Kansas hunting trip

[severett2]

Went to North East/ North Central Kansas this past week.  Stayed at Milford State Park and hunted WIHA's around it.  Hunted 3 days and killed one bird between the 3 of us.  There were not many birds to be found on walk-in areas.  Had to drive all over the place just to find a bird.  For the amount of country we looked at, the number of birds we saw was disappointing.  Looked at thousands of acres of public and walk in land.  Any one else done good in that area?  I have always heard of people going up there and killing 3 or 4.  I think that we may have drove a little too far west or just hunted a pocket of low turkey population.  What are yall's opinions?  Should of went farther east?

[birddogdoc]

My good friend lives in Logan and says the birds are down by 50 percent this year...hope they come back this breeding season. He hunts on all private land and hasn't seen or heard many birds.  I usually hunt up there on private and walk in and get a bird or two.  Decided to hunt Colorado this year. 

[Gooserbat]

Numbers are down in a lot of places this spring.  Hopefully that improves.

[BowBendr]

Just got back last nite from Kansas. Hunted the same general area as you. The amount of mature birds we saw was pitiful. Walked thousands of acres of wiha land that had been hunted to death. Roads finally got good and we hit every area we could. Spent hundreds of dollars in gasoline and was up every morning at 2 am, driving a minimum of 2 hours to hit a spot or two that had a few birds.
I firmly believe that the internet has killed that place, it gets hammered hard and fast. Birds get shot out quickly. Hens and jakes were really responsive to calling and the overall turkey population seemed healthy but mature gobblers are already dead. If they were there we would have heard them, other birds were not "call shy" by any means. Hunters get in there fast and move on to next state. Overall, I was highly disappointed. Between 3 of us, we got 2.....
If I go back to KS it wont be anywhere near the NE line. I had a blast, hunted hard, hunted with 2 great guys, had great weather and ate good but it was far from a productive trip. We were tied to a place that we had already put a reservation down on, being centrally located as we could, so we could hunt in any direction we found birds, but if I could have gotten my money back on that room I would have been gone in the bat of an eye to a completely different area. We did our homework and research for a year before leaving and those plans were thrown out the window in 2 days.


2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions

[severett2]

Well that is kind of reassuring to hear from another hunter the same report.  At least I know it was not something I did or something I missed on how to hunt them up there.  My story is exactly the same as yours BowBendr.  Went to a few WIHA that looked like the absolute best turkey bottoms I have seen up there and not a single gobbler on the place.  Oh well, this was my first trip to Kansas.  I know where the birds aren't!! Maybe I can get it dialed in next year on where the birds are..

[stinkpickle]

Farms may be empty one year and full the next.  Kansas is not consistent.

[dirtnap]

Farms may be empty one year and full the next.  Kansas is not consistent.

I know that's right.  Every year I have been it's like starting over from scratch. 

[davisd9]

Ellis, KS - 4 hunters, 3 killed with 2 tag outs. We all had the opportunity to kill birds and I should have tagged out and had opportunities to do so, but I was trying to help the other hunter get his bird.












Sent from the Strut Zone

[RS]

Well this is pretty disappointing news considering I'm in MO now on my way to KS and had planned to hunt all next week.

[stinkpickle]

Never give up hope.  Kansas is weird sometimes.  Case in point, I've hunted the same farm in Republic county for the last four years...

Year #1:  No gobbles in the morning, but two flocks would showed up in the afternoon.  I shot a longbeard on the second afternoon.  I boogered two chances before that.  Bonus:  I found a absolute BUTTLOAD of mushrooms. 

Year #2:  Nothing on that farm...not even mushrooms.

Year #3:  I heard a few gobbles on the neighboring property at sunrise, but I only saw two hens on the farm during the entire trip.  No mushrooms.

Year #4 (this year):  I heard three distinct gobblers at sunrise on the property, and at least five on the neighboring farms the very first morning.  Two came to my calls ten minutes after legal shooting hours, and I was tagged out.  Eight hens and another longbeard were still in the field.  Still no mushrooms. 

It's a frustrating place.  I blame it on the Rio tendencies.  They do the same thing to us on the Texas properties we hunt.  One year is great, and the next is a bust.  Just keep showing up.

[Copper1]

^^^^^ What Stinkpickle said is very true ^^^^^^ 
a couple of our " guaranteed" kill spots from past years were devoid of birds this year but we ended up finding some other nice WIHA properties that were darn good. Its nice exploring new spots anyways...  I had to wait until I got home to Indiana to find mushrooms but I found a bunch of shed antlers while I was there. 

[mountman62]

A lot of it was covered in the very first post "i've heard of hunters going up there & killing 3 or 4 birds", that pretty much explains Kansas & parts of Missouri & parts of Nebraska, and a lot of other places, most folks are about 10 years too late, but yes, 'the internet' has killed it, yes, you can still go and kill a turkey or 2 even sometimes, other times it's just empty, buddy of mine also said that part of Nebraska he hunts that they had a 'archery turkey contest' on the public land this year,  all of the public in Kansas get hit hard, as does most states that have gotten the reputation of a good turkey state lately on the world wide web, but good places are still there, maybe that is why i went to Colorado this year myself

[severett2]

Well  am defiantly going back again.  Maybe to a different part of the state.  It is always a good experience going on a trip w/ good friends.  Maybe I will go to Elllis, KS are those Rio Grande turkeys?  Thinking about making a quick trip w/ a buddy who has already been up there before.  Still got one tag left might as well not waste it.

[stinkpickle]

Well  am defiantly going back again.  Maybe to a different part of the state.  It is always a good experience going on a trip w/ good friends.  Maybe I will go to Elllis, KS are those Rio Grande turkeys?  Thinking about making a quick trip w/ a buddy who has already been up there before.  Still got one tag left might as well not waste it.

Ellis would definitely be in Rio territory. 

[davisd9]

Well  am defiantly going back again.  Maybe to a different part of the state.  It is always a good experience going on a trip w/ good friends.  Maybe I will go to Elllis, KS are those Rio Grande turkeys?  Thinking about making a quick trip w/ a buddy who has already been up there before.  Still got one tag left might as well not waste it.

Treat for ticks!