Missing WIHA parcels...

kansasbrittany

kansasbrittany

Banned
Anybody else lose a few of their favorite WIHA spots? I finally took the time to really study the map. The area of the state I spent so much time scouting and learning about over the past decade of my life has lost over 50% of the fields that were once enrolled:confused: Several of those spots were good so I wonder if they've been leased or if the landowner got tired of all the visitors. Maybe the CRP contracts expired and they've been plowed under:mad:hell, I don't know.

All in all, S Pawnee bird #'s are very poor. Additionally, there are a lot fewer public access opportunities in the area. I'll still be hunting my dear ole' KS, but I don't like the trend I'm seeing. What counties have you noticed significant reductions in?

The one positive I can come up with is there may be less pressure as a result of all this. In fact, I may be booking a 2nd trip to SD after hearing this:)
 
I think there has been alot of CRP loss and when the landowners' contracts expire and they begin farming it again they don't want hunters.
 
BritChaser said:
I think there has been alot of CRP loss and when the landowners' contracts expire and they begin farming it again they don't want hunters.
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I don't doubt it a bit. Looking forward to pulling up to those parcels this fall to see what happened. Thanks for your post BC!
 
i noticed the Hill City walk in last year was a lot of milo fields, with no grass or cover of any kind nearby, worthless ground but KDWP was keeping the acreage number up and throwing money away as well.....not good.
 
I haven't gone over the new book with a "fine toothed comb", but I have discovered something I think is interesting.

There is a key page/diagram missing from the book. If you'll recall, in the past, there was a map (usually on page 4) titled "Walk-In Hunting Area Acreage Map" This map showed how many spots and how many acres were available in each county.....it's gone.

Personally, I used the map to track the growth or decline of the program in given areas and for the entire state. I've kept track of these numbers since the program's inception. The fact that this map is missing speaks volumes. In short, it makes it very close to impossible for the public to determine how many acres are available in the program It also makes it very hard to determine several "other" key factors.
 
Point! said:
I haven't gone over the new book with a "fine toothed comb", but I have discovered something I think is interesting.

There is a key page/diagram missing from the book. If you'll recall, in the past, there was a map (usually on page 4) titled "Walk-In Hunting Area Acreage Map" This map showed how many spots and how many acres were available in each county.....it's gone.

Personally, I used the map to track the growth or decline of the program in given areas and for the entire state. I've kept track of these numbers since the program's inception. The fact that this map is missing speaks volumes. In short, it makes it very close to impossible for the public to determine how many acres are available in the program It also makes it very hard to determine several "other" key factors.
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I do remember that page, but hadn't yet noticed it missing.....makes sense! Taking that page out of the book does speak volumes. Thanks for pointing that out!
 
You can only hope that any reduction in the number of fields, or severe shifting in the amounts of acreage-per-area, is due to landowners switching to different agricultural methods combined with (or maybe forced by) the awful hot and dry summer we had. Bad weather can sure change a farmer's long-range planning.

Everybody else probably knows the answer to this already, but I don't know because I only found this site last year -- but how many years has the Walk-In Hunting Area program been in operation? If only recently, then I would suggest everyone consider the possibility that there'll be good years and bad years for WIHA fields and acreage numbers, also good trends and bad trends.

At the same time, during pheasant hunts two of the last three years I've seen an awful lot of excellent-looking land posted LEASED - NO HUNTING.

Hate to even voice a -- gasp! -- regulatory suggestion here in Republican/Tea Party-happy Kansas, but I submit the majority of resident hunters need a new state law passed, one that will reduce and restrict the number of days per species/per season in which exclusive hunting/fishing priviledges can be secured by means of leasing trespass rights for money.

Why not let the hunters (and hunter groups) who have the big bucks to spend, let them give good money to the farmer of their choice for the purpose of buying two or three weeks of exclusive rights (weeks not necessarily to run concurrently). After, say, three total weeks of exclusive rights all such leases expire per state law.

And after said expiration of lease, the common man's hunting style of "knocking on the door and asking permission" again comes alive and everybody regardless of their annual income gets a fair chance to ask a property owner, "May I please hunt on your land?"

