How did you find your best KS hunting spots?

My first trip to kansas was 3 years ago. I did what research I could on habitat, and looked at the KDWP website. 4 days later I had 2 quail and was heading back home. I gained untold knowledge and skill at finding birds on my own. Well, putting the dog in the right place. I have never hunted non-walk in land because I really don't have the time to drive 8 hours on a random weekend before the season to knock on doors. Maybe in the future I'll be able to but not now. I love the WIHA program because it does allow me to hunt and have a great trip. Last year I had a much better trip. Several roosters and lots of quail. The leg work and understanding habitat have made me much more successful. Not growing up with a hunting background I had to start from scratch for the most part and learn from my mistakes. I think that makes every rooster even more rewarding knowing I did it by myself and it was not a gift from someone else.

I'll be heading out the friday after the opener for NW Kansas and I am chomping at the bit. I hope everyone on here has a great trip and continues to learn more about the bird we all love to hunt. I know I will.



Chris
 
kansasbrittany said:
Did you get them from someone else or find them yourself in your journeys?

How many of you can remember your first KS pheasant trip? Did you shoot a limit using someone else's advice, or did you do some research and end up in a decent spot or get lucky enough to end up in an extraordinary spot?

Even if someone told you where their very best spot was, don't you think there's another one within a 20 mile radius that's better?

Finally, have you ever been to an area that someone else said was great and found few or no birds at all?

Wait no....one more....does anyone know where I'm going with this? I help new guys more than most folks think I should, but I'm about done doing it. Too many requests for specific locales for me. Not mad and not bashing the guys that are trying to get all the info they can, just getting frustrated that some of these guys are unknowingly trying to bypass one of the best elements of our sport. I recommend preserves for those that expect great bird #'s on their first trip;)
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I'm a new guy on this forum, but have lived in Kansas and hunted Kansas most of my life.
I gotta tell you, when I first got on here, I was shocked at how specific some guys were in locations. I look at it this way. I'm going to tell close friends about public spots that I know of. Typically those guys are burning the bootleather with me, so I have no qualms about taking them to my spots, or private spots that I have. They are close friends who are there for the same reasons that I am. To get their dogs into birds.
Those guys I share with. But I wouldn't think of posting anything on a public forum.
Now if someone PMs me or something, I would try to help them but directing them to general areas but...

I don't hunt to necessarily kill birds. I hunt to watch my dogs and get them into birds. When they do things right, then I'll try and shoot a bird.
So, while I want to get into birds, killing a limit isn't even a thought in my mind. Just watching and enjoying the dogs is.
 
Great thread!

I lucked out on my hunting spots and I just found a honey hole(cows are wonderous). My fathers childhood friend still farms and I along with many other people have permission.most folks hunt deer in the creeks and pheasants in the big milo fields. I don't mind sharing the land but I like to think over the past year I've learnt to hunt it the best of them all. I still don't have any grass fields to hunt but there's always next year, and the next, and the next..
 
I get it!

You guys haven't seen anything until you ask a Michigander to give up his favorite grouse covert. Might as well ask to sleep with his wife. :eek: Seriously, these spots are highly coveted. I have some acquaintances that I have known for years through bumping into them at trials, Roughed Grouse Society banquets, etc. and I still wouldn't think of asking them where they hunt. If they want me to know, they will tell me - in time. The amount of time, gas, and boot leather that goes into developing a series of coverts is unimaginable. They're also highly guarded because most are state/public land. I won't even mention on line what county I hunt in.

That said, those who get to know me are often invited to hunt with me. One rule. You're a guest. This is not your new favorite spot. It's called the Gentleman's Rule. I bump into you in a covert that I showed you, and I'm gonna be pissed. I bump into you in a covert that I showed you and you have someone with you, we're done hunting together. When I take someone to my honey hole, I expect them to take notes of everything they see - food sources, ground cover, trees, soil, canopy, etc. Then take that info and go out and find a similar spot. Most times, I will get to hunt that spot with them one day. That's the give and take.

I'm taking my first trip to KS this Jan. Our season is closed, so it is an opportunity to get out with the dogs. I view it purely as a recon. trip. Any birds found will be a bonus. With luck, I will learn enough to put together a successful hunt in Nov while our season is closed for firearm deer. I have traded some PMs with a couple here who have, at most, given me a couple of counties on which to focus.

Outside of that, I'm arming myself with an atlas, Garmin, maps, boot leather, gasoline, and caffeine. Rented a cabin for 4 nights and will explore in all directions around it.

