Spring Turkey Hunts 2009

Wednesday April 15th, opening morning of the 2009 Turkey Season found me sitting on a ridge about 18 miles north of Spokane on a private 160 acre piece of property. I was patiently working a Tom until about 9:30am, yelping and sweet talking to him. He must have had several girlfriends because he didn’t want anything to do with me. I couldn’t go to him for he was on the adjoining private piece of property to the NE of where I was sitting. I saw a couple of hens and they fed by me but no Tom’s were following them.

I decided to leave him alone for the rest of the morning and headed south about 5 miles to another tract of land that I had permission to hunt on. I visited with the land owner for 20 minutes and shared a couple of stories about family and my kid’s activities.

She gave me permission to hunt her 40 acres; I was really excited because I knew there were birds adjacent to her property on the north side. I saw them when I driving to her property around 10:00am. There was a “Big Boss” Tom on the NW corner and I had visions of him coming to me..... Slowly I snuck up the hill through the woods towards his location. I was about 50 yards from the NW corner when I setup to call; there was a light breeze from the west and skies were clear and sunny. I got a hen to respond after my first series of yelps and I had a good feeling that a tom was with her. I yelped a couple more times and sat my slate call down beside me. Much to my surprise, 3 strutting toms were following 2 hens and they were headed down the fence line coming directly towards me! What a beautiful sight, 3 Toms strutting, sort of jousting for position with the sun shining on them! It was an Awesome Sight!!

I had the sun to my back which I try to do when setting up to call if at all possible. I focused on what I thought was the dominate tom, he was all puffed up, tail fanned out and dragging his wings on the ground. His head was bright red and blue and capped in white, his beard was long and hanging low on his chest, defiantly a mature 4 year old bird. One of the hens started getting a little nervous and turned left heading north angling away from me; the big tom came out of his strut and stretched his head for a look at what she was doing. He was about 20 yards away when I put the bead of my Remington Model 870 WingMaster on his head and squeezed the trigger. I anxiously got up to collect my prize; he was a monster tom, 23 lbs with a 9¾ inch beard and ¾ inch spurs. It was a fantastic way to start the 2009 Spring Turkey Season.

Friday Morning Turkey Hunt…..

I arrived 5:30am at my hunting location, it was an 80 acre private piece of property about 1 mile east of Wednesday mornings successful hunt. As I was putting on my coveralls and uncasing my shotgun, several Toms began gobbling to the east of me. I headed quickly up the ridge to pinpoint their location.

Several hens were off to my right, they started to cluck and purr and think about pitching down from their roost trees. They were in the same roost trees that I hunted the year before. But the toms continued to gobble to the east of me about a ¼ mile away; I was going to have to make a decision on which birds to pursue.

After a dozen more booming gobbles from what sounded like a single tom I was persuaded to go setup on him. I cruised over a couple of small ridges and down through a very wet creek bottom then back up on top of a beautiful rounded ridge overlooking a small shallow basin with a good view up to some large roost trees. I setup against a large ponderosa and laid my shotgun down beside me. I roughed up my slate call with my small scouring pad and took the wooded striker and gave that tom the prettiest serious of love sick yelps you ever heard.

The Tom was maybe 100 yards away across a small basin and up on the next ridge still roosted in the trees, he gobbled back at me immediately. I waited a couple of minutes and gave him a few more soft yelps , he couldn’t take it anymore. He pitched to the ground and started strutting my way. I called once more with 4 or 5 soft yelps and he responded with a booming gobble!! He was coming fast and my heart was pounding out of my chest. The pine tree in front of me had several dead branches hanging down to the ground but I could see through the branches clearly, about 20 yards away the tom came up the hill and appeared in full strut looking for his love sick hen.

I patiently waited with my shotgun on my knee until he stepped out from behind the branches and gave me a clear view of his bright red head and long beard hanging from his chest. The bead of my Remington Model 870 12 ga. shotgun settled on the base of his neck and I slowly squeezed the trigger. A resounding boom broke the silence of the morning; the aroma of gunpowder filled the air all around me as I watched my 2nd tom tumble to the ground.

I looked at my cell phone and it was 5:55am, I slowly walked over to my trophy and sat down beside him thrilled that the morning went so well. I unloaded my shotgun and leaned it up against a nearby tree. I examined his beard which was 9” long and it had a cute little wave at the end of it. I grabbed his leg and much to my surprise he had no spurs on either leg, I was sort of bummed about that but he was a monster bird weighing in at 20+ pounds.


My spring turkey season was over all too soon, but I had Jon and Thomas that I could go hunting with and I looked forward to calling them in a bird…

2009 Whitetail Rut

Saturday November 14th morning was perfect, 2-3 inches of fresh snow, no wind and the tail end of the rut!

