kansasbrittany
Banned
We will do just that.
Looking forward to it! I may need to take Friday off and meet you then...the boy's really itchin' to get back on the mat and "eat" somebody
2nd weekend...
- Thread starter kansasbrittany
- Start date
We will do just that.
Looking forward to it! I may need to take Friday off and meet you then...the boy's really itchin' to get back on the mat and "eat" somebody
kansasbrittany
Banned
Good luck! I hope you find a couple coveys:thumbsup:
kansasbrittany
Banned
If you're not available, I probably won't make it there. We'll save 'em for next time:thumbsup:
That works for me..after seeing the dog work last weekend she said her own dog is an absolute. Who am i to argue with that logic haha. So we will be looking at a gsp puppy sunday to go along with my english setter who will be retiring at the end of this season since he can barely get through a field. He will now be my football watching buddy. That will be an excuse for a new pup of my own this spring lol
M. R. Byrd
Well-known member
The quail are wild quail but don't act wild. My hired man and I was checking cattle when he says there is a quail under the cedar tree. I stop the truck, get the camera to take the picture and the covey runs out of the weeds and under my truck. I had another un-noticed covey that let me work on an overflow on a stock tank for a few minutes before they flushed from under a cedar only six feet from me. I am going to have to educate some of these birds or they will be easy picking for predators. I like seeing and photographing the little buggers, but they need some education.
Bilbo Baggins
Active member
Enroll them at Ponderosa University over in Dodge City.
M. R. Byrd
Well-known member
The School of Hard Knocks maybe. I don't feed them so don't know why this covey is tame other than young.
wolfcreeknc
Active member
Hey KB,
How was the hunting today???
If Friday works for you and the boys lets do it! Won't be long until we are on the road heading your way...can't hardly wait.
Cheers to all,
Wolf
How was the hunting today???
If Friday works for you and the boys lets do it! Won't be long until we are on the road heading your way...can't hardly wait.
Cheers to all,
Wolf
kansasbrittany
Banned
It was good. We hardly put any birds in the bag (2 phez, 1 quail), but we saw some in each of the 3 counties we hunted. We watched a few groups hunt, 1 of which was on private land and doing well. We put over 500 miles on the truck this weekend, 50-80 of those were on back roads...you could've called several of those roads "Memory Lane". We didn't see pheasants on the roads at all.
We introduced someone new to the sport and had 2 "fresh snow days" in 2 different counties to do it in. He saw the beauty of the outdoors, the art of dog work, and experienced the reward of a weekend of tough walking. When asked what he thought of it he said, "I don't think its something I'd do alone, but I wanna get a shotgun so I can try it."
The boys continue to struggle to be ready at the right time. They get tired/bored quick and look at the ground a lot. If we'd been a group of 4 experienced hunters, we could've harvested 10 or more in a day and a half.
SO, by KS standards, not great hunting with 20+bird flushes, but fair hunting, with birds in places you'd expect them to be, and the occasional 3-bird flush.
Detailed reports coming to those who were promised as much, but you'll have to let me get a few things done, up to and including sleeping
CharBroiled
Active member
We only saw five quail yesterday among our 17 flakes of snow. Despite the lack of snow our group still shot 8 roosters. The birds were originally sitting tight but by noon, things seemed to have changed. I'll blame the weather.
Life is going to get in the way until after turkey day, I'm afraid, but we'll eventually be back out there.
Good luck to all of you who get to keep at it!
Life is going to get in the way until after turkey day, I'm afraid, but we'll eventually be back out there.
Good luck to all of you who get to keep at it!
SetterNut
New member
I got out today with my SIL and Ace's breeder. Indy is on the IR list for the next two weeks, cuts requiring staples, 3rd season in a row he is out in the first week of the season.
But it was actually a really good thing that Indy was not there, because it gave the young dogs a chance to find birds. Indy is a bird hog, big wheels and
Both of the young dogs pointed birds, had birds shot over them, and retrieved birds.
We hunted private ground, found 3 covey of quail, and had one big flush 25-30 of Pheasants out of a CRP patch. We have hunted this spot 3 years in a row, this was by far the most birds we have seen there.
But is was a big day for my SIL's setter pup, the lights came one.
But it was actually a really good thing that Indy was not there, because it gave the young dogs a chance to find birds. Indy is a bird hog, big wheels and
Both of the young dogs pointed birds, had birds shot over them, and retrieved birds.
