Recurve Turkey Hunt - Spring 2026 - Kansas

Thought I got a hit. That turkey got away four times. I don't even know how to turkey hunt. I just cut that turkey's head off. Oh boy. The only experience I have is with my brother. And he just took off sprinting at them. And they flew away. And then he sprinted across the field. And then I heard a gunshot. And he shot one. He literally just ran up to it and shot it. Did a little research and it looks like you can use regular broadheads and aim for the body. Or you can use decap broadheads. So if I'm honest, I feel like I've got a really low chance of actually getting a turkey. Today is Tuesday. It is the last day at the workshop before we're heading to Kansas. I'm going to do a turkey hunt. Tomorrow, Wednesday, will be our travel day. And then Thursday will be hunting day. And especially Friday. Thursday will more so be scouting than Friday hunting. Alright, just finished our morning meeting. Going to get my bow. Make sure it's all set up. Practice a little bit. Make sure I've got my broadheads. I was going to use the decap broadheads. Because I heard there is less chance of injuring a bird and not recovering it. But the ones I ordered will not be here in time. I could go backpacking. Everything right here. And it doubles as a bugle. I could use this for elk hunting season. That would be fun. It is Thursday, April 23rd. We drove to Kansas yesterday. And this morning, we're headed to the zoo with some friends. Maybe I'll find some turkey there and get some familiarity with the animal. And then this afternoon I'm going to do some scouting. Hopefully I'll be able to find some turkey tonight. And as my dad put it, put them to bed. And I don't think he was meaning killing them. Hopefully I'll be able to find some tonight. Be able to explore, scout a little bit. And then tomorrow morning, we'll get on them. We've got until about noon tomorrow to get it done. So, to the zoo we go. Okay, this is crazy. Is this a heist or what? A money moving vehicle getting towed. That's got to be... And why is it in the corner of the parking lot? Like, what's going on? That's got to be... Someone's stealing something. Alright. We've got lunch. We've got about eight hours still to spend. I'm going to grab some coffee. Do some customer service. And then head out to the field. Shout out to Bima Church. A co-fellow. I like to act like people sponsor me when they don't. But, some coffee. You know, it's been a while since I've had eight hours. Just, like, I'm not meeting anyone. There's no rush. Like, and it's interesting because I feel like there can... Like, as soon as I was alone, there's like this intense self-awareness almost. Of like, almost an anxiety. Of like, it's just me. Like, it's, I don't know, it's hard to say. Where it's just me. Like, it's just my thoughts. And so, I've heard though, from some poets, that where the real life is, is in forgetting oneself. So I'm going to do my best to do that. To lose myself, as some would say. Which really makes sense because we become what we think about. And so, if we just focused on ourselves, we'll become self-ish. But, if we're focused on something bigger than us, or a part of a story bigger than us, we can get caught up in something bigger than us, and we can become something bigger than what we are. Let's go get lost. This is literally right across the street. Alright, I'm going to keep driving. He's fanned out and everything. Alright, hopefully he'll come across. I'm going to park because I can literally hunt. I can literally hunt here. That turkey's literally right across the street. So, I need to find a place to park. And, maybe he'll come across. He's fanned out everything. That's so crazy. That's crazy. He's a big guy too. Well, I actually have no clue. Alright, my goal is to get eyes on turkey. Just saw one right back here at the end of those trees right there. And so, I'm going to loop around because that's private. I guess they're both private, but I can hunt over here. Can't hunt over there. So, I'm going to loop through these trees here, see if I can get eyes on it. As I was walking here, someone pulled up on an ATV. I think they're checking out me, my vehicle. But, probably just a neighbor curious what's going on. I would guess. Tempted for me to feel anxious, even though I have permission to hunt here. Okay, now, turkey. Alright, they're only about 60 yards, but I'm only like 10 yards from the road. So, they're across the road still. Looks like they might cross. If I shoot this turkey, I have no clue what to hope. I have signal, so I can look up at you, or I guess I can toss it. Watching these guys for over an hour, which has gone by so fast. There's three and a half hours left of shooting light. I heard a car pulling up, and then they stopped, which is where I parked. So, of course, I've got all these fears that I'm getting towed or something. I think I'm going to leave my stuff here, but sneak back out this way. Do a little bit of scouting, and then also maybe create a spot that would be a good setup for the morning. That's in three inches. I didn't see any turkey. Just walked to the other end of the property. So, I'm going to... Bro, come on. Then I'll work my way back to where I saw