Last hunt at my honey hole

M

MAB7799

Member
Hunted a spot for the last 15 years, have taken a few guys off this site there. Several of my posted videos came from that spot. Farmer always planted milo and plum thickets were plentiful. Last year on 250 acres it held 10-12 coveys. I only hunt it a few a year normally and would always get a limit. This year I went to hunt it and the farmer had put up electric fences and had cows everywhere. No crops planted this year, just grass for cows. All the plum thickets had been trampled, all grass grubbed down to nothing. All birds gone except 1 covey hanging on. The one covey that was left was by an old cabin that normally is uninhabited. This year it had an old lady living in it. Of course she comes out with a glock 9mm telling me to get the hell out of there and she doesn't allow hunting on her 10 acres.... crazy old bat. I wasn't on her 10 acres I was on the other side. She looked like she was in there smoking meth or doing crack.

Crazy how fast things can change for the birds. I'm glad I got to take my dad there for our first ever hunt together last year.(all my family lives in Alabama) My 2 brothers were coming to hunt with me for the first time ever this year and I was planning on taking them there. Have to figure something else out now.
 
That hAppened to one of my pheasant spots.The farmer let his brother put his cows on his section.Basically ruined the whole place for birds.Huge bummer.
 
MAB7799 said:
Yup, no exaggeration. They all gone now though... well all except 1 covey.
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Had the same thing happen around Kinsley. Guy had a few quarters of ground - most of it I could hunt but never did and never needed to - a half section and a quarter all contiguous - 2-4 very large coveys religiously - prairie chickens and Lord knows how many pheasants on this ground - and 1/4 of it was usually corn the rest pasture, 20 acres of crp and crp corners on the corn circle. About 10 yrs that lasted - then he tore out the crp - or rather refenced it for the cows - they mowed it down to dirt - crp corners were there but all the neighbors tore out their crp - birds still a few around but not worth hunting anymore. Guy doesnt know where the birds went. Nicest farmer I'd ever met - spent a good chunk of college 2000 to mid 00's there and then a few years when I moved back to Wichita - think it went down the toilet about 2010 if I recall. I could literally spend all day on 320 acres and did many many times and be consistently in birds a large chunk of the time - mind you plenty of hens but I loved the dog work. Scary how fast things change when the habitat recipe is not present for upland birds. Just never felt it was my place to make any suggestions - he had some other places that were marginal but were always overgrazed so held nothing - just never knew how to broach the subject of habitat as I do not understand how it would affect his bottomline. One of those frustrating things.
 
I've gotten to the point, where I don't hunt places cattle have been.It just isn't worth the time.You might see a few hens, in a whole section of ground.They really ruin the bird cover.
 
Maybe the cows are just temporary. If he rotates them off, the result might be similar to a Spring burn, where the old dead grass is gone and new plants get a chance to come up. I hope that's the case for you.
 
Hope it ownly temporary , I have the same thing happen . Farming practices change for better and for the worse.often the result is less habitat.

On a positive note out west we hunted a Suedan Feild ( locals call feed feild ) that had laid over before it could get harvested . We moved about 60 pheasants and harvested 7 roosters . I am sure it will be wheat or beans nest year .
 
s.davis said:
Tell him. You don’t have to berate him or accuse him or guilt trip him, but nothing is gained by pussy-footing around.
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I did tell him. We have been friends for years and he asked how the hunt went, I told him about the cows/lack of food/etc.
 
s.davis said:
Tell him. You don’t have to berate him or accuse him or guilt trip him, but nothing is gained by pussy-footing around.
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True - but the fine line I struggle with is he's let me hunt there out of his kindness - he doesnt hunt, never has per my knowledge and had never seen a prairie chicken until a few years ago I shot one and showed it to him - he was dead certain I'd be bringing him a hen pheasant :) He grew up there and wasnt sure what was what so it's not something he knows much about or seems to care to...second part of that is it's his land and I dont want to overstep boundaries - guess I've struggled how to bring it up - he's a korean war veteran and we have a significant difference in age - so I struggle with the whole respect your elders thing and keep your mouth shut thing too. I've had 2 or 3 farmers over the past few years that had great places then they changed their practices and they went to being bird heaven to bird wasteland rather quickly.
 
Best to drop it.

However it seems you have more than a casual relationship with him. It would be entirely proper to ask him to refer you to someone he may know that has ground you could hunt. Similar to what he had. Maybe make a call for you. Give him a gift card as a thank you for past hunts. Or maybe you did at the time.
 
marsingbob said:
You could offer to pay him the revenue the cows produce.
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We talked about that. He planted milo the last several years and lost 4 cows last year due to bloat which was actually caused by the milo from what he told me, which is why he switched from milo to just straight grass this year. It is something he is considering. Haven't heard back yet on it though.
 
Interesting. I have cows out here in Idaho, but no milo in this area. I do not doubt what he is telling you but I am surprised it causes bloat. (I assume he grazed it in late fall/winter after the milo was combined.)
 
marsingbob said:
Interesting. I have cows out here in Idaho, but no milo in this area. I do not doubt what he is telling you but I am surprised it causes bloat. (I assume he grazed it in late fall/winter after the milo was combined.)
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Yes grazed after it was combined.
 
McFarmer said:
Best to drop it.

However it seems you have more than a casual relationship with him. It would be entirely proper to ask him to refer you to someone he may know that has ground you could hunt. Similar to what he had. Maybe make a call for you. Give him a gift card as a thank you for past hunts. Or maybe you did at the time.
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I always did - I call him once a year to chat - I didnt end up hunting his ground last year due to life events and moving.buying a business etc but called to catch up around this time. he still does have 80 acres and a quarter next door that always have birds - just not worth driving what is now 4-4.5 hours one way or so to hunt for about 6 hours...if I had other private ground around it'd be worth it but no WIHA worth a crap in the area anymore - it's all slowly went away the past 5-7 years or so. 2016 and before I was only 2 hrs away. I've wanted to help him around the farm and have casually mentioned it but he has a helper and it seemed I may get in the way. Not sure - I probably need to have called again around harvest -- I've tried to give him a goodie basket of sorts every year when i've always hunted in the past - think he first let me hunt back in 2001 or 2002 or so. Cant remember been so long ago but yet seems like yesterday. I'll have to ask him about the referral next time we talk. Have never asked him for one. He flew fighter jets in the Korean war - can't remember which one. Half the time I enjoy learning the farmers stories - some have had some pretty interesting ones. Few others I've yet to learn or maybe never will.


Sorry for hijacking the thread Mark - it's just I can relate - and apologize for the run on and fragmented sentences above - just typed the thoughts out above as they came to me.
 
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s.davis said:
Like hell it is. A man too sensitive to hear the truth ain't worth talking to again, anyway.
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The rest of my reply might help clarify my position.

However.

I guess if a person wanted to give me their opinion on something that isn’t any business of theirs they could look forward to no help from me. If a hunter came onto my land and berated me on my management practices they and most likely their fellow hunters would find it hard to gain any cooperation from me.

The author has handled it correctly in my opinion. Sometimes a person needs to know their place, for their own benefit.

I imagine there are differing opinions.
 
I'd feel like I owed a person kind enough to let me hunt their land, who then said something to me like "I don't understand where all the birds went" the favor of honesty, even if was uncomfortable. The rest of my reply also clarified my position, specifically that you needn't berate or guilt trip a farmer to be honest with him. Anybody who told me to "know my place" would also get a pretty honest response from me.
 
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