Forecast

I had access to private from about 2017 to 2022 in an area we hunted WIHA exclusively back in the early 2000s. We would be lucky for 5 guys to kill 10 to 12 birds opening weekend in these same areas. Back in the 2000s we were limiting opening weekend on WIHA. No comparison to back then. Kept thinking to myself man what if I'd had this access back then. Anyway, it sure has changed. I'm 4.5 hours away and probably done with Kansas unless something changes.
 
I guarantee farming has changed. Herbicides, pesticides use had dramatically increased. In addition to clean farming has created a lunar sterile landscape.
 
akp said:
I had access to private from about 2017 to 2022 in an area we hunted WIHA exclusively back in the early 2000s. We would be lucky for 5 guys to kill 10 to 12 birds opening weekend in these same areas. Back in the 2000s we were limiting opening weekend on WIHA. No comparison to back then. Kept thinking to myself man what if I'd had this access back then. Anyway, it sure has changed. I'm 4.5 hours away and probably done with Kansas unless something changes.
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I've given up on any hope of it changing (for the better) in my lifetime. We might get lucky with a favorable weather cycle, and have some decent years, but the good days are not likely to ever come back. Pheasants don't really belong here (though neither do cows, I suppose, or all the cow food they grow in Kansas...), so I comfort myself by trying to be philosophical about it. My ancestors didn't leave me any buffalo, either.
 
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s.davis said:
My experience is that the good pockets have gotten smaller and, much more dramatically, that the voids between the good pockets have collapsed from putting up 25 birds in a day, to zero. When I started pheasant hunting I did 95% of my pheasant hunting in a triangle between Abilene, Beloit and Marysville. The few times I went out west the pheasant numbers were pretty amazing, but I never had trouble limiting in a days walk (usually less) in that area, so I rarely bothered unless I was hunting with friends and family out west. It's always fun to see a couple hundred birds, but my motto was "you can only shoot 4", and I was quite content to drive less and walk more. I would not bother hunting that area today for pheasants. In fact, this year might be my last year hunting Kansas for a while, I've slowly got the renewal date of my annual license moved back to late January, and if this season is like last, as much as I love being there, I simply do not have the time left in my legs for entire wasted seasons.
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Pockets of birds simply refers to where there is habitat there will be birds. The strips of CRP has gotten smaller and smaller so you have to drive further and further between area's. I don't know why they use the term pockets. I guess because they don't want to admit that our habitat has shrank and is disappearing.
 
LC Smith said:
I have hunted the Norton and Decatur counties for the past 20+ years and have seen a steady decline in numbers. I hunt exclusively on private land as well. They have not changed their farming practices, so I attribute it to weather, mainly drought.
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That is not true. I lived in Decatur county for years and farming practices have changed drastically and so has the habitat. Farmers and landowners have everything to do with pheasant numbers. If we have habitat, regardless of weather, we will have plenty of birds. It is much easier to blame the weather instead of man taking blame himself. People will ruin anything given the chance.
 
duckn66 said:
The 70s in SE Kansas and even into the 80s was as good of quail hunting as you could find in the country! It was absolutely lights out quail hunting.

Pheasant hunting was great within a 2 hour drive of where we lived just north of Topeka.

Quail hunting is still decent but not SE anymore. Pheasants are not even a fraction of what they once were. Sad situation.
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Inlaws farm in SE Kansas. I am originally out West, moved to the east. We have been noticing alot more quail in SE Kansas. The last two Hatches have been fantastic, been seeing several coveys. I am still Baffled why there aren't pheasants in SE Kansas..Seems to be plenty of cover. If quail can make it, why can't phez? I also have read Pheasants are slowly moving east.?? Has anyone else ever heard that?
 
Waterfowler2001 said:
Inlaws farm in SE Kansas. I am originally out West, moved to the east. We have been noticing alot more quail in SE Kansas. The last two Hatches have been fantastic, been seeing several coveys. I am still Baffled why there aren't pheasants in SE Kansas..Seems to be plenty of cover. If quail can make it, why can't phez? I also have read Pheasants are slowly moving east.?? Has anyone else ever heard that?
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Good numbers of quail in my part of SEK (for 21st century standards). Multiple large coveys on all of the properties I hunt, including right by my house. I see them every day.

The quail and turkeys have both had good hatches here in the last couple of years. Our turkeys were almost gone, but they’ve started to rebound significantly. I hope the trend continues.
 
westksbowhunter said:
That is not true. I lived in Decatur county for years and farming practices have changed drastically and so has the habitat. Farmers and landowners have everything to do with pheasant numbers. If we have habitat, regardless of weather, we will have plenty of birds. It is much easier to blame the weather instead of man taking blame himself. People will ruin anything given the chance.
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I don't disagree with your input, but I can tell you this family has not changed anything other than rotation. They still are big participants in the CRP programs, etc. and grow all sorts of stuff from wheat (for seed), corn, milo, and triticale. Of course they have all sorts of untouched draws, creek bottoms, etc. as well.
 
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