28 Apr
25 Apr
24 Apr
Jake took some extra time off last fall to enjoy his favorite sport not worrying about work, since he made a business transition that enabled him to do so. With no pressure on his back, he scouted a handful of farms that were under utilized not to step on anyone's toes that have been hunting the same farms year after year. Jake put in his time both scouting and hunting and his efforts paid of with 2 nice bucks in the 150 and 140 class. A season like this is what it's all about for an avid archery hunter that enjoys the outdoors for all that it is worth.Congratulations Jake! We enjoy your congenial attitude with reservations and respect for other hunters while hunting club land. Good luck for many years to come. We look forward to your son following your foot steps.
Robert R. sent in a picture of his third tom and account of the hunt. The hunt account included that this tom was freelancing and not a hen in sight. Robert didn't know the tom was in the area. He had hen decoys out and used the put purr combination until he spotted this bird coming in from down the field along the edge. Robert stopped all calling and let the decoys do the work as the tom was strutting and moving in on the decoys without making any sound. Once in easy shooting range with a head shot it was over quick and this middle afternoon bird was tagged. Congratulations and thank you Robert for sharing the hunting technique.
22 Apr
21 Apr
20 Apr
Early overcast morning with a light sprinkle, open ground hens pictured from a blind. The height of the alfalfa shows how the spring growth has progressed. On this morning every tom was in tow of a hen, gobbling light and while the toms that were seen worked hard at strutting the hens simply ignored them. And, the toms on hens ignored our calls as well.
19 Apr
Maps. We would like to remind everyone to make sure they are using the 04 maps. Many of the section numbers and letters on the maps have changed from year to year. If you presume everything is the same you could cause an overlap on a reservation and ruin someone's hunt.
Turkey Observation. Members have reported the birds gobbling good in the morning and picking back up in the afternoon. In a lot of areas the birds are still in pretty large groups with the hens leading the pack. The last couple of days the temperature has reached the 80's in the south and less up north so it's been hot late afternoon until dusk. The birds have not been visible in the fields. It appears they are staying in the shade of the timber, so don't be frustrated scouting in the afternoon and not seeing birds strutting in the fields. The birds are there but they are laying low.
15 Apr
A dedicated duck hunting group of four sent in some pictures from the past season that highlights their added adventure of harvesting snow geese with neck and leg bands. Thanks guys, it looks like you had many a good day!
The Campaign for Shooting, Countryside Alliance (UK) is holding a shoot auction on the 22/04/05 of some of the most famous Pheasant, Partridge and Grouse shoots in England and Wales. We have a total value of over US$ 150,000 worth of shooting to auction, including full 8-gun days on Gunnerside, the famous grouse moor in Yorkshire, Northern England and Abbeystead, His Grace The Duke of Westminster's superb shoot in Lancashire, in the North West of England. These shoots offer seriously challenging shooting with bags of between 200 and 400 well presented and very high birds. These shoots are usually booked up for years in advance and it is very rare indeed to have an opportunity to buy a full day. Also included in the auction are smaller, shared days for 2-4 guns, for example, or Snipe shooting in Wales - very exciting - and also stalking, fishing and other lots of interest to the field sportsman. The auction will be conducted at a dinner for 200 people in North West England, by invitation of and in the presence of His Grace the Duke of Westminster. There are a very limited number of tickets left for the dinner - please enquire. The Auction List can be viewed and bid forms obtained from http://www.ibsweb.co.uk/Shoot_Auction/index.htm. The organisers can also be contacted on +44 (1978) 812095 or by email james@ibsweb.co.uk.
12 Apr
Bonnie and Alan, scouted hard, hunted hard and earned their success. Exactly the way real hunters want to make their hunts and they made it fast having joined May 2004.
Whenever someone with this amount of success speaks, or in this case writes, it is always worth a read or a listen as these kind of hunters have a better understanding of the nuance and subtleties that while we may agree with and practice most of us cannot match in application. The other aspect of these nuances is they cannot be taught by a person who successfully applies them to someone that does not. Otherwise, the one who reads the most magazine articles would be the best hunter with the most success. The best any of us can hope for is to read to understand what these exceptional hunters write about and try to apply these ideas each time in the field. Through such trials by success or failure we gain a bit better understanding of the actual application of the art of hunting versus the knowledge of the science of hunting. A distinction if recognized is a big step towards gaining an appreciation for the topics Cobenn writes about. Have a read of the article. 11 Apr
We have been making our combined land runs and scouting trips earlier to catch the flocks at flydown. The other day we were lucky and captured this picture. The early light is the cause for the off color tone. The toms were strutting for each other as the hens had moved off to feed. This farm is one of many with very huntable flocks. It is being out on the land like this through the year that is the second best way to confirm or deny the value of any lease. The first and best method are the many feedback reports from the Association hunters. Thank you to all that have sent in your pictures from last season and we hope to see many more with spring turkey starting the new hunting year. Good luck to all this spring.
