Hill City Advice

W

Wingmaster

New member
I am thinking of heading to Hill City for the opener this year, I wanted to hunt somewhere I have never hunted before and heard good things about this area. My plan is just to hunt walk in with a couple of my buddies and my GSP. However, I have talked few people about Hill City and have been told that the WIHA areas around Hill City are just to big to hunt effectively with 3 guys and a dog.

If you have been to Hill City and/or have any thoughts on the subject please let me know what you think. There is still time for me to change my plans to hunt another area if need be.

Thanks for the WISDOM.
 
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Hill City is one of my favorite areas to hunt. There are large fields. Sometimes I hunt alone with a couple britts. There is nothing too big to hunt for me. I do use an Astro.

When a dog zigs, I zag. Expect birds where the cover ends.
 
ain't no reason to avoid large fields if you have a dog. just go in from the downwind side and as they say" follow the dog, stupid" :thumbsup:
 
Hope you like crowds. The Hill City area is as bad as parts of SD on the opener. Don't worry about the big fields you will have plenty of company.
 
hunter94 said:
the opener will be crowded anywhere in kansas, pick a spot.
Click to expand...

not completely true. I've hunted the same piece of public ground about every other year on the opener for the last 20 years. A lot of birds shot out of it and rarely see more than a couple of other people. A limit last year as a matter of fact. One year during the 90's a buddy and I shot 7 out of their in the morning,, threw them on top of the dog box,,shoe polished limits baby on the windshield and drove out west to scout a duck pond. True story. funny shit when your like 28:D
 
hunter94 said:
the opener will be crowded anywhere in kansas, pick a spot.
Click to expand...

Not like Hill City. Every jackleg around will be there. I have access to a few hundred acres there. Three years ago the forecast was bad and it was a zoo. I can't imagine it after a favorable forecast. All I was trying to let the guy know what to expect.
 
Hunted Hill City a few times late in the year , once during opening weekend of deer season. Hunters everywhere. I agree with others who say no field too large. Tons of still standing milo last time we were out there, too much area for birds to hide.
 
Wingmaster,

You've gotten some good advice here. Ultimately, I don't think it matters where you go on the opener or in the first few weeks of the season. Because of the "reporting" of higher bird numbers, hunters will be out in staggering numbers this year.

As in the last two years, most will be disappointed. Although the numbers are reported to be up, hunting will still be very slow compared to a few years ago. People tend to look at percentages rather than actual numbers. If we could have a couple years of good hatch/brooding weather, we might be back up to average.

Regarding the Hill City area, it's a good spot. Habitat is good and there's quite a bit of WIHA available. I wouldn't shy away from big fields either. I never hesitate to head into a section with just me and a dog or two.

Best of luck,

Point
 
Point! is spot on. An 80 percent (making that number up) increase over last year still wouldn't be many birds. Sounds good but in reality it means little. If there were a lot of birds last year it would mean much more. But, it's a start!
 
I usually hunt WIHA for the opener with no problems from large crowds, but maybe Hill city is different, I don't know. I would think being so far away from a major city and the lack of hotel accommodations (I think there are only a few motels anywhere close by) would limit hunter numbers, but maybe not.

It seems the closer I get to KC the worse it gets on the opener. After the opener it's weird, but I rarely ever see anyone bird hunting. I hunted about 6 times in Dec and Jan last year and only saw one other bird hunter. Which is weird to me because I always do better hunting pheasants when the temps go down and they stop running so much.

Thanks for all of the advice for those that chipped in.
 
Hill city resident

We have seen more pheasants this year than previously during harvest. Last year our hunters that came left with birds and see satisfied. At this point I do not have any hunters booked for opening season. I suppose they are apprehensive about the population. We have private land and lodging in Hill City and sometimes we have hunters that stay at our place and hunt walk in. They do comment the walk in is often times crowded. I suppose it's just when you come determines how crowded it is. There is always quit a bunch of traffic in Hill city during opening weekend of deer, pheasant, and turkey. Hope that helps. Let me know if we can be of assistance.
 
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