those turkeys. Oh, wait. There's a turkey right there. It's across the street also, though. It's a different end of the property. Check this out. Boom. Another turkey. They're all across the street, though. I haven't seen a turkey, but I just heard a cop. So, I think they moved out. That's good to know. I just heard like ten gobbles from back this way. The wind's finally calming down. So, I think I might pack up here and move that way just to see if I can get closer to them and maybe see where they roost tonight. So, I'm going to get packed up. Hopefully, I'll sing them a lullaby. I'd say it was a successful scouting. I'm just grabbing some food, and then I'm going to stay the night at my parents' because they're closer up here, and then I'm going to go hunting with my dad in the morning. So, I'm excited for it. I'm going to get some sleep and go find those goblin turkeys. I just feel like turkey is such a funny word. 420. Seth just pulled up behind me. At least I hope it's him. How's it going? My name's Kaz. Good to meet you. I'm Seth. Nice to meet you. Very good to meet you. Man, you can get one of the weaker of them. That'd be so fun. Yeah, I'm excited. That might be where you heard them. Yeah. That'd be good. Let's go. All right, we just heard some gobbles here in these trees responding to a crow call. So, we're going to go set up in that area. Right there. So, we're getting set up. And then, hopefully, just the one so far. I'm going to see if he comes. Okay. If he starts coming, then he just gets fired on. Sounds good. But Seth just said he saw that. Did you see that? Did he go down? Yeah, the one you shot is the one I shot. He shot him at five yards. Did you get him? No, he's dead. He's got to be dead. You shot him three times. Send him your video. This is embarrassing. Oh, my goodness. No, I showed him the video. I shot him at five yards. Okay. I shot the same one that you just shot. Yeah, he ran. That's why I was standing watching him. I'm so sorry. No, no, no. Thank you. No, no. I wanted you to help me. I'm sure he's fine. I think he went. I can show you where he went. Yeah. But I feel embarrassed because this is a full joke. You hit him, right? All three times. Let's grab my arrow. There's blood on the arrow. Oh, is there? On the fletching. Is there? That's blood. There is some blood. There's some wet. Looks like it kind of went off the front. Oh, please, Lord, let it be in the trees over there. That was crazy. You called him right in. Oh, my goodness. All right. So, it's been hit with an arrow and three shots. We've got to find this thing. I thought it went in somewhere around here. It looked like maybe my arrow kind of deflected off the front. It should have ended a little further back because it was quartering. I aimed right at the wing. And then my dad popped up out of nowhere. And, like, he had snuck up. So, I had no clue that he shot at that turkey. And I was coming right over here across the fence, hoping that I could find him. I was over by that tree. And that turkey was running through the field after it had been shot right there. And so, I ended up trying to flank it so I could chase the turkey back to Kaz. Little did I know he had already shot at it. So, I shot a few times. We're going to go get some coffee and a power bar and see if we can let it die. And then we'll come. Nothing yet. This is thick stuff. I guess this is why people use DCAT broadheads, which is my plan. I ordered them and they didn't come on time. But, yeah, looking back at the video, it looked like I aimed and hit where I should have aimed and hit for a broadside shot. And he was no longer broadside because I let him get out in front of me because I didn't want him to see me. I just don't have practice with a bird like that. Like with a deer, I think I feel instinctually to aim further back. But with a turkey, I just didn't. I think this is what happened. There were more that were coming. We saw them go up over this hill. So, we're going to go check it out and see if we can see anything. Yes, that's a blowgun. It's not for the turkey, though. Not this year. Maybe another year. We just got set up in some trees. We're going to try some calling and see if we can bring it to hand. I'm going to ride it. I did not get a turkey. I do have a chance. You know, I feel really bad about injuring a turkey and not getting it. It's pretty sad. I got him. Let's go. I missed the first shot, but I got him on the second shot. Now, I've got to figure out how to clean this guy. You know, as a kid, there's like the adventure of the hunt. It's like shoot at every single bird at my grandma and grandpa's house. Every rabbit. But then it's like when you actually get something, there's like a solemnity to it. So, right now, Kaz is walking back, and he's trying to hunt a rabbit. But guess what? He is walking past right here, but there's a rabbit right down there. We're trying to get his attention. He has no idea. Did you get one? I got him. Yeah. You want to help me? Yeah. Oh, wait. He got one. Wow, look at that sunset. As we were driving home, right on the interstate, on the edge of the road, there was three turkeys. One that looked just like the Jake that I shot. Just taunting. I so badly wanted to just