Gettin' the heck outa Dodge!!

My history in Kansas

My first hunting trip to Kansas was January of 2000. I never felt like I got enough hunting in here in Iowa and the Kansas season always lasted longer. In 2000 the NC and NW Kansas seemed to be full of birds but the WIHA in late January seemed wide open that time of year. Had to walk all day but seemed to always have a reasonable chance at birds.

The drought seemed to take hold the very next year and absolutely wreaked havoc on the pheasant hunting until around 2005 and 2006. During those drought years I seldom saw another hunter let alone a group of hunters during any weekend in January except for the closing weekend when folks wanted to finish out the year with boots on the ground.

Since 2006 I have seen more and more hunters and have spent more and more time in Kansas myself. Last year I made five trips to Kansas and hunted three to four days each trip. In 07 and 08 I started to focus on making mid week trips because it seemed like every weekend brought more and more hunters and increased pressure on WIHA.

This last opener was only the second opening weekend I spent in Kansas and I stayed around to hunt the entire week and while I wasn't suprised to see out of state hunters I was suprised to see where they were coming from. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana to name a few. I am sure that almost everyone of these folks used to hunt exclusively in Iowa back in the day and now that our Iowa birds have pretty much disappeared they have just lengthened their pilgrimage are now bringing themselves to Kansas.

I guess my point is this, gettin out of Dodge isn't going to be enough to get away from the crowds. I don't begrudge anyone for coming to Kansas to hunt pheasants, after all it was the chance to hunt those beautiful birds that brought me to call this great state my second home and gave me the opportunity to meet many great people who I now cherish as friends. Increased hunter numbers are great for business, and they are great for small towns and mom and pop shops but they are not great for hunters. The more hunters, the more trespassing, the more altercations and the more limited "available" ground becomes.

I told my brother last week that I will not lament the crowded fields or roads or people who instead of asking for permission and creating relationships, just simply choose to trespass. Instead I am going to enjoy the heck out of the bird numbers and take advantage of every secret the Kansas prairie and the birds that live upon her have been gracious enough to share with me over the last ten years. I can't say enough about the sunsets either...
 
Tpharkman said:
I can't say enough about the sunsets either...
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Tonight's sunset at the Ponderosa-

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I find myself getting irritated that there are so many out of staters. Then I have to remind myself that I'm being selfish and they are just doing the same as me. Also if we didnt have as many out of state hunters would there still be the same amount of WIHA? I mean they have to pay for that ground somehow. Has anyone been around any lakes? I wonder if the pressure is off of them with all of these hunters on the walk in?
 
Well put, TParkham. And Byrd timely reminds us that - regardless of the hunting pressure and success on WIHA ground - the real treasure is being out there when that beautiful Kansas sun rises and sets. Is there a better place to be on a November day? I can feel the crispness of the air on my skin now.

I have also thought about where all those who travel long distances used to hunt before the KDWP (and the Feds, of course) blessed us with WIHA. Frankly, I think Kansas WIHA brought a lot of people back into the sport after a long hiatus, and brought newbies into the sport as well. I am glad they are here, regardless of whether they hunt my "secret" spot.

But I do wish more of them were devoted to the sport beyond the dedication to drive to Kansas to hunt. Kansas sells 75k bird licenses each year - probably much higher this year. Yet, Pheasants Forever membership still hovers short of a 120k. My guess is that many fewer than 120k actually take initiative to donate money and/or work on habitat projects.

My guess is those folks used to hunt in Indiana or Iowa or Michigan. But the landscape has changed and the birds have dwindled. The birds need our help in Indiana and Iowa. But the hunters there are more likely to spend their precious spare time and money going to Kansas or South Dakota because it's the path of least resistance. I hope one day this changes.

And Labsnlabs, you have every right to begrudge us out-of-staters. If I still called Kansas home, I would be all over the KDWP about a resident opener.
 
I really try not to be-grudge any out of staters. It would be hypacritical of me since i travel to Nebraska every year to hunt. I'm just gonna have to start shaken hands and kissing babies so I can find some private ground.:cheers:
 
vizslaman said:
The real bird loving and hunting enthusiasts (typically found on this site) are surrounded by 100's of weekend warriors passing time until deer season.
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Vizsla-

I read your entire post in detail, and understand your sentiment, even agree with it for the most part. It sucks that everybody else is hunting 'my' spots, but what can be done about it? Everybody is buying their licenses, paying their taxes, purchasing goods, so what makes one more important than the other? Not sure where I'm going with this, just some rambling I guess.

