Lesser prairie chicken
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BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
There is a flock of chickens that I’ve seen 2 or 3 times kind of wondered if they were lessers but I wouldn’t know the difference. The places are no longer in walk-in so I’ll never know unless they turn up somewhere else.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
There is a flock of chickens, maybe 150 or so, where I hunt but not for sure if they are Lessers.
Mitchell county would definitely be greater PC.
I saw one on opening weekend of pheasant season maybe 15-20 years ago in Gray county. It flushed right in front of me, in range, when there was still an open season in KS. My brain said "hen," so I didn't shoot. Even if I had properly ID'd it, I doubt I would have shot.
A landowner further east and a bit north of there said he had a small flock, and I may have seen one once. It was one of our few snow days in Kansas, and a plum thicket on a pivot corner very close to that landowner was holding pheasants, quail and one bird that very much looked like a PC. I didn't get a good enough look to confirm whether it was a lesser, but it definitely didn't look like a pheasant or quail. This was only maybe 2 years ago.
I saw one on opening weekend of pheasant season maybe 15-20 years ago in Gray county. It flushed right in front of me, in range, when there was still an open season in KS. My brain said "hen," so I didn't shoot. Even if I had properly ID'd it, I doubt I would have shot.
A landowner further east and a bit north of there said he had a small flock, and I may have seen one once. It was one of our few snow days in Kansas, and a plum thicket on a pivot corner very close to that landowner was holding pheasants, quail and one bird that very much looked like a PC. I didn't get a good enough look to confirm whether it was a lesser, but it definitely didn't look like a pheasant or quail. This was only maybe 2 years ago.
M. R. Byrd
Well-known member
I have lessers here, not many and don't seen them often. They live in pasture away from our pheasant hunting area, but once in a while there will be a flush when pheasant hunting usually just a single or maybe up to four. Only killed two here in my lifetime when there was a season. Picked one up that clipped a barbed wire fence and gave it to the game warden.
Quailnerd
Well-known member
Was there a day when they were strong in population on your place or county, the stories of pass shooting flocks is something I wish I could have witnessed.. grandpa told me stories of that, almost got the impression they were a nuisance when chasing pheasants.
M. R. Byrd
Well-known member
I am not aware of the pass shooting around here in the last hundred years. I have heard of shooting greaters that way in counties in the Flint Hills(Elk, Chase, Lyons) flying to and from feeding fields. Back in the early/mid 90's was the best populations here and there was a flock of about 25 that would fly from one pasture to another but we could never get in their path to get a passing shot. We tried hunting them in the canyons, but that proved unsuccessful as they would generally flush out of range, then fly in a tight formation about 5 foot off the bottom of the canyon and be around the corner in a blink of the eye. They looked like a squadron of jet fighters in a tight formation zigging and sagging right down the canyon. It was always an amazing encounter even though unsuccessful.
carptom1
Well-known member
Believe it or not pass shooting chickens was a big thing in the early seventies when I was a kid. My dad, uncle and I would go down for the opening day every year around Westphalia in Southeast Kansas. It was a big deal from what I remember. Hunters would line the roosts on the road with the hopes they were in the right spot. My uncle had contacts in the area that would tell us where to stand. We would go eat lunch and do the same in the evening. Good memories as my dad passed a few days after my seventeenth birthday
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
They were as thick as black birds back in the day through the flint hills. On my trips back and forth out west pheasant hunting, I was always amazed at how many you would see as the sun was setting. Unbelievable really. We just hunted them like you would hunt dove or ducks back in the day in SEK, usually sitting beside a large hay bale. The part of SEK that I lived and hunted prairie chicken has not had them for since the late 80's. Also used to have a few ruffed grouse back in that part of SEK. Tom Glick, who was the biologists for KDWP in Crawford and Cherokee County, had released them in the strip pits. I would see them in the fall after the leaves had fallen when I was deer hunting. Always sitting in a tree. They were gone by mid to late 80's as well. Hunting everything was better back then. The 60's, 70's, and early 80's were pretty special.
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I have looked at the differences between greater and lesser prairie chickens on the internet and I do not think I would be able to tell the difference, especially on the flush. I know that the season on lessers was closed in KS, but is it possible they were being shot and not correctly identified?
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
I don’t know that it is illegal to shoot a lesser ? the state just closed the zone that lessers are located in . The boundaries are roughly west of Pratt and south of Hays I think. If I remember correctly there are a few mixed leks that have been documented outside of the boundary but I don’t think there was more than 2 or 3 of them. Also there are plenty of greaters in the closed zone that cannot be hunted because most people wouldn’t know the difference I sure wouldn’t.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
If you look under Upland Hunting Seasons, it says Greater Prairie Chicken. And you have to have a PC permit in addition to hunting license. There are so few chickens left that I would have no desire to shoot one. And if you have ever eaten one, you may not want to shoot one either.
GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN (Permit required)
- Regular (Greater Prairie Chicken Unit): Sept. 15, 2023 - Jan. 31, 2024
- Daily Bag Limit: 2
- Southwest Unit closed to all prairie chicken hunting
- View prairie chicken map.
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BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
Greaters are doing pretty well in most of the smokys. They are an acquired taste. I’ve shot 25 or 30 of them. A lot of dog training birds. But one of my funnest birds to hunt.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
That's where we disagree. Like I said earlier, they were as thick as blackbirds back in the day, even in the smoky's. They could black out the sky. Wish everyone on here could have seen them in the 60's and 70's.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
I agree that would have been something.
Hunting the same pastures You get to know how many birds are in a pasture. Some of the better walk-in pastures I’d say a third of the flock is harvested by hunters over the course of a season and come back as strong the following year. The walkin pastures that are difficult to pattern and the private stuff is rarely touched.
They are a bucket list bird for most that hunt them. One and done and then a new crop of bucketlisters come in the following year. The last couple years I have seen more hunters from out of state. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think some of that has been what day the opener has fallen during the week.
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This is the part that confused me because it only showed a Greater season and bag limit.
I shot my first one this year, you are correct, it was not a gourmet meal!
