Because of back surgery in early May, I didn’t hunt during spring turkey season this year, so getting a turkey during fall season is on my radar. Fall turkey season is fraught with competition, making it possibly the most underutilized hunting season in Kansas. The first leg of fall turkey season opens October 1 and runs through November 28 statewide except in unit 4 in southwestern KS, and right on its heels are upland bird hunting, early goose and duck season, deer archery season and trapping season, not to mention the high school volleyball and football games. Do you see the problem? The second leg of fall turkey season starts December 11 and runs through January 31, still competing with several of the above events.

When spring turkey season arrives, everyone but the ice fishermen have been cooped up for awhile and are badly in need of an “outdoor fix;” plus the only competing outdoor activity is spring fishing for walleye and crappie and maybe mushroom hunting. Spring season also appeals to the turkey hunting “purists” who insist the only sporting way to kill a turkey is to call-in and harvest a love sick gobbler. All this makes spring turkey hunting very popular, and fall turkey hunting not-so-much.

But fall turkey hunting has its perks; besides fresh wild turkey, the temperatures are cooler, which means fewer, if any bugs & ticks and NO mosquitoes. There are more opportunities to harvest a bird since the turkeys are grouped together in their winter flocks which can easily number 50 or more in my part of the state. But perhaps the best perk of all lies in the fact that fall turkey regulations allow for the harvesting of hens too. That means that any wild turkey that strolls past your stand can go onto the dinner table!

Fall turkey hunting strategies are much different also. No longer can we use the gobblers need for love against them as we can in the spring. During the fall and winter the “boys” are sort of just one of the girls and dominant hens actually rule the roost (pun intended of course.) Just as in the spring, turkeys travel routes and times are somewhat predictable from day to day, so one strategy for hunting them in the fall involves setting up a ground blind somewhere along their daily route and simply ambushing them.

Another popular approach to hunting fall turkeys relies on their social need to flock together. It has been proven that when a big group of turkeys is suddenly startled, causing them to split and fly toward the four winds, not only will they eventually group back together again, but they will often re-congregate at or very near the precise spot where they split. Let me explain. If hunters spot a large group of fall turkeys somewhere near good cover, they can either run toward the flock, causing them to fly helter-skelter, or send a dog running into the flock (which is legal) to achieve the same outcome. Then the hunter can conceal themselves in the nearby cover, fairly confident that the flock will re-congregate where it split, giving them good shots.

I have an excellent turkey calling CD by Lovett Williams, PHD and one of the country’s leading wild turkey biologists. He devotes some of the CD to fall hunting tactics and explains how dominant hens call a flock back together after having it scattered, and plays actual recordings of the calls and sounds they use to do so. So if you are a purist and insist on calling turkeys in the fall as well, you can learn these sounds and theoretically call a scattered flock of turkeys back together and right into your lap if you are well camouflaged.

To me, fall turkey hunting is less frustrating than spring hunting because the finical nature of the gobblers is not an issue. This makes it an ideal time to introduce a youth, your wife (or husband) or your girl friend (or boyfriend) to Kansas wild turkey hunting.

Remember, no ticks, no mosquitoes and many turkeys! So to put a wild turkey on the Thanksgiving table this year, or just to try something new and different for a change, try Kansas fall turkey hunting this year. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

One column was not enough to write about prairie residents who see possibility in everything around them. Recently, I shared a story about a woman in my grandmother’s home town who turned devil’s claw thorns into art forms. I’m sure my childhood interest in her abilities led to my adult appreciation for those who look at an old piece of wood and see a cleverly painted checker board or a cottonwood branch as a candle holder. Plenty of homes in the area reflect such talents, making it fun to find those inventive personalities among family and friends.

Decades ago, we a met a couple who share this resourceful philosophy. Come winter, they’d flip an old car or truck hood upside down and turn it into a sled big enough to hold the whole family. Attaching ropes or chains, they’d latch it behind a tractor, truck, or horse and toboggan across snowy fields and through big drifts, laughing all the way. Even today, participants’ eyes sparkle as they recollect those frosty adventures.

During warmer days, they’d inflate big innertubes, scrounge for unused boards to serve as paddles, and raft down the Saline after rains. Their family photo albums are filled with photos of Huck Finn wannabes dressed in worn cowboy hats and faded denim. The camera captured beaming smiles as they conquered local rapids. Their joy is so evident you can almost hear the belly laughs as you scan the pictures.

