What a great hunt it was. Still out in Kansas with my wife out the inlaws but my hunt wasn't one that lasted very long. Will post more up when I get home. I was hunting in West central Kansas at Innovative outfitters. Justin has a great place out there. Got in around 1230 in the afternoon and got the tour of the lodge and then changed for a short afternoon sit. There aren't many tree's out here but when you do find them then you know where the turkeys are. Justin took me to a small 80 acres place that use to be his grandmothers homestead. He gave me a suggestion or two and then headed out. I set up my blind in an old overgrown horse corel that had 10 inch tall weeds in it. Got it all set up around 210 in the afternoon and within 5 minutes I could hear some gobblers working my way. They were hammering it hard too. THey came in to 35 yards and hung up on me. I waiting for a few and tried to work them in without any luck so I sat my bow down and picked up my 870 super mag. Ranged the closest one at 36 yards and let her rip. Dropped the bird in it's tracks. Waited a few minutes to see if I could call the other toms back with no luck so I ran out and grabbed the tom and set it behind my blind. It was only 230 and I still had another tag. By 3:00 I could her some more gobbling behind me a ways and that continued for most of the afternoon and then around 5 it just stopped. I thought the bird had walked out the back or something but then around 520 I catch some movement in the weeds to my right and notice a bird. The sun is on that side and I can't really tell if it's a Tom or not so I let out a yelp and he was nice enough to gobble back so I knew I had a tom out there. He was still 50 yards out and seemed nervous about my decoys so I gave it some time and let him walk around and do his thing. At about 530 he seemed to loose interest and started to turn and walk away. I wasn't going to let that happen so I ranged him at 47 yards and yelped again. He raised his head up out of the weeds and that was all I needed. The 870 barked again and down went bird number two. 3.5 hours and two Big mature RIO's. Doesn't get much better than that. Best part is I could still hear some gobbles so I loaded up my stuff quitely and got out of there. I knew there were some other hunters in camp that might need a good spot to hunt. Man was it a fun trip and I was very happy with how the new equipment worked. The super mag was a new gun I bought this spring and the Indian Creek Chock tube was new as well. Both worked perfectly and the second bird was dropped in his tracks at 47 yards. Can't ask for anything more than that.
My inlaws live about 4 hours from where I was hunting and I had the option of heading back then but I was looking forward to meeting some of the guys in camp and hanging out with them. Was glad I did that for sure. Just after Dark the others came back to the lodge and we sit up till about midnight talking and telling stories. Was a blast. Turns out the other guys in camp where Scott Hook. One of the top turkey callers in the country and a world renowned turkey call maker and he also had one of the Duck Commander guys with him as well as Scott's brother. All were amazing guys and I was taken to school on how to use turkey calls. These guys are some of the best in the world and I don't think I've heard turkeys that sounded that good. I'm glad I stayed. Hunting camps are some of the best parts of hunting.
Anyways, both my birds were big mature 3 and 4 year old birds and my first two Rio's as well. They went 22 and 24 pounds and about 10 inches on the beard. One had some great hooks on it at just under 1.5 inches and the other had 1 inch spurs. Both had in tact and beautiful fans. I really wanted to try and get one with my bow but how are you going to complain about shooting mature birds like that. Was nice to break in the new gun and I'll just have to save the bow for deer season
Once I get home I'll post up some pics of my birds. One of the breast will go in the crock pot and the other is headed to the smoker. Can't wait to try my hand at smoking some turkey breast. Gonna be some good eating. Kansas has sure been good to me. Took two birds in two short sits last year and two birds in one sit this year. Gonna be really hard to say no to coming back next year. I think I'll be calling Justin back in the winter and making plans for another visit to Innovative outfitters. They have 30,000 acres of river bottom land out here and all the turkeys you could need
Home 
