Pheasant population

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Bucketmouth

New member
I had plans to hunt pheasants in Kansa this year, however, the preliminary reports I've gotten are disappointing. I would hate to waste alot of time and resources driving to Kansas from Montana if the bird population is that dismal. Planned on hunting Kiowa and Commanche counties. Does anyone have anything to help me make a decision.
 
Check out the posts from Mrbyrd. No rain, hot as hell, doesn't look good for the birds. I would go to S. Dakota, it is closer and the best pheasant hunting in the world. Check out some you tube videos of south dakota pheasant hunting. Last year I could recommend KS, but this year doesn't look good.
 
Kiowa and Commanche will be terrible........many, many days of 100+ temps, Greensburg hit 113 a couple days, no rain to speak of, no wheat harvest to speak of, little cover left for birds......you are very close to ND, except for the SW part, which like SD is all pay to play, the SC part of the state would be your best bet, bird numbers will be down due to rough winter, wet spring, but you won't pay $200 per day to hunt either...good luck.
 
Bucketmouth said:
I had plans to hunt pheasants in Kansa this year, however, the preliminary reports I've gotten are disappointing. I would hate to waste alot of time and resources driving to Kansas from Montana if the bird population is that dismal. Planned on hunting Kiowa and Commanche counties. Does anyone have anything to help me make a decision.
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If you live in Montana, youd probably have better luck up there.

Maybe this will answer your question....in our drought zone, Ive seen many fields of corn that only grew 3-4' tall. The past month Ive driven from Wichita to Southwest Nebraska by the mountain time zone and back twice. Covered a lot of miles over 1200 miles with the combo of the 2 trips. Even flying in a plane at the end of july back to wichita from Las Vegas, you could see how crappy the ground conditions were from the air. Only thing green from the time the sky cleared over NE New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma panhandle back to Wichita were the irrigated crop circles.

108 Wednesday, 104 yesterday, 100 something today. Wichita hit a new record Wednesday, I think it was 51 days of triple digit heat this year. We're still adding to the pile. Where I was at in Nebraska looked like an oasis compared to Kansas. Ive got an invite from a couple customers in Nebraska for pheasants, depending on how my season goes and how bored I am theres a good chance I'll take them up on it.


Im thinking 114 or 115 was our hottest day so far this year. I know no one will believe me, but this is the only logical explanation I can come up with...it got so hot in the back of my pickup bed where I have my spare tire laying (bed is sprayed with black bedliner as well), that my spare tire blew up. I came back from my vegas trip to find the belt looked like it just blew...I need to take a photo....Thats the only explanation I can even remotely think of that makes sense. Ive never heard of that, but I guess theres a first time for everything. The tire was probably 6-8 years old, still had some life left on it, hence why I had it mounted as my spare.
 
I was out last weekend mowing at the farm seen alot of birds for as dry as it was. On the way we seen about 15-20 pheasants 2 miles west of Ellis most of them where this years hatchlings. Then when i was mowing the ditch i saw about 20-30 run out of the ditch and in to the field. I think this year will be good for us.
 
SHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell 'em we want them to think it's been a hot dry summer and bad bird conditions:).

No, but seriosly it's not going to be that good, there will be some pockets that have good birds, but not as many as in the past. This is still Kansas and we will get some birds, but this year the dogs and hunters will just have to work a little harder.
 
Kiowa and Comanche counties are approaching 65 days over 100. It ain't gonna be pretty! Seeing 25 birds in a good 2 miles near Hays isn't bragging either. In good years, you might see 200+ in 2 miles of good habitat there. It's too late to fix it now. That part of the state will be dust fogging with every step. Maybe we should start a diller hunting competition!
 
Wow, these field reports from fellow hunters are not encouraging, and to me they're even worrisome in terms of protecting the future quality of Kansas pheasant hunting.

If memory serves, my first pheasant hunt was in 1962 and the daily bag limit then was 4 roosters. Really, as long as I can remember the daily limit has always been 4.