I arrived at my hunting spot at 5:30am, it was totally dark, no moon and overcast. I proceeded to get all my hunting gear together for a long morning hunt. The hunting conditions were perfect! I slowly walked down to the end of a logging road, jumped over a small stream and started hiking up a very steep hillside on public land. From the moment I left the vehicle I was crossing fresh deer tracks. The trees and vegetation were loaded with fresh powdery snow and every step I took or branch I touched, down came a landslide of powdery snow. I had lens cap covers on the 3x9 Bushnell scope and my Remington Model 700 BDL .30-06 rifle slung over my shoulder. Patiently I maneuvered myself uphill in the dark, taking my time to side step big branches laden full of snow.

Just at first light I was about 65 yards from the top of the hill where an old logging road cut along the face which lead to a clear-cut basin. Overlooking this basin is where I was planning on sitting for the first hour of my hunt. I was just starting to break out of the timber when I crossed a fresh buck track. Kneeling down to study the track for a moment, I knew in an instant it was really fresh, slowly scanning ahead of me, following the track uphill it skirted to the right side of a large spruce tree.

The spruce looked like a perfect snow flocked Christmas tree, loaded with snow and its branches hanging all the way to the ground, it truly was a beautiful sight…. I slowly took 2 or 3 more quit steps and stood motionless for a few moments…….. Total silence was broken by a series of grunts, I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location at first but my heart started to pound….. Slowly my eyes caught movement to the left as a buck appeared stepping out from behind the spruce tree.

Until this morning I had never heard in the wild a buck grunt-wheeze before, the sound vibrated through the earlier morning silence and that’s when I started to shake, not more than 12 yards uphill from me standing broadside was a beautiful buck….. A huge adrenalin rush was going through my body and then reality set in….. My rifle was still slung over my right shoulder and I have my lens covers on my scope, fortunately the lens are clear but I had no way of knowing if they were free of snow!!



Much to my surprise the buck started to posture, he laid his ears back, slowly dipped his head and took two stiff legged steps almost like he was waddling. When his head went down below the vegetation covered in snow, I slowly eased the rifle off my shoulder, thumbed the safety as I raised the rifle butt to my shoulder wondering if I was going to be able to see through the lens covers. To my surprise when I looked through the scope I saw crystal clear crosshairs in the middle of a big brown deer chest, right behind his shoulder the cross-hairs rested and I slowly squeezed the trigger. The silence was broken and he disappeared into the timber to my left. I stood there amazed at just what happened, straining to listen to his crashing through the ringing in my ears from the muzzle blast. The crashing stopped and I felt confident the bullet found its mark.

To my amazement I eased up the hill to where he was just standing a mere 12 yards away, I could see his bed and the two steps he took when he postured towards me, then on top of the snow a red spray of blood testified that my aim was true. I decided to give him a few minutes and enjoy the morning giving thanks in silent prayer to Heavenly Father. Sometimes you get Lucky, but I also believe in Blessings! And I was truly blessed this morning!

A Sneak Peek

Every year Ken gets the opportunity to go to Canada and do some fishing with his friend Jim and brother Greg. Some people want to know what he does out on the water for 12 hours... The following is an email he wrote explaining his day and is a good sneak peek for his account of his last trip to Canada!


Once we get to our fishing destination which on several days is a wild adventure in itself - We will have 4 lines in the water with 3 of them attached to 2 downriggers, 1 line on the left and 2 lines on the right side of the boat. Each line gets attached by a clip to the downrigger cable and at the end of the cable is a 12 pound weight. The weight is raised and lowered up and down to depths of 25 to 80 feet deep by the power from the batteries on the boat. The 4th line is a long trailer line out the back of the boat and is only about 10-15 feet below the surface depending on the size of weight we attach but trails almost 100 yards behind the boat.


Getting all this in the water and running smoothly is really tricky. Each pole is rigged with a big 3x12" flasher, chrome and green color seems to work well, then a 36" leader of 30 lb test mono and either a spoon, plug, squid, or herring rig attached at the end which holds the hooks. On the double downrigger side we run the lines about 22' apart and are attached by clips to the cable and trailing maybe 30' behind the boat. So now we have all sorts of stuff trailing behind the boat at different levels in the water column and various lures and flashers to attract the fish to bite. When the fish bites the lure the line breaks free from the clip which is attached to the downrigger cable and you are fighting the fish on only the fishing pole and line.



Easy enough right! Wrong!!! Now throw in all the other factors of driving the boat, watching the GPS / Sonar unit, rolling ocean waves, trying to keep your balance so you don't fall over board, fog so thick you can't see anything at times, maybe rain, trying to stay dry and warm, and avoiding getting sea sick, and when it happens it is no fun puking your guts out at sea! Believe me it happened to me this year!



So now everything is set, sit back have a drink and a snack, maybe a slice of cheese, or salami, maybe a cookie or trail mix. If you can see some distance without being fogged in there is always lot's of seabirds to watch and sometimes really close to the boat, everyday several seals come up to check you out and sometimes porpoises, and this year we were blessed with spotting whales everyday! At least 100 sightings in the 7 days we were fishing. No time to read, for you just bounce too much, the only reading is the fishing regulations, your book or magazine would get wet for sure, too much humidity. Just when you get settled in thinking about catching a quick cat-knap someone yells out "FISH ON"!


