Disappointed in Kansas

[duckn66]

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.

I do the same thing with my WIHA books. I have them back to 2002 marked that way.

 

[-Wildcat-]

: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

So you're saying they trespassed I suppose?

 

[Fenway]

I enjoy the gimme type hunts in SD and ND, but I typically get more satisfaction on the days I work to scratch out a couple in KS.

This is garbage, I haven't hunted SD but I have a friend who has gone there a long time and hunts just public he usually gets his birds but not without hunting very hard with a good dog, the last few years have been hard hunting with the flooding and last year the crops were still in.
I have hunted ND maybe 6 times and other than the SW which is commercial and heavily hunted the state bird numbers are not any higher than KS, I hunt by myself, and until this year with one ESS and it is far from a gimme, many all day hunts, and not always limits. If you go to a ranch that hardly no one hunts and pay it might be a gimme at times.

Last year went to NC KS first time in Jan,and took my SIL for his first hunt, we were told the numbers aren't great, we didn't limit, but shot plenty, I let my SIL do most of the shooting so we could have done allot better, it was after some of the big snow had melted, allot of the roads were not drivable so we couldn't travel as much as planned. I had never hunted in Milo before and most CRP was still smashed down but I certainly don't think it was any harder than late season ND, or less productive. I will say because of the blizzard no one had probably hunted those area's recently.
I think the main differeace is hunter numbers, making KS tougher in spots.

 

[whitewater]

I have also hunted SD all on public land. we saw 10 times the number of birds up there than I have ever seen in KS but we did not shoot anymore than we did in KS. I will admit that it was my rookie year of phez hunting and I may not have been wise enough to put myself in position on some instances to take advantage of some flushes. But I think that those birds flushed wilder than KS birds due to more hunting pressure. I have hunted KS the last 3 years and I don't intend to go back to SD. Why? I shot just as many birds, we shoot quail ( I did not see quail in SD), we found a good duck hole in KS. and the women are prettier (a little),but nowhere near our cajun queens.

 

[kscountryboy11]

It did kinda read that way didn't it?

yes but i wasnt really taking it that way

 

[Tpharkman]

Kansas is way, way too tough...please tell everyone:thumbsup:

 

[Downtown Bang!]

This is garbage, I haven't hunted SD but I have a friend who has gone there a long time and hunts just public he usually gets his birds but not without hunting very hard with a good dog, the last few years have been hard hunting with the flooding and last year the crops were still in.
I have hunted ND maybe 6 times and other than the SW which is commercial and heavily hunted the state bird numbers are not any higher than KS, I hunt by myself, and until this year with one ESS and it is far from a gimme, many all day hunts, and not always limits. If you go to a ranch that hardly no one hunts and pay it might be a gimme at times.

Come on now Fenway. We may as well just own up to it. The word is already out. All the birds in the Dakota's are nothing more than pen raised chickens.

The nocturnal stockings by the GF&P from the black helicopters worked for a while but people finally caught on. The secret is out and if we have any dignity we will pick up stakes and start chasing our roosters where the hunting is pure.

 

[kansasbrittany]

This is garbage, I haven't hunted SD but I have a friend who has gone there a long time and hunts just public he usually gets his birds but not without hunting very hard with a good dog, the last few years have been hard hunting with the flooding and last year the crops were still in.
I have hunted ND maybe 6 times and other than the SW which is commercial and heavily hunted the state bird numbers are not any higher than KS, I hunt by myself, and until this year with one ESS and it is far from a gimme, many all day hunts, and not always limits. If you go to a ranch that hardly no one hunts and pay it might be a gimme at times.

Last year went to NC KS first time in Jan,and took my SIL for his first hunt, we were told the numbers aren't great, we didn't limit, but shot plenty, I let my SIL do most of the shooting so we could have done allot better, it was after some of the big snow had melted, allot of the roads were not drivable so we couldn't travel as much as planned. I had never hunted in Milo before and most CRP was still smashed down but I certainly don't think it was any harder than late season ND, or less productive. I will say because of the blizzard no one had probably hunted those area's recently.
I think the main differeace is hunter numbers, making KS tougher in spots.

Garbage....oh, I should've mentioned the majority of my time up there has been spent on private land. Not at lodges, just regular private farm ground. Never even touched a public parcel in ND. Did hunt public in SD and must have been in the right place b/c we limited quickly there too. Anybody that says SD #'s are comparable to KS #'s has hunted much better places in KS than I have

 

[kansasbrittany]

I have hunted ND maybe 6 times and other than the SW which is commercial and heavily hunted the state bird numbers are not any higher than KS, I hunt by myself, and until this year with one ESS and it is far from a gimme, many all day hunts, and not always limits. If you go to a ranch that hardly no one hunts and pay it might be a gimme at times.

Again, my experience in ND has been on private land in the SW corner. A friend of mine owns a section there. Hunting there is exactly what I'd consider a gimme limit. I've never hunted outside of Hettinger county in ND. My intent was not to misslead anyone. Just sharing my experience and I'm sorry you're sad about that.

