Oh that feeling...

Graybird66

Graybird66

New member
Is anyone else out there starting to get the "itch"? I don't know if its the colder weather or not, but I find myself watching the crop rows a little bit more everyday!
 
Yeah, I'm getting real itchy to get out there and I am seriously considering getting a new pup in August which is only adding to my excitement...I only wish our season started sooner.
 
I have been getting the itch real bad lately! I raise pheasants even, but something about this coming season just feels good! I am also trying to get a new pup i can take out this fall. From the amount of hens i saw out there last year, this year should shape up well as long as the weather treats them right. Also there should be a descent amount of quail, i saw a fair amount of them last december also.
 
Hope you Colorado guys have a good bird season this year. The birds should be good in much of Kansas this year. I have hunted for blue grouse in Colorado(yet to see one.) Just maybe this weekend I will see some Colorado birds as I travel your state.

Wishing you plenty of birds in front of your guns.
 
I heard Kansas last year was really good also, even the public walk-ins were full of birds, always good to hear! The blue grouse here are fun, but can be tricky, i have always found them way up high near timberline, and of course you always see them when you are elk hunting!
Lets hope the weather cooperates and our birds grow strong and healthy!
 
In a month, I will start hitting the preserves and warming up both the dog and I. In the mean time, we are starting the process of looking for a place in KS for 4-6 guns. We are trying to do this on a shoe string budget again this year. The two of us had such a good time last year in SD that we thought we would do it again, and stay a little closer to home.
 
SD is such an awesome hunting state! i worked for the forest service in Custer SD, and eventhough its on the west side of the state in the black hills, there was still a ton of grouse running around those hills, not to mention all the turkeys and other widlife! I heard so many good things about kansas last year also! lets hope it just keeps getting beter. I know eastern CO is poor compared to KS and SD but the numbers of birds seem to be slowly increasing, and i am very pleased with the quality of the walk-ins
 
I am glad to know Eastern Colorado is poor I will keep them for myelf. LOL. If I would travel out of state to look for upland hunting it would be for quail. Wiha in Colorado is piss poor in my opinion but private is good. WIHA should be better this year just due to the amount of moisture. I jumped 4 big broods on my property this morning in the eastern colorado hell. I feel pretty proud thats good on 70 acres. There may have been more but it was just me on a walk.
 
You are invited to walk right now. Hail has been bad in areas but brood size in non areas is big. consitent 8-10 it dang sure loooks awesome in areas.
 
Thats awesome to hear that the broods are up around the 8-10" size, at least now they can handle some more serious weather if it happens. Only a few more months until we really see how well they have done, and how the numbers really are doing! I just mailed a deposit today for my new dog, i cant wait for this fall to come and get the dogs out!
 
engpointerman said:
... Wiha in Colorado is piss poor in my opinion but private is good. WIHA should be better this year just due to the amount of moisture.
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I agree. Some walk in looks great, but a lot of it looks like a waste of time. I wish the DOW would do a better job managing the program and be more critical of the lands they enrole into the program. The problem is the bulk of their revenue doesn't come from pheasant hunting, it comes from big game hunting. So they don't want to devote more than minimal resources to upland bird hunting. But, if you know where to go, and have a few buddies out east, you can have a lot of fun.
 
I will also agree with that! There is a ton of walk ins out east but a large portion of them are a waste of time. Like it was said, the DOWs main revenue comes from big game hunting, not upland bird, so they do not invest a ton of time or money into the lands they have out east. They grabbed up as many walk-ins as they could, but didnt invest much time to evaluate the lands, and their potential.
I will admit i did find some that were good, and a ton that LOOK good but there are a lot that have absolutely nothing.
The DOW looks at neighboring states like kansas and nebraska, and their pheasant hunting numbers, and its no competition hands down, so i think it will be a long time until they put a lot of resources here to really beef up colorado's pheasant population and management. At least there are still organizations like pheasant forever and quail forever, trying to fight for what they can get
 
I for one really can't complain about the evolution of the CDOW Walk ins. I remember back when I was in middle school (15 years ago..sheesh) having to drive to NE for decent hunting. There were always a few birds to be found south of Holyoke but NOTHING like the numbers we have these days. I know that more landowners out east are becoming increasingly accommodating to pheasant hunters (both in agricultural practice and land use) and I have to assume that it is due to some sort of trickle down economics.
Many of the towns out east are realizing that hunters bring a significant amount of revenue and it is certainly a much more welcoming atmosphere than it has been in the past. I can only hope that the trend continues and that we have increasing numbers of hunter days.
I do agree that there are certainly plenty of worthless walk-ins from year to year but my guess is that a good portion of those properties were leftover from the previous years and have since been cultivated or scraped.
Part of the problem in Colorado, as I see it, is the fact that our farming practices seem to differ from other more pheasant friendly states. If you visist SD, NE, KS you will notice that burrow ditches are left rather than farming all the way to the roadside, wheat stubble isn't usually cut to the ground, and there is just waaay more corn and sunflower.
Either way, I think that Colorado is a fine state to hunt roosters, even if it means walking 10 miles a day!!!
 
I do totally agree with you also, over the years colorado has increased its pheasant numbers for sure. And when you visit holyoke or any eastern town during hunting season you notice how alive the town become, advertising for the hunters, you can tell that hunting brings life and revenue to the eastern plains! i totally notice the difference in farming, part of my family own a farm in montana, and just like winchester 21 said, pheasant states tend to leave their burrow ditches alone, i have seen different practices here.

No matter how behind CO pheasant numbers are from other surrounding states, i still love to hunt it. The feel of bagging a CO rooster on a walk-in has a really rewarding feeling!
 
Oh, don't get me wrong fellas. I definitely am not complaining about the hunting here in Colorado. I love it! I just wish DOW would devote more resources to upland hunting. Maybe with enough pressure from guys like us, and continued success out east, things will begin to change.
 
jtaylor2 said:
What are the WIHA areas like around Ft. Morgan?
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I hunted around Fort Morgan a couple of years ago and found a Rooster. I didn't try anything last year, but heard it was good south of town. I usually head further east, but maybe that's foolish on my part.
 
If I can't make it all the way out east I will head south of Ft. Morgan. There aren't many walk in areas but there are certainly birds to be found in isolated areas. After snow fall is most efficient because at least you can see what activity exists in a field and not waste too much time. I have limited out around there on several occasions so it is certainly not an area to discount.
 
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