I appreciate the opportunities that your state offers for nonresidents. And I see it from both sides. We get a fair number of nonres. grouse hunters up here. The $ they bring to our local economy is greatly appreciated. MI is in the toilet. That said, I'm still not going to share my coverts with them over the net.

However, there is a group of "Good Ole Boys" from Kentucky that I bumped into for the second time in as many years this Fall. Their flush rate was very low - again. After sharing some brown liquid around a campfire , I ended up taking them out for a day and showing them a helluva time. That's how it happens. Already have plans to hunt with them next year. Looking forward to it too. I would be shocked if they hunted the spots I showed them without me. If they do, so be it. Karma is a B##ch.

Sorry to get long winded. Had some suds after work tonight (I get out at MN), and I can't sleep. Completely stoked about my trip to KS. At least I won't be at work. :D
 
My first trip was when I was 12. I was lucky in that my dad and his hunting partner had already developed a good relationship with a farmer in NW KS. The farmer had three daughters, so he always got a kick out of me coming out to hunt when I was a kid. He took great care of us showing us all around his land. His wife even made chili for us for lunch on opening day each year. We did reciprocate by bringing them gifts, taking them to dinner, etc. We had a great quail spot in eastern KS for a number of years and invited him and couple of buddies to come back and hunt quail with us.

When I was in college, we found some good spots for pheasant and quail in NE KS by knocking on doors. We found an old guy who let us hunt who smoked a pipe. We always brought him some Prince Albert when we stopped to ask permission.

It's all about respect and common courtesy. We have always taken the time to sit and visit with folks who let us hunt, offered to clean some birds for them if we are lucky enough to get some, etc.

We started hunting a new area over Thanksgiving weekend three years ago. Have had some good success by knocking on doors. I agree with many of you on hear that part of the fun is taking the time to explore new areas on your own and then experiencing success thanks to the time and effort you've put in.
 
Married a girl from Western Kansas who's father is a farmer. I swear I took her on two dates before I asked to see her daddy's land.
 
I took the Hunter Safety course in 1988 with the intention of coming to Kansas to hunt pheasants. Had some really great years hunting quail in Texas and Oklahoma and along with work and marriage I lost track of going to Kansas. In 2008 I realized that if I wanted to have bird dogs I needed to get the dogs into some birds. I bought a Kansas NR license, bought WIHA guide, loaded the dogs into the truck and drove north. Looked for counties with lots of WIHA acreage. When I found what I thought was a good spot, I parked the truck, loaded the gun and turned the dogs loose and did a lot walking. I realize there is a pretty good chance my "best" spot may not be available next season but I have better than average dogs, I like to walk and my doctor says I need the exercise. No one, and I mean no one, appreciates the Walk In Hunting program in Kansas more than I do. Hunting in Kansas has been a Godsend for me and my dogs. I am pretty sure I don't kill as many birds as most people on this forum but I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to watch my dogs work and if I can make a clean kill over a solid point; life is good!!! I can't adequately express my gratitude for the kindness and hospitality of the people I have met while hunting in Kansas.
 
KansasGsp said:
Married a girl from Western Kansas who's father is a farmer. I swear I took her on two dates before I asked to see her daddy's land.
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All the hunters out there who are still single should take notes.

Also, if you are the only unmarried guy in your hunting party, you owe it to the group to "take one for the team". If the hotel clerk, waitress, barmaid, or friend of any of the aforementioned people has hunting land, then you owe it to the group to flirt with her until you get hunting access for the group. It's surprising how many single guys don't know that rule...:laugh:
 
I got hooked up through a guy I knew from hunting with while stationed up at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK. I met this guy that hunted ducks and geese like a mad man. Now up there you have to understand, THERE ARE NO WILD PHEASANTS!! They can't survive the harsh winters, no food, no cover (that they like) and the predators are everywhere.

However, there are spruce grouse (just like blue grouse), sharptails, and ruffed grouse and of course willow ptarmigan (which I hunted every Jan thru March on snowshoes with my yellow lab...that brother that was a workout!!!

I met this guy up there...we hunted and hunted. Then I got stationed down in Colorado Springs. He was at Hill AFB in Utah. He calls me up and says he dad (who lives in PA and races pigeons), knows a guy out by Dodge City who he sold some pigeons too. He is going hunting and they don't have a dog, would you like to go. I said, you don't even have to ask.

I had never, ever, ever hunted wild pheasants. I hunted bird farms and raised my own and shot them. So I was totally stoked. So the first time I went pheasant hunting in Kansas, it was me, my old yellow lab Conan (who died in 2005 at 13yrs old), my buddy's dad, and his Kansas friend.

