Kansas Turkey
2000

Each year I look forward to spring time and the opening of turkey season. This year it took a new twist. My hunting partner, Brad "Rocky" Mannstedt, said 'Kansas is the place to be'. Rocky had heard from some old friends of ours there that "the fields are just black with birds." A chance to hunt with friends--and lots of critter;.that's all it took for me. I couldn't wait until opening day. Denny's place is about.

After an eight-hour drive from my home in Minnesota, Rocky and I arrived the afternoon before opening day and had a chance to visit with Dennis Doherty, Dave Robison and Clarence Cooper. On our way to pick up our hunting licenses we could see that our friends weren't just blowin' smoke about the turkey hunting here. It seemed like every field we drove past had birds in it just waiting for us.. And in Kansas you can harvest two birds on one license!

Dave was coming along with Rocky and me on the first morning. He knew where the birds had been roosting. I was so excited even after a long drive, that I could hardly sleep that night. When the alarm went off, it seemed like it was all in one motion--my clothes were on--and we were out the door. Dave met us at Denny's shop at 5:15 a.m. Denny and Clarence were unable to meet with us because they had to work.

We reached the area we were going to hunt within just a few minutes. Since Rocky was hunting his favorite style of turkey hunting (using a "smoke stick"), Dave was going to "call" for him. He told me to go to the edge of the field, off the point, and the birds would fly down in front of me. That is where he said I should set up my Double Bull blind. When I reached the area he told me about, it only took a few minutes to get set up. Then I stepped off thirteen paces from my blind and set up my X-rated Jake Decoy. I've had tremendous luck in other states with this setup.

No sooner than I got into the blind, the Toms started gobbling on the roost. There were several of them. Just like Dave said, I was probably within 100 yards of them. As it got lighter, I pulled out my Primos Slate Call and started making some short yelps. The Toms started gobbling their heads off! If that doesn't get your blood boiling, nothing will.

Every time I touched the slate, the more they gobbled. Then I could hear the birds leaving the trees. Suddenly they were landing all around in front of me. My blind was tucked into the tree line on the edge of the field. I reached over and turned on my Canon
GL-1 video camera, which was focused on the decoys. At this point I was looking out the small cracks of the cloth windows in my blind with high expectations.

Suddenly, just like a black "ghost", there appeared a giant Tom from out of nowhere, staring at my decoys, about 50 yards away. I did very little calling at this time. I kept watching the bird for what seemed like a long time. Finally he started strutting and moving in closer to the decoys. I checked my equipment to make sure I was ready for the shot and then waited for the right opportunity. The Tom quickly came up to the decoys and started strutting again. I drew my bow and took an extra second to make sure of my shot, and then released the arrow, tipped with a Thunderhead.

In a heartbeat, the arrow passed through the bird and he was gone. I didn't chase after him--I knew I had made a good, humane shot. It took me a second to gather my thoughts on what had just happened. I could feel myself grinning from ear to ear. Then I thought--could I get lucky twice in one morning? I started calling again, but the hens were staying out in the center of the field and there were three other Toms with them, and they wouldn't leave. They all looked huge, with long, dangling beards. Eventually, they walked off the field into a different area, following the hens. But that was all right--because I could hardly wait any more to recover my Kansas bird! He didn't go very far--just past the spot where I had seen him last. He was lying in the tall grass along the edge of the field. To my surprise, he not only had one beard, he had three! The longest being 11-1/2 inches. I couldn't believe it.

Later we weighed the bird and found that he weighed about 22 pounds and his spurs were 1-1/2" long. What an exciting morning! Little did I know that this was only the beginning of the fun we were going to have for the next couple of days.

After meeting up with Dave and Rocky, they too told me they had several birds around them, but they didn't want to harvest anything but monstrous birds so they passed on everything early that morning.

Denny got off work and met up with us later that morning. That's when the fun began. I was going to "call" for him and videotape his hunt. He had never hunted turkeys before so this was going to be whole new experience for him. He said there were so many turkeys around, that he didn't think it would be much of a challenge to hunt them. Dave and Rocky were sticking together.

