It Looks Grim

W

westksbowhunter

Well-known member
I traveled from Rush County down to SW Kansas yesterday and it looks horrible. What little CRP that is left offers no cover. You can't tell the CRP from the round up sprayed fields. All looks the same. I fear Kansas is in big trouble in years to come from the heat, drought, and loss of CRP over the last 3 years. The forecast for Today called for heavy rain and flooding and we got absolutely nothing. There is a chance tomorrow but we will see if it comes. If we could get a wet August maybe some cover could still come.
 
Sad. Used to hunt around Stockton every year. The habitat there had declined steeply. Feel lucky I got in on some good days , 2008-12 were really good!!
 
Talked to my Dad earlier this week and he’s decided it’s not even worth it to head out to the western part of the state this year. We’ll focus on quality hunting in the more central/eastern half. And I’m not even sure what to expect from that, TBH.
 
Traveled through Western Kansas on my way to Colorado last week and I agree that it looks terrible. Man, what'd I'd give to have 2008 back, didn't know how good we had it till it's gone!
 
Yeah the rain kind of ended up being a bust. I don’t think anyone got the 3-5 they were talking about. I think garden and dodge did end with 1.5-2 but liberal was more like an inch.
 
My happy hunting grounds in NW will likely not be worth hunting.
 
Well we still have not received any rain out of this system. Starting to mist now, so fingers crossed but not looking like we are going to get any moisture.
 
I looked at the radar frequently, and it seemed to have split you, Jeff. It was a good sized storm. Rained all day here, yesterday. It’s a muddy mess now, which I’m sure glad to see! Probably too late to make much of a difference, but I’ll take every drop that we can get.

It was also a nice break from the relentless heat we’ve been experiencing. It only got up to 64 here yesterday. 61 now.
 
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We ended up with about .63 inches from this last front. I was really hoping for the 1-3 they originally predicted. That would have really gotten us by for awhile. Hope this helps! If we go right back to continuous temps near 100 and no more rain, it won't.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
We ended up with about .63 inches from this last front. I was really hoping for the 1-3 they originally predicted. That would have really gotten us by for awhile. Hope this helps! If we go right back to continuous temps near 100 and no more rain, it won't.
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The upcoming forecast does not look particularly promising.
 
Talked to the guy we hunt on in Dodge some today. It's looking pretty rough out there, he's questioning why he lives there lol!
 
s.davis said:
Blaming the KDWP for the freefall of Kansas pheasant numbers is like blaming your doctor for finding cancer in your body.
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Not really true. I don't think GettothePoint was blaming the KDWP, however, they do give a false report. And they are to blame in that they throw away money on the WIHA program that really does nothing for pheasant numbers, but does allow them to advertise a million acres of public hunting to draw NR hunters. WIHA is a program to target NR hunters. They would be better off using that money to go toward habitat improvement. But that doesn't bring in the money. For pheasant numbers to improve, the KDWP has to work with private landowners, something they seem to be unwilling to do. Giving private landowners money to enroll in the WIHA program does nothing for habitat improvement. They have also been guilty of catering to deer hunting only and not doing anything for upland hunting. Their focus is deer hunting only. So they do share some of the blame along with private landowners. Something simple, like not allowing farmers to plant crops to the edge of the road or putting a ban on mowing state owned ditches and right aways. I have a fried who runs a road grader for the county and mows the ditches. He says countless times he will look behind him and see chicks flopping from being ran over when mowing. There is a lot of small things the KDWP could do, but they give in to private landowners and to special interest groups like Ten Point Crossbows, Randy Wood, and Ken Corbet.
 
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westksbowhunter said:
They have also been guilty of catering to deer hunting only and not doing anything for upland hunting. Their focus is deer hunting only. So they do share some of the blame along with private landowners. Something simple, like not allowing farmers to plant crops to the edge of the road or putting a ban on mowing state owned ditches and right aways.
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Minnesota is the same way when it comes to priority for hunting. Deer hunting is king here and nothing else is even close. In fact, deer hunting has more hunters than everything else COMBINED. There are about half a million deer hunters here in MN (firearms, archery, and muzzle loader). Pheasant hunters has about 75,000 participants last time they checked. I can't say I blame a state agency for trying to focus their efforts and resources toward the most popular game hunted. Its kind of like walleye fishing. The walleye is king here in the freshwater fishing realm, and more stocking efforts and resources are directed toward that species than everything else.

Its kind of what separates a state like South Dakota. Clearly, pheasant hunting is the king there. In every other state, its not.

Several years ago, the governor of MN mandated buffers along ditches and waterways here in the state. No more row crop planting right up to the edge. It definitely ruffled some feathers but it makes a difference not only in terms of habitat preservation, but improved water quality.
 
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