Well, it was awesome to say the least. I ended up having a blast and then I got to know the Kansas guy and got to know his family. I eventually started coming out on my own and then I asked if I could bring a friend or two and that was in 1996.

Now, 14yrs later I am still going and I look forward to it every year. And now I have different dogs, taking my son and I am hunting some of the same areas I hunted way back in 1996 with Conan, so there are alot of memories...good ones though.

Greg
 
Toad said:
All the hunters out there who are still single should take notes.

Also, if you are the only unmarried guy in your hunting party, you owe it to the group to "take one for the team". If the hotel clerk, waitress, barmaid, or friend of any of the aforementioned people has hunting land, then you owe it to the group to flirt with her until you get hunting access for the group. It's surprising how many single guys don't know that rule...:laugh:
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It's happened before, but you have to be ready to "take one for the team" as well - which may include clearing the hotel room for a few hours and sleeping in the truck, or throwing in for an extra room for the night. :thumbsup: :D

Oh, and I'm a Kansas native, been hunting and fishing forever. I've found my "spots" through many gallons of gas and beer, and can usually always find a few new ones every year just by looking for good ground. You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to figure out where the pheasants and quail like to be, after you've hunted a few quality fields.
 
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Still searching for that perfect honey hole.:( I hope to find it one day but if not I don't care that much. Limits are not important to me either.
A great day for me is when I can watch my dogs work hard and maybe come up with a memorable point or retrieve. Don't need 4 of them one or two make me happy.
 
Toad said:
All the hunters out there who are still single should take notes.

Also, if you are the only unmarried guy in your hunting party, you owe it to the group to "take one for the team". If the hotel clerk, waitress, barmaid, or friend of any of the aforementioned people has hunting land, then you owe it to the group to flirt with her until you get hunting access for the group. It's surprising how many single guys don't know that rule...:laugh:
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I'm currently working on pheasant ground and a duck pond, I think I have good goose fields from one girl but looking for the other 2. So if you know any farmers daughters, I'm 22 good looking with brown hair;):D
 
-Wildcat- said:
It's happened before, but you have to be ready to "take one for the team" as well - which may include clearing the hotel room for a few hours and sleeping in the truck, or throwing in for an extra room for the night. :thumbsup: :D

Oh, and I'm a Kansas native, been hunting and fishing forever. I've found my "spots" through many gallons of gas and beer, and can usually always find a few new ones every year just by looking for good ground. You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to figure out where the pheasants and quail like to be, after you've hunted a few quality fields.
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I will say that those Kansas women are some of the sweetest and prettiest around. And this is coming from a guy born and raised in Texas (I retired from the Air Force in Colorado springs)....

Greg
 
First trip to Kansas...

I love telling this story and a few of my hunting buddies have heard it 10s of times.

I met my wife in the late winter of 98 and one of the first things I told her after two weeks of dating her was that I was going to marry her. The second thing I told her was that I was a pheasant hunter and that I was always going to own a dog and the dog I owned was going to most likely live in the house (I can't believe she didn't run away then considering she was a cat person).

We got engaged sometime in the late fall or early winter of 98 and if I remember correctly that winter was sort of a mild one in Iowa. I had taken some business trips to Kansas in 1997 and a couple in 1998 and I remember that even in the summer months I seemed to see pheasants everywhere. We do a lot of ice walking on public hunting here in Iowa and most of those are cattail marshes. For some reason in December of 1998 and early January of 1999 we were having a incredibly mild winter so there wasn't any ice.

Well anyway, I had not heard a pheasant cackle for the last two weeks of the season and I had started reading up on Kansas, her long pheasant season, and her copious amounts of walk in hunting. Some how I convinced my then fiance that I needed to make a short trip to Kansas and try and find a couple of cackling friends. I don't know if it was a long discussion or a short discussion but she agreed to let me go.

Being in a crazy amount of love at the time I didn't leave as planned. I think I stuck around Des Moines until about 6 or 630 on a Friday night and then left for Concordia, Kansas. I think I reached the hotel at 230 in the morning with me and the old mixed breed and part vizla hound. The next morning I arose bright and early and armed with the WIHA maps and no gps I traveled to my first spot sight unseen. I hunted it like I would have if I was hunting Iowa. Little did I know at the time but Kansas birds played by different rules. I put up birds on that warm January day but I couldn't hit a thing.

If my memory serves me correctly I start somewhere south and west of Beloit Kansas and ended up over by Osborne. There was no snow on the ground and in fact that Saturday ended up being around 80 degrees. The very last piece I hunted had some crop close to the road and ended up back in a field of CRP somewhere that seemed like the middle of nowhere. I was down to shirtsleeves and the dog's tongue was hanging on the ground.

