Hi,
I?m new to the forum and this is my first post. I live in Minnesota and spend a lot of time hunting SW Kansas for Black tail Jackrabbits. I don?t do it with a gun, but with my Golden Eagle (Dexter) via the art of falconry. My core hunting area is around Sublette, KS. It?s between Garden City and Liberal. I know quite a few land owners and have been hunting there since 2007.
I?m very new to hunting upland game over a dog. I?ve been gun hunting since I was 12, mainly turkeys and deer, but never had a dog to seriously pursue pheasants. I?ve been hunting with raptors for falconry since I was 15 (18 years now).
I have always wanted to get a pointer and train it as a dual purpose dog to gun hunt over for pheasants/quail and also to flush jacks and fly my eagle over the dog. Fast forward to this fall. I travel a lot for hunting and finally felt comfortable committing to a dog of my own for the first time. I got very serious about looking for a dog. I have a close friend that runs GWP?s and was pretty set on a GWP as a versatile breed to do exactly what I was looking for. I got extremely lucky and found a great started dog with very good bloodlines that was 18 months old and hunted hard on chucker in Idaho. She was sold when I called, but a few weeks later the buyer had to back out do to the expense of the dog. I got a call and worked out the details. In early December I drove from Minnesota to Emmett Idaho to meet Greta. I purchased her and couldn?t be happier! She is extremely talented *IMO*. She already knew what to do with pointing birds. I hunted her in TX on quail a couple days after picking her up. She did bump the first couple quail without pointing, but after she retrieved the first one she went on to have some beautiful steady points and retrieves. We shot 6 quail over her that morning.
Getting Greta used to the eagle was pretty easy. Except that Dexter was convinced she was the devil and wanted nothing to do with her. After having her leashed in the field and Dexter catching a couple jacks where I could completely control the situation he is very accepting of her. She learned to point and not chase jacks pretty quick (a few e-collar corrections). Now she just watches them run off. Most jacks bump without holding for a point and that is fine as Dexter will fly them off my fist soon as they flush.
Greta did want to retrieve the falcons at first. But she quickly learned they are not for retrieving. She is great with them and goes with me into the pens every day to feed falcons. She is extremely steady and trustworthy around them. I have 20 falcons I train professionally for my work.
I have been out after wild pheasants a couple times, but the only birds we have found have flushed wild without any chance of getting close enough for a point. I have been running Greta at a hunting preserve in MN. I have been out 3 times with Greta and I have shot 33 pheasants over her so far. And a few I?ve totally missed, lol. All but 2 over points. And she retrieves well. Greta always finds me extra scratch birds as I?ve only had them put out 18 birds so far. I am great at training raptors, but definitely have some questions of dog training. But that?s for another post.
So if you have made it through my rambling this far I appreciate the effort. Now on to an actual question.
I am always looking for new areas to hunt jackrabbits with my Eagle (Dexter). I figure most pheasant guys are in cover too thick for jacks. But since you guys are out in the field so much maybe you know of areas that have good populations of jackrabbits?
I am more than happy to take anyone out that show me some jacks.
My normal jack fields are cut wheat, especially if sits long enough to grow small tumble weeds in it. Cattle pastures, and any type of shorter cover that can conceal a jack, but still be open enough for them to get up and run.
Since not many people hunt them I figured it would be ok to ask. Also I am always happy to take anyone in the field hunting with me and Dexter. I always offer to take out the landowners that give me permission. I have taken a lot of kids out in the field with me. So if anyone know of good jackrabbit spots specifically and wouldn?t mind sharing I would love to hook up and take you out hunting. You can PM me if you want to keep info private. I?m open to anywhere in KS that has a good amount of jacks. I mainly target the Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal areas.
I will be heading back to SW Kansas next Monday (1/16). I?ll be down for a week. Then back again from the 25-31 of January. My plan is to hunt WIHA for pheasant with Greta in the mornings and hunt jackrabbits with Dexter in the afternoon until dark. Dexter is pretty good at his job and has caught 70 jack rabbits across 5 states so far this year. It?s a unique experience watching a trained golden eagle hunt right in front of you. I?ll attach a few pics of us on hunts in KS.