Cleaning out the desk every once in a while is a good thing as we found a letter from Greg S., that we never before published on deer hunting telling how easy it is to see quality racked bucks and how hard to tag them. Read what he did in five days. Greg is also a great sportsman by taking responsibility for that which he loves to do by harvesting a doe. Thanks Greg and good luck this turkey season.
8 Apr
6 Apr
4 Apr
Burning actually enhances the quality of turkey hunting because the birds feed on dead bugs and fresh green grass that comes up very quickly, especially after a fresh rain.
While it is unlikely anyone will encounter this we would like to forewarn everyone of this event, especially if you are traveling a long distance to hunt. If the pasture or timber is burned the day of your hunt or the night before it may be a disappointment, but it is beyond our control. There will be plenty of other nearby farms to hunt with just a call to change the reservation and prevent us from placing anyone else on that land.
|
Long time friend to the Association Floyd R. and brand new turkey hunter, with his latest success. Good hunters on good land get good results. Thank you Floyd for another great picture.
A bird passed on by Jon N., as a larger bearded one was in the flock that he was setting up for his son for later success. A late afternoon during the season scouting trip before his son's day off from school. Pictured in the flydown area where toms and hens both would return to forage during the day through return to roost.
Good hunter and good friend to the Association, Kevin, with this year's success. Thank you Kevin, it almost seems like we can set the clock by your hunting.
Every archery hunter's goal is to harvest a P&Y buck. Many hunters consistently achieve this goal year after year, but the majority never accomplish this goal in a lifetime of hunting.
Travis C., one of those exceptional hunters with an impressive string of success, has given all of us several detailed articles with the nuance differential between luck and skill. Congratulations Travis on a great photo album and we are sure you need no luck in the future. Thank you for sharing with all of us and for those that would like to 
Spring turkey season has sprung. What better way than with a youth hunt. Let's hope for many more fathers with children have the same success and we would love to post it on their own web page. Sort of being able to see their name in lights to show off to their friends. A few parents have commented on sharing as well with the relatives. Congratulations T.J. Bass, a proud nickname for someone starting out so young.
We were out and about again and found this afternoon tom working the ladies. Being out of the office means a lot of field time visiting landowners and checking things over. This is the only means by which to ensure we have the hunting we want.
Brent M., reminds us with a series of pictures what is probably missed by him the most and what is anticipated for next year. This one went to a mount. Comments to share with the Association: "Brent mentioned it wasn't the most productive [duck] season of their 10+ years in the club, but they were willing to scout and share their information amongst their group of 4 members to put together several productive hunts. Late season they found good luck dragging their layout boats into some of the wade-in areas hunting solo with their dog." Thank you Brent for a fine series of duck hunting pictures.
Getting ready for spring turkey hunting? This is a picture of the current state of green up. This is from about center of latitude of our range of lease land between southern Iowa and southern Kansas. More green to the south, less to the north. March was on average cooler than we would like with the gobbling a bit down from last year this indicates to us the later part of the season may be the better part. The flocks or tracks easily found on most of the farms we have checked. Overall, we expect the same or better success than last year.
Doug, a local member since 1991 was kind enough to share a few success photos, but warned us in advance he's not a professional photographer. Doug has been a pleasure to do business with over the years. We always look forward to your joke at the end of your deer and turkey reservations. We'd share a couple of the jokes along with the photos to the members, but we thought it would be best to stop with the photos. (If we went online with reservations it would take the fun and laughter out of our personal relationship with the members).
Kansas Turkey. Each year many of our landowners burn their pasture to enhance the quality of the grass and prevent undesirable trees from growing. This is typically done during the month of April. We do not have control of when our landowners burn because the best the time to burn depends on wind direction, temperature and humidity, which vary from day to day.
