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This has been a weird year. I'm used to seeing smallish family groups at this time of year, anywhere from 3-10ish. There's always a few singles, but it's mostly the smaller groups. Big flocks form up when it gets cold, and they get really difficult to approach on foot. All that is what I...

I expect to see cattle on the pastures I hunt, but those pastures can also be grazed too heavily to be good chicken habitat. I hunted a full section of pasture on Saturday that wasn't quite right. It was subdivided into 4 parts with by an electric wire, One part looked like it had been rested...

Great points about proximity of habitat to population centers and wider range of suitable habitat. There are entire states that used to offer reasonable or even good, albeit not great, upland hunting where recreational hunting opportunities are very, very slim. The meat issue is interesting...

There's lots of discussion on here about deer hunting: leases crowding out public access programs and private access, safety issues during the rifle season, priorities of the state wildlife agencies, inflated property values, deer hunters' disregard for the rights of other hunters to use public...

One of my family's tenants has enrolled 5-6 quarters worth of corners (quarters that he owns, not my family). He first planted them in late winter of 2022. Establishment was so bad that NRCS made him replant this past spring. I'll make a trip to look at them in the next week or so. When we...

Yes and no. The "forecast" is KDWP's interpretation of the data. Others might say "spin on the data." I don't read it much, and I don't really remember it having numbers. I read the underlying brood survey. The brood survey itself is available here...

I know that guy too. He knows more about what's good pheasant habitat in Kansas than anyone. He spent a day with me once looking at my family's ground because I asked him to make some recommendations. Hail's a killer for sure when broods are young, but we didn't get any during the critical...

To be sure it's not very good, but I'm not sure it's as gloomy as everyone is making it out to be. There's less habitat than there was, that's undeniable. Weather was unfavorable during nesting season; but generally favorable for brood-rearing. That's also undeniable. Where there is habitat...

I read it this morning. While it wasn't surprising, it was still depressing.

Sunlight (both time of day and sky condition), wind, and humidity are factors. The coat and condition of the dog is also a huge factor. My vizslas are in decent good shape and have typically short hair, but my friend's Griff had a coat typical for that breed and does not get the exercise mine...

We connected on a couple this weekend too. It was too hot to hunt for long, we were back at the truck at about 10:45. I favor pastures with multiple ponds and still carry water with me for both me and the dogs. A little shade here and there is a good thing too. This weekend will probably be...

Wheat stubble can be great. It just has to be tall enough. These days that means a stripper header on the combine. Back when I started hunting--1980--that wasn't the case. The more weeds the better. In fact, one of the more memorable walks I've had in the last few years was the edge of a...

Off the topic of chick sightings, but on-topic of stripper heads. My normal hunting grounds are south and maybe a bit east of westksbowhunter and the farmers I know have experimented with stripper heads but don't use them much. They talk about all the extra standing straw causing problems...

I totally forgot about my most recent encounter. I was wade fishing for smallmouth on a river in Missouri. It was a public access site just across the line from Oklahoma. The day before I had bought a 1-day non-res license for the day I was fishing via the Missouri app. While I'm fishing a...

Only maybe 3 or 4 in 40+ years of hunting and only 1 in the same time while fishing. Only one encounter stands out from at least 10 years ago. It was after opening weekend. A group of maybe 4 of us were hunting a CRP quarter that was owned by one of our tenants. It was posted, I may have...

Good to know.

All that's been written about the cover to target and burning boot leather is correct. I find them most close to, but not on, the ridge tops. IMO comments about them leaving to feed in the morning are indeed accurate, but only once the bugs are dead. At this time of year I don't think they...

We went out Saturday and gave it about 3 hours. The dogs, well one of mine anyway, spent the first 1.5 hours running around like she'd been cooped up since the season closed in January. She blew through a group of 4 way too far out, then another group of 4 flushed wild, and then she blew...

We were quite a ways from Norton, maybe 120 miles. 3 of us shot our limits. I was there early to spray some locust trees, etc., and started hunting about 5. #15 fell at 6:15. My buddy and his son showed up about 6 and they finished up with about 5-10 minutes to spare. We were hunting a pond...

Stayed there last year and hunted in the general vicinity for 3 days all on public land. I think that whole north-south corridor from Aberdeen to Mitchell gets hunted pretty hard. We found birds every time we got out of the truck, and had a great time. Competition from other hunters wasn't...