to turn his direction back towards us. I would answer his gobbles with soft yelps and clucks. He finally showed his head at 30yds and Steven made short work of him. This was Steven's first MO gobbler and first gobbler on public land. Good stuff!





We heard enough other gobblers where I hunted with Steven that I decided to stay hunting that area. A buddy and I tried to put them in a pinch off the roost a couple mornings to no avail, but I finally struck one out there mid-day. He answered me a couple times but wasn't coming so I started heading his way. We must have had the same thought because I hadn't gone 30 yds and he gobbled just out of sight. I plopped down and got ready. I yelped at him and he gobbled inside of 50 yds. I could clearly hear him drumming by this point and he was moving towards me fast. He was coming around my right side – tough as a right handed shooter. He drummed inside of 20yds and I still couldn't see him so I yelped to get him to raise his head. At the gun shot a turkey took off in flight. There's no way I missed! I stood up to see four jakes standing around a flopping turkeys. They took off when I saw them. I must have killed a longbeard hanging out with some jakes – nope. Just a double bearded super jake with a strong full roll gobble! His head was as big as any gobbler and he sure played the part of a mature turkey well. Act like a man and get treated like a man I reckon. It was an exciting hunt and wouldn't have been any more fun if he was 10 years old. I was tagged out in MO and happy.

[Garrett Trentham]

At this point I had a KS tag left to fill but could only fill it in the NW Kansas zones. I have killed rios up there before – they're a different beast and fun to hunt. A good buddy of mine was tagged out but he tagged along and we planned a public land weekend of chasing rios and camping. The hunting was tough – unseasonably cold weather had the gobblers clammed up. Persistence paid off the last afternoon. We watched two gobblers cross the road in front of us onto a block of public ground. We circled in front of them and got set up. Finally got them fired up and they came fast like rios are supposed to. My first public land rio was in the bag!




Watching a group of gobblers and hens work towards us across a cornfield at daylight. We got a show that morning but no shot.




The land of western KS was made for turkey hunting.





COVID-19 turkey camp

[Garrett Trentham]

With all of our "home" tags filled, Joe and I weren't done. We started scheming and decided to head north. Our plan was to drive to MN and hunt for a few days. If we killed out quickly, we could head to WI. Seemed like there was plenty of public ground and it all looked good for turkeys so we loaded up and took off. From initial idea to us calling at a gobbler in MN was only about 48 hours.
We chased turkeys round and round. Walked some serious hills and hollows. The weather was cold and wet and had the birds a little clammy after flydown each day. However, once the weather broke, so did the turkeys attitude. Sunny skies and 65 degrees had us on a gobbling bird immediately. He came quick and hung up in the open hardwoods behind a small group of hickory trees. Drumming, walking in the leaves, wings dragging the ground – it was a beautiful sight but only in our ears. I'd still yet to see "hide nor hair." Joe and I agreed that whoever got the first shot should take it. Ten minutes of quiet confirmed what we feared. He had slipped out and sneaky as he slipped in. A true vanishing act.
The next morning we returned to that area and he wasn't far. We got setup on him and he would answer us decent on the roost and after he hit the ground. He came our way and hung up about 100yds out. I started answering his gobbles with a jake yelp and that broke him. His next gobble was just out of sight at 40yds, then I saw his fan. I swung my gun and he popped his head up. I asked Joe if he was going to shoot him – "YES!" was his response. About five seconds later the gobbler was flopping and Joe and I were high fiving.




We stuck his bird in the shade and made our way towards a ridge we had heard a turkey gobbling near the evening before. Slipping in there while calling we struck a bird way off the point of the ridge. We down the ridge towards him and came to a knoll leading into a beautiful open saddle. I started cutting and he cut me off. Not knowing the area I was shy about trying to move on him. There were fresh scratchings on the saddle where we were so we decided to sit down a spell and let him make the next move.
We began to realize he was on the opposing ridge across a big 400' ravine. Joe and I had tried crossing those ravines to move on birds and hadn't had much luck. Most of the time the gobbler was where we started by the time we got across. We figured he knew how to cross that ravine better than we did so we stayed put. He was answering me consistently and coming. He got directly across the ravine from us and really cut loose. Double and triple gobbling. I went quiet and let him figure it out. He went silent and I knew the approach was occurring. About that time I heard a turkey coming up the opposite side of our ridge from the gobbler. I eased my gun around to see two jakes approaching the two hen decoys I had put out. They acted like they'd stumbled into a jackpot. Each of them had their way with my decoys for about five minutes. They finally felt like they'd serviced my hens to the best of their abilities and slipped off. I was glad to see them go as jakes can be bad news to a gobbler. No sooner than they had stepped out of sight down the saddle, I heard drumming. I sat my call down and told Joe I heard drumming and he replied, "You don't see him?!" I looked up and there he was about 80yds away. He went into strut. When he went out of sight behind a tree I yelped at him softly. He locked in on us and started strutting our way. Watching him strut towards us in the filtered sunlight was the highlight of my spring. It's what we all dream of as turkey hunters.





