Bird Stories

kansasbrittany

kansasbrittany

Banned
Anyone living in pheasant country that would like to tell us a bird story? Until the kids came along and my Septembers/Octobers were free, I always got out to the pheasants' primary range for a pre-season scouting trip. These days I rely on relayed information from my dad who is NOT a bird hunter. So, for those of you who've been out there scouting, or dove hunting, or farming or just living there; do you have any bird stories to tell? I'm not looking for reports of 100's, I'm just as interested in hearing that you saw 3 young-of-the-year roosters in a road-ditch or whatever. Pics would be icing on the cake.
 
Two weeks ago I took a short walk,just me no dog, in the 12 acres I let go to fallow this year and jumped 6 young of the year birds 3 roosters and 3 hens, good looking young birds.:thumbsup: Man it is dry out there:eek:
 
KB, I am in the same boat as you, but I may have some news shortly. My buddy will let me know what he see's when cutting milo. Hope to have news as soon as he starts cuttin. Not expecting great reports,but any are better than no reports::) Just tryin to keep the faith:thumbsup:

Kick'em Up!
 
SDJIM said:
Two weeks ago I took a short walk,just me no dog, in the 12 acres I let go to fallow this year and jumped 6 young of the year birds 3 roosters and 3 hens, good looking young birds.:thumbsup: Man it is dry out there:eek:
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This is exactly what I'm after; something to feed my day-dreams:thumbsup:
 
I'm going out to a land auction in Garden Monday. I will drive some back roads and talk to my friend cutting milo and report back Wed. when I get home.
 
kick them up said:
KB, I am in the same boat as you, but I may have some news shortly. My buddy will let me know what he see's when cutting milo. Hope to have news as soon as he starts cuttin. Not expecting great reports,but any are better than no reports::) Just tryin to keep the faith:thumbsup:

Kick'em Up!
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I'm still keepin' the faith. I have faith that we'll still be able to at least see what we're after this fall/winter. Even if I hear that someone cut a 40 acre milo patch and only saw 4 pheasants, I can still envision a combine rolling through a W KS field, kicking up a couple of birds.

I'm optimistic that this year many hunters will be discouraged and that maybe, just maybe, I can walk some WIHA parcels that don't have heavy paths worn in them. I am certain that by December we won't encounter many hunters in our favorite areas. For now I'm expecting to hunt closer to home. If bird densities in W KS are gonna be similar to what's available in NE KS, I won't feel like I'm missing out on anything by hunting closer to home:thumbsup: Thanks for responding. I'm looking forward to hearing back from you:)
 
Took a ride in a combine yesterday cutting corn in NC KS and saw a pheasant or two running down the row ahead of us. It hasn't been good up there for several years -- not sure why. The combiner said none flushed out of about 120 acres of soybeans cut the day before.
 
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Sorry nothing good to report around Liberal. Went out driving and scouting one evening last week. I did not see a single bird. However there is still lots of corn standing and the beans and milo harvest hasnt started. Also took my dogs out Sun morn and worked several corners and never put a bird in the air. But I am still optimistic the farmers say there are more birds than last year. And I spoke to a friend last week who is in the country everyday and he is seeing birds around irrigated crops. My take is crp/walkin wont be great. Private land with grassy corners adjacent to circles may have some birds. But the overall numbers won't be anyways near a normal year.
 
I was in central kansas on monday and I saw two crossing the road. They were too far ahead of me to determine if they were roosters or hens.
 
Every night I've been taking the pup for a walk with my little girl around our neiborhood and in the pasture closse to the house. Every night we seem to bump into a covey of quail and then chase the singles. The kid gets so excited to see the pup point and then go again and again. I can't wait til they are both old enough to hunt together for real.
 
First hand confirmation of a wild rooster. He was sunning himself on the side of a hill.

Almost forgot to tell the location: Western Kansas.
 
Stock trailer full of mules as we are headed to Colorado. I tell my wife it is an elk hunt, but usually an expensive trail ride is what it ends up being. :)
 
Saw another rooster on the drive home this afternoon on the side of the highway.

He was dead.
 
I talked to a friend cutting milo in Ness County. They are seeing a few birds but not many. He said they have seen some in every milo field so at least there are some birds there. We need a mild winter and a good nesting season next year in the worst way.
 
No elk for 3 out of 4 of us. Brother in law shot a cow with his 30-06 and Nosler Partition handloads at 500 yards as measured with my GPS. One shot, dead right there, right at dusk as she crossed a meadow. His 4th DIY public land elk in 4 years.

It was hot out, barely below freezing in the mornings when we saddled up, then in the upper 60s or more during the day. They were holed up in the black timber. Dad and I saw 4 cows opening morning at 50 yards but it was too thick and we were breathing too hard to even think of taking a shot. On Tuesday I was walking black timber and got within 15 yards of a pair of spikes, but they need 4 points to a side to be legal. After they left me they went by dad who was sitting on a meadow, about 30 minutes later and a few hundred yards out. At least we saw a handful. Seeing one so close you can see him blink is enough to make you forget there isn't any air up there. Almost as good as having a pheasant flush at your feet. Almost.

Dad had a bull bugling at him as he toyed with it on a cow call. Said he played with it for 30 minutes, got it oFf the private ground and over the ridge, but never showed itself.

Weird season, they were still bugling, heard several down at lower elevation on private ground. Heard some guys were killing a few higher than we were at. The area we are on is mostly between 9 and 10 thousand feet. We probably should go higher, but not really set up to do it that way just yet.

We hunt unit 54 which is around Gunnison. Way more hunters on the trail we start out on this year than in the past. Reminded me of WIHA's on opening day of bird season. The first few times we didn't see near the hunters, this was my 3rd time, bro in laws 4th.
 
Sounds like a good time. I went elk hunting in CO once, just like you it was a DIY public land hunt. My hunting partner was a long time friend who now lives in Denver. It was the first time for both of us.

We absolutely got our butts kicked. He a nice herd scouted up for us, but a huge snowstorm the weekend before the season knocked them off the pattern. We never even saw a living elk. We didn't have the benefit of horses or mules, and we were hunting some pretty steep stuff. Physically we were prepared, but not mentally.

He has continued to hunt and is now seeing elk regularly. Twice he has suffered the "wrong tag in the pocket" curse. He still hasn't connected, but someone in his gorup does almost every year.

Someday I'll try again.

Sorry for the continued thread hijack--I haven't seen a living pheasant in about two weeks.
 
Sounds like a great hunting trip. Thanks for the WestKan intel.
 
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