It just seriously sucks, spending so much money and driving hundreds of miles on county roads only to see so many good-looking parcels placed off limits for the entire season -- you can't even go ask the landowner! -- just because someone or some group with a lot of money is trying to turn some patch of Kansas territory into their egotistical fantasy version of England, where (sniff) only the wealthy Dukes and Lords are allowed to hunt.
 
I got a copy in the mail today. Yes, I've lost several good sites. I think that the current high comodity prices has led to a good number of these losses. I do think that we will see some growth in coming years due to the VPA-HIP program. I'm sure going to miss some of those patches-lots of memories, but I'm just as sure that there will be new patches with new memories to be made. To quote the State Fair motto, "It's a wild ride"!
 
CloseRange said:
You can only hope that any reduction in the number of fields, or severe shifting in the amounts of acreage-per-area, is due to landowners switching to different agricultural methods combined with (or maybe forced by) the awful hot and dry summer we had. Bad weather can sure change a farmer's long-range planning.

Everybody else probably knows the answer to this already, but I don't know because I only found this site last year -- but how many years has the Walk-In Hunting Area program been in operation? If only recently, then I would suggest everyone consider the possibility that there'll be good years and bad years for WIHA fields and acreage numbers, also good trends and bad trends.

At the same time, during pheasant hunts two of the last three years I've seen an awful lot of excellent-looking land posted LEASED - NO HUNTING.

Hate to even voice a -- gasp! -- regulatory suggestion here in Republican/Tea Party-happy Kansas, but I submit the majority of resident hunters need a new state law passed, one that will reduce and restrict the number of days per species/per season in which exclusive hunting/fishing priviledges can be secured by means of leasing trespass rights for money.

Why not let the hunters (and hunter groups) who have the big bucks to spend, let them give good money to the farmer of their choice for the purpose of buying two or three weeks of exclusive rights (weeks not necessarily to run concurrently). After, say, three total weeks of exclusive rights all such leases expire per state law.

And after said expiration of lease, the common man's hunting style of "knocking on the door and asking permission" again comes alive and everybody regardless of their annual income gets a fair chance to ask a property owner, "May I please hunt on your land?"

It just seriously sucks, spending so much money and driving hundreds of miles on county roads only to see so many good-looking parcels placed off limits for the entire season -- you can't even go ask the landowner! -- just because someone or some group with a lot of money is trying to turn some patch of Kansas territory into their egotistical fantasy version of England, where (sniff) only the wealthy Dukes and Lords are allowed to hunt.
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never happen, worse yet is SD. they get a season's worth of Kansas lease money in 2 weeks! :eek:
 
Prairie Drifter said:
I got a copy in the mail today. Yes, I've lost several good sites. I think that the current high comodity prices has led to a good number of these losses. I do think that we will see some growth in coming years due to the VPA-HIP program. I'm sure going to miss some of those patches-lots of memories, but I'm just as sure that there will be new patches with new memories to be made. To quote the State Fair motto, "It's a wild ride"!
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I have some faith in your philosophy. I found a VIP-HIP parcel last season that looked spectacular. I've just been claiming ignorance since b/c I have the # to call, but said parcel is the only one I know of. I found the place by accident via my county plat map.
 
CloseRange said:
You can only hope that any reduction in the number of fields, or severe shifting in the amounts of acreage-per-area, is due to landowners switching to different agricultural methods combined with (or maybe forced by) the awful hot and dry summer we had. Bad weather can sure change a farmer's long-range planning.

Everybody else probably knows the answer to this already, but I don't know because I only found this site last year -- but how many years has the Walk-In Hunting Area program been in operation? If only recently, then I would suggest everyone consider the possibility that there'll be good years and bad years for WIHA fields and acreage numbers, also good trends and bad trends.

At the same time, during pheasant hunts two of the last three years I've seen an awful lot of excellent-looking land posted LEASED - NO HUNTING.