Until about one o'clock that afternoon, we were not hearing any turkeys. Then there was a gobble in the distance. Denny and I closed the gap a little between the Tom and us by following along a creek bottom and then I started calling. Again, I no more than touched the slate, and the Tom was responding. I saw the bird coming in from our right about the same time as Denny saw it. He was on the opposite side of the creek. The next thing I knew, the bird was circling around behind us. Then we could hear the flapping of its wings, at which point I thought the bird flew off, but he had given no warning call. He had only crossed the small creek behind us.

Denny and I had completely turned around, watching for the bird. We went from a sitting position to where we were both lying flat on our stomachs because that was the least amount of movement. Then, from out of nowhere, about 20 yards from us, the bright red and blue head came out of the tall brush, looking for his "sweetheart." That's when Denny squeezed off a round and just like that--the bird disappeared. He had expired immediately. When Denny and I approached the bird, you should have seen the look on his face, and heard the excitement in his voice as he picked the large Tom up off the ground. I knew at that point that Denny was "hooked" on turkey hunting. We couldn't wait to get back to talk with Rocky and Dave to tell them about our exciting hunt.

We met up with them at the farmhouse and they were sitting on the tailgate of Rocky's truck--both of them grinning from ear to ear. And no wonder why--the story they told us was pretty incredible. There were two Toms following a hen and they were trying to get both of them within shotgun range at the same time. They had set up on the birds three times; twice the hen took the Toms further away from them. Finally on the third try, the hen brought both Toms right to them. As planned, Rocky shot first and then Dave, harvesting both birds simultaneously. And wouldn't you know it, I couldn't be with them to capture it on video. Nevertheless, we had four big Toms down on the first day.

The next morning, for whatever reason, the birds did not cooperate. We had a hard time getting them to come into us.

That night we had roosted a couple more birds and I couldn't wait until the next morning again. This time Rocky was hunting with our friend Clarence, and Dave wanted to watch me harvest one with a bow.

Dave and I did not have any good birds come into us--just a few Jakes. The bigger Toms stayed with the hens. Clarence and Rocky had great luck--with both of them taking good Toms.

That evening we decided to go back home because of other commitments, but I told Denny I would be back before the season was over.

Several days after returning home I was talking to my friend, Jon Shepley, about the exciting turkey hunt I'd been on. He told me that he had not had an opportunity yet to harvest a turkey with a bow. I told him to pack his bags and meet me in Kansas around the 10th of May because we were going to have a chance to hunt with some of my good friends where there were lots of birds.

Denny and Dave picked Jon up at the airport in Kansas City. I had to drive all night to get there because I couldn't leave work any earlier. I brought both of my Double Bull blinds along.

Morning came fast--I wasn't able to get much sleep. I had arrived at Denny's house at around 3:00 a.m., and my stumbling around woke Jon. I asked him what time the alarm clock was set for--he said 4:30 a.m. Oddly enough, when the alarm went off, I was wide-awake and ready to do some turkey hunting.

Jon had already arranged to meet Dave and Clarence at Denny's shop at 5:15 a.m. Dave wanted to come with me to watch me harvest a bird with a bow, so Jon and Clarence left to go to a pre-scouted area where they knew birds were roosting.

Dave and I arrived at one of his hot spots where he knew there were some birds. As we stood along the edge of a field, as dawn was breaking, Dave gave a couple of owl calls and just like that--the trees seemed to be gobbling back at us! I couldn't believe it. There is nothing more exciting.

We got into position and set up the blind, again using my X-rated Jake. Several birds flew off their roost and landed in the fields around us. But for whatever reason, we were unable to tempt the big Toms to come into us. Around 10:00 a.m. the birds were gone so we decided to hang it up for the morning and go have some breakfast. We thought that if we could find Jon and Clarence, we could ask them to join us.

While traveling back to Denny's shop, we crossed paths on the road and Clarence pulled off to the side. We turned around, and as we pulled alongside of them, I could see Jon and Clarence grinning from ear to ear as they were opening their doors. They were both very excited and started telling us the story of their morning hunt. As we got out of our truck, we could see a large Tom lying in the back of Clarence's pickup.

