Central Kansas Report

[kansaslabman]

Hunted yesterday all day long in central KS near Great Bend.
Our group had about 15 people, some quit early and some came in late. We shot 17 pheasants and about 7 quail. This was all private land of crp next to a mix of different crops. Mostly cut.
I didn’t hunt last year but the group said they shot about three times as much pheasants.
The biggest flush we saw was about 20 pheasants but that was not on our land. that was a huge crp field next to cut crop.
On our land the biggest flush was probably 7 birds. Lot of walking for just one bird here and there.
There wasn’t many roosters that got by us since we were walking close together.

 

[akp]

one thing we noticed.... every single flush was a single pheasant. No multiples at all.

 

[vrepola]

Very few flushes with more than 4-7 birds all weekend. The birds are not bunched up at all.

 

[kansaslabman]

Very few flushes with more than 4-7 birds all weekend. The birds are not bunched up at all.

Did you also hunt around central Kansas?

 

[kansaslabman]

Did you also hunt around central Kansas?

 

[kansaslabman]

one thing we noticed.... every single flush was a single pheasant. No multiples at all.

Did you also hunt around central Kansas?

 

[fsentkilr]

I haven't got to go yet as we still have beans to cut and are waiting for the sun to shine so we can finish. A friend hunted near Great Bend. They had 8 guys and shot 25 roosters and 10 quail on Saturday. He said the numbers they saw were similar to last year, but there is quite a bit of standing crop where they were and he thinks a lot of the birds are still in it.

 

[akp]

More west of central but not far.

 

[vrepola]

Did you also hunt around central Kansas?

North Centeral. From what I can see the bird numbers where I hunted were up and when all the crop comes out it should be better.

 

[duckn66]

I haven't got to go yet as we still have beans to cut and are waiting for the sun to shine so we can finish. A friend hunted near Great Bend. They had 8 guys and shot 25 roosters and 10 quail on Saturday. He said the numbers they saw were similar to last year, but there is quite a bit of standing crop where they were and he thinks a lot of the birds are still in it.

Think I know who that is. If same guy he should turn off his location setting on his fb page before his sweet spot gets over run with people.

I dislike specific locations being given out but maybe that's just me.

 

[fsentkilr]

Think I know who that is. If same guy he should turn off his location setting on his fb page before his sweet spot gets over run with people.

I dislike specific locations being given out but maybe that's just me.

This guy isn't on facebook so it's not the same guy. Saying near Great Bend is being pretty general without giving a direction. I just talked to another friend who lives in Clay Center. They had a good hunt as well, 3 guys hunted Saturday 8 roosters and 11 quail, one of them is getting up there in years and doesn't hunt a lot. Sunday they hunted until noon and killed 3 roosters and 5 quail. He said he saw more birds than last year but they were extremely wild. I hope to get some sunshine later this week and finish the last little dab of beans and then make my way west. I will be staying in Dodge and hunting Ness, Ford, Hodgeman, Finney, Lane and Scott counties. Talking to my friends who farm in the area I hope to have a good hunt, they saw more birds harvesting milo than the last several years. They are seeing a lot of young birds without a lot of color yet. My friend is 55 years old and lives in the house he was born in, and he says there is more quail than he has ever seen. Of course this isn't a hot bed for quail hunting, but I shot more quail there last year than the 20 years I have hunted there.

 

[BritChaser]

I dislike specific locations being given out but maybe that's just me.

Not just you. I like to hoard my info too.

 

[vrepola]

Don't blame you guys on hoarding info.

 

[duckn66]

If someone PM's me I'll give them good info and all I ask is keep it off the www. Used to not be as big of a deal but nowadays the first question asked is "where did you hunt"? I see that on fb all the time. I've pm'd people on here a few times pointing them in the right direction with my very limited knowledge base of upland hunting.

 

[fsentkilr]

I guess I still don't see where giving a general description like Great Bend is giving anything away, it's not like I am giving the legal description or the WIHA tract number. Where these guys hunted is actually a pretty good distance from Great Bend, but it's the closest town of any size. It could have been east,west,north or south from a mile to 50 miles away. I probably also don't worry about it as much as some, because I hunt almost all private ground.

 

[turtle]

Fsentkilr I stayed in Hays this weekend. Hunting was great. Hope your trip goes good. Saw a covey west of your house yesterday when we went by

 

[fsentkilr]

Fsentkilr I stayed in Hays this weekend. Hunting was great. Hope your trip goes good. Saw a covey west of your house yesterday when we went by

Yes we have good quail numbers this year. There are several coveys on the section where I live. There is a nice covey staying in the wind break in my yard. My brother shot a limit both days over the weekend and didn't hunt that long.

 

[vrepola]

There really is no harm in saying a near by city. I agree. I don't give cities I hunt near but will to the right couple of people I have pm'd with a few times. Usually have 2-4 pieces around a town that hold birds but may be miles between them.

 

[Point!]

Hunted south central. Bird pheasant numbers down significantly from last year. Saw about the same number of coveys, but most had fewer birds than last year. Saw 12 pheasants in first 3 days. Crops out. Private land good habitat. My guess is too much rain at the wrong time. Hunted too large of an area for hail to be the only explanation.

On a brighter note, ran in to a group of three from Indiana that had a string of 9 dogs. They had moved 3 coveys of quail and saw 6 pheasants in the first two days. They thought they were in heaven and couldn't wait to hunt the rest of the week. Good bird numbers are in the eye of the beholder.

I was surprised at the number of fields that had been cut for hay. It's pretty obvious that the loss of acres in the CRP is going to show up substantially next year.

 

[duckn66]

Think I know who that is. If same guy he should turn off his location setting on his fb page before his sweet spot gets over run with people.

I dislike specific locations being given out but maybe that's just me.

If it's not your friend fsentkilr then he must have shot the exact same number of birds in central Kansas or he read this forum. I noticed yesterday his location on his fb page was changed to Kansas City.

There is a thread on another forum I follow about telling about where your shooting ducks. It's bad enough letting people know where your hunting due to YOU having competition. But stop and think about the. It's too. They need some relief from hunting pressure as well. So when you give out specific spots your screwing over much more than other hunters. You may not think it's a big deal because where you quail hunt at is almost all private and tough to get permission on due to the fact that it's not far from KC and farmers there have learned their lessons.