We hunted private ground, found 3 covey of quail, and had one big flush 25-30 of Pheasants out of a CRP patch. We have hunted this spot 3 years in a row, this was by far the most birds we have seen there.
But is was a big day for my SIL's setter pup, the lights came one.
Jakeismydog2
Member
Glad to hear some of you had success this weekend. I thought we were going to be in for a great weekend of bird shooting, but we were not. We hunted some private land in North Central KS that we had never hunted before. In fact no one had hunted it in years according to the owner. This was some great habitat, really really great habitat. We hunted 4.5 hours with 3 guys and 4 dogs. We saw 1 rooster, 0 hens and 0 quail. It was baffling to us how the weather and habitat could be so good and yet find so little birds.
Sunday we hunted some public where I had good success on quail last year. After 3 hours and one hen pointed we were headed back to the truck. My buddy and I both pulled our phones out 50ft from the truck. Both wondering if we had enough time to hunt another field or if we needed to head home. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ox about snap his neck as he went on point. There was three rows of uncut milo along the path. As soon as he went on point a rooster flushed. My buddy managed to get a shot off while still holding his phone. He dropped his phone and finally connected on his third shot.
I wish I would have kept track over the years of how many birds we shot at the truck at the end of a hunt. Classic!
Sunday we hunted some public where I had good success on quail last year. After 3 hours and one hen pointed we were headed back to the truck. My buddy and I both pulled our phones out 50ft from the truck. Both wondering if we had enough time to hunt another field or if we needed to head home. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ox about snap his neck as he went on point. There was three rows of uncut milo along the path. As soon as he went on point a rooster flushed. My buddy managed to get a shot off while still holding his phone. He dropped his phone and finally connected on his third shot.
I wish I would have kept track over the years of how many birds we shot at the truck at the end of a hunt. Classic!
Jakeismydog2
Member
Those are really special days in the field.
An odd couple of days where I was as well. In Saturday's wind, two of us hit a field at sun up. Can't remember when I saw birds so skittish. Birds were flushing far ahead despite the field not being hunted yet this year. We saw a surprising number of birds. Only scratched down two, but they were both over points. Both late hatch birds. Number of birds seen was encouraging.
Hunted another field that actually had better habitat just a section away. Field hadn't been hunted this year. Spent two hours in the field and switched out a brace of dogs after 1 hour to keep them fresh. Only saw one bird, a rooster, that is now in my freezer. Can't figure out why one field had good numbers of birds an the other (better habitat) field didn't. No boot prints, no spent shells, no tire tracks. Just no birds.
Got lucky and hit a third field in the same area and finished out our limits. Birds held tight when the wind let up. Made for some fun hunting. All but one bird shot over points. Very few flushing ahead wild. Busted a huge covey of quail in an unlikely place (middle of thick crp) and was lucky enough to scratch down a double.
Like last weekend, never fired a shot on Sunday (today). Same area. Wind was tough. Saw a few, but couldn't get close. Thought they might hold given the cold temps. Hard day to be out and come up empty! On the up side, saw 0 hunters in the field today.
Point!
Hunted another field that actually had better habitat just a section away. Field hadn't been hunted this year. Spent two hours in the field and switched out a brace of dogs after 1 hour to keep them fresh. Only saw one bird, a rooster, that is now in my freezer. Can't figure out why one field had good numbers of birds an the other (better habitat) field didn't. No boot prints, no spent shells, no tire tracks. Just no birds.
Got lucky and hit a third field in the same area and finished out our limits. Birds held tight when the wind let up. Made for some fun hunting. All but one bird shot over points. Very few flushing ahead wild. Busted a huge covey of quail in an unlikely place (middle of thick crp) and was lucky enough to scratch down a double.
Like last weekend, never fired a shot on Sunday (today). Same area. Wind was tough. Saw a few, but couldn't get close. Thought they might hold given the cold temps. Hard day to be out and come up empty! On the up side, saw 0 hunters in the field today.
Point!
kansasbrittany
Banned
Had our group been comprised of experienced, hunting adults, with 1 or 2 more quality bird dogs, we could've scratched out a 2 or 3-man limit over a full day. My wirehair is very sick; he's being taken to the vet today. The GSP showed a hint of age for the first time ever, slowing down ever so slightly toward the end of a very full day 1.
