Upland Inn
- Thread starter 870-Lefty
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akp
Active member
Does it really make sense that they have enough true wild birds to run guys like that over and over all season? That area has never recovered to what it was in the 2000s. Not even close. I'd bet they're released young or something like that to make them more wild. I know someone that hunts there every year and he says they fly well. Pretty sure Upland Inn used to post pics on here. If he's still around then maybe he will answer but I'd be skeptical that they're wild hatched birds.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
I think they use surrogators. I don’t know what all that entails. But I think the chicks are placed in the surrogator at a day old.
I think it’s a good hunt with plenty of opportunities for everyone.
I think it’s a good hunt with plenty of opportunities for everyone.
kick them up
Active member
I have hunted at Country Inn hunts and know Jason the owner. Yes, I believe they use surrogator's. That said, It is a top notch run facility with great native grass bird habitat with food plots in them and great flying birds. They follow the same dates for the KS upland season and follow the KS limits of for roosters.
By all means this is not a "wild bird" hunt. If you want a wild bird hunt call Chris at Gypsum Creek Outfitters, but I have no problem recommending Country inn hunts. It is also where American Bird Hunter films hunts.
This is where we filmed my late Lab Josie being a rockstar while testing the CZ 1012.
By all means this is not a "wild bird" hunt. If you want a wild bird hunt call Chris at Gypsum Creek Outfitters, but I have no problem recommending Country inn hunts. It is also where American Bird Hunter films hunts.
This is where we filmed my late Lab Josie being a rockstar while testing the CZ 1012.
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Nick
Active member
kick them up is spot on. It is a well run operation and a lot of fun. I've been there 3 times. The birds fly much better than the places that put them out the day of your hunt.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
I don't call those things a hunt, it's a "Shoot". If that is your thing, I am sure it is a top-notch place to go.
The owner is also the owner of the "the Surrogator" --
He may have good habitat on properties he manages - but with all the habitat loss (I'd guess 40-60% or more) in the past 20 years the general area has a fraction of the wild birds it used to.
And with them running people over it all season - you may be hunting birds that weren't caught in a pen and released per se - but they were likely propogated in their "surrogators." They should be honest about that.
I have hunted that area of KS a good bit over the years. Some of the properties we hunted butted up to Upland Inns. He does have great cover on his properties as did ours.. However, there have been times when we would not see a single bird on our property or the road and the very next day there would literally be 100 roosters on the gravel road. No hens, just standing there stupid. Hmm wonder how all those birds showed up over night. Of course we would get out and start hunting the property we had permission on and low and behold there were birds all over the place and the day before not a single one. Several times they would drive up, and the orange army of about 25 would start their march across the field, it was like a dang war zone. Did those guys have a good time ? I'm sure they did, but that's not the type of hunt I'm after.
some buddies and I tried to make a “last weekend of the season” trip to SD in Jan 2023. Unfortunately, the area we were planning to go was snowed under and we had to make a last minute change of destination.
A mutual friend of one of our group recommended Upland Inn. UI was able to accommodate our group of 5 for a two day hunt on short notice.
The lodging was subdivision style houses that appeared to sleep 10-12 hunters at a time. Since we only had 5 in our party, we stayed in a house with another smaller group.
Suppertime meals were delivered to each house every evening, and lunch was cafeteria style buffet in the main office building. I believe breakfast was also delivered to each house in the morning. The meals were great.
Our group of 5 was paired with another group of 5 (not the ones that stayed in the same house we stayed in) for a ten gun hunt paired up with a guide and several dogs. Our 10-man group hunted one field each day, which consisted of mostly grass with some sparse corn row food plots.
We decided not to bring our two dogs on account of the outfitter's "no dogs in the house policy" (which is certainly understandable). It is my understanding hunters are welcome to bring their dogs, but they had to stay at the outfitters kennel facility or in the client’s vehicles.
When I looked at the current rates a few days ago, the hunts are $570 per person per day for a group of 3-7, and $530 for groups of 8-30, which is up from when I went back in Janaury 2023.
If I was invited to go by clients or a vendor clients, I would go back.
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