A Tradition

BritChaser

Well-known member
I may have missed a last day of the season once in the last 20-some years, but I can't recall it. It doesn't feel right if I don't go afield on the last day - and usually the day before. I'm not all wrapped up in it. I just want some game birds for the dinner table! Can you dig it?
 
I may have missed a last day of the season once in the last 20-some years, but I can't recall it. It doesn't feel right if I don't go afield on the last day - and usually the day before. I'm not all wrapped up in it. I just want some game birds for the dinner table! Can you dig it?
Yes I can! I was planning to go out for one last hunt this weekend, but the area I planned to hunt got between 6 and 12 inches of snow. With temps forecasted in the high 40's and low 50's, I decided I don't want to fight the muddy roads, so my season is over.
 
I think 4 plus where we are going so should be ok. Gonna be some roads trashed for sure , hopefully not by me. Good luck BritChaser
 
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I'm hoping the roads will be OK sometime tomorrow . . .
 
Well that is a wrap on the 2022 season. Two buddies and I hunted out around Dodge today and not 50 yards from the truck in the first field we harvested a rooster and shortly thereafter another flushed wild, we thought okay, good start. Well, it all went downhill from there. Hunted till 2:30 this afternoon and seen 6 birds all day. Hunted good looking walk-in, nice grass with feed near and nothing. Didn't see many roost or sign of pheasants. This area was pretty good two years ago for us. Not going to lie, the last couple hours of hunting was downright depressing! Usually this time of year I'm depressed cause the season is over, this year I'm thankful it's over. Worst season in my 21 years of pheasant hunting. Feel bad for the dogs who work their rears off. Been a couple years since we've been to South Dakota, planning on taking two trips up there next year and may try to get to Iowa.
 
We had one of the more enjoyable hunts I’ve had in a long time . I took a couple of younger guys out and we ended up with seven. We all went cold in the afternoon. This morning I shot my third bird and killed it stone dead at quite a ways. When we got back to the truck lol I said boys you just got a shooting lesson. And then proceeded to miss three easy birds in the afternoon.😀B52A9AD2-DE0D-4A32-80E0-BA656CCB788A.png
 
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Went out southwest with 4 guys and 2 kids today- killed 4 pheasant and 15 quail. The roads were dicey this afternoon, but was never really worried about getting stuck. Was sure hard to locate the pheasant in the afternoon- had that trouble both times we went out this year. Would sure be great if everyone on this forum just did one small thing to improve habitat this off season!
 
It’s been a long time since I missed the opener or the last day in KS, but this year I’ll have skipped both. I try not to jump to conclusions early or with a small sample size, but all in all, it was the worst Kansas season I’ve hunted in a long time. If I wasn’t on auto renew I would think very hard about not buying a license next year. I haven’t tallied yet, but I shot somewhere around 30 pheasants and less than 50 bobwhite. I did spend a lot more time this year duck hunting, but my season in Kansas was pretty demoralizing. That said, yesterday was Kansas day and I peeled out to south central KS, planning to stay the night, hunt southwest today, and hit a honey hole in Northeast KS Monday. Got to the field around 2, shot 4 pheasants, 2 quail and a rabbit, hit a nearby WIHA and shot 2 mallards and 2 more quail. Decided it wasn’t going to get much better and headed back to KC.
 
We had one of the more enjoyable hunts I’ve had in a long time . I took a couple of younger guys out and we ended up with seven. We all went cold in the afternoon. This morning I shot my third bird and killed it stone dead at quite a ways. When we got back to the truck lol I said boys you just got a shooting lesson. And then proceeded to miss three easy birds in the afternoon.😀View attachment 2898Great Pic! What is that building?
 
Saturday was a pretty good day for me. While I don't like big groups, it's great to have one or two other people with me. Didn't work out that way on Saturday despite 5 invitations--2 had COVID, 1 was out of town with the wife, 1 had grandkid basketball games, 1 had plans with his adult son. Oh well, I hunted alone.

I saw more birds than I have on any single day this season, but they were extremely tough to get within range. I ended up with 2. I also knocked down a quail, but I got greedy and watched the covey instead keeping my eyes on the marked fall. Couldn't find that one. There was also one that got lucky when my feet slipped on the melting snow/mud as I was getting set for the shot and another that I feathered on a long crossing shot.

The dogs did well. Each dog pointed a bird that I killed and each had some hen points too.
 
We had one of the more enjoyable hunts I’ve had in a long time . I took a couple of younger guys out and we ended up with seven. We all went cold in the afternoon. This morning I shot my third bird and killed it stone dead at quite a ways. When we got back to the truck lol I said boys you just got a shooting lesson. And then proceeded to miss three easy birds in the afternoon.😀View attachment 2898

r u sure you were hunting in Kansas haha what a day u had. i did not see a single bird.
 
r u sure you were hunting in Kansas haha what a day u had. i did not see a single bird.
BritChaser yeah it was a little different. I haven’t spent a full day hunting that kind of cover in a long time. With the way crp Is coming out I may have to change the way I look at things. We used to have access to 240 acres of crp on the adjacent farm to what we hunted. It came out and has been bailed and some planted to wheat. So focused on waterways, small patches and a little bit of pasture. There’s about five acres of weedy crp that’s a pretty good roost. We were a little late but got a couple out of it. The boys pulled up short and were unloading there guns when a third got up. Missed an opportunity in a waterway I was walking where it bottlenecked up next to some milo they were walking. I was trying to hold the dogs back so they got up there in time but they got to lollygagging about thirty yards short and the birds got nervous. We got two but probably could of gotten shots at three or four. more. Ones and twos in most other spots we walked. Forty bird hen flush in one pasture. At 1230 the boys were talking limits , I was thinking we’d at least make ten. Good time. Have to get some timely rain to get the weeds up next year. The farmer stripper heads so that should help.
 
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Agree with many who note this was the toughest season they can remember in KS. We have hunted KS for many years making several outings annually. Hunting public land our experience was bird numbers were well below even those of 2013 following the big drought. Enjoyed every trip, but really hate it for the dogs, especially the 18 month old.
 
Agree with many who note this was the toughest season they can remember in KS. We have hunted KS for many years making several outings annually. Hunting public land our experience was bird numbers were well below even those of 2013 following the big drought. Enjoyed every trip, but really hate it for the dogs, especially the 18 month old.
I made my second trip this past Jan., one word Brutal! Still thoroughly enjoyed it. Having started bird hunting late in life ( too much focus on deer ! ) I'm used to hearing about the good old days but damn this yr was ridiculous 🤣🙃
 
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