Thanks,
Chase Delles
I?m new to the forum and this is my first post. I live in Minnesota and spend a lot of time hunting SW Kansas for Black tail Jackrabbits. I don?t do it with a gun, but with my Golden Eagle (Dexter) via the art of falconry. My core hunting area is around Sublette, KS. It?s between Garden City and Liberal. I know quite a few land owners and have been hunting there since 2007.
I?m very new to hunting upland game over a dog. I?ve been gun hunting since I was 12, mainly turkeys and deer, but never had a dog to seriously pursue pheasants. I?ve been hunting with raptors for falconry since I was 15 (18 years now).
I have always wanted to get a pointer and train it as a dual purpose dog to gun hunt over for pheasants/quail and also to flush jacks and fly my eagle over the dog. Fast forward to this fall. I travel a lot for hunting and finally felt comfortable committing to a dog of my own for the first time. I got very serious about looking for a dog. I have a close friend that runs GWP?s and was pretty set on a GWP as a versatile breed to do exactly what I was looking for. I got extremely lucky and found a great started dog with very good bloodlines that was 18 months old and hunted hard on chucker in Idaho. She was sold when I called, but a few weeks later the buyer had to back out do to the expense of the dog. I got a call and worked out the details. In early December I drove from Minnesota to Emmett Idaho to meet Greta. I purchased her and couldn?t be happier! She is extremely talented *IMO*. She already knew what to do with pointing birds. I hunted her in TX on quail a couple days after picking her up. She did bump the first couple quail without pointing, but after she retrieved the first one she went on to have some beautiful steady points and retrieves. We shot 6 quail over her that morning.
Getting Greta used to the eagle was pretty easy. Except that Dexter was convinced she was the devil and wanted nothing to do with her. After having her leashed in the field and Dexter catching a couple jacks where I could completely control the situation he is very accepting of her. She learned to point and not chase jacks pretty quick (a few e-collar corrections). Now she just watches them run off. Most jacks bump without holding for a point and that is fine as Dexter will fly them off my fist soon as they flush.
Greta did want to retrieve the falcons at first. But she quickly learned they are not for retrieving. She is great with them and goes with me into the pens every day to feed falcons. She is extremely steady and trustworthy around them. I have 20 falcons I train professionally for my work.
I have been out after wild pheasants a couple times, but the only birds we have found have flushed wild without any chance of getting close enough for a point. I have been running Greta at a hunting preserve in MN. I have been out 3 times with Greta and I have shot 33 pheasants over her so far. And a few I?ve totally missed, lol. All but 2 over points. And she retrieves well. Greta always finds me extra scratch birds as I?ve only had them put out 18 birds so far. I am great at training raptors, but definitely have some questions of dog training. But that?s for another post.
So if you have made it through my rambling this far I appreciate the effort. Now on to an actual question.
I am always looking for new areas to hunt jackrabbits with my Eagle (Dexter). I figure most pheasant guys are in cover too thick for jacks. But since you guys are out in the field so much maybe you know of areas that have good populations of jackrabbits?
I am more than happy to take anyone out that show me some jacks.
My normal jack fields are cut wheat, especially if sits long enough to grow small tumble weeds in it. Cattle pastures, and any type of shorter cover that can conceal a jack, but still be open enough for them to get up and run.
Since not many people hunt them I figured it would be ok to ask. Also I am always happy to take anyone in the field hunting with me and Dexter. I always offer to take out the landowners that give me permission. I have taken a lot of kids out in the field with me. So if anyone know of good jackrabbit spots specifically and wouldn?t mind sharing I would love to hook up and take you out hunting. You can PM me if you want to keep info private. I?m open to anywhere in KS that has a good amount of jacks. I mainly target the Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal areas.
I will be heading back to SW Kansas next Monday (1/16). I?ll be down for a week. Then back again from the 25-31 of January. My plan is to hunt WIHA for pheasant with Greta in the mornings and hunt jackrabbits with Dexter in the afternoon until dark. Dexter is pretty good at his job and has caught 70 jack rabbits across 5 states so far this year. It?s a unique experience watching a trained golden eagle hunt right in front of you. I?ll attach a few pics of us on hunts in KS.
Thanks,
Chase Delles