They told us they went to the area where the birds were roosting and set up the blind. The Toms were gobbling off their roosts. As soon as it was light enough to shoot, the birds were flying to the ground. Clarence said he had only touched his slate call a couple of times and the Tom came right in. At this point, Clarence was filming the hunt. Jon waited until the long-bearded Tom got to the decoy and gave him the right angle. That's when he released his Carbon Force Arrow, hitting the bird perfectly. The bird went a short distance and expired.

After breakfast we headed back out into the woods. However, the birds remained quiet for the rest of the morning. Clarence said there hasn't been much activity in the afternoons so he was going to take us to a little "honey" hole where the bass are stacked up like cordwood! Jon and I went over to Wal*mart and picked up our fishing licenses. That evening we had a blast! Jon and Clarence were working the front of the boat while Denny and I were working the back. The guys in front seemed like they hit every hole five times before we got to throw into a good spot. So they were being just a little bit cocky about the number of fish they were catching compared to us.
Most of the fish were between 1-1/2 to 2 pounds. We were fishing with rubber worms and dragging them through the weeds and downed trees and brush. I have no idea how many fish we actually caught. But the front of the boat got awfully quiet when I set the hook on the lunker of the lake. I think that 5-pound hog kind of evened the score. Later in the evening Jon said he would like to come with me the next morning so he could film my hunt.

The three of us set off early the next morning, heading back toward the area where I was the day before. This time we were unable to locate the birds right away, but just as it was getting good light, we heard a Tom and took off to get set up. When we arrived at a good spot we were just starting to set up when the birds started flying off the roosts and they were landing within 60 yards of us. We were pinned down in the tall grass. There were two huge Toms--either one of them I would have been happy to harvest. But without the blind up, we were eventually caught and the game was over.

Dave told us of another area and as we were driving to it, Dave saw that the birds were already out in the field. We parked at a farmhouse and followed along the creek to where there was a sharp bend. Just past the bend about 300 yards we spotted a large, lone Tom. It took us just a few minutes to set the blind up and put the decoy out.

Dave is one of the most amazing turkey callers I've ever heard. Within minutes, he had the Tom talking back to us. He was careful not to overcall him. Just like a "trained circus pig", the long-bearded Tom came around the corner, heading right for the decoy. Jon was filming the whole event. I let the bird get within 15 yards of us and with one well-placed arrow; he ran into the creek bottom and expired. What an exciting hunt! It just goes to show you that you could be having a tough day one minute and the next--you're in turkey heaven.

Now it was my turn to be behind the camera. Both of my tags were filled and we had the rest of the week to watch Jon fill his second tag. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful--just like the day before.

That night Clarence told us that we were going after the legendary 30-pounder. It was a bird that had eluded Rocky, Denny and Clarence on previous hunts. All three of them had a crack at this bird on different occasions, but could not get a close shot. He kept hanging up and wouldn't come within range. The more they talked about him, the bigger the bird got.

The next morning we were out there before light waiting for the sound of the monster Tom. However, as the night faded into morning, it was quiet as far as turkeys go. It was about 45 minutes after light when we got our first answer. The bird was still on the roost. It didn't take us long to get into position and set up the blind.

Once inside the blind, Jon nocked an arrow as Clarence began calling on his favorite slate call. I was ready with the camera. The bird continued to answer us. Then I heard Jon whisper--"there he is." "He's about a hundred yards from us." I looked in the direction where Jon was looking and there was a large Tom starting to go into full display. I immediately turned on my Canon GL-1 and focused it on the bird as Clarence continued to call.

The closer the bird got to us, the more colorful his head appeared. Jon waited until the Tom got close to the decoy and, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jon draw his bow. As soon as the bird gave him the right angle, he released the arrow. The bird took off to our left and expired in a short distance.

As the three of us approached the bird, we knew that he wasn't the legendary 30-pounder we were looking for, but he was an old Tom with long spurs and a beard to match.
What an exciting morning! The bird came the full 100 yards, displaying and putting on a show, with the excitement that only my video camera could capture.

Clarence looked at Jon and me and said that the
30-pounder was probably going to get just a little bigger for next year. As I was driving home, all I could think about was the excitement and the fun that we had had in those three days. Three large Toms in three days--what a great hunt!

I'd like to say "thanks" to my friends Dennis Doherty, Brad Mannstedt, Clarence Cooper, and Dave Robison.