Hays area??

R

RoscoPColtrane

New member
I’m new to pheasant hunting and have a first year pointer. Just trying to get him on some birds. Been hunting WIHA’s in the Hays area for a couple days and haven’t seen a bird. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
 
Look for out of the way spots , Move 30 miles or so if you are not seeing birds . Late season is tuff . I was hunting north of Hays where some guys form North Carolina where hunting .At the end of the day they hunted a feild where I had already started in . I watched form over 1/4 mile away and as they were collaring there dogs up I saw a rooster flush from cover 250 to 300 yds from where they were setting up at .

To my point if your after pheasants make sure your approach is stealthy , and what 131 said the place further away from interstate should have less pressure .
 
Go slow and quiet. If he gets birdy and goes down on point get to him quick. They’ll drive a dog nuts running. I used to hunt south and west of there. Was years ago though.
 
That’s a TON of hunting to not so much as see a bird. You need to change something about your approach, for sure.
 
Here is a picture from this morning , this bird was taken within the area you spoke of , there weren’t tons of birds .
They were skittish . I hunted that general area Friday and Saturday morning and wound up with 5 Quail and 2 roosters hunted on my own with 2 Brits .

They are there not in huge numbers but I did see birds traveling to and from roost to feed in morning and evening .

Keep after make sure your working into the wind , and getting set up quiet , a good start for a young dog might be best to focus on cover that’s more likely to have Quail .

Keep us posted and stay after it .
 
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Should be some moisture in the air today. Keep at it, they are running like nobody's business. He may not be able to pin them down but at least he'll get a nose full. Don’t be afraid to try something different. Last time I was out that way I worked a little grassy draw reversed direction from what I’m sure most others had. It meant walking in an eighth a mile across bare wheat,,, hunting the draw,,and then another half mile back to the truck across bare ground. But it paid off. Trust your gut. I'll be a little bit south of you. Good luck
 

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We hunted Friday evening, all day Saturday, and half day today and we flushed one hen pheasant. Saw zero quail which surprised us. We hunted grassy areas with some trees mixed in for cover or cut milo surrounded by grassy hedgerows. It was great looking ground.
 
We spent a week hunting all around Lucas , ( 4 guns / 4 dogs ) ended up with a couple rooster and lost one, he hit the ground hard then just vaporized! We found 1 large covey of quail , shot 4, and a field that held chicken, shot 4. All in had a great week , came home (Va.) with 4 tired dogs and plans to return.
 
The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m wondering how much my dog was actually hunting vs. just running around in the field. He’s only 11 months old. He’ll lock up on pigeons in training but I’m not sure if he made the connection in the field, because the other problem is THERE ARE NO WILD BIRDS IN KANSAS. I mean, I didn’t see any birds ANYWHERE, not driving, hiking, looking, nothing. Just tweetie birds that my dog kept chasing which is good on one hand (prey drive) but bad in that it means he doesn’t understand the objective.
 
I was in the same area the 2nd week of Jan. , we had 4 dogs. One of the guys (4 of us) describe his dog (16 months) exactly the same way. We did find a few quail, pheasants and chickens but his dog was never involved. He plans to send her to a trainer as we gave NO WILD birds in Va. to at least expose her to game.
 
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