First Kansas Trip Fall 2017

D

DarbyWhoa

New member
I'm starting to look into booking my first pheasant hunting trip to Kansas. I'm looking for an outfitter that allows hunters to hunt their land self guided for wild birds. I have no issue paying a daily fee for the use of the property. I live in Ohio and will spend at least 5 days out there.

If anyone has recommendations, I'd really appreciate them.

Thanks!
 
Get yourself and dog a motel room and go out and hunt the walk in areas. Kansas has very good "walk in" access. You can send me the fee for the great advice.
 
Book a room and come hunt. Use the wiha land so you don't have to pay and don't get the pay to play thing going any more than it is like they do in SD. If you want to pay to play go to SD where there are way more birds and they expect money to to hunt.
 
Not much, if any, pay to hunt places unless you're looking to stay in an all-inclusive lodge with meals, guides, dogs, etc. For do-it-your selfers, hunting walk-in is the way to go. There are about one million acres of walk-in and it's open to non-residents the entire season. All you need is a Kansas huntin' license.
 
First trip definitely guide yourself. Move on through the country. Kansas is a big place, lots of different places to hunt.

Some of the best trips I ever took were in my younger years. Took one other dedicated pheasant hunter buddy and two labs. Camping gear in my Suburban. We just moved from public to public day by day. Camped wherever we were when the sun went down. Put the gear out under a tarp and slept in the Suburban with the two dogs for heat. That was back when it actually snowed pretty good in November.

We shot a lot of birds and ducks, had some great campfire wild game meals and evening toddies.

Go make some memories.

Good luck.
 
Thanks guys.

We took our first destination hunt to the Mi UP to chase grouse. What a beautiful place. We did run into some issues getting on good land and ended up not making the most of the first couple days. The idea of getting on some good land sounds appealing for a small fee, but it sounds like I really need to look into these WIHAs.

I appreciate the comments!
 
Depends on time of year and where your going. Your chances of getting in a car wreck on your way here are greater than a bad rattler experience pretty much anywhere in the state in my opinion.

Let's put it this way. I would be more concerned your vehicle is in good running order and you have good tires more than snakes lol.

You will kill a few birds if your in the right area.
 
Duckn66 is spot on IMO.

I hunted a LOT in Kansas and never had a dog or myself have a rattler or even copperhead encounter. I do admit that I never hunted much out west of Dodge; that might be a different story.

I did spend some time in Morton county down in the sw corner. Only problem down there was sandburrs.

If you are curious this site http://www.gpnc.org/prrattler.htm shows the range of the prairie rattler and at the bottom of the page are links to range maps of all the other poisonous snakes in Kansas.
 
Rattlers do get dogs in Kansas as shown by my brother in laws GSP down by Winfield. He wasn't on bird dog duty that day, just farm dogging. A few days of observation at the vet and he was good to go. He killed every snake he came across after that though. No stopping him.



We've never had issue while hunting.
 
Thanks a lot on the snake info. I'm sure it'd hear us coming from a ways away and should start moving prior to us getting there. I'm sure too most will be in hibernation come time for the season as well.

Thanks!
 
The quality of Kansas bird hunting is weather related. No rain, no birds. If you would book a hunt now in a promising area, you may be disappointed this fall. I do not even reserve a room in advance (I don't hunt opening day). Check on the Kansas bird surveys in September and look for WIHA areas nearby. Or keep an eye on Kansas precip during the year
 
I agree with crossing shot wait & read some reports on birds brood success & or hunter success also watch the weather... All the reports well about 98% of the reports coming outta KS were hard hunting spotty birds birds have not recovered from drought years gotta search lots to find pheasants etc. Quail all over ...


I'm a 99% public land hunter I'd be leeary of KS tons ;)& tons of hunters in KS intense hunting pressure mMost of season low bird #s. & lots of poor WIHA with some great 1s mixed in once & awhile I'd really look into say CO NE ND or SD if u want a quality public land pheasant hunt in November... Better yet come hunt in January when SD ND IA MN are all closed NE is my tip to you go to NE u will find birds & not have to weed out tons & tons of S*** WIHA b4 u find a good 1
 
DarbyWhoa said:
Weird question, I'm curious...Are their any issues with snakes in Kansas? Specifically rattle snakes?
Click to expand...

Yep, we have rattlesnakes. If the weather is warmish they could be active. If there is a prairie dog town, almost count on rattlers.
 
Last edited:
duckn66 said:
Book a room and come hunt. Use the wiha land so you don't have to pay and don't get the pay to play thing going any more than it is like they do in SD. If you want to pay to play go to SD where there are way more birds and they expect money to to hunt.
Click to expand...

+1. No reason to pay anyone in Kansas. Kansas is a very cheap state to hunt in. Keep it that way. Hunt walk in and ask a farmer or two.
 
duckn66 said:
Depends on time of year and where your going. Your chances of getting in a car wreck on your way here are greater than a bad rattler experience pretty much anywhere in the state in my opinion.

Let's put it this way. I would be more concerned your vehicle is in good running order and you have good tires more than snakes lol.

You will kill a few birds if your in the right area.
Click to expand...

TRUTH!!! :laugh:

Throw a bottle of children's liquid Benadryl in your canine first aid kit just as a precaution and a pre-treatment for snake bites... And avoid the prairie dog towns on unseasonably warm days. I've seen snakes during early prairie chix season, but not the regular season.

And I couldn't agree more about the making sure your vehicle and tires are in good shape. Cell service is spotty and some places you may not see another vehicle for hours or maybe even all day. So, be prepared to dig yourself out of mud, snow, or sand if need be. I've had to dig out of snow drifts, yank a friend's truck out of the ditch, and dig out another friends truck that had sunk in loose sand. Never had another vehicle come by during any of those "adventures". :laugh:
 
I can concur that we do have rattlesnakes and copperheads, lots of them in fact. But they are seldom active in November.

Spring turkey season is a different story...
 
Only good snake is a dead snake... I kill them when I run across them. Not just for my sake but for the other guys who might hunt the same area. Hate to find out that somebody or their dog got hit when I could have done something to prevent it...
IMG_0793_zpseoaev28n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top