The person nearest the rod grabs the rod from the rod holder, quickly reels in the slack line, sets the hook and hangs on. If it is a big fish you know right away and they yell out "BIG FISH", the fish will be ripping out line really fast and usually heading down into deep water. While this is happening the other 2 fisherman on the boat are reeling in all the other lines and raising the downrigger cables as fast as they can, getting it all out of the way while still driving the boat and keeping it in position to fight the fish. All the gear has to come into the boat or the fish will wrap itself up in the lines and get away.


When the gear is all in the boat, someone grabs the net and the other guy drives the boat keeping the fish on the up-wind side. The guy holding the rod is now battling the fish and the adrenaline rush is really intense. This is truly a team effort and each person plays an important part in netting a fish. The 38-pounder we caught took 30-40 minutes to net. I had it to the surface 3 times before my hands cramped up and I let Jim take over the rod. I went to driving the boat; Jim took over the rod and had the fish to the surface 4 more times before Greg was finally able to net the fish. That fish was truly a Trophy Class fish and the biggest caught at the marina that day! It took so long to net the fish because we caught it on 15 lb test line and we had to have the drag set really light on the reel so the line wouldn't break.

Well when you land a fish, you give each other a slap on the back or big hi-five, get the salmon in the live well and start the process all over again of getting the lines back in the water. And this routine takes place every time you get a bite, if you miss the fish then the downrigger ball the line was attached to needs to be raised, check the hooks, attach the line to the clip and send it back down again. This happens many times every day, on every bite, often times seaweed will knock the line off the clip and you have to raise and reset, a seal knock it off once. We do this for 10-12 hours a day just for fun, crazy I know, but it is all worth it when you hook into a really big King Salmon.

2011 Spring Turkey Hunt

I have been blessed with several wonderful friends that live just a few minutes out of the Spokane City limits, and it pleases me to know that a sportsman can still obtain permission to hunt on private land by simply asking permission. I truly appreciate this opportunity every spring to spend a couple of mornings Turkey hunting and listening to the sounds of nature. It thrills me to hear the cackle of a rooter pheasant, or the whistle of a Wood Duck, the vibrant hooks of Canada Geese and the majestic gobble of a distant wild turkey.

My second morning I had a marvelous hunt and gathered cherished memories that will stay with me for a lifetime. It was so exciting to set up my decoys and settle in under a mature ponderosa pine, and break the morning silence with several soft purrs and sweet love yelps. The tones from my slate and box call penetrated the soul of a love sick tom not far away. He responded with resounding gobbles off in the distance. It was amazing to watch him cautiously come in strutting and displaying for my hen decoys, posturing back and forth, pivoting his beautifully displayed fan and dragging his wings on the ground while he danced lazy figure 8’s. Eventually his curiosity got the best of him and he strutted within range of my turkey slayer, I placed the bead of my Remington Model 870 shotgun at the base of his head and squeezed the trigger. He folded instantly, he was a mature 4-year old tom with a 9 ½” beard and 1” spurs with an absolutely beautiful fan.

After 35 minutes a second tom was gobbling up high on the ridge east of my location. I was able to maneuver up past the pond and get within 60 yards of him before I started to call to him with some sweet love yelps. I hunkered up beside a big ponderosa pine, there was a flat lying ridge between us. I would yelp and he would gobble, we exchanged a sweet love serenade and then I shut up and waited for him to investigate. He was very curious as to where those love yelps were coming from. I could tell he was moving towards me for I could hear him drumming and dragging his wings on the ground, and then the silence would be broken with a vibrant gobble. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up with excitement. Before long I could see the white tips of his fanned out tail moving slowly towards me. He appeared in full strut not more than 20 yards away with his head blazing in deep red with a brilliant blue and white head cap.


His curiosity got the best of him when he finally let down his fan and stretch out his neck looking for his new lover. Patiently I was already looking down my shotgun barrel waiting for him to do just that, the silence was broken with a resounding boom, and I filled my 2nd turkey tag of the 2011 Spring Turkey Season.

He was a 3 year old magnificent bird weighing 20+ pounds, with a 9” beard and 3/4” spurs. His tail was beautiful with characteristic Merriam markings of white tips and white buff feather patch on his fan. It was truly a very enjoyable morning.


Turkey Hunting is a passion of mine, I have been very fortunate to have been able to hunt them now for over 30 years. I look forward to the first gobble each spring after the long cold months of winter. Thank you for letting me rekindle that crazy passion of mine.

Best Regards,

Welcome to "Hunters Rut"

This is a digital journal of the activities of Ken and all the things he enjoys doing. Here you will be able to keep up with all of his adventures throughout the year.

Big game and upland bird hunting to fishing and photography, this will be the place to see the outdoors through the eyes of a true sportsman



These are just a few snapshots into the last year of his life. Deer hunting and fishing in Washington state.


Pheasant hunting from South Dakota to the Northwest


Brilliant Photos from all over North America

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