take him out, throw him in the back of the car, and tag him. Welcome to the after show. This is for you if you want to know what's going on in my mind and my heart post-hunt. The hunt's over, but what's going on in my heart is not over. It's just beginning, you could say. If you are a hunter, or if you are a competitor, or if you're anything like me, then you know that I have relived not only watching the video, but just thinking. Like, even laying in bed last night, I took the shot at that turkey on Friday. It's Monday today, so Sunday night. Days later, laying in bed. And I realized, like I just, running over and over and over again in my mind. I realized that this is bringing up stuff from my childhood. Basically, here's the big picture. Am I someone who blows opportunities? Is that my identity? Because, as I missed this turkey, or didn't miss, didn't recover this turkey, all of these stories from my childhood, like the very first time I was going deer hunting, I think I was 11 or 12 years old, and I think it was probably like a 150 yard shot. Thought I went down, but I think I just went in a ditch. Popped back up, kept running, and couldn't find it. Second shot, it was like a 200 yard shot while a deer was walking. Didn't find it. Third opportunity, deer at like 30 yards. Get on it, take a deep breath, pull the trigger, click. I had forgotten to load the gun, and Kramer was with me. And he was like, here, use my gun, use my gun. And I just bust up crying. I was like, no, it's too late, you just shoot, you try. And it wasn't the fact that I didn't get a shot, because I could have taken a shot with Kramer's gun. It was the mistake. It was the failure, you could say. Fourth opportunity, 30 yard shot, broadside. I shoot, the deer run, stop. Kramer shoots, one runs off and dies. Kramer tells me that I hit it. And looking back, I know for a fact that I did not hit it. I did tag that deer, and he told me that I was the one that hit it. He must have missed, but it is very clear that he shot the deer. And those are my first four opportunities with a gun, and I blew all of them. Just like my identity, hunting as a child, as like a 12, 13, 14, even on, has been that I've gotten a ton of opportunities, and I've blown them. That's the identity I've kind of taken on. And I've killed a lot of deer, and I've shot a lot of deer. But I remember there was one hunt when I was about 14, me and my dad at my grandparents. Doe comes up 20 yards. I thought I was at like 15 yards, and so I shot under it. And so we were like looking, not really any blood on the arrow. And I told my dad, I was like, thanks for not being mad at me. And he was like, why would I be mad at you? This is like the fact that I can remember all of these so vividly. I've had opportunities, or the other big ones, like senior year of high school basketball. We're in the final eight teams, and get an and one with three seconds left. I've got a free throw to go up by three. I missed the free throw. They hit a half court shot and beat us. It's like, dang, I blew the opportunity. Or senior year of college basketball, NAIA tournament. Again, final eight teams, five minutes left. I miss a wide open layup, and we lose by three. And so it's like, this was all running through my mind last night. Connected to me shooting at this turkey, and not recovering it. And you know, the temptation is just to not tell the truth. Because I don't want to be seen as someone who injures animals, and is an ethical hunter, all of that. And so the temptation is just to be like, oh yeah, and then we got the turkey, and clean it, or don't show it, or whatever. But I'm committed to telling the truth. And so, me thinking through this, like what are people going to think about all this stuff, I think is really healthy for me, because it's unpacking stuff from the past, where I've taken that on as my identity of, I'm someone who blows opportunities. And then there's been other times in my life where I'm like, no, I function best under pressure. Like, I show up when the pressure's on. And so it's like this tension, but I think the fact is that my identity cannot be tied to my performance. My performance, I guess tied is not a good analogy. It should be more so grows. My identity can't grow out of my performance, or else it will be all over the place. My performance will grow out of my identity. So one defines the other. But it can't be both ways. So my identity is going to define who I am, and it's going to, over time, define my performance. But my performance can't define my identity. And yeah, this is what I've been wrestling with, literally journaling last night, and like, oh yeah, and this happened, oh yeah, and this happened, oh yeah. And then there's the time where I shot the elk when it was quartering towards me, and shouldn't have taken that shot, and I didn't recover that elk. You know, like all of these moments, and I guess all of this is kind of like a journal entry for me, but it's really to say, I'm not someone who blows opportunities. That's not my identity. I learn from opportunities. I learn from the hunts like this hunt. Where it's like, yeah, things that I could do better. And it's not who I am. It's what I did. And that changes everything.