Other bird hunters in the areas I was in were not doing very well. We saw a lot of groups driving in NC KS, but no tracks in the snow at any of the spots we hunted. Several groups drove by, but we only saw one group in the field. Not many of them were up before the sun, and I think the snow kept time afield short for many of them The waterfowl hunters up there were having a time! Sounded like a war on the water's edge. I took 2 roosters in the first 1.5hrs. Little did I know, those would be the only roosters we'd bag the rest of the weekend.
We headed south and west a couple hours to visit old friends and family. It didn't take long to drive out of the snow; it became very dry as we drove S. Along the way we stopped at a WIHA that a UPH friend told me about. As we neared the place, we saw 10 pheasants in a tree. The boys wanted to see 'em fly so they opened the truck door and away they went, then several others flushed from the grass. Must have been around 10 cocks cackling at once with lots of wing-beating sound to boot:thumbsup: In the boys' young minds, there must have been 50 in there:10sign: Anyway, we get to the WIHA I'd been told about and it was by far the nicest WIHA property I've ever seen. We flushed a covey of quail as soon as we got in there, then found a couple of singles. We took one of those quail, then headed further S.
We hit one WIHA in the next county that was good last year. The dog never even acted birdy and we never saw a bird. We watched a group across the road push a private patch and shoot 2 birds at the end of their final push.
The next morning we woke to 2-3" of fresh snow. I thought for sure it'd be a dandy of a day. The wirehair had to stay in the truck, but the GSP was ready to go. He went on point about 15 minutes into the field. He was just out of gun range, still as could be, but 3 roosters weren't willing to wait for us to get there and they busted...no shots taken. Little later my 12yo says, "Dad, Tate's standing right here." The kid's seen that dog on point 100 times. It must have been too early in the AM b/c it didn't register. Up comes the cackling rooster, flying straight away from him. He never shouldered his gun. He looked back at me after he realized what had happened, obviously embarrassed. By this time 2 more groups had "joined" us in the WIHA field we were in, so we headed for the truck. One more bird flushed wild, in range, but I was sleeping (like father, like son, right?). I took an angry desperation shot at about 38 yards, but didn't shake him. I immediately turned to the boys and explained why that was an irresponsible/poor shot choice.
We drove around a bit, looking at some old favorites and recalling stories of days gone by. We shook a big ole' farmer hand, just in case the area ever recovers We visited with some others in the area; my boys noticed right away the obvious signs of aging in our friends, family, and "the" farmer. BTW, said farmer has purchased another full section since I was there 2 years ago and he'll still receive more in subsidies this year than I'll make in the next 10 years
Other bird hunters in the areas I was in were not doing very well. We saw a lot of groups driving in NC KS, but no tracks in the snow at any of the spots we hunted. Several groups drove by, but we only saw one group in the field. Not many of them were up before the sun, and I think the snow kept time afield short for many of them
The waterfowl hunters up there were having a time! Sounded like a war on the water's edge. I took 2 roosters in the first 1.5hrs. Little did I know, those would be the only roosters we'd bag the rest of the weekend. We headed south and west a couple hours to visit old friends and family. It didn't take long to drive out of the snow; it became very dry as we drove S. Along the way we stopped at a WIHA that a UPH friend told me about. As we neared the place, we saw 10 pheasants in a tree. The boys wanted to see 'em fly so they opened the truck door and away they went, then several others flushed from the grass. Must have been around 10 cocks cackling at once with lots of wing-beating sound to boot:thumbsup: In the boys' young minds, there must have been 50 in there:10sign: Anyway, we get to the WIHA I'd been told about and it was by far the nicest WIHA property I've ever seen. We flushed a covey of quail as soon as we got in there, then found a couple of singles. We took one of those quail, then headed further S.
We hit one WIHA in the next county that was good last year. The dog never even acted birdy and we never saw a bird. We watched a group across the road push a private patch and shoot 2 birds at the end of their final push.
The next morning we woke to 2-3" of fresh snow. I thought for sure it'd be a dandy of a day. The wirehair had to stay in the truck, but the GSP was ready to go. He went on point about 15 minutes into the field. He was just out of gun range, still as could be, but 3 roosters weren't willing to wait for us to get there and they busted...no shots taken. Little later my 12yo says, "Dad, Tate's standing right here." The kid's seen that dog on point 100 times. It must have been too early in the AM b/c it didn't register. Up comes the cackling rooster, flying straight away from him. He never shouldered his gun. He looked back at me after he realized what had happened, obviously embarrassed. By this time 2 more groups had "joined" us in the WIHA field we were in, so we headed for the truck. One more bird flushed wild, in range, but I was sleeping (like father, like son, right?). I took an angry desperation shot at about 38 yards, but didn't shake him. I immediately turned to the boys and explained why that was an irresponsible/poor shot choice.
