New 2020-2021 WIHA map is out

The nationwide CRP cap is a moving target. In 2007 it sat somewhere around the neighborhood of 36million acres, an all-time high. There were almost 37million enrolled. Kansas had 3.25m acres. After that caps were lowered, grain prices soared for a bit, and acres were converted back. From 2008-2019 CRP acres everywhere dropped “a lot.” Kansas was down to about 2million as of 2018, and between ‘18-‘22 1.3million acres are set to expire. However, as I said earlier, the state enrolled close to 450,000 acres in this first open enrollment in years. Second only to Texas. There is expected to be another enrollment next year and if corn prices stay below $3 and wheat returns are below cost of production, it’s a safe bet there will be some acres ready to stay or go to grass. In this last farm bill they set the nationwide cap at 27million acres by 2023, up from 24m. The last time we sat at that level Kansas came in around 2.35m acres. In order to raise the ceiling they cut some cost sharing and maintenance monies along with quite a few county rates so they don’t actually have to spend more dollars, but hopefully they can still get back to max acres in the next few years and we finally see a little uptick. It won’t be 2007 again anytime soon, but there’s still going to be grass out there.
 
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birddogs4evr said:
Either way ! @ least I'm getting some return on my "investment " as the government likes to call it . Happy to spend my $ in the middle of fly over country with my Brittany 😁
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I’ll be there with mine too as many times as I can. As long as there are a few birds I’ll be there.
 
I kinda wish Pheasants Forever made states like Kansas and NE a priority for them cause being a member mostly I see them concerned with what is closest to headquarters in MN seems like. Sad the annual pheasant fest is almost always held up that way and not down this way.
 
Bird Buster said:
I kinda wish Pheasants Forever made states like Kansas and NE a priority for them cause being a member mostly I see them concerned with what is closest to headquarters in MN seems like. Sad the annual pheasant fest is almost always held up that way and not down this way.
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PF is nothing but a con in my opinion - I've raised the issue on FB and elsewhere -- They wont get any of my money period anymore. Nature Conservancy and Ducks unlimited IMO do more in KS for upland bird habitat (Nature Conservancy even though I hate their no hunting stance on ranches owned in KS - they do have large chunks of land that can make a difference) - DU - I've seen WAY more of their local projects that the public can access in KS.

PF usually does a project on a members private locked up property that only the higher ups at PF get to hunt on when they call since they gave the landowner the money - or so it seems they spend it in a non pheasant state near their HQ which is probably nothing but a waste. That or they'll have their sign up on a public piece of property that has ok looking habitat but it's the only island of habitat for miles around so is all for naught and on the only piece of public for miles that gets the crap pounded out of it so it's a waste of time hunting it unless you just want to walk your dogs.

They could be such a powerful force - but all they do is take money and do nothing with it and spend it foolishly IMO. I'll buy a hat as sometimes they have a good looking one - but they've lost me mostly like the NRA has. Both are ran by people out of touch with the general public and people like me IMO.

With the internet they could reach so many people and they need to push a different agenda - they need to work with the Ag industry and gov't to develop incentives for producers to produce with birds in mind - PF will pipe up and say they do so -- I've seen nothing of the sort as a DIE hard bird hunter in KS -- maybe they have their pet programs around the HQ as mentioned - but I've not seen squat in KS and have only seen our bird hunting continue to get spottier and spottier and go further down the toilet. Yes quail are better now (but that's because of the conditions set up by the drought of 2011-2013 or so and subsequent rains/wet years -- Pheasants have suffered immensely in KS due to the poisons continuously peddled by Bayer AG and others and the brainwashing they do to producers. Couple that with a continuing decline in CRP that is interconnected and in close proximity to provide suitable habitat for upland birds and it's the recipe for continuing upland declines we will continue to see in the Ag/Crop heavy parts of KS. Some pockets haven't changed much but those areas are far and few between. You used to be able (not that long ago) to throw a dart at the state and get into decent upland hunting - Now you have to be extremely calculated on where you go and put the miles on your vehicle - (which I'll do) but how in the hell are you going to recruit new people if the opportunities are very limited and access even harder to come by close to home (which for most of the state is the 3 largest metro areas).

PF could do the greatest good in KS by fighting the "Deer Greed Virus" KS and a lot of hunters/landowners have been infected with-- policy changes there would be a great place to start - then they can work on the habitat issue -- Deer policy can be solved quicker than the habitat problem.

I could rant more about PF but will get back to work. It's such a WASTE of what could be a great cause and organization. Hell I'd venture to say NWTF does more for KS upland birds than PF does or has done.
 
