Black Hills/Kansas Turkey Trip

[sobry84]

For this spring some buddies and myself drew the Black Hills tag and also put in for North Central Kansas but have not drawn yet. Both states have been on our bucket list for a while. None of us have ever been to either area and was looking for some information on either area. We have primarily hunted the south east so both will be a very different experience than what we are used. We plan on hunting public ground in both areas. I would also like to hear some of yalls experiences and stories on hunting those areas or similar areas. Any info on either place would be greatly appreciated. Also feel free to PM me if you'd rather not share info on here publicly.

 

[Ondavirg]

Be prepared to cover a ton of ground in the Black Hills. We went last year and had some private to hunt as well but birds were scarce. It also snowed on us, so be prepared for all weather conditions. Looking back we spent too much time hunting spots where birds were last year, but were not currently. This is big, rough country that has birds but covering ground until you find them will be key to success.

 

[Kurts86]

Kansas is a shattered shell of what it was 10-15 years ago. I wouldn’t travel to hunt Kansas and my family did almost annually from the late 90’s to 2020’s. Turkey hunting in Kansas it’s heavily concentrated to Riparian corridors.

The Blackhills is just like Pine Ridge/ Eastern Wyoming/ Custer NF where you have to cover a lot of ground to find the birds before you start hunting. The turkeys tend to winter down low on ag and move up into the hills more as the season goes on. As mentioned snow can ruin entire weeks of hunting in April.

 

[jmez]

Turkeys in the hills are very vocal on the roost and pretty quiet as soon as they come down. Get high on points in the late evening and try to roost some. You can call them but they won't talk much . I prefer to just spot and stalk them. Not hard to sneak up on them in the hills if you see them first.

 

[jdmaxwell]

Went last year Black Hills. Never stepped foot there before. We went 1 for 2 and were on birds every day. Just start covering ground and hike further than most. Just go start and learn on fly.

 

[sobry84]

Thanks for the info we drew both states and plan on hunting both in the same trip. Hunting kansas on the way up, stay a week in the black hills, and hunting kansas on the way back

 

[cnelk]

Mid May is a good time to hunt turkeys in the BHs

 

[Wagner]

I got my butt kicked in the black hills in 2023. I didn’t get drawn this year. My best advice is be in shape, certainly no place for someone out of shape.
I also drew Kansas and Iowa, so will see if I get the itch for another state later in the season.

 

[sobry84]

Would yall say the north half or the south half to be more productive than the other? We plan on going the first full week May 3-11.

 

[cnelk]

It snowed 6"+ on May 3rd in the BHs last year. That really shut things down
Be prepared

 

[Kurts86]

It snowed 6"+ on May 3rd in the BHs last year. That really shut things down
Be prepared

Yeah this is the risk with those western turkey hunts. You want to be as early as possible WITHOUT snow but that’s a moving target. If you don’t have trip flexibility it can easily blow multiple days if not a week on weather. It’s like traveling to duck hunt based on the weather week by week.

 

[Dos Perros]

Kansas is a shattered shell of what it was 10-15 years ago. I wouldn’t travel to hunt Kansas and my family did almost annually from the late 90’s to 2020’s. Turkey hunting in Kansas it’s heavily concentrated to Riparian corridors.

We're starting to feel bad letting the kids shoot jakes, or even adults shooting toms. We gotta be at rock bottom though.

 

[Ondavirg]

Unfortunately we were there for the snow…

 

[Wagner]

We're starting to feel bad letting the kids shoot jakes, or even adults shooting toms. We gotta be at rock bottom though.

The draw is certainly helping as far as hunting pressure goes. I mostly stay around the mined land or a bit west of there and saw alot less hunters last year.