Late season thoughts

K

ksRingtail

Member
Season is winding. What are everyone thoughts? Does the population look to be good for breeding numbers? haven't been out since thanksgiving and saw very few hens. We did see a ton of quail. And I mean more than I've ever seen in my 26 years of life haha. Will be out in the nw part of the state this weekend and north central next weekend. Just curious as to everyone's thoughts on what they've seen since the weather has started turning much more winter like the last 3 weeks or so. I'll be sure to update on my thoughts after the next two weekends. Hope to see lot more hens than I have so far. Also this isn't my first post I used to have the account kscountryboy11. A few of you I've talked with before but I Didn't post a whole lot but haven't been on here in a couple years!
 
I got out last weekend for the first time this season. I was by myself and didn't have a dog. Hunted from Rush County west to Scott County. I was very impressed with the cover in all of the areas I hunted. I realize that with just me and no dog I could've walked past birds or had them run on me, but I didn't see many birds. In two days I saw one covey of quail, 2 quail (not sure if that was all that was left of that covey or what), approximately 8 to 10 roosters and about the same number of hens. I've read where others on here have had birds getting up way out of range as soon as they get out of the truck. I didn't experience that. I've talked to guys who have done really well and others who haven't done well at all, which also seems to be the case with the reports on this site. I hope to get out at least once more before the end of the season, but it appears that the population is still really spotty.
 
I have been hunting out here for a long time. Good years and bad. I would rate this year about average. We are always one good hatch away. I think from about 2003-2010 was as good as it gets. The early 80's was poor. People talk about cover but I would say it is below average. CRP has been devastated. Lots of grass butchered to the ground and lots of it turned under. I think right now our biggest fear should be a lack of CRP. Quail numbers are decent but a long way from finding 12-15 covey's a day.

I have killed a lot of birds this year but also saw a lot more hunters. Over all, I had better success last year and saw hardly anyone hunting. After Xmas last year, I never saw another hunter.
 
Quail numbers the best I have seen in the last 15 years where proper habitat exists .

One area I hunt pheasant numbers up over last year but it's really not in the core pheasant area of the state . Another down slightly , 75 miles west in another spot nice uptick from last year .
 
Quail are up, but they fluctuate with the weather a lot season to season. Pheasants are a little better in most places, but still has a ways to go, from what I have seen.
 
my son works for a utility company, and gets to travel our great State quite a bit. Has been in SW part of the state off and on over the last month. Really, what everyone else is saying, spotty as hell.
Even, in the same county, only 10 mile apart, birds numbers vary. He always tries to keep count, guess to help pass the time, hears a lot of early morning crowing also.
The one component that is almost ALWAYS present, good grass, not the kind you smoke, and water.
Guess take it for what you want, but thats my 2 cents.
 
KSBrittman said:
Quail numbers the best I have seen in the last 15 years where proper habitat exists .

One area I hunt pheasant numbers up over last year but it's really not in the core pheasant area of the state . Another down slightly , 75 miles west in another spot nice uptick from last year .
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That may not being saying much since we have not had a great quail population state wide since the mid 70's.
 
Like Oklahoma, you probably never will have statewide big quail numbers again. Eastern Oklahoma never will again. My granddad and dad hunted eastern Kansas in the 60s and found 20+ coveys a day. You'll have to go west to the habitat to do that.
 
akp said:
Like Oklahoma, you probably never will have statewide big quail numbers again. Eastern Oklahoma never will again. My granddad and dad hunted eastern Kansas in the 60s and found 20+ coveys a day. You'll have to go west to the habitat to do that.
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I agree. It is somewhat bothersome when I read how many people feel quail numbers are up. For those who have not hunted for very long, I am sure they feel numbers are great. But they are a long way from being anywhere near what they used to be. There were so many back in the day that we never hunted any of the singles. Just a couple out of each covey rise then leave them alone. Missouri used to be the best state to hunt quail. Much better than Kansas 30 plus years ago.
 
