30 Mar John and Jon, I thought it might be a good idea this year for me to do a year in review. It seems only logical that I was able to have my best year Turkey Hunting, Archery Deer Hunting, and Gun Deer Hunting.
I want to preface this update with the fact I happen to be a fortunate hunter. Not only do I have access to hunt club land in three states, but I have access to two different tracts of private land in one of the states we cover. One of those tracts is my girlfriend's family farms. I want to note that without her support, days a field shed hunting, a trip or two bird hunting, and countless let's drive around some land trips, I would not be the passionate hunter I am today. A big THANKS to her.
Turkey 06 to present
I have already sent in an update from spring with the actual harvest. I was able to harvest my two allotted turkeys in one of our covered states in a matter of the first two days hunted. Go figure in another state, I actually hunted more days and didn't harvest a single bird. Goes to show no matter how good, or bad, one is everyone is going to have those days that the birds do not co-operate. I was able to call in one to with in feet on one occasion, but the shot opportunity did not present itself.
Overall, the year was very successful not just in harvests, but in seeing large flocks on several of our properties. Spring included seeing flocks of around 30. Throughout the fall it seemed that I was seeing more and more turkeys in places that I had not in the past. During my latest shed hunting trip I was able to count 50 on one of the club properties. I will have more on Turkeys in my next update after season.
Deer 06 to present
2006 deer season started out with several trips scouting for deer during the summer. Most of the scouting was done driving around our properties and on a few occasions reserving the property and viewing from a high vantage point. Countless trips were made to just see that one deer that I would want to hunt in the fall. During this time I was able to put eyes on five 140 class deer and one 160 class.
During one summer trip sixteen bucks were spotted, all within sight at the same time. Only two doe were in the field at the time, so it appeared this was the preferred buck feeding ground during the summer.
As summer progressed into fall, the bucks started to disperse. A few sightings were made but none of significance. That lead into hunting season.
Early in the season I was able to harvest my best bow buck to date as stated in an earlier update. It was one of those well planned trips that could not have worked out any better. After less than an hour on stand the buck was harvested.
I continued to archery doe hunt up until gun season and actually did not get a shot opportunity that I wanted to take. This is partly because I like to wait for the easiest drag when it comes to does. I only had one good buck sighting of a 120 class.
During gun season I counted over 175 deer sightings, about a quarter to half of which were bucks. On one particular day, I had seen 31 deer by noon, 27 of which were bucks. Most of my activity was focused around still hunting, and not sitting on stand. This year opening gun weekend was the absolute best time for rut activity in my experience. The most bucks seen chasing one doe, was 5.
I was able harvest the buck I sent in the enclosed picture. It is my largest gun harvest to date, and I could not be happier. He was harvested while still hunting. I did put eyes on two larger bucks throughout gun season. I also was able to harvest four doe during the regular gun and doe seasons. Of note, two deer were given to the share the harvest program, two given to friends, and two kept for myself.
Late season archery proved a tough road for me. I had several chances at does, and few sightings of bucks.
This has lead into the current period, winter scouting and shed hunting. Early January, I was able to put eyes on a winter bachelor group of ten bucks, only one with one side dropped. The other 9 had both sides still. I backed out to come back later. All told one shed has been found. In mid February two large bucks have been spotted with both sides still on.
I wanted to share my opinion on the minimum point restriction. I was able to hunt in counties this year without it and some with it. In my experience I have seen more large bucks in counties with the restriction than in counties without it. The overall number of bucks seen has increased in counties with restriction also. Currently I would say I am in favor of these laws, but time will only tell.
All in all, this year was one I will never forget. The club affords one the opportunity to see as much property and game as one wants to see. All it takes is scouting and hard work.
Thanks for a great club, that I am proud to be member of, ae
28 Mar Spring TurkeyMid-America, I'm a little late, but I'm writing to tell you about my 2006 spring turkey season and my 2006 deer season on club land. maybe my letter will get some of the other guys in the club excited about the upcoming turkey season. Let me start off by saying that my 2005 season was my greatest season to date; I ended up shooting a 22 pounder and a 25 pounder. I honestly thought I couldn't have a better turkey season, but I was dead wrong. The 2006 season was different for me, because I decided to buy a non-resident tag for [location deleted]. The tag was a little pricey, but how can you put a price on the extended season and hunting time!
My 2006 season started when I started hunting out in [location deleted] for the first time. I chased turkeys for awhile out in [location deleted], but my first turkey came during the opening week of [location deleted] season. My gobbler came in with another tom and they would not separate for anything; I called both birds within yards, and finally my bird stuck his head out to peck my decoys. Needless to say, I put the 21 pound gobbler down for good.
The second gobbler I shot was 2 weeks later in [location deleted]; I arrived at my area near dawn when I first heard the gobbler call. As soon as the birds began to sing, I gave the first call on my slate call. The bird answered me a flew off his roost. He closed the distance fairly fast, but hung up outside of range. I coaxed the bird in for over 45 minutes before he finally gave me a 30 yard shot. I ran over and picked up my largest wild turkey ever! This giant bird weighed in right at 26 pounds, and had an eleven inch paint brush for a beard.
Three days later I traveled back to the great state of [location deleted] for some more turkey hunting. I previously hunted this place earlier in the season, but I had no success. While hunting there, I pretty much figured out where the birds were going. On this trip, I altered my tactics to try and take advantage of the birds. I set up where I thought the turkeys were going to be and began my calling sequence. The first hour of light came with no gobbles in the area. This was most likely due to the 30 mph winds and the lateness of the season. I was near dozing off when I thought I heard a gobble. I made a call and the gobbler answered back; he was closing the distance fast! When he came into view, he was literally running towards my decoys. I shot him point blank right before he reached my decoy spread. He was an average tom right at 21 pounds with a 10 inch beard.
