Kansas Turkey Hunting
Kansas Turkey
Every picture we present has a story behind it that gives one more small insight into the turkey hunts we offer. This picture was taken on February 1st. Notice the feeding location. It is wide open as is the majority of our Kansas wild turkey habitat.
Advance to our main turkey hunting section.
2013 Kansas Hunting Land available through the Association.
Kansas turkey hunting as described by many Association self guided turkey hunters of both fall and spring turkey season. We consider these ideas and opinions more valuable than our own as they reflect a good many experiences of those that travel to turkey hunt.
The most commented aspect of our do it yourself Kansas turkey hunts is how scouting is by binoculars rather than shock call.
Spending the first day or two finding and then roosting a flock leaves the hunter just to connect the dots from roost to flydown area to strutting areas and day long feeding fields. After that, it is nearly a mechanical process to setup, interdicting the route between two or more of these points. Then comes the frustration with Kansas’ allowing all day long hunts. The same hunters that find success setting in ambush near a roost at flydown invariably fails at the same interdiction at return to roost that afternoon when seeking to fill the second tag from the same flock.
This late afternoon hunts or return to roost hunts are such an unknown to the vast majority of morning hunt only hunters that most repeat the learning process they stumble through learning how to hunt the morning flydown. Those that think they know how to morning hunt effectively and have had years of success at it frequently find only frustration when attempting a reverse process for the late afternoon/early evening return to roost hunt.
The turkeys move differently, the individual birds react differently and soon the hunter learns that the only attraction for this return to roost hunt for the birds is the roost branch. The turkeys appear to have the single minded, un-distractible, straight ahead approach to getting a good nights rest. Having such an experience leaves many of these same hunters to find that setting up for noon time or later strutting area hunts to be far more effective.
Kansas Turkey Hunting
A jake having his feathers ruffled by the wind.
Just as with all other aspects of our long Kansas turkey hunting spring season clothing requires a range of diversity as we have been snowed on as well as earned sunburns on opening week through the end of the long season being extremely nice weather where sun block is a good thing. Most hunters have a range of calls, clothing and general equipment and will use one or several on any give day throughout any portion of the Kansas spring turkey season.
What we always like to see is this kind of feedback from our self guided turkey hunters who at their courtesy send in pictures and letters from their turkey and other hunts. This web site is filled with such examples and all without any compensation. This is loyalty that cannot be surpassed and born from an organization with an absolute parity attitude for all, friendly relations and an agreement the rules are immutable.
Most of the Association hunters recognize the effort the staff puts into ensuring each has a good hunt. Their sending in pictures is recognition of thanks that we always work toward earning.
Kansas turkey hunting offers the hunter a chance to do more than ambush the morning flydown. The daytime strutting area and return to roost hunts makes for an entire day of turkey hunting that most from morning only states never experience.
Kansas turkey hunting relative to Mid-America Hunting association provides that all too hard to come by turkey hunting resource of private land.
Kansas wild turkey hunting is by OTC tags, all day long hunting for fall and spring turkey season and Eastern and Rio Grande Turkey makes Kansas a flexible turkey hunting state that will fit into anyone's schedule.
With Kansas having liberal turkey hunting seasons and Mid-America Hunting Association having a flexible approach of turkey hunting all season long on private lease land, few turkey hunters have reason to stay home. We will take the mystery out of where to go turkey hunting within productive Kansas regions and on the right kind of turkey productive habitat.
With all that Kansas turkey hunting has to offer it is often overshadowed by its high output neighbor, Missouri.
Missouri can boast its country high turkey harvest rate due to accurate accounting through its check-in system requiring all harvested birds to be counted. Kansas does not have any such requirement leaving it to simple and incomplete voluntary turkey hunter surveys accounting for toms harvested.
This leaves many to believe that Kansas turkey hunting is far better than what is nationally advertised through the state wildlife department and magazine article writers. That is fine with us. Kansas turkey hunts are good, bird numbers high, plenty of flocks and the scouting is easy.
What our Kansas turkey hunters have told us are comparisons with Texas is that our Rio Grande Turkey populations outnumbering those in Texas. Missouri hunters tell of how easier Kansas birds are easier to call in. Northern states hunters are surprised at how easy it is to get spring turkey tags. And the list goes on.
Most agree there is far less turkey hunter pressure as evident by motel parking lot hunter encounters and shots heard in the field. What has surprised us the most however is how the video makers have ignored the long duration open field Kansas turkey hunting allowing much footage of toms in the open, green fields. Most videos involve woody areas where bits and parts of the strutting toms are captured on film leaving much to the imagination.
Many that have been Kansas turkey hunting report watching their harvested bird for 40 minutes coming into call and decoy. However, the most common comment from those new to Kansas turkey hunting is how sedentary it is compared to the run and gun techniques often employed elsewhere.
Where To Turkey Hunt
There are a lot of turkey harvest and live pictures on this web site Just to look at the picture of the turkey and not observe the background habitat will be to ignore important habitat details of where birds are to be found. These are some examples.
There are plenty of 
spring breeding season strutting pictures as well as these winter and fall pictures that combine into a more complete understanding of the habitat these birds occupy throughout the year. Three themes will come through. The first is crop fields will always be part of any turkey photo. Waste grain is the number one food source for turkeys from fall through spring green up. Spring time will find sprouts and bugs that carry through the summer to the next fall. The next element will be a roost site that may be as thin as the tree line above or thick to the point the tree stand cannot be seen through. In nearly every case the roost trees regardless how large the wood lot will be on the crop field side. The final element during spring scouting will be the tall weed or grass patch the hens will use to nest. That nesting area that anchors the hens controls the tom behavior in terms of location. The successful hunter puts all three of these elements together for his scouting or hunt.
The key element in this picture is not the beard on the tom, it is the water puddle. The instant before this picture was taken where the turkeys are seen reacting to our presence by moving away had them ringed around the puddle getting a drink. Water sources to varying degrees of intensity from Missouri west to the end of Kansas have importance. Turkeys must drink every day and knowing the local watering point to the three elements above also helps to interdict daily movement patterns.
Gary, a Pennsylvania big woods turkey hunter, made the transition to central mid-west agricultural land turkey hunting with this Kansas tom. He will admit all his success comes from setup, call and decoy. He tells how his run and gun Pennsylvania turkey hunting techniques have not served him in Kansas.
