Chasing the Public Land Slam: Winter Rios in Kansas by John L. Barone
Chasing the Public Land Slam:
Winter Rios in Kansas
by John L. Barone
Rob Keck! That’s what I exclaimed upon answering the office phone on my desk. Now if you don’t know who Rob is, there’s no excuse if you’re an avid turkey hunter. Google him – it’s worth the click.
When I sent Rob an email on LinkedIn around New Years 2017, I never really expected to hear from him other than a brief courteous reply. So the phone call took me by surprise. To be honest, I did not know a good extent of Rob’s background. I heard him on a podcast in which as a guest his enthusiasm regarding winter turkey season in Kansas was contagious. Winter turkey season? What the hell was that!? Well after speaking with Rob Keck about turkey hunting in Kansas, I almost felt obligated to go. A couple of weeks later, I was on a plane.
Midwest Public Access
In different parts of the country and at different times of the year, male turkey flocks could range from a mere few to 100 or more birds. In Kansas, a turkey hunter could pursue mega flocks of Rio Grande or Eastern wild turkey throughout the fall & winter seasons that most recently run from October 1 to November 27, 2018 and December 10, 2018 to January 31, 2019. The state offers plenty of public access that includes farmland holding visible food sources and other suitable turkey habitat. Considering the wide open terrain, generous season dates and healthy turkey populations, as Rob emphasized, public land hunters in the east rarely experience anything like a Midwest winter turkey hunt.
I was based out of Hays, however, found myself hunting closer to Wilson and other central Kansas towns each day. One of several public “walk-in hunting access” (WIHA) properties that I found was in the general area recommended by a staff biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. Aside from the usual pre-trip research, calls to staff biologists in Kansas were arguably the turning point of my hunt, well before setting foot in Kansas. This public access land looked the part. A river ran around a cut corn field, there were perfect roosting trees, and some cattle in the opposite direction several parcels over. Two bald eagles perched high above the river added some character to the scene. But no turkeys.
A neighboring landowner who took notice of the stranger glassing the property waved me over. Don, an older fellow who lived across the road from the walk-in property with his wife, began telling me all about the spring birds that frequented these river roosting spots. He had not seen turkeys all winter. Nevertheless, he was absolutely enamored with having a hunter from “New…York” chasing turkeys outside his front window in the middle of the winter!
Having returned to this walk-in property later that afternoon, I was rewarded almost instantly after venturing along one of the large fields. A moderate dip in the terrain was hiding a flock of turkeys from views closer to the road. I glassed the flock from behind a hay bale – jakes and toms! Afraid of spooking them, I sat back and watched. With evening settling in, the whitetails began meandering out from the tree line by the river, signifying to the flock that it was time to make their way to those same trees for roosting. They disappeared in the long grasses. Due to the angle of the fields, trees and winding river, I could only hear where they seemed to end up for the night. As I gazed off at the wind turbines dotting the flat horizon, a great horned owl sounded off and I snuck out under the cover of darkness.
View from Public Access Walk-In Lands
Wake Up Call
The next morning, Jan 22nd, I drove in the darkness on my Dad’s birthday (he had passed away 2 days after turning 75 years old in 2015). It was 5:30am when I parked, still dark, and 35 degrees with a slight breeze. I walked to the back edge of the public access land knowing the flock had roosted on an adjacent private parcel. The setup was two male decoys. I sat against a cottonwood with the fields on my right, river to the left and my back to the direction I just walked.
A few low tree yelps from the Lynch box call started the morning. The wait was not long. The first responses were tree yelps, then louder single yelps and clucks, followed by one tom repeatedly sounding above the rest with a full series of calls. I responded with my own yelp series to excite the bird. By now nautical twilight was ending. I tried a gobble and several birds answered.
Not to be outdone by the growing racket, two bald eagles awoke to rise above the tree line along the river calling to each other before both dipped back out of sight. Who knew eagles were an outstanding locator call! The chorus of shock gobbling in response to the eagles was stunning. One bird reacted immediately followed almost simultaneously by 15-20 birds all gobbling in unison. Next, a second group of 15-20, which sounded off from their separate roost a little further down river. The eagles screamed a second time to ensure the gobbler symphony continued and that I knew where every individual turkey was perched. When the overwhelming commotion quieted, tom yelps and clucks would fill in the silence.
All this turkey clamoring kept me busy matching call for call. By now the flock was off the roost, with several individuals drifting through the trees toward my setup. But I never saw them. Calls continued sporadically throughout the morning, however, I could tell the birds were moving off into the fields. Discouraged and chilled, I retrieved my decoys and walked out at 10 am.
Edge of a Plateau on Walk-In along the River
The Hunt
I returned around 3:45pm and as hoped, the flock had returned to the same exact late afternoon food source from the previous day. Although the wide open fields seemed to conspire against an undetected approach, their vastness surprisingly provided concealment. I crawled approximately 150 yards before I was able to sink below into the trees running along the riverbank.
The prior day this flock veered out of the cornstalks of the walk-in parcel onto a neighboring private field of waist and chest high amber grasses. Therefore, the afternoon strategy was to crawl up the crest of the field and get in tight to the flock. Then stake the decoys, draw the toms in using calling, and essentially coax the flock along a new route to the roost through the cornfield.