With both of us tagged out in MI we jumped across the Mighty Mississippi and bought tags in WI. We started looking up public ground and making plans. We covered most of the western half of the state hearing only a couple gobblers and seeing even fewer. Each time we'd pull up to a parking area we'd find three or four other trucks there. About half were out of staters like ourselves. The other hunters we talked to were running into the same thing. Turkeys were there but they were in no mood to gobble nor come running to a call. We found some birds on a hard to reach ridge of public ground but simply ran out of time before we could get them in a bind. Still fun, and no regrets. We hunted some beautiful country in WI and I'll certainly be back!




I nearly stepped on this newborn fawn while crossing a meadow in WI.





A nap of frustration after not hearing any gobbles in some of the most scenic hardwoods I've hunted. Sleep makes everything better.

[Garrett Trentham]

Back home in MO we both started looking for excuses to make another go at the turkeys. Michigan had tags available and again, we hit the road with little planning. Dropping pins on likely looking public spots as we drove we arrived and hit the woods immediately. Hot, muggy weather had the gobblers clamed up. We heard a couple gobble mid-morning but they were across a big pond and they went quiet before we could get a pin on them. Rain put a damper on the rest of our day and couldn't strike another bird. We decided to try to come in from the other direction the next morning and hope the gobblers we heard were in the same area.
They were. We got in there and set up within a couple hundred yards right as the turkey flew down. We messed with him for about an hour and boy did he play the roll. He gobbled well over a hundred times. I couldn't get him to break so I started answering his gobbles with jake yelps and then went quiet. He kept gobbling good on his own and finally started coming. We thought for sure he would come straight to us through the open woods. To our left was a pond and to our right was a bunch of thick cover. He gobbled at forty yards about 45 degrees to our right. Crap. I swung my gun and got ready... nothing. We waited and waited. I was certain we were going to see him come walking up right in front of us at any moment. He gobbled again and he was 75 yds behind us. I looked over at Joe and he shrugged. I asked Joe to keep calling while I swung around the tree. He gobbled and was inside of 50yds. I got my gun ready and was just waiting for him to pop up. Joe called again and he gobbled inside of 20yds. He was going to have to be close for me to see him and I was worried he would bug out before I could get a shot. He gobbled again on his own and I'm not sure how I couldn't see him. He had to be inside of 20yds. I could feel it in my face. About that time I heard him walking towards us which gave me a better pin on his location. I moved my gun and he stepped out. Still walking towards us looking for the hen. I squared the bead up on him and my first MI bird was in the bag!


We hunted another two and a half days with no shots fired. We messed with a few birds, twice we nearly had a gobbler in a bind and other folks bumped them. Lots of other people in the woods – hunters and non-hunters. Pressure makes turkeys tougher to kill, no doubt. But, we still had fun!

Boy what a way to wrap up a season. Can you imagine a more picturesque place to chase turkeys?



We're already scheming and making plans for 2021!

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Good read really enjoyed it and the pictures.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[Tom007]

Great story, great photos. Congrats. What kind of gun is Black Mamba....looks like your go to......

[JeffC]

Congrats to you and your friend, awesome read and great pictures, thank you for sharing.

[Hobbes]

Looks and reads like a great season. Congrats to you both.

MN was on my mind this year, so I could get back to some Easterns.  I just couldn't make it that far this year.

[GobbleNut]

Very enjoyable!  Thanks for taking the time to put the story and pics together for us!

[cwb04]

Congrats on a great season!!!

Did Kobe Bryant leave you his shotgun when he was unfortunately called home way to early??? 

[Garrett Trentham]

Thanks guys.


I'm pretty sure Kobe actually stole the name from me...

The Black Mamba is a Remington 870 Magnum. I killed my first turkey with her. I've killed turkeys with other guns, but she's my go to. 40 gobblers have succumbed to her poison - one has escaped her bite.

[mihunte]

Mind sharing when you hunted MI? I live in West Central MI and would just like to compare what activity you had with my notes. Glad to see MI was good to you!

[3bailey3]

nice season, Congrats..

[Tom007]

Great gun, good stories. Thanks for sharing..

[Cowboy]

Great season for you. Thanks for sharing.