Any good suggestions for NW Kansas? My First Trip

N

ncpheasant

New member
I've been hunting South Dakota for 10 years and love it. Well all but the PRICES! Coming to Kansas, (Philipsburg area), for open week. I am getting very excited at the possiblities, but would love any advice or suggestions you may offer. I have no real plan. Thought I would get out on Thursday and scout the area, knock on a few doors and see what they say. Use some walk-in areas. Might even try some duck and goose hunting if it's there.

Since it's just me and my lab (experienced pheasant dog) I will need tight, smaler cover. Is road hunting legal in KS? Running ditches and fence lines? Also what is KS law on plugs in shotguns?

Thanks! Hope to bump into some of you are a late night hunt meeting at the local watering hole.
 
ncpheasant said:
I've been hunting South Dakota for 10 years and love it. Well all but the PRICES! Coming to Kansas, (Philipsburg area), for open week. I am getting very excited at the possiblities, but would love any advice or suggestions you may offer. I have no real plan. Thought I would get out on Thursday and scout the area, knock on a few doors and see what they say. Use some walk-in areas. Might even try some duck and goose hunting if it's there.

Since it's just me and my lab (experienced pheasant dog) I will need tight, smaler cover. Is road hunting legal in KS? Running ditches and fence lines? Also what is KS law on plugs in shotguns?

Thanks! Hope to bump into some of you are a late night hunt meeting at the local watering hole.
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First suggestion, when trying to acquire private land permission, the luck I've had comes at any time OTHER than the week before and/or w/e of opener. I try to make contact a month or 2 before season or else I'll wait till later in the season. Only advice...not rules.

You cannot hunt a road in KS unless you have permission on both sides of the road. No ditches or fencelines unless you have permission. Plugs are not required in KS. If you have the WIHA map, you don't need much else.

Good luck, be safe, pick up after yourselves and others that aren't so respectful!
 
Thanks

kansasbrittany said:
First suggestion, when trying to acquire private land permission, the luck I've had comes at any time OTHER than the week before and/or w/e of opener. I try to make contact a month or 2 before season or else I'll wait till later in the season. Only advice...not rules.

You cannot hunt a road in KS unless you have permission on both sides of the road. No ditches or fencelines unless you have permission. Plugs are not required in KS. If you have the WIHA map, you don't need much else.

Good luck, be safe, pick up after yourselves and others that aren't so respectful!
Click to expand...

That (month or two advice) is sound advice, however since my SD trip got canceled last minute (had to fill in for a guy at work that broke his arm) I have had to "throw this trip together" last minute. This makes me a little nervous- I have only hunted one or two walk in areas and they seem to get "crowded" quick. I wish I had time to go out a week ahead and scout some private land and meet some locals. I found in SD that if you take the time to get to know the local farmers or shop keeps that often times they would invite you to hunt with them.

As to the road hunting, thanks so much for the answer, I would have hated to made a huge mistake as to hunt on someone's land without thier permission.

And yes I ALWAYS pick up after myself and others, the only way we have this opportunity to hunt is to show we can take care of property of others. That is just being a responsible sportsman.

Thanks for your response. If you are in the area of Phillipsburg during opener let me know I would love to meet a local friend.
 
We hunted the Phillipsburg area opening weekend last year. The WIHA can get really crowded out there. We started on a piece of it opening morning, it was a half section. We only got to hunt part of it because a group drove right by our trucks and parked half a mile up and cut us off. Just thinking about it now makes my blood boil. What I dont understand and maybe you guys on here can tell me if I'm making to big a deal about it. If we go to a piece of WIHA and there is a truck there even if its one guy, no matter how big a piece we go on to the next one. And anyone I talk to has the same outlook. But whats funny is for the life of me I cant find anyone that says they will walk in on someone because its open to the public and they have every right to hunt. At least I cant find those guys until I am hunting a piece they want to hunt.
So what do you guys think?
 
I can't understand it either. I hunt quite a bit of walk-in later in the season and it has only happened once and it was last year in Central Kansas. Four of us got into the middle of a field and we heard gunshots not too far from us. We get up over the rise and 3 guys we're in the field walking ahead of us. I thought that maybe they somehow didn't see our truck, but when we got back to our truck their truck was parked not 50 yards from ours. The world is full of idiots and it seems to be that some of these idiots are pheasant hunters.
 
We just had opening day for quail here in California. My friend and I were in the field bright and early. We even camped in the area two days prior to do more scouting.