We drove around a bit, looking at some old favorites and recalling stories of days gone by. We shook a big ole' farmer hand, just in case the area ever recovers
We visited with some others in the area; my boys noticed right away the obvious signs of aging in our friends, family, and "the" farmer. BTW, said farmer has purchased another full section since I was there 2 years ago and he'll still receive more in subsidies this year than I'll make in the next 10 yearsSounds like a good day to me...i will be heading out sunday to find some quail in the northeast kansas region..maybe even see a rooster hopefully if i get far enough north..
Had our group been comprised of experienced, hunting adults, with 1 or 2 more quality bird dogs, we could've scratched out a 2 or 3-man limit over a full day. My wirehair is very sick; he's being taken to the vet today. The GSP showed a hint of age for the first time ever, slowing down ever so slightly toward the end of a very full day 1.
Other bird hunters in the areas I was in were not doing very well. We saw a lot of groups driving in NC KS, but no tracks in the snow at any of the spots we hunted. Several groups drove by, but we only saw one group in the field. Not many of them were up before the sun, and I think the snow kept time afield short for many of them
We headed south and west a couple hours to visit old friends and family. It didn't take long to drive out of the snow; it became very dry as we drove S. Along the way we stopped at a WIHA that a UPH friend told me about. As we neared the place, we saw 10 pheasants in a tree. The boys wanted to see 'em fly so they opened the truck door and away they went, then several others flushed from the grass. Must have been around 10 cocks cackling at once with lots of wing-beating sound to boot:thumbsup: In the boys' young minds, there must have been 50 in there:10sign: Anyway, we get to the WIHA I'd been told about and it was by far the nicest WIHA property I've ever seen. We flushed a covey of quail as soon as we got in there, then found a couple of singles. We took one of those quail, then headed further S.
We hit one WIHA in the next county that was good last year. The dog never even acted birdy and we never saw a bird. We watched a group across the road push a private patch and shoot 2 birds at the end of their final push.
The next morning we woke to 2-3" of fresh snow. I thought for sure it'd be a dandy of a day. The wirehair had to stay in the truck, but the GSP was ready to go. He went on point about 15 minutes into the field. He was just out of gun range, still as could be, but 3 roosters weren't willing to wait for us to get there and they busted...no shots taken. Little later my 12yo says, "Dad, Tate's standing right here." The kid's seen that dog on point 100 times. It must have been too early in the AM b/c it didn't register. Up comes the cackling rooster, flying straight away from him. He never shouldered his gun. He looked back at me after he realized what had happened, obviously embarrassed. By this time 2 more groups had "joined" us in the WIHA field we were in, so we headed for the truck. One more bird flushed wild, in range, but I was sleeping (like father, like son, right?). I took an angry desperation shot at about 38 yards, but didn't shake him. I immediately turned to the boys and explained why that was an irresponsible/poor shot choice.
We drove around a bit, looking at some old favorites and recalling stories of days gone by. We shook a big ole' farmer hand, just in case the area ever recovers
Kb..hope your dog is ok..i know the feeling about worrying about a dog..i will be retiring my setter to a life of couch sitting and football watching at the end of the year..but it still sounds like you had a great weekend with the boys..i am getting out sunday to "stretch" my legs and take the wife on her first true pheasant and quail hunt
Hunted Friday mid morning EP and I , we pushed up to roosters shot once watched them fly ( disappointed ) Tug overran a covey and I flushed fired 3 shots hoping to work on dead bird , no prevail ! Found No singles . Next morning hunt with my Nephew, we began tracking and some points and at the end two roosters come up , we knocked one down and Tug was on the chase and after 100 plus yards Tug had him in jaws ! "Good Boy" . Hunted our private ground Tug went on point and I kicked up a hen and then 6 more hens came up around the point . Where are the roosters ? About 20 yards point and 3 shots on that rooster , he kept a flying . Nephew praised and apologized to Tug . 3 more roosters flew out of gun range . Headed home to the fire place and college football !