 

[Houston54]

If you did not like the North central area you would not like the SW part of the country either.

If this was your first trip to Kansas then you learned some valuable lessons.

The primary one would be to not believe the forecast. I have hunted the Larned/Garfield area for many years and have access to many acres of private land but the bird numbers are never what I have seen in other parts of the state. Of course if you went by the forecast you would think you would be tripping over birds in that area.

Another lesson you learned is not all WIHA is huntable. Much of it is wheat stubble or planted in winter wheat however many times there are waterways in the fields which hold birds. I look for WIHA that has good cover and crop fields adjacent to them. If these two conditions are not present I keep driving.

Even this premise does not work all the time as I walked some promising WIHA located NE of Garden City on the 25th and saw nothing. No hens, no roosters and no signs of roosting. A little further down the road I found a old rooster sitting out in some thin cover. He ended up as a candidate for the Finney Co longest feather contest.

on your next trip you might work your way further south and west or north and west. You have to get away from the large population areas to have good success especially late season.

Hope you have a better luck next time.

 

[Shadow]

So you're saying they trespassed I suppose?

it was real bad last year- not so bad this year- the Sheriff and others have been cruising arround

I'd like to see rules changed- WPO- means you carry the slip on you

you can see for a long ways- one stays in the vehicle the others get out- small patches or from the road- they can get out- do their thing- and get

 

[-Wildcat-]

I couldn't agree with you more... they have printable written permission slips available on the KDWP website I believe. Trespassing, driving through crops, leaving gates open, etc, is the reason why many a rancher/farmer have closed their doors to hunters. Quite sad that the bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[Team68]

Every time we go hunting we shoot are limit and see alot of birds. it might take us all day to get are limit but thats why they call it hunting. my cousins think every time we go hunting that we should have are limit in one field thats not the case. these are wild birds not farm raised ones.

 

[Shadow]

not me- many times I've not even pulled a trigger- if I got the limit every time it wouldn't be any fun

I go afield for the dog work- some of the best days were where there weren't any birds

 

[V-John]

not me- many times I've not even pulled a trigger- if I got the limit every time it wouldn't be any fun

I go afield for the dog work- some of the best days were where there weren't any birds

:10sign::thumbsup:

 

[patbbb]

That is why it is called hunting

 

[Fenway]

Come on now Fenway. We may as well just own up to it. The word is already out. All the birds in the Dakota's are nothing more than pen raised chickens.

The nocturnal stockings by the GF&P from the black helicopters worked for a while but people finally caught on. The secret is out and if we have any dignity we will pick up stakes and start chasing our roosters where the hunting is pure.

I guess your right if you don't hunt KS roosters it's just a gimme.

A Mean KS Rooster

In the Dakota's you just reach out and grab them.

 

[Fenway]

Again, my experience in ND has been on private land in the SW corner. A friend of mine owns a section there. Hunting there is exactly what I'd consider a gimme limit. I've never hunted outside of Hettinger county in ND. My intent was not to misslead anyone. Just sharing my experience and I'm sorry you're sad about that.

As I said the SW area where you went has had some of the best bird numbers in the country, and most of it is locked up for pay to hunt, but the rest of the state is nothing like that and I would say very comparable to KS probably less, and yes that is misleading when you make a blanket statement and yet admit you've only been in a very small percentage of the state. I know a guy who goes to KS every year for the whole month of Nov. and limits out most days on Pheasants, plus gets plenty Quail and PC, but that still wouldn't make me think a limit in Kansas is a gimme just because he does it where he hunts.

I'm not sad just sick of your whining.

 

[cheesy]

I know a guy who goes to KS every year for the whole month of Nov. and limits out most days on Pheasants.

Whats he do with all those birds?

 

[kansasbrittany]

As I said the SW area where you went has had some of the best bird numbers in the country, and most of it is locked up for pay to hunt, but the rest of the state is nothing like that and I would say very comparable to KS probably less, and yes that is misleading when you make a blanket statement and yet admit you've only been in a very small percentage of the state. I know a guy who goes to KS every year for the whole month of Nov. and limits out most days on Pheasants, plus gets plenty Quail and PC, but that still wouldn't make me think a limit in Kansas is a gimme just because he does it where he hunts.

I'm not sad just sick of your whining.

Whining???? What whining? Didn't I state that I enjoyed the KS hunts more anyway? Who are you going to argue with next about something so petty? My apologies to the other board members for giving "miss-leading" information, though I honestly didn't realize that it was miss-leading. I shared my experience (albeit very limited) and that's it. If my experience is too limited to make such a broad statemment, then point that out and move on. No need in getting nasty (yet another internet tough guy among us). I'm sure there are places in those states that are difficult to limit in, but I've not seen it. I'm not going to make up a story that contradicts my experience to try and make friends with you or get your approval. Say whatever you want about my post, but from now on, if you wanna get rude, send me a pm. It was a regurgitation of personal experience and that's it.