Well with the number of birds I saw this weekend I'd say with as good or better nesting conditions again this year I'll be pretty excited for next year. Saw what I consider very good numbers in an area that birds seemed to be almost non existent 3 years ago. Back at it again in 6 days to check out a different part of the state so we'll see.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I agree. It is somewhat bothersome when I read how many people feel quail numbers are up. For those who have not hunted for very long, I am sure they feel numbers are great. But they are a long way from being anywhere near what they used to be. There were so many back in the day that we never hunted any of the singles. Just a couple out of each covey rise then leave them alone. Missouri used to be the best state to hunt quail. Much better than Kansas 30 plus years ago.
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Thirty years ago I was in first grade but that's what Ive heard. I think one of the big problems in Missouri is lack of big farms. The guy I hunt on in Kansas has 2 sections of land consecutive and the other has a section and a half. In Missouri, I have some really good farms to hunt on but they are anywhere from 150-600 acres. So you have good quail hunting on 150 acres. If the farmer in Kansas has good weather there are 1200+ acres of quail that I can hunt vs. 150. So I found 4 coveys on the 150 acres yesterday but if I hunted the section of land in Kansas I would find anywhere from 9-12 coveys. THe habitat is good in both places just smaller parcels. If the farms weren't so split up here I think the quail hunting would be much better. You just dont hear of guys owning whole sections of land up here. There are a few, but very few.
 
Funny thing is when it was all small farms there were more quail than stars in the sky. When farms became large and hedgerows went in front of th dozer things went south.
 
ksgobbler said:
Funny thing is when it was all small farms there were more quail than stars in the sky. When farms became large and hedgerows went in front of th dozer things went south.
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I agree. When I was a kid I tagged along with my dad and his hunting partner. They limited on quail just about every weekend and we were never more than 15 minutes from home. Hedgerows were everywhere.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I agree. It is somewhat bothersome when I read how many people feel quail numbers are up. For those who have not hunted for very long, I am sure they feel numbers are great. But they are a long way from being anywhere near what they used to be. There were so many back in the day that we never hunted any of the singles. Just a couple out of each covey rise then leave them alone. Missouri used to be the best state to hunt quail. Much better than Kansas 30 plus years ago.
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I agree that the numbers aren't anywhere near (and probably never will be) where they were 30 years ago. But I think it's great that the quail population has improved from where it was a handful of years ago, and I'm glad to hear that people are excited and enjoying their opportunities. I think we'll just have to be grateful for what we have going forward. For those of us lucky enough to remember the good old days, at lease we have the memories.
 
Nick said:
I agree that the numbers aren't anywhere near (and probably never will be) where they were 30 years ago. But I think it's great that the quail population has improved from where it was a handful of years ago, and I'm glad to hear that people are excited and enjoying their opportunities. I think we'll just have to be grateful for what we have going forward. For those of us lucky enough to remember the good old days, at lease we have the memories.
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Only bad thing about quail numbers being up while pheasants still seem to be spotty big groups. I've seen/experienced big groups that arnt having alot of luck on pheasants that tend to hammer down in the quail so they can shoot something. I've always treated quail in a sensitive way even tho they're darn tough little survivors. Never hunt them late in the day and try to keep numbers in the covey by not shooting a bunch out of one covey.
 
Great point. We never even used to shoot the quail in western Kansas when we were out pheasant hunting.
 
Yeah what I hate are the big groups that shoot into the quail. Groups of 12-20 guys walking across a field driving pheasants and shooting quail. I think if you are hunting in a big group hunting with just retrievers, and the goal is pheasants then the quail should be left alone. If your dog points it that's one thing but say 18 guys converging where they saw 2 quail go down. Kind of ridiculous. I know people that guide. And their rule is, if the group is larger than 8 they are not allowed to shoot quail. If they want to quail hunt, they split them up into 2 groups of 4 and take them to two different spots.
 
Central KS hunt Dec 18-22nd

Hunted central KS for 2nd year. Last year, we got into some quail, but pheasants were hard to find, few hens. This year was much better, still not overrun with pheasants but enought to keep it fun, dogs had some good work and we got into some quail again.

The thing I really liked was we saw a lot more hens this year, and the crops the farmers were putting in, mix of sun flower, oats, snow peas, etc., it was a birds heaven, good cover and lots of food.

If the weather cooperates, 2017 should be a decent year..course compared to Wyoming, just seeing a wild bird is exciting!

One other thing, the people are wonderful! I was especially impressed, we were sitting in a Sonic eating a bite and a young fella walked over to our group and shook the hande of one of our older hunters ( he had a cap on stating he was a vietnam vet )..dang near brought tears to my eyes!
 
Nick said:
Great point. We never even used to shoot the quail in western Kansas when we were out pheasant hunting.
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Ive always told everyone thats ever hunted my grandparents old farm with me that the quail on the hedgrow behind the house or across the road in the draws are off limits. just kind of liked to leave them alone around the house so they always had a safe place to be and that way i always know theres a covey 2 there that at least the dog can hunt them.
 
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