Disappointed in Kansas

birdrunner said:
Huh thats awesome to here your having so much trouble gettin birds. I have not had any trouble we killed almost sixty in three days opening weekend and i shot a single limit in just over one hour thanksgiving day on walk in land...
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man if only we were all as good of hunters as you, :rolleyes:
 
birdrunner said:
Huh thats awesome to here your having so much trouble gettin birds. I have not had any trouble we killed almost sixty in three days opening weekend and i shot a single limit in just over one hour thanksgiving day on walk in land...
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Welcome to the site. Congrats on your success. I hope your first statement was sarcasm b/c I don't harbor wishes of birdlessness toward anyone.
 
do you guys ever get up really early and listen to birds cackling in the morning? thats a trick i like to use where i hunt in central ks i hear hundreds trust me there are tons of birds in the great state of ks in one field we walked we got up a hundred birds and killed one thats how pitiful shots we are lol i guarantee you dont see half of the birds in a field that you walk your not hunting canned birds here!
 
while i should wish everyone the great kansas hunting experience, i cant help but be a little selfish and want to keep the birds to the resident hunters, mostly me and my dog :laugh:... best hunting is no where near blacktop,asphalt or concrete, do the work and you will find your birds
 
Clarification: North Dakota does not have too many easy limit hunt areas especially when you hunt public land. Sure parts of SW ND is loaded with birds, but requires between $150 - $500/day to access these birds. Higher fees do include lodging I here.

If ND winter snow sets in you pay a lot of money to kill birds out of shelter belts with little dog work except retrieves. Public land lacking cover become void of birds because they all "migrate" to the nearest ranch yard.

Most of ND is much like KS (been to both states). Smaller groups working for birds is the norm. Mornings and late afternoons better than mid day. KS has its quail while ND has its Huns.

SD has the high bird counts, the released pheasants in high priced outfitted hunts, the most commercialization of the resource. List goes on.
 
kansasbrittany said:
I hope your first statement was sarcasm b/c I don't harbor wishes of birdlessness toward anyone.
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I agree with that statement, somewhat. Being a resident, I really don't like seeing our resources being "shared" by the entire Midwest.

I honestly would like to see restrictions placed on the number of out-of-state licenses granted, much like the non-resident draw for deer. However, that will never happen because when hunting season opens, all the state of Kansas sees is dollar signs.

I was driving down I-70 yesterday on my way to check my deer blind, and noticed a huge "Welcome Hunters" sign on an overpass. Personally, since Kansas residents are the primary contributors of capital to maintain our natural resources, I think we should get first crack at all game, including upland birds.

Due to the armies of people that come here to hunt, it's becoming nearly impossible to just "knock on doors" for private hunting permission. Trespassing, and not respecting the land has left a bad taste in many a rancher/farmer's mouth. Personally, I can't blame them, and think a lot of it has to do with the influx of out-of-stater's.
 
Knockemdown I totally agree if you are willing to put in the work then you will reap great rewards in this fine state sure its hard sometimes thats why its called hunting not killing
 
I have been keeping an eye on the post since the season started. I have been hearing about how there have been herds of hunter. 25 in a field and cleaning them out like machines. I have seen that before and it wasn't fun to watch. But what was neat, was my buddy and I walked that field right after it cleared and we let the dog work for us (into the wind) and all these guys stood there shaking their heads. WHAT ARE THOSE GUYS DOING? Well as we got closer to the road the dog got really birdie, and BAM he locks up about 25 yards from the road. All of these guys were waiting to see what was going to happen. We put ourselves between the road and the dog and up the rooster came. Cool calm and collective my buddy watches as the bird headed for the road and then turns back into the field and he brings the rooster down. IN THE BAG. All these guys could not believe we got a bird out of field after they hunted it. It's called working the field, being out there with friends. Thats what's fun. If you bag a few then that is icing on the cake.
I hope there are more people who feel like he does. (not coming back to Kansas) Then the true hunters will show up and we'll have shoulder room and take only what we can use. Leaving plenty to reproduce.
We are heading out there this weekend and can't wait to get back into the plans. It's an early Christmas present.
 
i often find myself wondering how all these hunters can eat the pheasant they kill not trying to be holy as i have birds in my freezer but i hunt a minimum three days a week and have seen tons on birds in the field that no one bothered to find
 
Solo hunter with 2 labs

I can understand your frustration with some of the WIHA for pheasant hunting, but the program is NOT just for pheasants. The only way to know is scouting. I call my WIHA book the holy grail, and don't let anyone touch it :)! I move all my circled & crossed out spots from one years book to the next. Each year I scout new areas and add to the book.