I continued hunting all the way up to the last day of the [location deleted] season; I think I was pretty much the last one in the association that was still hunting. I hunted hard, but I couldn't close the distance on my 4th turkey. I had an absolute blast hunting both [states] for turkeys.
My deer season was very awesome as well; I didn't get a chance to hunt as much as I wanted to, but I still seen large numbers of deer. I shot a doe on the second day of bow season. This was kind of crazy because of the extreme temperatures that were going on. I wanted to harvest at least one doe on club land so maybe in the long run it might help the buck to doe ratio on some of the lands. This is something I try to practice every season I'm out bowhunting for big bucks. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hunt again until rifle season. Although I seen some nice bucks, I didn't see a deer big enough for met to shoot. I passed a number of nice 2-3 year olds that will be real good next year. Anyways, another season has passed and I wanted to share some of my experiences with you guys. thanks again to all the staff that helps out; you guys make our hunting association great.
Sincerely, [name deleted]
Thank you for your feedback and contribution towards making the lives of all the update page readers a bit better than having only the bad news of national news networks to read.
For the rest, member feedback flow is easily 3-4 for every one posted on the update page. Some of the discussions not published individually are posted below as summations.
SpringThe late cold winter did not continue into spring. The warm weather has allowed bugs to include ticks to be well on their way as any that have deer scouted recently can attest. Farming start-up is on and many fields are prepared for planting. April 8th is east central Kansas the average late hard frost, earlier in south Kansas and Missouri and later for Iowa. All this adds up to an active country side for those planning archery turkey hunts and gives anticipation for the later gun seasons.
Rain & Upland Bird CoverSome inquires about recent rainfall and drought referring to the tall grass cover habitat so well liked by pheasants show the optimism within most hunters. While the information below is nothing to new to many pheasant hunters there still remains many that do not have the ability to observe local conditions. The points below simply are a compilation of several recent telephone conversations.
Rain has relative value and all the more so with tall grasses being warm season growing grass. This rainfall relativity is also referenced to surface or sub-surface moisture and time of year.
Most winter precipitation when the frost seals the surface would frequently more so than not results in runoff or evaporation rather than soil absorption. While winter (frozen soil surface periods), after January 1, precipitation is added to the drought or precipitation index its value relative to the tall grass is minimal. Once warm spring and rains arrive the more valued are the recurring slow rain falls of smaller measures that allow soil absorption (this has been happing this spring to include this week). Heavy rainfalls of large measure in a short period of time typically means more run-off than soil absorption. For the tall grass at this warming, spring time of cool temperatures this water too has limited value. Its value to the tall grass is to surface and sub-surface moisture levels.
It is not until the warm weather of late spring, summer and into fall up to the point of bud does the warm season tall grass use the most water. At this point the tall grass with its deep roots (established, not first year field) gains the most from deep or sub-surface moisture measured at greater than 6 inches below the surface. It is during this warm period of tall grass' greatest growth that rainfall accumulated sub-surface moisture and that of during summer is the most valued as a measure to predict tall grass fall hunting quality.
This brings us to two more critical than other time periods of rainfall relative to ground nesting birds. The first is spring hatch and brood months of May and June where less rain is better for chick survival from down to quail feather. The second is that period extending to September when the tall grass goes to seed and growth ceases. In the case of our three ground nesting birds: turkey, quail and pheasants, the tall grass issue is for the pheasant. Quail thrive on warm/dry conditions year round and turkey from what we have observed continue to increase without as sever of survival concerns relative to any kind of weather.
The ideal would be a late winter quick warm up to melt surface soil frost and allow moisture ground penetration to below 6 inches, a dry May and June, then low measure recurring rains July and August. This ideal has rarely, if ever happened, and we still have good to better bird hunts.
26 Mar 2 Bucks 2 States 2 DaysHello John and Jon, How are things going? I just wanted to send you guys some pictures from my latest hunt. I was very fortunate this year and was able to tag 2 nice bucks in two states. I had hunted hard for nine straight days, dealing with about every obstacle one could run across. I figured my hunt was going to end without any opportunities. However, my luck turned for the best and in 30 hours I was able to harvest 2 dandies in 2 states. The remarkable part of this is the 30 hours included pulling stands, one night of rest, 5 hours travel, purchasing another license, finding a hotel, taking deer 1 to a processor, and finding a new farm. You can imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw Buck #2 coming over the knoll after only being there for 1.5 hours. I just wish I hadn't packed my deer cart at the bottom of the truck, because I decided to drag him out and that was not an easy task. The larger buck scored 142 3/4 and is my largest archery buck to date. [name deleted]
Thank you for the great feedback of a special trip that shows the high energy level you have for your hunts. Far more folks would have taken a slower approach. You have given us a lesson in tenacity. Congratulations on your archery personal best, something we all work towards.
Special Interest Groups & Kansas DeerAs reported by the Kansas Livestock Association on Mar 23, 2007: Deer Permit Bill Approved By Senate Committee
The Kansas Senate Natural Resources Committee passed legislation this week that would repeal the landowner-nonresident transferable deer hunting permit system, effective for the 2008 hunting season. HB 2437 also would increase the number of nonresident permits available in most areas of the state and simplify the procedure for distributing permits to residents, nonresidents, and landowner-tenants. KLA supports HB 2437 because it will provide additional opportunities and assurances for landowners who provide lease hunting services.
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