Upon arrival back to Sportsman’s Paradise, I glanced at the timer. I’d traveled 27 hours in the truck alone to bag a Sooner State thunder chicken. Twenty of those hours were commute, and the other seven were hard hours of searching for turkey. I ended up with an unexpected lesson I won’t soon forget.
Years ago, the Oklahoma Rio Grande turkey was easy to hunt and kill. Lately, they’ve proven to be quite the adversary. When my hunting buddy and I arrived, I was amazed at the lack of signs of the turkey that typically flourish on the property. As we eased through the thick timber, we never saw a track, feather or anything resembling a turkey. After deliberating about what to do next, the only logical step was to take a drive to see if turkeys existed in this part of the countryside.
It didn’t take long before we set eyes on a multitude of birds surrounding our property. Birds were in full strut mode. In one field, we counted seven gobblers strutting their stuff for three hens. Another field yielded three big birds displaying dominance for a few hens. Why weren’t they on a property that traditionally produces three or four Toms a year?
HABITAT, HABITAT, HABITAT. The properties that had birds on them were lush green fields with surrounding timber and mesquite thickets. The fields on our property were overgrown with thick native grasses that made turkey-life difficult. This time of year, they demand areas that allow Toms to strut. We just didn’t have what they needed. We scratched our heads the entire weekend with no results.
On one particular set, we had two Toms convinced we were the gals for them, but they never committed to crossing a fence and a road. I’m sure in the back of their mind they were thinking, “Why in the hell are those chicks over on that property? Nobody ever goes over there.” They eventually lost interest and headed in the opposite direction.
So, what to do next? If you hunt long enough, you come across lessons that are hard to swallow. This one was especially difficult for me. I’d driven twenty hours to get shut out and never had a chance to work a bird properly. If I could offer any advice, it would be to prepare property for purpose. Plant what they like. No-till wheat remains a great option for deer hunting, but when it comes to spring turkey season, it’s horrible.
You can have all the cover in the world, but there is no substitute for an open green field. By the time I left Oklahoma, I was seeing turkeys literally strut in the middle of the road surrounding the property, but not once did they step foot on it. It wasn’t where they wanted to be. A very frustrating lesson learned on a 27-hour journey. ~ KJ
Kevin Jarnagin
Kevin Jarnagin (KJ) hails from Oklahoma, but quickly established Louisiana roots after joining the Gun Talk team. KJ grew up as a big game hunter, and knows his way around a bass boat. Whether it’s making his way to British Columbia for elk or training with pistols, Jarnagin always seems to find a gun in his hands and adventure on his mind.
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