As I belly crawled to approximately 275 yards away, to my shock, 50 heads went straight up in the air and the entire flock took flight disappearing beyond my line of vision again. Turkey hunters know that sinking feeling you get when it appears the game is over for the day. I tried a few yelp calls and held my breath. In a shaved wheat grass field beyond the cut cornstalks a large tom reappeared yelping in response. Then another tom stepped into view. The flock indeed was still close, just hidden from my vantage point.
Moving closer, I tucked in low to the ground at a spot along the confluence of the grasses and cornfield. The decoy setup was one jake and a tom with tail fan. Eventually the entire flock was back in the wheat field; and as the sun began setting, I ramped up the calling. The flock made their move. Instead of veering off the public land to the roosting area behind me they kept a steady march toward the decoys.
The flock split into two; one line of birds kept some distance walking single file 50 yards away in the cornfield parallel to my position. The other birds lagged behind but were heading closer to the decoys. I wasn’t going to wait. Gun up, I watched as jake after jake walked by me at 45-50 yards away. Then, one bird rose up above the cut stalks to give me a view of a long beard. I placed my sight on him. Knowing the shot was a little long I took aim on the tom’s head instead of neck, waited for a clear shot and fired.
Rio Grande Wild Turkey
Getting to Know Kansas
“That’s a good looking turkey!” Don shouted as he emerged from the rear door to his house. Don had insisted on seeing any shot bird, so this evening Don’s hospitality was a perfect end to the day. Don’s 20 year old grandson Kyle was also visiting and so, the three of us headed into the barn where I cleaned the bird in comfort on a butchering table and we took turns telling hunting stories. As far as I could tell Don had lived in Wilson most, if not all, of his life. He had suggested that if I ever come back to hunt again, I should stay in town. He was probably right.
Wind
A unique feature to my hunting landscape was the wind energy infrastructure that, although not in the vicinity of this property, dotted the horizon around me. Wind turbines are incredibly visible throughout central Kansas, and being an environmental attorney my curiosity motivated me to explore the dynamics of wind in the Midwest.
Wind power represents an astonishing segment of energy generating capacity in the Midwest states in recent years, as reported by Energy News Network. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) documented that in 2017, Kansas generated over 36% of its electricity from wind power, ranking in the top five states in the nation for wind energy.
Wind Turbines Midwest: Photo Credit Greg Koch Photography. Click on the following link to visit his website: www.gregkkoch.com
Furthermore, wind energy in Kansas has an interesting tie to an unlikely source, coal. In 2017, wholesale electrical supplier Tri-State Generation & Transmission and its Kansas-based utility partner Sunflower Electric Power Corporation received approval for the expansion of a coal-fired power plant at Holcomb, Kansas – as reported by Mountain Town News and Ecowatch. This came after the state Supreme Court ruled in its favor against Earthjustice and the Sierra Club bringing to conclusion a series of legal challenges related to the Holcomb plant. However, the history of Holcomb related litigation reveals that both sides received a share of positive and negative outcomes.
In May 2009, the Kansas Governor struck a deal with Sunflower that would support the plant expansion in exchange for Sunflower committing to a certain percentage of wind energy by 2016. Simultaneously, “Kansas more broadly enacted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in May 2009, requiring certain utilities to generate or purchase 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2020.” Wind energy continued to develop and “Kansas rapidly outpaced RPS demand and filled the long-term RPS requirement, just as the state legislature converted the standard to a voluntary goal in 2015” (AWEA 2017 KS Fact Sheet).
Therefore, regardless of court decisions and approved permits, LJ World reports that it appears Tri-State may drop the Holcomb plant due to economic factors. Currently, rural clean energy development is a key economic driver across the Midwest, as reported by Utility Dive. Coal and natural gas in the Midwest now must compete with wind. Clean energy steadily remains cheaper, avoiding expenses such as the excessive costs necessary to maintain coal plants.
Additionally, a recent revelation that renewable energy storage can be competitively priced against the storage capabilities of natural gas plants may eliminate any lingering reservations about making the leap to clean energy. Ultimately, it is a business decision for corporations who are increasingly turning toward clean energy technology with wind energy expanding throughout the Midwest.
Local Flavor
If you are considering this Kansas hunt, I highly recommend flying into Kansas City which adds another dimension to the trip. Tour the neighborhoods of KC that fit your taste, and make sure you eat BBQ! Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que is as simple as they come, getting served in the same space as a gas station convenient store. The food is excellent, they serve beer and you can eat in or take it to go. Porta Fonda offers excellent Mexican cuisine, but I specifically went for the impressive mezcal and tequila selection.
If you hunt in central Kansas, you probably can’t go wrong staying in close proximity to wherever you plan to hunt. In my case, I could have eliminated extra driving time by setting up base camp closer to the hunt. I also visited state lands in central Kansas worth considering for hunting and camping opportunities. Keep in mind that WIHA properties could change every year, as the land where I had success is no longer on the access map.
Hunting Kansas was a great all around experience. I can think of no better way to conclude other than quoting Rob Keck, because Midwest winter turkey hunting truly is “like spring turkey hunting on steroids!”
Image from Central Kansas
