doves

B

beefcake

New member
I am thinking of booking a dove hunt w/ "upland inn hunts" for doves the first week of the season was hoping you fine people might clue me in how the population is looking this year.

thanks much beefcake
 
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My advise would be to call Upland Inn Hunts since you are booking and spending money with them. As far as doves go they are the same every year, dependent on the food source available. Find a good field and you will kill doves.
 
westksbowhunter said:
My advise would be to call Upland Inn Hunts since you are booking and spending money with them. As far as doves go they are the same every year, dependent on the food source available. Find a good field and you will kill doves.
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wow, paying to shoot doves, in Kansas? that's crazy!
 
To each their own on the paying thing I totally get were people might be put off by that, I view paying in the most part to have access to private hunting land. Ive always wanted to hunt in Kansas and figured this might be a good way to get my feet wet. I guess I would ask then how easy is it to find land owners that will let you hunt? Anyway thanks for the feed back....Jay
 
beefcake said:
To each their own uon the paying thing I totally get were people might be put off by that, I view paying in the most part to have access to private hunting land. Ive always wanted to hunt in Kansas and figured this might be a good way to get my feet wet. I guess I would ask then how easy is it to find land owners that will let you hunt? Anyway thanks for the feed back....Jay
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Put off by it because it has ruined hunting here. Purple paint and Leased signs are bad for hunting. Most land owners will let you hunt doves.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Put off by it because it has ruined hunting here. Purple paint and Leased signs are bad for hunting. Most land owners will let you hunt doves.
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doves are not much of a draw in Kansas......drive around and look for them on fence/utility wires, with sunflower patches close by. most farmers are fine letting you hunt doves, they could care less.
please don't offer to pay to shoot doves, totally unnecessary. have fun.
 
The challenge is finding the person who owns whatever it is you just drove by that looks good...
 
beefcake said:
To each their own on the paying thing I totally get were people might be put off by that, I view paying in the most part to have access to private hunting land. Ive always wanted to hunt in Kansas and figured this might be a good way to get my feet wet. I guess I would ask then how easy is it to find land owners that will let you hunt? Anyway thanks for the feed back....Jay
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Your success will be dependent on how good their fields are and the weather. I've had dove stacked in a field Aug 30 and a cool snap come through and they disappear the next day. If they have a good sunflower or milo field and manage it well this month, chances are you'll have plenty of opportunities opening day. The KDWP also plants several fields for sunflowers every year at different WMA's. I haven't checked the website this year, but my gut tells me that the planting conditions were less than optimal for them this spring.

I don't believe hunting has been ruined at all. I have a great time running my dogs on both public and private ground, some of which I pay for access, some not. When I started hunting KS the scrubby pastures, where we found quail, were worth $200-$300 per acre, today they're worth 10x that. That getting permission has gotten harder is a fact, but there it's more than just leasing. Farms are getting bigger, we're losing habitat, it's not efficient running a 24 row planter (or bigger) in an 80 ac field. CRP has been capped and that's not good for the birds in KS.

Good hunting ground is a declining resource and I don't see the trend reversing. Whether you pay to hunt or not is solely your decision, the important thing is that you're hunting and hopefully sharing and promoting our culture with others.
 
Grab yourself a WIHA atlas, a case of trap loads, and a mojo. An afternoon of scouting should provide you with enough places to shoot limits for a few days.
 
Mill Creek said:
Your success will be dependent on how good their fields are and the weather. I've had dove stacked in a field Aug 30 and a cool snap come through and they disappear the next day. If they have a good sunflower or milo field and manage it well this month, chances are you'll have plenty of opportunities opening day. The KDWP also plants several fields for sunflowers every year at different WMA's. I haven't checked the website this year, but my gut tells me that the planting conditions were less than optimal for them this spring.

I don't believe hunting has been ruined at all. I have a great time running my dogs on both public and private ground, some of which I pay for access, some not. When I started hunting KS the scrubby pastures, where we found quail, were worth $200-$300 per acre, today they're worth 10x that. That getting permission has gotten harder is a fact, but there it's more than just leasing. Farms are getting bigger, we're losing habitat, it's not efficient running a 24 row planter (or bigger) in an 80 ac field. CRP has been capped and that's not good for the birds in KS.

Good hunting ground is a declining resource and I don't see the trend reversing. Whether you pay to hunt or not is solely your decision, the important thing is that you're hunting and hopefully sharing and promoting our culture with others.
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When I say hunting has been ruined I am talking about all hunting in general. If you think that deer hunting is better now than it was 40 years ago and prior to non resident hunting you have flown over the cuckoo's nest. Deer hunting in the last 15 years has really hurt pheasant hunting. Land is not managed for pheasants, it is managed for deer. Private land is locked up with deer hunters. Which locks out upland hunters. When a group of 4 from Colorado come in and offer the local farmer $16,000 to hunt his 1200 acres, it makes it tough for the 1 guy and his dog to gain access to hunt pheasants. KDWPT has a huge problem now with illegal tag purchase. Local game warden told me a few weeks ago that he had a list of 68 names for just his area of illegally purchased tags. Fellow from Pennsylvania was hunting the property I hunted last year and through casual conversation I discovered he had an illegal tag. He bought a farm here 3 years ago with 14 acres. He thought that qualified him for a resident land owner tag or that it gave him a way to dance around the draw. I immediately called the warden. Warden said it is a huge problem with out of state hunters purchasing a house then buying a resident tag. This year many non residents didn't draw tags and some of those payed huge amounts of money to lease. You can bet that some of them will purchase an illegal tag to justify their lease. Curious as to how long you have hunted here? If you think that hunting has not been diminished here just ask some of the game wardens.
 
