We pulled out of Lansing, MI at 5:00 Thurs night. By 8:30 the next morning we were checked in to a one-room cabin at one of Kansas’ state parks. By 10:00 we had the dog on the ground. Hunted the rest of Thurs, all day Fri, Sat, Sun, and was back on the road for home by 6:00 Mon morning.
Tough hunt to say the least. We earned every bird. My biggest surprise was how marginal the cover was. This was due in part to a wet heavy snow that arrived a couple days before us, that and the fact the WIHA fields have been pounded for two and a half months. Even in Jan, the number of hunters we encountered surprised me. It wasn’t uncommon to arrive at our destination only to find that it was already being hunted. However, when we did find good cover that was next to milo or wheat stubble, we found birds.
An incredible amount of driving is required for the first trip. We covered the better part of four counties. Nearly one entire day was spent scouting a county to the N of us that we had heard was good hunting. Entire waste of time. 90% of the WIHA fields were stubble fields with zero cover around them. It was all ag. land. There were some drainages that I’m sure held birds, but none of them were enrolled in WIHA. But by and large, we needed to be further S than what we were. The further we headed S, the better and more plentiful the cover became. Live and learn. Pay your dues.
Speaking of driving... Never under estimate KS mud or wet snow. Driving on the mud is like driving on marbles. Getting traction is all but impossible and you slide all over hell. The wet snow will pull you off a two track and into deep snow quicker than you can blink. Don't chance it. If the "road" looks at all suspect, turn around. I learned this only after I spent the better part of a couple hours digging my truck out.
Put the WIHA maps on your Garmin to cross reference with the atlas. God send.
We did knock on a few doors to ask for permission to hunt posted land. Most of the time, there wasn’t anybody at the ranch house, so we were forced to move on. Of the four ranch owners that we were able to talk to, two gave us permission to hunt their land. The other two very politely and respectfully told us no. Even then, it was tough getting out of there. They really seemed to enjoy chatting with us.
The birds seemed to fall into two categories, spooky as hell and running to the end of the field to flush or sitting so tight that you had to darn near step on them to produce them. There was the odd bird that was pointed and flushed or ran off prior to me getting to the dog, but by and large, the birds that were pointed held well. We averaged 4 shot opportunities on pointed roosters a day and anywhere from 8-12 hens pointed daily. So though we didn’t have a lot of shooting, there was an opportunity to watch some good dog work.
Only found one covey of quail. Naturally, this was within 50 yards of the truck with the gun action broke and slung over my shoulder. The spots that we did hit that looked like typical quail habitat were pounded to oblivion. I’m sure that during Nov they produced, but not while we were there. On Sat we found a sweet looking quail covert, private of course. The next day we happened to drive by just as some locals finished hunting it. They had 6 quail in the bag. Super nice guys.
My first KS rooster.
Our most successful day.
Here’s a pic of the highlight of my trip. Found my pup on point at the end of a 200’ish acre CRP field. He was pointing into the mowed portion and looked intense as hell. The grass wasn’t much over ankle high. Very odd thinks I, but hey, that’s a pretty point, I will get out the camera. After snapping the pic, I took a couple more steps toward him and saw what he was looking at. A hen was hunkered down not 10 yards off his nose. Even with a visual, he remained honest the entire time. Atta boy!
The never ending fence...
Sorry to be so long winded. Just wanted to include as much as I could remember.
Thanks KS. I will be back.
Tough hunt to say the least. We earned every bird. My biggest surprise was how marginal the cover was. This was due in part to a wet heavy snow that arrived a couple days before us, that and the fact the WIHA fields have been pounded for two and a half months. Even in Jan, the number of hunters we encountered surprised me. It wasn’t uncommon to arrive at our destination only to find that it was already being hunted. However, when we did find good cover that was next to milo or wheat stubble, we found birds.
An incredible amount of driving is required for the first trip. We covered the better part of four counties. Nearly one entire day was spent scouting a county to the N of us that we had heard was good hunting. Entire waste of time. 90% of the WIHA fields were stubble fields with zero cover around them. It was all ag. land. There were some drainages that I’m sure held birds, but none of them were enrolled in WIHA. But by and large, we needed to be further S than what we were. The further we headed S, the better and more plentiful the cover became. Live and learn. Pay your dues.
Speaking of driving... Never under estimate KS mud or wet snow. Driving on the mud is like driving on marbles. Getting traction is all but impossible and you slide all over hell. The wet snow will pull you off a two track and into deep snow quicker than you can blink. Don't chance it. If the "road" looks at all suspect, turn around. I learned this only after I spent the better part of a couple hours digging my truck out.
Put the WIHA maps on your Garmin to cross reference with the atlas. God send.
We did knock on a few doors to ask for permission to hunt posted land. Most of the time, there wasn’t anybody at the ranch house, so we were forced to move on. Of the four ranch owners that we were able to talk to, two gave us permission to hunt their land. The other two very politely and respectfully told us no. Even then, it was tough getting out of there. They really seemed to enjoy chatting with us.
The birds seemed to fall into two categories, spooky as hell and running to the end of the field to flush or sitting so tight that you had to darn near step on them to produce them. There was the odd bird that was pointed and flushed or ran off prior to me getting to the dog, but by and large, the birds that were pointed held well. We averaged 4 shot opportunities on pointed roosters a day and anywhere from 8-12 hens pointed daily. So though we didn’t have a lot of shooting, there was an opportunity to watch some good dog work.
Only found one covey of quail. Naturally, this was within 50 yards of the truck with the gun action broke and slung over my shoulder. The spots that we did hit that looked like typical quail habitat were pounded to oblivion. I’m sure that during Nov they produced, but not while we were there. On Sat we found a sweet looking quail covert, private of course. The next day we happened to drive by just as some locals finished hunting it. They had 6 quail in the bag. Super nice guys.
My first KS rooster.
Our most successful day.
Here’s a pic of the highlight of my trip. Found my pup on point at the end of a 200’ish acre CRP field. He was pointing into the mowed portion and looked intense as hell. The grass wasn’t much over ankle high. Very odd thinks I, but hey, that’s a pretty point, I will get out the camera. After snapping the pic, I took a couple more steps toward him and saw what he was looking at. A hen was hunkered down not 10 yards off his nose. Even with a visual, he remained honest the entire time. Atta boy!
The never ending fence...
Sorry to be so long winded. Just wanted to include as much as I could remember.
Thanks KS. I will be back.
