Kansas opener-where are you going?

CZ-Vizsla

CZ-Vizsla

New member
Hey, new to the forum but lifetime bird hunter here. Just wondering where all you KS folks are going to hunt next weekend on the season opener? Also has anyone heard any predictions as to what kind of year we're going to have in NE and NC Kansas?
 
Nc/ne Ks

As always, bird numbers will be spotty in these areas. They're not traditionally the best areas of KS for pheasants, but if you've hunted there long, you already know this. I live in NE KS and we(me and several other long time resident outdoorsmen) all agree that there are more pheasants this year than any in recent history. lf you've got private ground to hunt in NC KS, you're in decent shape for this season; if you're hunting public land in NC KS, get there during the opener! I have a friend that I hunt with in the area that drives backroads every day and he's seeing birds consistently, in all different places, all the way home (between Salina and Concordia). Who knows, a lot of hunters complained of minimal success there last year, so hopefully they'll go somewhere else. Send me a PM of a specific location and I'll give you a report if I have one;) I communicate regularly with people from about 6 different parts of the state, but don't wish to communicate precise coordinates to everyone on the web or my sources might stop giving me reports!

I will be hunting in Hodgeman county for the opener, then heading up around Concordia the following weekend.

This will be a good year for most of us hunting KS!!! It won't be anything like hunting SD, but I'm still excited!
 
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Anybody else hunting in KS on this board???

I wonder what the hunter per square mile ratio is for KS. I'm interested in knowing what sort of emotions have been provoked by the confusing report that KDWP provided. Are any of you hunting or not hunting this year based on this and last year's reports. Are most of you planning to hunt private or public land? Wouldn't it be great if there were a site where public hunters posted which county they planned to hunt? This could help balance some of the pressure on public land. I know there is some great public access in KS that doesn't get hit too hard (through Thanksgiving), but I wouldn't want to spend my opener in one of those locations.
 
SW Kansas

I'll be heading to very SW Kansas Friday at noon. Can't wait!! I'm sure it will be crowded, but also hoping there will be plenty of birds to go around!
 
Not sure where you're planning to go, but the crops should be out anyway. My dad said all of the crops in his locale are out. Its going to be hot and the birds are going to be running, but they certainly won't be hiding in uncut milo (like a few years in recent memory). We should see plenty of birds. Reports from the Northernmost SW KS counties are a little bit gloomy, but so were the reports from an area that I've already scouted this year; the truth in this particular area aren't nearly as positive as my drives down the backroads reflected. I'm not saying its going to be a banner year, but I don't expect to be disappointed. Now if the temperature would drop to 28 degrees Friday night and we could wake up to 4 inches of snow Sat morning everything would be really great!!!

I think the birds are out there, just don't have a heat stroke trying to get them!~
 
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We typically hunt Jefferson and Jackson counties on the opener, mostly private land with a couple of great WIHA spots. I never rely on the KDWP predictions for our area since they are never very accurate. We had great years in 2004 and 2005 but last season was just ok, nothing to brag about. 2004 was an unbelievable year for our area, that's the most birds I've ever shot in a season in NE Kansas and I've hunted here for about 15 years. Every year we go to a sweet CRP field outside of Bellville (near Concordia) where the owner charges us $25/day to hunt, but there are usually hella pheasants there! The problem is getting close to them, we go late in the season and they are coming up very wild. Seems like we have less private land to hunt every year unfortunately so we may be checking out more public land this year. My experience with public land is to wait a few weeks when the novelty hunters stop going out and you never run into anyone else on the public lands :thumbsup:
 
Be sure and report back with your findings in the feild after the opener as I wont be able to make it. I got to go elk hunting instead. Then the Colorado opener the next weekend.But then SW kansas and I cant wait, Never hunted there before.
 
CZ-Vizsla said:
We typically hunt Jefferson and Jackson counties on the opener, mostly private land with a couple of great WIHA spots. I never rely on the KDWP predictions for our area since they are never very accurate. We had great years in 2004 and 2005 but last season was just ok, nothing to brag about. 2004 was an unbelievable year for our area, that's the most birds I've ever shot in a season in NE Kansas and I've hunted here for about 15 years. Every year we go to a sweet CRP field outside of Bellville (near Concordia) where the owner charges us $25/day to hunt, but there are usually hella pheasants there! The problem is getting close to them, we go late in the season and they are coming up very wild. Seems like we have less private land to hunt every year unfortunately so we may be checking out more public land this year. My experience with public land is to wait a few weeks when the novelty hunters stop going out and you never run into anyone else on the public lands :thumbsup:
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KDWP's reports are never accurate for NC and NE KS. I don't think they run enough routes, or maybe its the topography of the region that keeps them from seeing the birds that I've been finding up there. Public land is usually vacant after the first couple weeks of season. I sure hope the birds are up in NC/NE KS so I don't have to make so many trips to SW KS, it saves gas $. Best of luck to everyone; I think it'll be a good year! My friend from Delphos keeps telling me that there are lots of birds.
 
You guys are killin' us Colorado boys with all this talk about the Kansas opener. I guess I may have to make a trip out that way so I can get this anticipation out of my system. :rolleyes:

You guys have a great opener and be safe out there!

Paul
 
Our results were just so-so last weekend in NE Kansas...fewer birds than last year for sure. On the bright side there were tons of quail! Of course we couldn't shoot them as it was pheasant only last weekend :mad: Hopefully we'll see the quail again this weekend:thumbsup: Quail numbers appear to be up!
 
We just returned from north central Kansas and the hunting was much worse than last year. The majority of the milo wasn't cut yet, it was extremely windy on Saturday and Monday and it was 80 degrees on Sunday, the deck was definately stacked against us.
We still mangaged to get a few birds and have a good time while we were out there, but almost all of the birds we shot were 2nd year roosters, very few button spurred birds around.

Dogs.jpg


Rut
 
RuttCrazed said:
We just returned from north central Kansas and the hunting was much worse than last year. The majority of the milo wasn't cut yet, it was extremely windy on Saturday and Monday and it was 80 degrees on Sunday, the deck was definately stacked against us.
We still mangaged to get a few birds and have a good time while we were out there, but almost all of the birds we shot were 2nd year roosters, very few button spurred birds around.

Rut
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Looks like you did fairly well considering how warm and windy it was :cheers:
 
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