How was it?

cheesy

Well-known member
6 guys. 4 dogs. Daylight to almost dark. All WIHA where we’ve shot limits in years past, 2 pheasants and 3 quail. Talked to two different farmers that said the numbers are just terrible. One said a month ago he was combining milo and was seeing birds a bit bigger than a quail. 81 degrees wasn’t good for the dogs either. Some strategic pond swimming helped that.
 
hot
we came out yesterday to scout out the LO farm, saw a lot of birds, 30-40 in one group, mostly roosters.
This morning, at sunrise, we stepped into the grass, 1/2 mile away we watched a few bunches of bird get up and fly into the milo, which we did not have permission on.( about 50-70 birds in all)

Over all, where we hunt at, bird numbers are way up from last season. If the weather had stayed cool, we think we would of had a hay day.
Wind is going to change tonight blow from the NE. maybe the will move back into the grass tomorrow.
Hope everyone had fun today, remember, it's not about how many.
 
6 guys. 4 dogs. Daylight to almost dark. All WIHA where we’ve shot limits in years past, 2 pheasants and 3 quail. Talked to two different farmers that said the numbers are just terrible. One said a month ago he was combining milo and was seeing birds a bit bigger than a quail. 81 degrees wasn’t good for the dogs either. Some strategic pond swimming helped that.

I had a similar experience. Hit ALL of my honey holes, both private and public. Walked 7.5 miles today and walked some of the best cover ever. Fallow milo fields, fallow wheat fields, CRP, you name it. 1 small covey of 10 quail and 1 hen pheasant. Dismal numbers.... Last year at these spots I had 6-8 coveys I could reliably get into and probably 15-20 phez. This year, nadda....
 
I had a wedding to attend so I didn’t make it out, but a buddy and a couple of his family members shot a limit of roosters this morning, reported good bird numbers in his AO.
 
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HOT!

Really pleased with numbers we saw. Definitely better than last two years. Landowner agreed that it was up in area. We did okay considering the conditions. Pretty sure it was the hottest temps I’ve hunted in. Will give it till noonish tomorrow then head back East. Heard a lot of shooting early.

Still not anywhere near say 2005 good but it was good enough for us to have a good time. We found birds on most spots.
 
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I am at home cutting beans, but 3 friends had a limit of roosters this morning before it got hot. All young birds, and a couple still had pin feathers. They also got a big rattlesnake. On another note, I saw more quail hunters here at home than I have in a long time. I don't know how they did, but I did hear quite a bit of shooting this morning while servicing the machines.
 
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Pleasantly surprised by the pheasants in the area I hunted, which is not a pheasant hot spot (anymore). Saw a lot of chickens. Quail were hard to get on, especially as the day got hotter.
 
Hunted with in an hour of Topeka an me and the Britts moved 4 coveys shooting was sub - Par , I had a legitimate chance at a limit but that didn’t happen . Saw no Pheasants
 
I think there were more snakes killed this week than any I ever remember hearing about. One of the guys I was hunting with stepped over one today. Heard of 3 dogs being bit just on fb. Alot of hunters out yesterday, not so many today.
 
7 guys 5 dogs on Saturday. The dogs wore out quickly in the heat. A couple spots were disappointing, one was fantastic. We quit about 3 because of the heat with 9 roosters. We shot all of them after lunch.

We relocated about 70 miles for Sunday. Same story. Some spots were disappointing, others were good. Quit at 1 with tired legs and worn out dogs. Only three roosters on Sunday. We also saw three coveys, but with groups that large we don't mess with quail.
 
Our group of 10 was fortunate to limit out on Sat. Was great to have my 3 sons nephew and 2 grandsons in the party. We also had a young teenager from Durango Co who along with my grandson had never hunted pheasants before. I was pleased that we did so well in spite of the weather I believe the temp topped out at 79 Sat afternoon. As a point of clarification these were all wild birds fair chase taken on private ground. Only bagged one young rooster that hadn’t completely turned yet. Also we killed them a 4 ft rattler on Sunday. In all my years of hunting pheasants in SW Kansas thiat was my first encounter.
 
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We had a rattler encounter on Sunday. One of our group was carrying an overheated dog back to shade and water and nearly stepped on one. He had his hands full, so the snake survived. No one was bit either. All my years of hunting SW Kansas that was the first encounter in our group too.
 
Our group of 5 saw a good number of pheasant scouting the night before. We took 18 total for 1 1/2 days hunting and we were happy with that considering the hot weather. All our birds were taken in wheat stubble or on the edge of CRP next to corn or milo. Quail look to be up as well. Minimal dog work due to tongues hanging out No snakes.
 
How did your group of 5 tackle the wheat stubble? We hit a little bit and the farmer said he had been seeing a bunch out in it. Just line up and go slow? Ours were all fairly big fields but it was deep stubble.

I was pretty conservative with my dogs on Saturday afternoon. Saw one snake in road.
 
AKP,

We had four guys in a U shape pattern and one guy blocking. The stubble was tall on the private ground we hunted.... I think they used a stripper head to harvest it.
 
Thanks for the reply. We may give that a try if we head back up after Christmas. I think they had used a stripper head on this stuff too. It was pretty deep. How far up ahead of your line were the two guys on the side?
 
I think there were more snakes killed this week than any I ever remember hearing about. One of the guys I was hunting with stepped over one today. Heard of 3 dogs being bit just on fb. Alot of hunters out yesterday, not so many today.


They better have made it to their holes/dens before yesterday -- lots of dead ones if they didnt.

I'd have to guess they were so active of course taking advantage of the warm weather and I'm guessing something in them could sense the weather change so on the move to get to their dens/holes before the cold front.

Only my hypothesis. I've had a dog bit on the head back in 2010 after Thanksgiving when it only got up to 50 degrees with a 20 or so plus wind and it having got down to 10 degrees the night before - so from what I've learned since then they dont "hibernate" per se - but will come out on warm days out of their dens to sun themselves -- the snake that bit my dog I can only assume was doing this (in an old prairie dog town -- the grass was really thick and about knee height -- buffalo grass - so blocked all the wind at ground level -- it was a really sunny day so the snake was taking advantage of the suns rays -- I always figured once they hibernated they did so for the winter - but seems that is not so.

I just try to avoid areas I feel would be a den site or if you come to a prairie dog town or something similar make damn sure the weather is nasty so they wont be out.
 
AKP,

25 to 30 yards. Just go slow and let the dogs work between the line and the flankers. you can also use a pickup to help block. We sometimes will turn on a football game, roll down the windows and turn it up loud. If your blocker is quiet the noise helps push the birds their direction.
 
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