A walk across the pasture or through a nearby cottonwood grove resulted in sticks, rocks, limbs, and maybe a deer shed. Once back at the ranch house, these might sit for a spell before these two artisans turned them into candle sticks, signs painted with clever sayings, or checkers to go with those game boards they’d created earlier. Using old wire, ribbon, or paint, they turn mundane into charming.

I anticipated every visit to their home. It was like Christmas because I never knew what surprises lurked on the porch or in the house. My friend might have some cool auction find that she’d turned into a bird house or lawn art. Her husband was every bit as clever. He could spend a few hours harvesting old vehicle parts and tools, work his magic, and suddenly you might have working equipment or something so ingenious visitors’ jaws dropped when they first spied it.

To this couple, nothing is useless. Last December, I visited my friend to find her repurposing tattered quilts someone discarded. Well trained by the expert, her daughter recognized their potential and knew her mom would give them new life. She rescued the pile, and delivered them to the repurposing wizard. In no time, this visionary possessed a stack of giant stockings to fill for family and friends.

I’ve tried to learn from this couple. While I’ll never be the up-cycler they are, I’m better about considering possibilities of what I’ve formerly considered trash. To remind me not to toss at the first impulse, I keep a checkboard and the antler checkers they gave me on my porch. The Christmas stocking she gave me is waiting for Santa to show up. This couple taught my family that old and worn are synonyms for new beginnings—not a bad philosophy to follow during retirement.

Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.

National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) welcome the decision by the Trump Administration to make sure China is living up to its commitments on wheat trade. In response to action by the Administration, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body has established a panel to rule on a complaint filed in December 2016 by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) regarding China’s administration of its tariff rate quotas for wheat and other agricultural products. USW and NAWG are very pleased with the Trump Administration’s aggressive use of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism on behalf of wheat farmers.

This is the second panel established at the WTO under the Trump Administration to defend the interests of wheat farmers. The first will examine whether China’s market price support programs for wheat, corn, and rice violate its trade commitments. According to a 2016 Iowa State University study sponsored by USW, China’s market price support programs cost U.S. wheat farmers between $650 and $700 million annually in lost revenue by pre-empting export opportunities and suppressing global prices.

China also has a WTO commitment for an annual tariff rate quota of 9.64 million metric tons (MMT) of imported wheat. The panel established Sept. 22, 2017, in the tariff rate quota case will review evidence that China has not administered this tariff rate quota in a transparent, predictable and fair manner as required by its WTO obligations. The result is that China’s tariff rate quota administration unfairly impedes wheat export opportunities for U.S. wheat farmers, as well as farmers from Canada, Australia and other wheat exporting countries, to the detriment of Chinese consumers.

“It is very encouraging to see the Trump Administration defend farmers against governments that say to the world they will live up to their commitments, but then scheme to disregard the rules we all need to ensure global trade is conducted freely and fairly,” said NAWG President David Schemm, a wheat grower from Sharon Springs, Kan. “Wheat growers will always stand up and applaud when the Administration expands, improves and enforces trade agreements on behalf of farmers.”

“Trade enforcement is crucial for building confidence in existing and new trade agreements,” said USW Chairman Mike Miller, a wheat farmer from Ritzville, Wash. “The Trump Administration’s actions should send a signal that strong and enforceable trade rules are vital to the United States and to U.S. farmers, specifically.”

“We are grateful that this administration is taking a tough stance in regard to these trade violations,” said Justin Gilpin, CEO of Kansas Wheat. “In Kansas and around the world, local wheat prices have long been impacted by these market distorting practices and WTO violations by China. We look forward to a solution that is beneficial to both American wheat farmers and the people of China.”

USW’s mission is to “develop, maintain, and expand international markets to enhance the profitability of U.S. wheat producers and their customers.” USW activities in more than 100 countries are made possible through producer checkoff dollars managed by 18 state wheat commissions and cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. For more information, visit our website at www.uswheat.org.

NAWG is the primary policy representative in Washington D.C. for wheat growers, working to ensure a better future for America’s growers, the industry and the general public. NAWG works with a team of 20 state wheat grower organizations to benefit the wheat industry at the national levels. From their offices in the Wheat Growers Building on Capitol Hill, NAWG’s staff members are in constant contact with state association representatives, NAWG grower leaders, Members of Congress, Congressional staff members, Administration officials and the public.