We had busted a nice covey of about 40 California Valley Quail and were working the singles with my wirehaired pointer. We had taken a couple birds and I had just shot the 3rd when a guy slammed on the brakes of his jeep and parked on the road about 40 yards in front of me.

He jumps out, puts out his pointer and grabs his gun and heads off in the same direction as I am hunting, just slightly out of pellet range in front of us.

After about 5 minutes he kind of circles back when he hears me shoot another bird. He gleefully asks if I got the bird, as if he is my new buddy. That is when I couldn't stand still for his poaching type antics. I didn't respond to his question. I said, "If you want birds, I will give you all the ones I've got". he looks confused and I repeated myself.

He asked what was I talking about. That's when I said, "you saw us hunting here and you just jumped in front of us and that's rude". He said, "this is public land. You don't own this place". I told him we had been there much ealier than him and he was rude to encroach on us.

I was pretty frightened since both of us had loaded guns. Eventually, he packed up and left while extending the one finger salute to us.

Another friend of ours who was hunting the area (about 500 square miles) that day told us he was speaking with the local game wardens who checked him. The wardens said everyone they checked was legal except for one guy driving a jeep who had a loaded gun in the car. I don't know if it was the same guy. But I hoped it was which would have made for some sweet, poetic justice.
 
Gents,

Every field I've been in on for the past few openers, I've had to share with someone I didn't know. I've been the first person there on several occasions, a couple of times waiting for hours for shooting time. At the last minute, trucks roll by and everyone starts climbing out. I wanted to fight the first time and nearly got what I wanted (I was 19 at the time). The guys ended up heading the other way, but 2 other groups entered before they even pulled away. I now show up right about shooting time and try to pick the field with the fewest hunters.....there will be hunters in EVERY field in the area I hunt, so what do you do? The fields never empty out on the opener so you're all but forced to hunt a field that already has ppl in it. If you don't want to share, don't go to any of the counties mentioned in KDWP's forecast as favorable. There are places with lower bird populations that you may be able to find an empty parcel in (Dickinson) for example. You can hunt all day and shoot a couple of pheasants and a handfull of quail.....maybe even a limit of quail on good years, point is the pressure isn't as bad as Phillips, Norton, Rush, Pawnee, Finney counties and the like.

My guess is after 10 years of sharing every WIHA field you hunt, you'll probably end up going into a field someone else is already in. If you're a decent guy you'll do your best to predict which way they're headed and try to avoid them. My solution....I've given up on WIHA during the openers and just stick to private ground. The private ground doesn't have as many birds that first morning, but anything to get away from the crowds. I hate walking into a field w/ ppl in it, but I am guilty of doing it.

Finally I should mention that the fields I'm referring to are all half or 1/4 sections of CRP. Don't want anyone to think I follow ppl down tree lines or something.
 
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Get WIHA Walk-In Maps

Get the WIHA walk-in maps in the hardcopy atlas that covers the entire state or go to the KDWP website and download maps for the areas you intend to hunt. The KDWP also has GPS coordinates for the WIHA areas which may enable you to get an aerial view through Google Earth. But the aerials may be too old to be helpful so you gotta drive and scout. It's big country so bring plenty of gas money.

You may have to share. Last season four of us were taking a line through some walk-in and a couple of pickups of strangers pulled up and jumped into our line which never happened to me before. But we just moved over -- we had no special claim on the land -- and had a longer line. They were nice guys and had every right to join us because we were in a half section, a big piece of land.

Have a fun hunt in the great and hospitable state of Kansas, my home place on the Great Plains.
 
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kansasbrittany said:
Gents,

Every field I've been in on for the past few openers, I've had to share with someone I didn't know. I've been the first person there on several occasions, a couple of times waiting for hours for shooting time. At the last minute, trucks roll by and everyone starts climbing out. I wanted to fight the first time and nearly got what I wanted (I was 19 at the time). The guys ended up heading the other way, but 2 other groups entered before they even pulled away. I now show up right about shooting time and try to pick the field with the fewest hunters.....there will be hunters in EVERY field in the area I hunt, so what do you do? The fields never empty out on the opener so you're all but forced to hunt a field that already has ppl in it. If you don't want to share, don't go to any of the counties mentioned in KDWP's forecast as favorable. There are places with lower bird populations that you may be able to find an empty parcel in (Dickinson) for example. You can hunt all day and shoot a couple of pheasants and a handfull of quail.....maybe even a limit of quail on good years, point is the pressure isn't as bad as Phillips, Norton, Rush, Pawnee, Finney counties and the like.