As we were working our way through the grass I was literally mezmerized by the amount of crap piles I saw in the field but no birds were to be found. I also started noticing how it looked like the wild sunflower heads were being cultivated by an unknown species (later figured out that pheasants love that stuff). About the time I was ready to give up and make the long journey back home my dog took off on a dead sprint for about 25 feet and then stopped for a dead on point.

Well that ole Kansas rooster got up sideways and must not have been flying fast enough because I dropped it dead with one shot. We gathered up the bird and I told ole Rexie to come along and we headed back to the truck. We started our trip back to Des Moines less than 24 hours after we begin our journey. The whole way home I kept telling myself, "it was worth it Thad, it was worth it". I was tired, the dog was shot and the license, gas, and hotel didn't come for free. That being said, the opportunity for adventure and the opportunity to hunt what seemed like endless fields of grass in spaces that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see which culminated in the harvesting of one of the most special game birds of all time was all worth it.

What I didn't know at the time was that the next several years were going to be years defined by the drought that didn't seem like it would ever end. My follow up trips for a few years remained solo January trips. Then I started to go the week before Christmas and then January again. My memory isn't as good as it once was but I think I traveled to Kansas by myself for five years solo searching for the birds. I can be honest and tell you that my worst trip was one where I spent four days and never killed a single bird. It was not until my third or fourth year that I ever found a limit of birds in a day.

The quick rest of the story is that Kansas has taught me more about bird hunting than I ever would have learned just hunting the old familiar spots here in Iowa. I have sense branched out and developed tons of friendships with many people from Kansas that I could never have imagined on that first trip. I have seen more birds and harvested more birds than a young man could ever have dreamed in even his wildest of dreams. I now hunt mostly private ground but there are still a few WIHAs that I will visit every chance I get solely because of the memories they hold. I took my old dog Rexie to one of those fields the last season she was able to hunt and the last year she was alive.

I still remember calling my wife on the way home and crying like a baby sensing that it was the last time I would ever be able to take Rexie to that very special field where we shot our Iowa limit (3 birds) a few years prior on one very special morning. So to answer the question presented in the original post, yes I have found many a special spots by myself through lots of personal effort, dollars in the tank, miles of boots on the ground, beer in the belly, and hotel stays that I break out in cold sweats just thinking about. But without the friends I have made and some very special people that have allowed me to become part of their lives and in some cases part of their family I would have never discovered many of the secrets I have learned about hunting pheasants in the great State of Kansas.

To be completely honest I have not hunted birds in Iowa in the last two years. I have fallen in love/lust with the wide open spaces of Kansas and her wonderful people that respond to a handshake, respect, and simple acts of kindness.

Sorry for the novel I just wrote...I just felt like sharing tonight.
 
This is one of my favorite stories and recounts my first Kansas hunting trip.

I was invited to join a group which included a couple of guys with whom I worked in order to hunt the pheasant opener in central Kansas. Out of the 8 guys coming from Colorado, I only knew 2 of them. We were to meet a friend of one of my buddies who was currently the local county bridge inspector (henceforth referred to as the BI) and who had obtained trespass permissions for our group. Rather than exposing any of our vehicles to either the rigors of driving across muddy fields and pastures or the collateral damage from the same, we rented 2 cars for our transport.

The 6 hour drive out could have been used as a template for a Cheech and Chong movie scene. The increase to the degree of our celebration after arriving at the BI’s rented farmhouse (and its unforgettable, sulphurous water) was logarithmic. Dawn of opening day came EARLY.

We had no dogs and this was to be a traditional push and block hunt. Some of my fellow participants had never hunted nor fired a shotgun. The general consensus of opinion was that the pouches of game vests were designed to carry a cargo of life sustaining Budweiser through the Kansas countryside. Some birds were shot and no one had died by the time we began to push a field late in the afternoon on opening day. Our progress was interrupted by the appearance of a white pickup and a parlay ensued. The owner of this parcel corrected our erroneous location while maintaining an even temper. In fact, he inquired whether we would like to join him and his guests on the following day in order to push some sizeable CRP areas. Our spokesman, the BI, declined while explaining that we had plenty of land to hunt.

