First Kansas Hunt

B

bdub20

Member
I just moved to south central Missouri and I'm planning on coming over to Kansas for a couple weekends to do some bird hunting. I'm hoping to bring my dad and his 1 year old Brittany. Anyways I was hoping for some tips because I don't want to drive too far only for a weekend hunt. We'd be coming across the border by Joplin. I heard that SE Kansas is mainly quail and we wouldn't find much for pheasants. I am ok with hunting quail but just wanting to know if there is enough public land in SE Kansas to make it worth our while. I am thinking maybe one day quail hunting and another day maybe driving further in kind of by Wichita. I'm not asking for any persons honey holes or anything like that, just hoping to get some tips and maybe some idea of what i'm getting in to and where there is public hunting.

Thanks,

Ben
 
I grew up hunting southeast Kansas and am related to half of Crawford County. I don't even go there to hunt these days! Two years of flooding and cold springs, with harsher than normal winters, and the ever increasing maturation, and flat out destruction of habitat has turned SE Kansas into a very poor prospect for any kind of successful quail outing. Wichita is not far enough west for decent pheasant hunting these days, and you might be to far south there due to severe drought, currently. You will do as well on quail in central Missouri as the areas you have mentioned, but that's not to say you will do well! Sorry to be a bummer. In Southest Kansas you would have the better than average chance of a car/deer collision, especially if you drive at dusk or dark!
 
oldandnew said:
I grew up hunting southeast Kansas and am related to half of Crawford County. I don't even go there to hunt these days! Two years of flooding and cold springs, with harsher than normal winters, and the ever increasing maturation, and flat out destruction of habitat has turned SE Kansas into a very poor prospect for any kind of successful quail outing. Wichita is not far enough west for decent pheasant hunting these days, and you might be to far south there due to severe drought, currently. You will do as well on quail in central Missouri as the areas you have mentioned, but that's not to say you will do well! Sorry to be a bummer. In Southest Kansas you would have the better than average chance of a car/deer collision, especially if you drive at dusk or dark!
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I hunted NE Kansas since 1972- these later years- no comparison-
public hunting in the eastern part- not sure about the maps- but you'd be hard pressed to dive 200 miles from the Kansas Missouri border and have good enough hunting for the trip to be worthwhile-

Pull up the WIHA Atlas- not a whole lot of hunting where you are driving across

drive up to Nebraska-
 
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Ha. I appreciate the honesty. Hoping not to take any deer with the truck this yr. But hopefully the bow and or rifle. I will probably have to break down and just make a little longer drive. I hear there is some land in the Pratt area on the other side of wichita. That might be the route we'll take.
 
you are aware of the situations out here- dust bowl days- we've gotten a bit of rain- but the quail, prairie chickens, and pheasants really aren't doing so well- not a good year to plan a hunt in Kansas- unless of course you enjoy big running dogs who can hold a bird- you might get a shot or two
 
bdub20,

You could always come to Oklahoma or Texas, but if you do, bring plenty of
H2O. Like some areas in Kansas, We have not had a viable rain since October 2010.:mad::mad:
 
The Pratt area is in the same exceptional drought shadow that all of western Oklahoma and Texas is under. We are worried that the quail or pheasants can even replace themselves this year. It's early in the survey period, but broods are hard to come by. All of the rain went north in the western half of Kansas this year. The southwest quarter is going to be tough.
 
Ditto, ditto, ditto. Doesn't anybody read the "old" threads anymore?;) Just giving you a hard time, but the story in KS this season is GOOD LUCK. Doubt you'll have much:eek: It's just not gonna be a stellar season in much of KS. The SE certainly isn't going to satisfy your desires.

If I didn't have a lifetime license to hunt this fine state, I'd look somewhere else. NW part of the state is gonna get hammered this season and you've heard the story on the rest of the state already.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
The Pratt area is in the same exceptional drought shadow that all of western Oklahoma and Texas is under. We are worried that the quail or pheasants can even replace themselves this year. It's early in the survey period, but broods are hard to come by. All of the rain went north in the western half of Kansas this year. The southwest quarter is going to be tough.
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there are a few pheasants- haven't seen a chick in 3 months

I have no duobt that when opening comes me and my 3 Britt's will do ok-
something to be said of big running dogs-- we can cover a 1/2 mile pretty quick- I'd be willing to say- I let one or two loose- in a 1/2 mile field- you'll know if there's a pheasant

much less- quail- thery're easy for a decent pointing dog
 
bdub, my fellow Missouri-ite:

Welcome to the site, good people on here. These guys are all giving you the honest answer. I grew up in Southeast Kansas, shot quite a few quail, dad and uncle lived for quail hunting. My uncle doesn't even hunt now and dad won't pull out a shotgun unless we head out west. Its been 6 years since I shot a wild quail around here. Sure, there are a few coveys around, but its not worth the time to find them. A couple years ago I was sitting in the deer stand and had a covey come through the persimmon grove I was sitting over. I watched them for 30 minutes, in amazement that there was still a covey in that pasture.

In previous recent years, you could get into pheasants around Pratt. That was always my 'starting' point of pheasant country, then worked north and west from there. My sister lives southeast of Wichita 30 miles, they've got pheasants around their farm, but not enough to go there to hunt, more like enough to make you slam on the brakes and say 'there went a pheasant'.

As has been said, the drought is bad, and this year is going to be slim pickings. Good luck.
 
Bdub, welcome from another SW Missourite. I've been hearing nothing good about Ks. this year, but will probably make a trip or two anyway.
 
bdub20 said:
As far as bird population goes, would I better off going up towards Topeka and maybe west of there?
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Draw a line from Salina to Pratt, and anything west of that is where I start thinking pheasants. Not saying there isn't anything east of there, but it begins to get more into extreme luck the further east you go, to a point where its none at all.
 
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