I hunt solo most of the time & work quiet. My labs stay close and do a great job of tracking running birds. They are also great on wounded birds! My only advice is to use this trips info and add to it on future trips.
 
no problem with your hunting style....my dog is 95% of why i go hunting, i just know that the wild birds of kansas give me the best times of my life hunting them
 
Solo hunter with 2 labs

I have seen a lot more hunters this year. Which is good news for the WIHA program. I don't worry to much about hunting a place after others. You'd be amazed at how many birds guys walk by, especially without a dog! Don't shy away from large pieces either, you will still run across the same number of birds over a mile walked. Good luck!
 
KU Pheasant Hunter said:
I have seen a lot more hunters this year. Which is good news for the WIHA program. I don't worry to much about hunting a place after others. You'd be amazed at how many birds guys walk by, especially without a dog! Don't shy away from large pieces either, you will still run across the same number of birds over a mile walked. Good luck!
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I'm just hoping the additional hunters encourage the state to lease more WIHA acreage (I know not everyone feel this way). Could the traffic eventually glean enough revenue to make it worth the state's investment to enroll something like 3 million acres? If so, seeing out of state plates would be a very good thing. Problem is, if there isn't enough revenue to lease additional acreage to accommodate our new popularity, I feel a lot of us are going to have this "I want my state back" feeling.

I personally feel similar about hunting fields that others have passed through....not so much before, but now that my dogs have transitioned from quail dogs into pheasant dogs, we'll find success in fields that have been "pounded."
 
I hunted the same days within 75 miles of the area as mention in the origonal post to this thread and these are my observations:

Most people zero in on the WIHA plots within the region mentioned in the upland game forecast as being the best areas. In the counties that mentioned production may be down in localized areas due to untimely hail or moisture, people avoid the entire county.

The pheasants fly into the CRP at dark and back into the grain stubble before sunrise. They stay there all day unless someone hunting privite ground happens to push them out (Not very often).

There are tons of birds in Kansas; Get up early enough to stand on the edge of a CRP field adjacent a cut milo field about 30 minutes before sunrise to witness for yourself.

Everything will change with a few inches of snow on the ground.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
nope you guys are right.... most all the birds in Kansas have been shot already. The few that have survived make immediate u-turns when they see walk-in signs, and head strait into "Leased" or no hunting ground.

Better off just staying home and saving your pennies for next year, and your trip to Sodak... good luck!
 
I have hunted the Wakeeney - Hill City area for 3 years now. Last year I came up twice. The 1st time was the week of Thanksgiving. 4 of us hunted hard for 5 days and killed 5 birds. We did not see many more birds than we shot. But I had such a good time that I came up 2 weeks later. 3 of us killed 21 walking most of the same WIHA that we did poorly in 2 weeks prior. The difference was ,I think, less pressure and we had 10 inches of snow.
 
Now Spence don't try and chase those people away from your great state. This thread has it right, real hunters go to KS, nothing but pen raised, weak flushing, canned birds in SD. Who wants that? Everyone should hunt KS real wild birds, great weather, friendly people, lots of public land, in fact I may start hunting KS. You guys down there know what you have and should share with your fellow americans.:D
 
Spence said:
nope you guys are right.... most all the birds in Kansas have been shot already. The few that have survived make immediate u-turns when they see walk-in signs, and head strait into "Leased" or no hunting ground.

Better off just staying home and saving your pennies for next year, and your trip to Sodak... good luck!
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:cheers:

yesterday morning- hens and roosters out in the plowed field- even had two vehicles pull into the yard- can we hunt- as 4 unruley Britt's are jumping all over the place-

those are my tame pheasants- nope

they hang around for 10 min or so and then start off- the pheasants- some run some fly- into this small patch of grass- hour later a vehicle pulls in and hunters get out- 1/2 mile away- interesting- as it's posted- couple fly, some run out into the plowed field- sort of hunkered down running- I chuckle-

the way I saw it- 30-50 pheasants went into that grass- they had a black lab- 7 shots- I saw them carrying two birds

nice to have a window and binocs
 
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