Newbie from Mississippi looking for advice

T

Toxxie24

New member
A couple of friends and myself plan on hunting around mcpherson November 8 -12. Any suggestions and to where to look for pheasants and quail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
My first trip to Kansas was cut short due to sand burrs. I hunt britts, tenderfoots. Always have a roll of two of duct tape. If sand burrs are a problem, make little booties out of duct tape. Use strong duct tape. Usually by the end of the day, the tape falls off. If not, pour some water into the boots. By the time you reach the motel, the boots will come off with no pain to the dog. If you plan to hunt Kansas a lot and your dog has problems with sand burrs, booties are a good idea.

One of my britts acts like sand burrs are not a problem. I initially did not wrap her feet. Sore feet kept her from hunting the following day.
 
I don't see many sandburrs around McPherson. Toxxie, not sure what you're looking for. You've already picked an area that has a few birds and a bit of public access. It is not a traditional "hot-spot" IME, but we had some good combo (Q&P) hunts in the area. If you go to the reservoir, get to your spot EARLY!
 
Toxxie personally I think it would be more enjoyable to go to caldwell. Birds or no birds. If your still around hit the zoo later in the week.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the sand burs. Would it not be a good move to hunt north of mcpherson, and maybe even west a little? Also, why caldwell? What is this "zoo" that was mentioned? Is this a real zoo? Or just a name for some area ...lol? Thanks for all input!
 
All the areas open to public hunting in Kansas are on the maps of the KDWPT hunting atlas which has been published for the 2014-15 season, all available on the KDWPT's website. Tradionally, northwest KS has the best pheasant hunting, but many KS hunters swear by other areas. Also, bear in mind that bird numbers are way down due to years of drought.

Never heard the term "zoo" in connection with hunting in Kansas.
 
Toxxie24 said:
Thanks for the heads up on the sand burs. Would it not be a good move to hunt north of mcpherson, and maybe even west a little? Also, why caldwell? What is this "zoo" that was mentioned? Is this a real zoo? Or just a name for some area ...lol? Thanks for all input!
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I thought you were part of the group from Mississippi in the introductions
You all should carpool:D

Mcpherson is associated with the wetlands. It'll be a madhouse on opening morning....5 or 6 car loads to a quarter. You wont find a lot of other ground north of there until you get north of i70.
 
sand burs

duck tape does work, get the good stuff but I have found that it will only last a couple of hours, getting it of, take some scissors, not much of a problem. however, you should look to see the grass/plant that grows the burs, they are often in especially dry areas, many times right side of the road, learn what they look like and then find another field, they are not everywhere


cheers
 
Toxxie24 said:
Thanks for the heads up on the sand burs. Would it not be a good move to hunt north of mcpherson, and maybe even west a little? Also, why caldwell? What is this "zoo" that was mentioned? Is this a real zoo? Or just a name for some area ...lol? Thanks for all input!
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Unless he was being very sarcastic -- the Zoo he is referencing is the Sedgwick county Zoo in Wichita, about an hour away from McPherson.

https://www.scz.org/


I've been to a few large ones around the US -- I guess I'm biased because I live here/grew up here - but the Sedgwick county zoo is right up there with the top rated ones. Open year round.

My only tip - dont plan on pheasant hunting around McPherson unless you have access to private land. But do hit up the gun shop Smokey Valley Shooting Sports in Lindsborg -- a hop skip and a jump away from you.
 
BritChaser said:
All the areas open to public hunting in Kansas are on the maps of the KDWPT hunting atlas which has been published for the 2014-15 season, all available on the KDWPT's website. Tradionally, northwest KS has the best pheasant hunting, but many KS hunters swear by other areas. Also, bear in mind that bird numbers are way down due to years of drought.

Never heard the term "zoo" in connection with hunting in Kansas.
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;)

zoo
zo͞o

informal
a situation characterized by confusion and disorder.
"it's a zoo in the lobby"
synonyms: circus, madhouse, maelstrom, hullabaloo, free-for-all;
pandemonium, chaos, bedlam


hul?la?ba?loo
ˌhələbəˈlo͞o,ˈhələbəˌlo͞o/

noun
informal
noun: hullabaloo; plural noun: hullabaloos

a commotion; a fuss.
"remember all the hullabaloo over the golf ball?"
synonyms: fuss, commotion, hue and cry, uproar, outcry, clamor, storm, furor, hubbub, ruckus, brouhaha;
pandemonium, mayhem, tumult, turmoil, hurly-burly, rumpus, palaver;
informalhoo-ha, to-do, song and dance, stink:D:p
 
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The opener at Marion Lake was always a mess! RV's/camper parked absolutely everywhere and trucks crawling all over the place. The last time my family took me there for an opener I was 12 or 13. Before we'd even left our camper we heard gunshots...I'm tellin' ya, it was still dark. Anyway, as the old men cussed about hearing a shot before legal start-time and gathered their gear, we heard sirens coming. Sure enough, the first shot that rang out that year found an unintended human target:eek:

We went on to see the largest covey of quail I'd seen by that point in my life, but we didn't see 3 pheasants the entire weekend. I've been back twice as an adult, but its never been a very "target-rich" environment for me.
 
I bet it will be a fiasco on opening day in some of those places. Will it be better on Monday and Tuesday? What will I find around caldwell. The guys I will be with plan on trying to get access to private land ..
 
Toxxie24 said:
I bet it will be a fiasco on opening day in some of those places. Will it be better on Monday and Tuesday? What will I find around caldwell. The guys I will be with plan on trying to get access to private land ..
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Okies, green wheat and private land. You should down load a hunting atlas and take a look at it. Its pages 55 and 56. Were coming off of the worst drought on record. In the counties west of there pheasants were knocked back to almost zero. Dodge is the same way.

Kdwp web sight is going to be your best source of information. If you look at the rural mail carrier survey, summer brood counts and the upland forecast you will be able to see were the birds are starting to come back. (statewide)

Good luck.
 
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I had a lease around McPherson last year -- I had hunted it about 5 years ago and it was great. Lots of quail -- LOTS of pheasants (like way more than there should have been considering the area of the state). Last year I saw 2 hens, 2 roosters and we moved 3 coveys of quail.

You should't run into enough sand burrs for them to be a problem for your dogs.

If I were you, I'd not be hopeful. Good luck getting on private land -- hope you know someone.
 
Toxxie24,

I will be hunting in that General area opening weekend. I will be doing it because that's where I grew up, that's where my hunting buddies still live and it's kind of tradition. If I was driving more than three hours I would not drive to that area. The bird population has been quite low for the past few years. We would consider it a very good day if we get 3 roosters between 5 guys, hunting 4 hours with 7 dogs on the ground.

If you do end up in that area I would suggest smokey valley shooting sports, and shooters supply as great local gun shops. You can't go wrong eating bbq in Hutch at Roy's pit Bbq open 11 till the food runs out.
 
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