The issue I do have is what makes the 100's of weekend warriors any less deserving of a hunt than the real bird loving and hunting enthusiasts? What makes one an enthusiast and the others a weekend warrior?

I grew up in Kansas, hunted private ground in NCKs lost the contact for varying reasons, and then had access to private in WCKs, but have since lost that for the opener. The only option is to hunt public ground.

We typically get out for the opener, sometimes the second weekend, sometimes a weekend before or during Christmas, and again in late January. We don't get to pheasant hunt 30 days a season, typically about 6 days all season is all we get out. I keep a GSP at my house in Missouri, dad keeps another one of 'mine' at his house in SEK, bro in law has one at his house in SCKs. We keep 3 dogs for about 6 days of pheasant hunting.

This year I made the opener, and will probably only get out again in late January. Am I an enthusiast or a weekend warrior?
 
Is being a weekend warrior a term with a negative connotation?

It's tough to say.
I would say that Cheesy is more then just a weekend warrior because he cares enough to spend his valuable free time (all our free time is valuable!) on a site about pheasant hunting. I know lots of guys that don't care enough to do that!

Cheesy's post brings up a very good point.
Who am I to judge? Why should I complain? Opening weekend is a financial boom for the state in general.
Honestly, when I hunt I spend very little. Gas in the tank here and there, a license and some shells. I don't stay in hotels, eat out rarely.
Folks who drive in from out of state spend lots of money on fuel, hotels, food, etc.
Some of these towns depend on this time of the year.

I've hunted five days in the last 10 or so, and plan on hunting four days this weekend.

The state probably won't make much off of me as they will from someone coming in to hunt a weekend.

I really don't know what I'm trying to get at, although I did like the idea of a resident opener.
Believe me I get just as frustrated as others, but also see the financial side of it too.
 
cheesy said:
Resident opener only if Lifetime Hunting Licenses are valid then. :)
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2nd this! I bet it will never happen, but I'd sure like to see a resident opener. The youth opener is just incredible. The birds are easy to work. SD lets their residents hunt the w/e before everyone else.....I think it is a good incentive for those living in the state all year (or those that have lived in the state previously and purchased lifetime hunting licenses) get a w/e of hunting the birds before things get shaken up. Our state ain't gonna do it though friends.
 
I have been hunting in and around Dodge City since 1996 and will say that it used to be outstanding...

Now, I think that due to the WIHA, technology, sites like this, and just that there are more people, the pressue has increased.

I will say that every small town has "Welcome hunter" signs everywhere and in this economy around this time of year, that it has to be a boost to all of the local small town economy's.

I got back from hunting around Dodge City (sorry that's all I will say) and we did very well. Hunted southwest on Friday (limited out), Saturday we did well, and Sunday was a good day.

Plenty of birds, lots of shooting, good dog work and my 11yr old son got to esperience Kansas pheasant hunting.

I will continue to go back and plan on going back this season, MLK weekend.

What I enjoy the most in the people that I meet and that I know the areas so well that I can find my way in the dark.

Meanwhile back at the ranch,

Greg
 
I probably should've been more careful with the use of "weekend warrior" in this context. I am not sure I can define it for you, Cheesy, but my guess is that 90% of the folks on here are not, in my definition, weekend warriors. It has little to do, in my mind, with when or how often you hunt. Like the Supreme Court said of defining porn, "you just know it when you see it."

A weekend warrior is more interested in shooting than hunting; more interested in killing than the skill and chase of the hunt; measures success exclusively in birds bagged (and can't wait to brag (and lie) at the hotel about his day); has little appreciation for the land or how its uses impacts wildlife (all wildlife, not just roosters); views dogs as tools, not companions (and rarely owns his own); only thinks about the weather in West Kansas a week before the season; and could care less for the charming little towns we all hope reap enormous economic benefits from our presence. A weekend warrior loves the havoc of opening day and has little interest in the late January hunt where success is defined by strategy, good dog work and perhaps a single rooster in the bag. The enthusiast appreciates everything that the weekend warrior does not. If he had the opportunity, he would relate well to Aldo Leopold's teachings.

And I am no more deserving of a hunt or access to WIHA than any of you or the worst of the weekend warriors. That much is certain. My only point is that enthusiasts advance the cause (through time, money and effort) for the benefit of the warrior. We just need more enthusiasts.

