Birds are still out there...

matto

Well-known member
Lots of negativity on the thread about hanging it up, so I thought I would tell my story from yesterday.

My hunting buddies were booked up this weekend so two of went yesterday for the last hunt of the season. Working my landowner network I got permission to hunt a great looking half section of private ground. Even though it's posted the out-of-state owner gave me permission. But he made it very clear that he was only giving permission for one hunt and asked me to make sure the rest of my party understood. Don't know if anyone else has hunted it this year, with or without permission. Anyway, the bird count on that half section was very high. We ended up with 3. A short 15 minute drive brought us to another small private field. 2 more birds killed there. 3 miles further was a chance at a 6th bird, but my friend and I both missed twice. Had to hang it up after that, needed to be back in Wichita for the George Strait concert last night.

Overall a great end to my season, but with two regrets. First, it would have been nice to hunt another field or two. Second, that last bird that we both missed MAY HAVE BEEN the last wild rooster pointed by my 12 year-old Vizlsa. I'm still disappointed in myself. I hope and prayer for at least part of another season, but November is long way away and father time is undefeated. Almost makes me want to cough up for a preserve day in the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to November...
 
Glad you had some late season success!

On a related note, we drove up from Texas to Wichita to see George Strait in concert. Our daughter had never seen him in concert, and the tickets for Wichita were less than 1/3 the price for one of his concerts in Fort Worth, Texas. At 67 years young, he still puts on a heck of a show.
 
Sounds like we should’ve had a UPH members get together at the concert.
 
Sitting here at hotel in Dodge. Im staying through the end of the season. I hunted one spot yesterday evening and shot 2 and I hunted half a day today and shot 3. I found some birds this evening on WIHA that I will be hunting tomorrow. I saw 7 roosters fly out in it, and they didn't act overly smart. I guess I will find out in the morning.
 
I have also read the "Thinking of Hanging it up Thread". I do understand the thoughts and opinions on that thread. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I was not able to hunt this season until this past weekend. Reading that thread had me skeptical as I headed out Friday morning. I left home with my 27 year old son on Friday around 6:00am. We arrived in Scott City around 12:30. Checked in to the motel and headed out to hunt some WIHA. We moved about a dozen hens Friday afternoon with some nice work from my 3 year old lab. Saw one rooster along the road. My 25 year old son and a buddy of his came in Friday evening. We hunted WIHA all day Saturday primarily in Lane County. We killed 4 roosters and one quail. I had one rooster come up right in front of me and my gun didn't fire. That one and one other that one of my boys missed were the only birds that should've been killed that weren't. We probably saw 25 hens and 8 to 10 roosters total. We got up two small coveys of quail. I never shot at the quail. The boys missed all shots on the first covey and my 25 year old killed one on the second covey rise. We didn't chase the singles as the coveys were small. My son's buddy left Saturday night. It was his first pheasant hunt. He did a nice job with safety and really enjoyed himself. Sunday morning we drove to Oakley to hunt private ground. Not a lot of ground, but we hunted 2 shelter belts and 4 pivot corners. We moved birds in all spots. The pheasants were either really wild or holding very tight. My 25 year old killed one quail. Again, a small covey so we didn't chase singles. We shot 2 roosters and were only able to recover one. All in all it was a great weekend and I was pleased with the number of birds we saw. I am committed to doing some off season scouting this year and getting after it more consistently next season. I like to kill birds as much as the next guy, but spending a quality weekend with my sons and watching the dog work was well worth the trip. I think we also hooked a new hunter who will be wanting to join us again next year.
 
I too finished my KS season this past weekend. Over the two days of hunting I was encouraged with the amount of of pheasant and quail that will be next years breeding stock. It was crazy to see how many bird hunters turned out for the last weekend. All total I spent 5 weekends in the great state of Kansas home of sunshine, sunflowers and .......fantastic people!!! Cant wait for next year. Thanks Kansas!!!!
 
I too finished my KS season this past weekend. Over the two days of hunting I was encouraged with the amount of of pheasant and quail that will be next years breeding stock. It was crazy to see how many bird hunters turned out for the last weekend. All total I spent 5 weekends in the great state of Kansas home of sunshine, sunflowers and .......fantastic people!!! Cant wait for next year. Thanks Kansas!!!!