My guess is after 10 years of sharing every WIHA field you hunt, you'll probably end up going into a field someone else is already in. If you're a decent guy you'll do your best to predict which way they're headed and try to avoid them. My solution....I've given up on WIHA during the openers and just stick to private ground. The private ground doesn't have as many birds that first morning, but anything to get away from the crowds. I hate walking into a field w/ ppl in it, but I am guilty of doing it.

Finally I should mention that the fields I'm referring to are all half or 1/4 sections of CRP. Don't want anyone to think I follow ppl down tree lines or something.
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KB,
You can follow me anytime,better yet,walk with me.:thumbsup:
 
NCpheasant,
I have hunted the area you are talking about for the last 7 or 8 years and I can tell you, it is not going to be South Dakota. They have had several rough winters/springs and bird numbers are not what they used to be. That being said, you will see birds and beautiful pheasant country every day, just don't expect to be limited out and heading to breakfast an hour after the sun comes up. One thing you will find out there are some of the nicest, most real people I have ever met! Most people don't treat friends as nice as they treat strangers.:thumbsup:
Have fun and let the dogs do what they are meant to do and you will not be disappointed.

Rut
 
I love the Walk in map, If you aren't to worried about driving a little bit you can find some good places. I think it is fun to just follow the map a see a litle country. And with some persistence you can usually have some luck. At least I have, hunting in small groups.
 
Yep, opening weekend is very crowded. I avoid it just because I get pissed when some other group jumps in front, usually towards the end of a long push. Happens all the time.

Now, with the second weekend being so close to Thanksgiving, the feilds will be loaded with hunters all week long. Sure am gonna miss the first weekend openers, as I fell that it "thinned" the pressure between Thanksgiving and the opener.
 
Thanks Rutt

Rutt-

I appreciate your information. I have moved to the next stage of my career as a sportsman, I am now passed the "Gotta Limit-Out" stage and now into the "Sport of the Chase" stage. I enjoy watching and working my pheasant crazed yellow lab as much as I enjoy seeing the flush or pulling the trigger. SD has gotten a little "too" commercialized for my taste. I want to learn the Kansas way of hunting, from what I read on here you guys are more into the sport of it. Don't get me wrong, I have loved hunting SD and may finish my last 2 or 3 days up there in some walk-in areas. And who doesn't like seeing 50 to 100 cocks get up after a hard hour and half push through kosha weed (I hate kosha weed btw). Are you going to hunt in this area this year? I know opener will be very crowed but I will manage, I just wanted to experience the opener in KS one time. Who knows I might just make a new group of friends up there.
 
Have any of you guys had serious problems with "poachers" coming in as you are making the final push out and shooting up all your hard work? In SD we have a terrible time with "ROAD HUNTERS" driving around till they see a group working a field and then they will stop in the middle of the road and wait for the birds to flush. Then shoot them as they fly over the road. Though road hunting is legal, the bird has to originate from the right-of-way so this action is illegal but very rarely ticketed. These guys give the honest road hunters that will only run the ditches and fence lines a bad name. Road hunting is not my desired form of hunting but I have no problem with those that do it correctly, but those that don't and poach on your hunt really irritate me.
 
I have had guys stop a couple times at the end of a field I was hunting. Both times is was around Glen Elder, neither time did they have a chance at a bird and always left before I got to the end. Besides those two times I've never had a problem. 99% of the hunters in Kansas are good people, it has taken quite a few fields to find the bad apples they just so happen to stick in my mind.
 
road hunters

I'd have to agree with the experiences indicated in other posts - I've never really come across road "jumpers" in my 15 years of pheasant hunting in KS. NOt to say we don't stop to watch, but from a respectful distance.
 
ncpheasant said:
Rutt-

I appreciate your information. I have moved to the next stage of my career as a sportsman, I am now passed the "Gotta Limit-Out" stage and now into the "Sport of the Chase" stage. I enjoy watching and working my pheasant crazed yellow lab as much as I enjoy seeing the flush or pulling the trigger. SD has gotten a little "too" commercialized for my taste. I want to learn the Kansas way of hunting, from what I read on here you guys are more into the sport of it. Don't get me wrong, I have loved hunting SD and may finish my last 2 or 3 days up there in some walk-in areas. And who doesn't like seeing 50 to 100 cocks get up after a hard hour and half push through kosha weed (I hate kosha weed btw). Are you going to hunt in this area this year? I know opener will be very crowed but I will manage, I just wanted to experience the opener in KS one time. Who knows I might just make a new group of friends up there.
Click to expand...

Kochia's tough to go through -- send the dogs in -- but pheasants love it.
 
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