Turkeys aren't talking in KS...any Help

KansasHunter5 · 04-25-2005, 04:25 PM

It has been a relatively unsuccessful season for me this year. I have had a lot of fun getting out in the woods alone and with my brother, but it seems that no matter where i go i cannot get a turkey to gobble or a hen to make a sound after sunrise. Right before sunrise the turkeys gobble their heads off at the crows that are far to abundant here, once the sun comes up all i ever see during the day are loads of hens. And of those all of them seem to be lone hens. Do not know where the Toms and Jakes went. We have had some cold weather...frost on the ground. dont know how that will affect them.

Granted i do hunt part of the time on public land, but i have found some nice spots that are far out of the way and off of the roads here where i have seen many tracks and seen many nice birds in the past.

Locating Toms now that the season started has been a big problem, and getting them to talk at all is nearly impossibe.

Please Help!!!

huntnma · 04-25-2005, 04:41 PM

i dont know what to tell you.i hunt here in fl. and the situation was about the same....set up where you know the hens are, try to get them talking, get aggressive with em.....i know the guys on here will be better on helping you , but i felt like replying.....

gselkhunter · 04-25-2005, 04:53 PM

I killed a Rio north of WaKeeney on Friday and he didn't make a sound. But he did come to the calling. But it was so windy, he couldn't hear me at 200yds. I had to close the distance so he could hear me. I got him in the evening about 20mins before sunset. Don't give up! You have all of May, they will start talking again when more of the hens are bred. The cold will shut them up too.
Gselkhunter

onemred · 04-25-2005, 08:17 PM

just got back from a 3 day hunt in Mo. and what we ended up doing was getting the hen fired up off the roost. She went balistic and the tom's started going off when they heard the hen. Might try using a H.S. Strut Hoot tube the tom's were henned up bad on the second day and they gobbled their heads off when they heard the tube. Although they were henned up we atleast new what was in the area, it might give you a chance to move closer before flydown. Hope this helps.

Deer_Tracker · 04-26-2005, 10:34 AM

KansasHunter, we have taken two birds so far. The first bird my buddy shot. We set up between him and his hens to get him to come in. I went out just this last weekend and have never heard so much gobbling in my life. I called in six jakes and one big tom but couldn't get a shot on the tom because of the tree blocking my shot path. Anyways what part are you hunting in. I am hunting in unit 3 reno county area. Normally as soon as the birds hit the ground i try to set up near that spot w/o spooking them so i go in really early and wait. Then once on the ground i call fairly aggressive and i normally get the hens fired up along w/ the gobblers. Let me know where you're hunting.

rramby7 · 04-26-2005, 12:21 PM

Even though I got a bird on second day of season, me and hnting buddies are thinking it is still just a little early here in Ohio where we hunt on state land. Just have not heard the gobbling activity we normally would be hearing. The weather has been crap for about a week and that doesn't help either.

We usually hear the most activity third and last week of season.

kshunter · 04-26-2005, 02:21 PM

I went out turkey hunting opening weekend. Couldn't go a minute without hearing a gobble. Was able to call in a couple toms right away to get a double, gobbling and strutting all the way. But turkeys are everywhere in the Manhattan area. A lot of them have never been called at before, here on the private land. So it completely depends on the hunting pressure.

Howler · 04-26-2005, 04:29 PM

I was back this last weekend, hunted in Cloud and Clay countys in KS., and after the birds hit the ground, they got pretty quiet for the rest of the day, with an occasional gobble. They were definately still henned up. The hens should be about done laying, so here shortly the Toms should become lonely, so things should heat up again real soon.
The easterns that we got had been patterned, which enabled us to set up in the late mornings and late afternoons near thier usual travel routes, like they say, it's much easier to call a turkey to a point that it wants to go. I ended up with nice eastern to show for my efforts!

7mmsaum · 04-27-2005, 10:26 AM

Kansashunter5, I hunt in Va and the firts two weeks of my season I have experinced the same sort of thing. So what I have done is set up in an area where I have seen the birds in the past and know they will be comming through and did very little calling and more watching and listening, because longbeards and hens have snuck in on me. Also if they will gobble on locator call then I used that to move in on him. I was on a longbeard last week that answered me once around 7:00 then totaly silent wouldn't answer any hen talk from me. So I tried to make him shock gobble and answered the crow and I was able to move in on him that way. He was feeding on mushrooms and later that evening I was eating him with mushrooms. I have learned to be flexible and be patient. Try anything and learn from mistakes.