Hate to even voice a -- gasp! -- regulatory suggestion here in Republican/Tea Party-happy Kansas, but I submit the majority of resident hunters need a new state law passed, one that will reduce and restrict the number of days per species/per season in which exclusive hunting/fishing priviledges can be secured by means of leasing trespass rights for money.

Why not let the hunters (and hunter groups) who have the big bucks to spend, let them give good money to the farmer of their choice for the purpose of buying two or three weeks of exclusive rights (weeks not necessarily to run concurrently). After, say, three total weeks of exclusive rights all such leases expire per state law.

And after said expiration of lease, the common man's hunting style of "knocking on the door and asking permission" again comes alive and everybody regardless of their annual income gets a fair chance to ask a property owner, "May I please hunt on your land?"

It just seriously sucks, spending so much money and driving hundreds of miles on county roads only to see so many good-looking parcels placed off limits for the entire season -- you can't even go ask the landowner! -- just because someone or some group with a lot of money is trying to turn some patch of Kansas territory into their egotistical fantasy version of England, where (sniff) only the wealthy Dukes and Lords are allowed to hunt.
Click to expand...

While I've been severely burned by having ground leased out from under me (like the family farm that I grew up hunting on), I 100% totally disagree with your proposal.
 
CloseRange- how long have you lived in NE Kansas

we had a person with money wanting to lease up a lot of farm land here last year- wanted to hunt with a large group the first 2 weeks and only lease it for that period-

locals talked about it- said no- would rather have freinds, relatives, and those that asked, be able to hunt
 
Is it safe to say that due to this years drought, that some of the CRP/WIHA will be allowed to be cut or grazed?
 
What do you guys think about the state using part of the lease funds to purchase the land instead of leasing? The land purchased would remain open to hunting for the foreseeable future.

The reason I ask is because in SD I hunt mostly small parcels of state land, similar to KS walk in areas. But the state does a good job of managing the habitat. There is some leased land but as in all other states a lot was lost to ethanol production.

Barna
 
No provision in the program to buy ground. Ground is at as high a price level in cost per acre as it has been in my lifetime, and I'm 57 and in the land finance business. besides you will have everyone from the farmer next door complaining about bidding against the state for ground, to the county taxing authority complaining that their tax income will go down because the wildlife area would get either excempted from tax or a reduced obligation. Short answer is it's a non starter, at a time of state budget reductions, high unemployment, and skyrocketing deficets, sadly, nobody much cares if you hunt or have a place to do it. About half of the voting public aren't to sure hunting is even a good thing to be doing, 25% are flat against killing any of God's creatures, another 20% are ambivelent or passively approving, and 5% of us are actual hunters and supporters. It's a real crap shoot as to what disappears first the hunter, the access to hunt, or the game itself. Don't kid yourself that there is any great, in the nick of time, government cavalry charge to save your pastime, Here in the stockade at Ft. Hazzard, it's already getting dark, we are outnumbered, and out of ammo, and it's in the cards that the relief column will be to late!
 
oldandnew said:
No provision in the program to buy ground. Ground is at as high a price level in cost per acre as it has been in my lifetime, and I'm 57 and in the land finance business. besides you will have everyone from the farmer next door complaining about bidding against the state for ground, to the county taxing authority complaining that their tax income will go down because the wildlife area would get either excempted from tax or a reduced obligation. Short answer is it's a non starter, at a time of state budget reductions, high unemployment, and skyrocketing deficets, sadly, nobody much cares if you hunt or have a place to do it. About half of the voting public aren't to sure hunting is even a good thing to be doing, 25% are flat against killing any of God's creatures, another 20% are ambivelent or passively approving, and 5% of us are actual hunters and supporters. It's a real crap shoot as to what disappears first the hunter, the access to hunt, or the game itself. Don't kid yourself that there is any great, in the nick of time, government cavalry charge to save your pastime, Here in the stockade at Ft. Hazzard, it's already getting dark, we are outnumbered, and out of ammo, and it's in the cards that the relief column will be to late!
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damn, glass half empty, eh?
 
i wonder if there is enough moisture in the ground to drill/plant wheat this fall? anyone know what the farmers are planning?.......next year's wheat crop could be even worse.
 
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