I will be left out in the cold on the resident opener either way, but it has my full support.
 
Understood, and I don't disagree with you at all. My problem is I try to make everything black and white, when in reality everything to some degree is gray.
 
Pheasants Forever

I will confess and admit that I no longer am a member of the chapter I used to be involved with in Iowa. It was not a local chapter for me but it was a chapter located in an area of Iowa where they had fighting chance, slim one but still a fighting chance to advance their efforts in habitat construction. After a couple of experiences with farmers mowing down and baling, without permission, some very expensive habitat I ceased throwing my funds their way.

I now choose to pay for two memberships and support a chapter every year in one of the places in Kansas that I hunt the most. Corn has become King where I live in Iowa and a mass majority of the farmers minimize their conservation efforts only to the point of receiving maximum federal benefit and nothing more. I made a personal decision based on limited finances to send my money to places where I feel it can most effectively be used. It truly is sad and at times I literally mourn the loss of my feathered friend and the fact that my son may never be able to experience what I have while hunting pheasants close to home.

I love Kansas and I will continue to hunt there as long as my finances and time will allow. I have been walking through her fields when there were very few birds and I will not take for granted the bird populations of today. Let's face it, it is definitely more affordable therapy than a psychologist.:cheers:
 
I cant say that I ever recall being in Iowa, but what has changed so drastically that there are no longer birds to speak of?

As a kid growing up in the 80's and 90s and reading Outdoor life I always recall it being mentioned for birds and big deer.

Is it the habitat change? Farming fence row to fence row and being more chemically intensive and farming "clean"?
 
Here is the list of reasons why birds no longer exist in huntable numbers throughout most of Iowa

1. Massive amounts of habitat loss over the last ten years--something equivalent to an 8 mile wide strip running completely across the state from Council Bluffs to the Quad Cities
2. Round-Up ready corn has made weeds almost non-existent and without weeds there are no bugs for the few young birds to survive on
3. Most of the farmers are all grain farmers and there are little to no oats grown in Iowa
4. Fence rows and ditches continue to disappear entirely every year--not cleaned up but completely removed
5. Three of the worst winters on record over the last three years
6. Three of the wettest spring and summer periods on record with record 500 year flood plain flooding.

This all adds up to devastation that is sometimes still hard to comprehend and accept. I would say that in some areas where just three years ago a person could flush 100 birds per day you would now have trouble finding a population that is large enough in number to even pull off a hatch.

In a nutshell most of Iowa now looks like Illinois, nothing but bluegrass, fescue, sunshine, and corn.
 
On the money, TP...

I moved out here (Iowa) 7 years ago from the east coast due to work; at the time all my buds at home (those that are bird hunters) salivated at the news that I would be living in the traditional heart of the midwest pheasant belt. While I did not live nor hunt here in the '80s, I did have what I consider a good run of it until 2008, with many days afield doing decently well on public lands near home; bagging a couple of roosters on an outing happened with some regularity a treat that was essentially impossible back in Maryland or Pennsylvania. 2008 was the start of what I could really perceive as a major downward trend in the population. Flushes became less frequent and harvesting a brace of birds was ocurring much less.

TP is absolutely correct in his synopsis. Its a sad, complicated, situation that defies blame or the abillity to find a workable solution to at this time. Weather and the economics of large scale grain farming are global phenomena beyond our control.
 
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even if the weather improves, Iowa pheasant hunting, for the most part, is doomed. it is all about production, farmers here are not like Kansas farmers, i have been around both, there is a healthy respect for habitat in Kansas and more suitable ground for CRP as well.

then, the Iowa DNR is only interested in managing for deer and they charge an outrageous fee for NR deer and pheasant permits. things would have to change big time before i would spend another dime hunting Iowa. the Iowa i used to know is gone.
 
Any thoughts that the preceived pressure has risen is that the season was moved back to its original 2nd saturday opener, along with the quail season the past two years? While the season had its earlier 1st saturday opener, I would hunt the week of the 2nd saturday so that some of the crowds are gone and quail would be open. I still continue to hunt my traditional "2nd Saturday week", but so does everyone else. There was a lull on the thursday after opener, then the trucks started rolling back in to hunt the weekend and days before Thanksgiving. I am sure that the past two weeks has just over pressured the limited ground.
 
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