Early the next morning we were positioned in our first field when the same white pickup came barreling into our midst. Our friendly and understanding landowner from the previous day had transformed into an unworldly demon. From his mouth flowed a disturbing, white rabid foam and the most inventively vile pronunciations to which I had ever been treated. The progression of his proposals for dealing with our transgression was first, call the sheriff; second, give him all of our guns; and third, pay him a $50 fee each. During these intense negotiations, a number of our group- hoping that they would not be noticed, I suppose- simply wandered off. Those of us who remained were somehow able (with much finger pointing at the BI) to convince the owner, Alan, that we were not simply indifferent a$$holes with an entitlement assumption. Eventually and after noting the amount of beer accompanying our group, Alan’s solution was, again, to have us join him in hunting his fields...... an offer which we could not refuse.

He didn’t want us to damage his land with our vehicles so, after rounding up the guys who had ghosted off, we all piled into the back of his truck. Alan had some early stage CRP which was still in cane- some of which was down and strewn haphazardly. This stuff- similar to Sudan grass- is above head height and miserable to walk through but very much loved by pheasants. Alan and his guests, knowingly, elected to block each field and, despite being a poor shot, he even managed to scratch down one of his own birds. There was a Hitchcock-like number of birds in those CRP tracts.

The final field which we hunted provided the defining experience of the hunt. As previously noted, some group members had minimal previous exposure to guns and hunting. Alan was blocking and, as the pushers approached, birds were going out everywhere. One of the neophytes, who luckily was toting an ancient 10 ga SxS, decided that he had a good shot at a low rooster and let fire from the hip. (He’d pulled this stunt earlier in the hunt and, for personal safety reasons, I had distanced myself from walking near him.) I estimate that Alan hit the ground one nanosecond prior to having the shot swarm fly (barely) over his head. It was agreed that this completed our pheasant operations for the day. We returned to our cars and it was discovered that the keys were locked inside one of them. Half of our group beat a hasty retreat to the BI’s farmhouse while Alan graciously drove us to his own house and back to obtain a hanger in order to jimmy our way into our car. It was later discovered that we had absconded with the only bird that our host had managed to bag.

We spent that evening depleting the remaining party supplies and returned to Colorado the next day. We had retained the tails of our roosters as they had been cleaned and the trunk of each car was closed with about 15 of them wedged on the outside as we sped westward on I-70.

I never again have done a group hunt. I normally hunt alone and will not hunt with anyone who drinks during the day. I will not hunt unless I am certain that I have permission. I immediately bought a setter and, then, added another and, then, added a lab. I was the only member of that group to ever return and establish a relationship with Alan whom I now consider a dear friend. All of this occurred some 30 years ago and my seasonal visits remain both my most anticipated and my most enjoyable hunts of the year.

ratt
 
KB, I never met you but if I ever did I would gladly buy you a cold one and swap some stories with you. After I read your post I came to believe that you do what you do because you are what you are, and I'm sure there are many rooster chasers out there who are grateful to you for what you did for them. I was born in NY too many years ago and didn't start pheasant hunting until I moved to Colorado in '93. It was someone like you who took the time to point me in the right direction and I will always be grateful to him.
I was lucky enough to be able to pick his brain whenever I wanted to. I was smart enough to realize that I still needed to put in my time and I combined what he taught me with a lot of hard work of my own. It took some luck, lot's of door knocking and hand shaking and a whole bunch of back breaking work to find my own place in the world of bird hunting. I'm an electrician by trade and a mechanic by necessity. I don't know how many electrical jobs I did, how much fence I helped put up and how much calf crap I wore pushing calves through a chute in order to get some decent land to hunt.
I, like you, decided to help some of the guys that were less fortunate by bringing them out to my honey holes only to have them invite their friends and trespass when I wasn't there. Once, on the Friday night before the Colorado opener, I had 25 people show up where I was camping in a friends field. I only knew 5 of those guys and had only asked 3 to meet me out there. On that night I found a new occupation. I became a magician and turned myself into an a**hole, (at least thats what they told me I was). That was the last time I ever hunted with those guys. I still help out others when I can but I got pretty particular about the guys I hunt with now. My one weak spot is that I'll always try to find the time to introduce a youngster to the sport. I may be turning into an OCB (old crabby bast***) but I turn to putty when I see the smile on a kids face. That's what makes it worth it for me.
This year was the first time I was able to visit Kansas for some bird hunting and I will never forget that experience. I met a neighbor who elk hunts and I took him to my cabin to hunt first season here in Colorado. He repaid me by taking me out to Colby on opening day. By being friendly, telling some jokes, picking up the tab for breakfast and helping clean up after the hunt was done, I now have standing open invites to some primo private Kansas land. You can be sure that Christmas and Thank You cards were sent by me to my new friends. It's things like this I treasure and people like this I will always respect. It's because of them I will be able to ensure that my son will have places to hunt and for that I will always be grateful.
 
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