Lodge with wild birds

M

MiUplander

Member
I'm normally a public ground hunter staying at mom and pop motels. Love to work for and earn the birds. Normally go to SD and ND with my buddy, but have hunted Kansas a few times on WIHA with limited success. Both my buddies have new pups and we'd like to get them on some quail this Fall as that's what they've been training on. We're looking for a Lodge hunt on private ground with wild birds. Not into the pen birds as I can hunt those in Michigan without traveling some 3000 roundtrip miles.
So I'm looking for a lodge recommendation or leased ground access for quail and pheasant for 4-5 days then head up to Pierre for some grassland hunting. We've got a couple of experienced dogs to mentor the pups, but want to chase wild birds.
Thanks,
Brett
 
True wild bird operations are darn near non-existent. Some operations advertise it, but if you ask them directly about releasing birds, they admit doing it.

About the only option coming to mind is this club:
midwesthunt.com

Private Leased Land Self Guided Hunting in KS, MO, and IA - Mid-America Hunting Association

Private leased land self guided Deer hunting, Pheasant hunting, Turkey hunting, Waterfowl hunting, and Fishing on private leased land in KS, MO, and IA.
midwesthunt.com midwesthunt.com

They lease thousands of acres across Kansas for all kinds of hunting. Their website shows the counties and acreages. You pay something to join--that much I know. After that I think you book certain properties for certain days. I looked at it years ago, decided against it, and then forgot about it. Last year I was reminded when I called the owner of a good-looking CRP quarter. He told me that he had leased it out to this group. I'm sure this thing suffers some of the same limitations as WIHA--they don't control the farming practices or whether the CRP was mowed in a drought year, they are signing up ground for deer, turkey, upland, waterfowl, etc. But then you probably wouldn't have to worry about conflict with other groups.
 
I hunted on Mid American land several years ago. It was better than walk-in ground, but still got a fair amount of pressure. They limited hunting to 1 party a day. Some of the areas were better for deer than birds, but almost all was worth hunting. It is too expensive for a 4-5 day hunt because you join for a year at almost $2000 per hunter.
 
I too am very familiar with this group/business. Great web site, and a good group of folks. Unfortunately, their business strategy/plan doesn't work.

While they appear to have a significant amount of properties, the habitat is marginal in many cases. Further, there is a limit to how many times you can hunt a given parcel. This is done in an effort to try to limit pressure...it doesn't work. Ultimately, like so many other folks, this company has had a very difficult time obtaining and keeping good properties and the members quickly learn which spots are the best producers so they get hunted out just like WIHA.

One other thing to remember, the members of this organization are not the average hunter or they wouldn't have spent the bucks to belong. In general, they have better dogs, shot a bit better, and most of all have better knowledge or experience than average. This means that unlike the once or twice a year hunters that come to the state to hunt WIHA and practice "shoot and release", the land that is hunted by the members of this organization has a higher "take" than WIHA.

If they were able to double the land available and cut the number of members in half....it would probably be worth being a member.
 
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Point is point on. I was a member one year. Enough for me. Lots of marginal land, and the guys who have hunted with them for years know where the birds are, therefore these areas book fast.
 
Lefty76 said:
While researching prairie grouse hunts, I came across this site. I see they have some properties in KS.

Click to expand...
I've been watching this one too. So far I'm not impressed with their "inventory". Many of their listings for Kansas seem to be preserves. Either that or they are deer/turkey focused and throw on "oh yeah, we have some birds too". And they might. There's one large property out near Syracuse that seems to have a few. Honestly I hope they get some inventory and some users. This model of commercialization could be successful.
 
Lots of the southeast Nebraska properties seem to be a little thin on cover, but the ranches out west appear to be better options. If the weather in early September isn't blazing hot, I might try one of them for a day.
 
Why noy stay in Michigan and go after woodcock, as you know cover is a lot different. May not be what you are after. Did you look into south Iowa. We have found quail while looking for phesants. Call a DNR officer and talk with them. We did and they gave some real good info. The moyel we stayed in is called The little river inn, Leon just off 35. Have a good fall hunt. You can use lead unless the public is listed different, north of the interstste is water foul loads on all public land
 
Try Gypsum Creek Outfitters in Gypsum KS does wild bird hunts, but the accommodations are "Rustic".
Chris Fritz is your POC.
 
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