UplandHntr said:
This thread is getting derailed but for $3.00 month I’ll choose to be a PF member.
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I stand by my comments above - There are a # of others who live here and have the same impression. I wish they'd do better as I'd love to have a reason to volunteer and donate money.
 
In my travels last night, I discovered that my number 1 and number 2 private spots for pheasants were cut and baled this past week. Never saw one pheasant driving the back roads in Ness county last night. With all the CRP being scalped, a hard winter will not favor much of a hatch next spring.
 
westksbowhunter said:
In my travels last night, I discovered that my number 1 and number 2 private spots for pheasants were cut and baled this past week. Never saw one pheasant driving the back roads in Ness county last night. With all the CRP being scalped, a hard winter will not favor much of a hatch next spring.
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A lot of walkin got dropped in that part of the country.
 
People would not lease unless unless the KDWPT gave them a reason to. Cut those deer tags down to about 1500 total NR tags and reset resident tags and regulations back to the way they were in the late 80's and you will see the quality of hunting and the experience of hunting deer in Kansas become enjoyable again. And leasing will all but disappear.
 
westksbowhunter said:
People would not lease unless unless the KDWPT gave them a reason to. Cut those deer tags down to about 1500 total NR tags and reset resident tags and regulations back to the way they were in the late 80's and you will see the quality of hunting and the experience of hunting deer in Kansas become enjoyable again. And leasing will all but disappear.
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This is exactly why I RAIL on about the complete LACK of any deer management - if they actually Managed - many other things as a side effect would benefit.
 
westksbowhunter said:
People would not lease unless unless the KDWPT gave them a reason to. Cut those deer tags down to about 1500 total NR tags and reset resident tags and regulations back to the way they were in the late 80's and you will see the quality of hunting and the experience of hunting deer in Kansas become enjoyable again. And leasing will all but disappear.
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KDWPT isn't going to get rid of their cash cow.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I enjoy reading the magazine but other than that I feel like I get nothing for my money. I don't think I am going to renew my membership.
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agree, i am over those guys, never got any tangible benefit from prior membership...they print a lot of "feel good" stuff.
and they chose to ignore the pheasant states that have viable populations and habitat. it's a struggle where they spend their funds.
 
cheesy said:
KDWPT isn't going to get rid of their cash cow.
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Here's the stupid thing. If someone actually sat down and did the math and the tourism aspect came in the state would BENEFIT considerably more with increased upland access and limited access to big game.

Think about the sheer numbers and common sense.

Increased Upland access and focus on the UPLAND resource
  • Upland birds are scarce - where else can you hunt prairie chickens, pheasants and quail all on the same parcel of land?
  • SCARCITY -- very few states have decent huntable upland populations with good access
  • White tail DEER -- You can run into them with your vehicle in all 50 states per my knowledge - throw a stone and you're liable to hit one of them - they sure are pretty and majestic - but we are talking about something as common as a field rat in the US.
  • #'s of licenses sold -- with KS maintaining a great upland resource we have something that is scarce elsewhere -- what other sport has hunters that in large #'s (relatively speaking) are so passionate about the sport that they will fly, drive 20 plus hours, you name from all states in the nation to come pursue upland birds? We have something very marketable
  • ECONOMICS -- it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that you can sell far more out of state hunting licenses (and even reactivate your instate hunters) to visit areas to upland hunt --- this equates to smaller communities benefitting, more sales at local restaurants, gas stations, etc -- more sales taxes for the state and the local communities -- I could go on and on here about the trickle down effects if communities bought in like they used to
  • #'s -- Deer - limited amount of hunters can utilize a parcel to hunt -- this limits the hunter #'s that can visit your state to pursue said game - - there will be a ceiling to the # of deer hunters any person, area, landowner etc can logistically and feasibly run through during a season
  • #'s -- Upland - let's just take a private parcel that is well managed -- you can probably hunt said parcel 2-3 days a week for an entire season (if you have all the ingredients the birds need and mother nature cooperated) - Lets just say groups of 4 hunters at a time - half of them each week buy out of state licenses -- 12 weeks of bird season - 48 hunters - 36 bought out of state licenses ($97.50 * 36 hunters = $3510 to the KDWPT in licenses plus whatever the resident license fees would be -- we didnt even talk about each hunter spending on average $100 for each outing and the sales tax revenues)

    ***Take that same parcel -4 guys lock the entire parcel up for all of deer season - around 4 mos - they only visit sporadically and hunt hard for only 5 days. $442.50 * 4 guys + $97.50 x 4) = $2160- significantly less revenue to the KDPWT -- not to mention the guys that have locked up the same parcel are going to simply spend less money on outings, eating out etc vs 48 in my example above.


    The math just doesnt support the economic decision the state has made. They were very short sighted in going this way.
 
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