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westksbowhunter said:
When I say hunting has been ruined I am talking about all hunting in general. If you think that deer hunting is better now than it was 40 years ago and prior to non resident hunting you have flown over the cuckoo's nest. Deer hunting in the last 15 years has really hurt pheasant hunting. Land is not managed for pheasants, it is managed for deer. Private land is locked up with deer hunters. Which locks out upland hunters. When a group of 4 from Colorado come in and offer the local farmer $16,000 to hunt his 1200 acres, it makes it tough for the 1 guy and his dog to gain access to hunt pheasants. KDWPT has a huge problem now with illegal tag purchase. Local game warden told me a few weeks ago that he had a list of 68 names for just his area of illegally purchased tags. Fellow from Pennsylvania was hunting the property I hunted last year and through casual conversation I discovered he had an illegal tag. He bought a farm here 3 years ago with 14 acres. He thought that qualified him for a resident land owner tag or that it gave him a way to dance around the draw. I immediately called the warden. Warden said it is a huge problem with out of state hunters purchasing a house then buying a resident tag. This year many non residents didn't draw tags and some of those payed huge amounts of money to lease. You can bet that some of them will purchase an illegal tag to justify their lease. Curious as to how long you have hunted here? If you think that hunting has not been diminished here just ask some of the game wardens.
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I've lived here long enough to remember $300 acre pasture ground in SE KS. No, it's not like it used to be, but it's nowhere near "ruined" for me.
 
The Cimarron grassland in Southwest Kansas’s usually offers some good dove hunting. Anywhere between Rolla and Elkhart there are numerous stock tanks with overflows. Dove l water in the evening before flying to roost in the trees on the river. It’s all public hunting mostly sand hills so not affected by heavy rain and standing water.
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Locked and loaded for dove with the wagon pointed westward, destination Sheridan County. Hope there are still some left out there.
 
Heading out to Edwards and Kiowa Counties next weekend. Hope there are some around. Some of the best shooting I’ve had last year out there opening weekend. Have fun everyone.
 
Had a great dove opener managed to shoot a 13 man limit yesterday Lots of birds and a lot of great retrieves from our labs
 
Had a pretty good opener here in NE Oklahoma. Looking forward to the Kansas trip. Hopefully its like last year (or even close would be good). Would like to drive some back roads in the evening and see what the pheasants are looking like.
 
westksbowhunter said:
When I say hunting has been ruined I am talking about all hunting in general. If you think that deer hunting is better now than it was 40 years ago and prior to non resident hunting you have flown over the cuckoo's nest. Deer hunting in the last 15 years has really hurt pheasant hunting. Land is not managed for pheasants, it is managed for deer. Private land is locked up with deer hunters. Which locks out upland hunters. When a group of 4 from Colorado come in and offer the local farmer $16,000 to hunt his 1200 acres, it makes it tough for the 1 guy and his dog to gain access to hunt pheasants. KDWPT has a huge problem now with illegal tag purchase. Local game warden told me a few weeks ago that he had a list of 68 names for just his area of illegally purchased tags. Fellow from Pennsylvania was hunting the property I hunted last year and through casual conversation I discovered he had an illegal tag. He bought a farm here 3 years ago with 14 acres. He thought that qualified him for a resident land owner tag or that it gave him a way to dance around the draw. I immediately called the warden. Warden said it is a huge problem with out of state hunters purchasing a house then buying a resident tag. This year many non residents didn't draw tags and some of those payed huge amounts of money to lease. You can bet that some of them will purchase an illegal tag to justify their lease. Curious as to how long you have hunted here? If you think that hunting has not been diminished here just ask some of the game wardens.
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Lol deer hunting here is way better here than 40 years ago. We barely had any deer here 40 years ago and now they are a nuisance. There were 4 bucks over 160 inches shot on our farm last year alone. I have 5 more this year on camera that big. I was seeing hundred of does when the snow was on and they are destroying our corn on the edges. There is plenty of ground to hunt pheasants on, you just can't expect it to fall in your lap. The huge patches of crp without any trees or the big stubble fields are hardly managed for deer. But keep on doing what you do, trying to discourage out of state hunters to keep more for yourself. Remember a lot of rural areas of Kansas hunting is really the only tourism they have.
 
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fsentkilr said:
Lol deer hunting here is way better here than 40 years ago. We barely had any deer here 40 years ago and now they are a nuisance. There were 4 bucks over 160 inches shot on our farm last year alone. I have 5 more this year on camera that big. I was seeing hundred of does when the snow was on and they are destroying our corn on the edges. There is plenty of ground to hunt pheasants on, you just can't expect it to fall in your lap. The huge patches of crp without any trees or the big stubble fields are hardly managed for deer. But keep on doing what you do, trying to discourage out of state hunters to keep more for yourself. Remember a lot of rural areas of Kansas hunting is really the only tourism they have.
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Lets see the score cards on those 160's. Or lets see some pictures.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Lets see the score cards on those 160's. Or lets see some pictures.
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I already replied to you once when you called me a liar I won't again. All you do is go on the hunting forums talking down hunting prospects and trying to discourage people. This isn't the only sight you do it on. The only reason I can see for it is you think it will may your own hunting better, purely selfish. There are people on here who know me and would have called me out a long time ago if I made stuff up.
 
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