That's interesting about all the hunters. We didn't see any other hunters until we stopped at the gas station just off I-70 in Oakley before heading home yesterday. There was a group with Colorado tags and a dog trailer that appeared to hold 6 dogs and a whole bunch of gear. Didn't get a chance to chat with them.
 
We saw one other group on Friday. Didn't notice the plates to see what state they were from.

I was out in Dodge a few weeks before, the weekend of 1/11-1/12, and I was surprised by the number of hunters I saw at the hotel and out in field. The numbers show pretty clearly that there are fewer hunters than in the past, but it seems we've lost the casual/occasional hunters. If anything, there may be more dedicated hunters. Certainly there are more hunters comfortable with pay-to-play and leasing.
 
I was in NWKS two weekends ago and was surprised with the amount of hunters we ran into. There’s always some other groups of hunters around, but they were all over the place that weekend. The motel we stayed at was almost completely booked full of hunters.
 
I was in NWKS two weekends ago and was surprised with the amount of hunters we ran into. There’s always some other groups of hunters around, but they were all over the place that weekend. The motel we stayed at was almost completely booked full of hunters.


This is what happens when everyone blabs their mouth online. Luckily the places I like to go haven't been talked about much so not much competition.
 
This is what happens when everyone blabs their mouth online. Luckily the places I like to go haven't been talked about much so not much competition.
I make a handful of trips to the same area every year, and there generally aren’t too many other hunters around. Since it was near the end of the season, I figured it was people going out for a final hoorah.
 
I make a handful of trips to the same area every year, and there generally aren’t too many other hunters around. Since it was near the end of the season, I figured it was people going out for a final hoorah.



Maybe - but it amazes me on social media how folks blab about where they go - we've seen upland birds go from great in the 90s/00s to the crapper now in short order - Social media makes it even easier for folks to hotspot - NW KS is one of the ones I've seen talked about A LOT! (I'm not saying you did this - just my hypothesis as to why you saw so many people)
 
Maybe - but it amazes me on social media how folks blab about where they go - we've seen upland birds go from great in the 90s/00s to the crapper now in short order - Social media makes it even easier for folks to hotspot - NW KS is one of the ones I've seen talked about A LOT! (I'm not saying you did this - just my hypothesis as to why you saw so many people)

I don't see people providing specific locations on this site, but maybe I have missed it. I provided a recap of my hunt from last weekend on this thread. I've re-read my post, and I don't think anything I wrote would make someone want to get out and go where I was, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't think social media posts have an effect on bird numbers. I would never give away any honey holes. Unfortunately, I don't have any these days as most of my hunting is on WIHA. I personally enjoy reading about other guys hunts. Not to try and figure out where to go but to understand what other guys enjoy about being afield.
 
I don't see people providing specific locations on this site, but maybe I have missed it. I provided a recap of my hunt from last weekend on this thread. I've re-read my post, and I don't think anything I wrote would make someone want to get out and go where I was, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't think social media posts have an effect on bird numbers. I would never give away any honey holes. Unfortunately, I don't have any these days as most of my hunting is on WIHA. I personally enjoy reading about other guys hunts. Not to try and figure out where to go but to understand what other guys enjoy about being afield.

This site has gotten better about not providing locations, but it's not hard to dig up info and figure out the general area in which most guys hunt (Especially if you've been on here long enough). I will tell you last weekend I made a trip to a new area I had never been and I went because of reading some stuff on this website. Ended up getting into more birds than I had all season. I shot my 4 bird limit by 8:30 on Saturday!
 
I dont think giving specific locations effects the bird populations as much as it effects the number of people that will hunt that area. The birds will just move to a different location. The area I hunt has been mentioned on this site and other sites and the numbers of hunters I have seen has increased drastically. Especially out of state hunters and especially during the holidays and holiday weekends. Which is good for the local economy and does not bother me because I hunt only private ground. People read the posts and look for starting spots which is a good way to do it if you are not familiar with the area.

Gary
 
Anybody that hunts and talks to other hunters will find out where the birds are regardless of social media. I shot a limit by 10 this morning on a WIHA area that has been hunted a lot. I know because I drive by it twice a day and have seen people in there a lot. This morning I saw a rooster fly out in it so I went to the pen and got my dogs and went back. I saw probably 12 roosters and 3 dozen hens. All four roosters I shot were pointed. One of them I actually saw his tail feathers sticking out of the snow before I kicked him up. I guess I don't buy that more hunters is the problem in the areas that don't have birds. I think weather and habitat have more to do with it.
 
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