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Has the state of Kansas ever taken the temporary step of reducing the daily bag limit on pheasants from 4 birds down to 3 or even 2 birds, as a way of shielding the bird population already seriously depleted by widespread hostile weather conditions and correspondingly poor habitat?

It wouldn't break my heart if KDWP took such a step this year. Only speaking for myself here, but as long as I've hunted pheasants I've been happy bagging just one rooster per day, any day I go afield. It wouldn't dull my enthusiasm for hunting them if the state reduces the limit this year, not in view of the horrible summer heat we've had (and are still having in many areas).
 
CloseRange said:
Wow, these field reports from fellow hunters are not encouraging, and to me they're even worrisome in terms of protecting the future quality of Kansas pheasant hunting.

If memory serves, my first pheasant hunt was in 1962 and the daily bag limit then was 4 roosters. Really, as long as I can remember the daily limit has always been 4.

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Has the state of Kansas ever taken the temporary step of reducing the daily bag limit on pheasants from 4 birds down to 3 or even 2 birds, as a way of shielding the bird population already seriously depleted by widespread hostile weather conditions and correspondingly poor habitat?

It wouldn't break my heart if KDWP took such a step this year. Only speaking for myself here, but as long as I've hunted pheasants I've been happy bagging just one rooster per day, any day I go afield. It wouldn't dull my enthusiasm for hunting them if the state reduces the limit this year, not in view of the horrible summer heat we've had (and are still having in many areas).
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i doubt Kansas would reduce the daily limit, it would be an admission of a real dramatic decline and they don't want to jeopardise the revenue from license sales and related income generated by many NR hunters.

secondly, a bad report means a lot less hunters anyway, so pressure on the remaining birds will be reduced.

finally, hen survival and propagation is the key to recovery. you can't hunt out the wily roosters, good carryover only requires about 15 to 1 ratio for a solid recovery.....mild winter, cool, dry spring and moisture for the winter wheat crop is all that is needed for a good recovery for next year.
 
Pointer Man said:
SHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell 'em we want them to think it's been a hot dry summer and bad bird conditions:).

No, but seriosly it's not going to be that good, there will be some pockets that have good birds, but not as many as in the past. This is still Kansas and we will get some birds, but this year the dogs and hunters will just have to work a little harder.
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i think last years harvest was close to a million birds.......i would say half that for this season would be damn good.,,, mostly old carryover roosters is what you will see and they will be tough to hunt and it will be drier than a popcorn fart unless we get fall moisture and lots of it....i have access to a lot of ground in Kansas and i probably won't even fool with it this season.
 
At some point many years ago, Kansas had a three bird limit. It was determined that a four bird limit had no effect on the population. Whether further consideration is warranted, would probably be for a time after several bad years. Carry over of adults was very high coming out of winter.
 
In a largely polygamous populaltion, it wouldn't matter when you are "supposedly" only taking males. A 1:15 ratio of males to females is adequate to reproduce/increase the population. I'm talking pheasants here.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
In a largely polygamous populaltion, it wouldn't matter when you are "supposedly" only taking males. A 1:15 ratio of males to females is adequate to reproduce/increase the population. I'm talking pheasants here.
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very nice. Thats why some states went from a 1 hen limit to a ZERO hen limit. Hens are the key to a decent/good recovery. Roosters are dogs, a good ratio is 1:15 but a CO biologist told me 1:30 is possible to, I guess its kinda like us, how much stamina do we have? Please dont answer that.

Also alot of the reports I am hearing are from everywhere but northwest KS, is the NW the same, dry and dead?
 
A mating ratio of ONE rooster pheasant to 15 hen pheasants might work positively for pheasants in a safe enclosed well watered, well fed, large flight pen.

But that ratio would have a negative impact on wild pheasant fertility and reproduction in the real wild (predator infested) world.

I know all of the old studies state that one wild rooster can efficiently fertilize ten wild hens.
In good pheasant country you average 10 healthy hens per square mile, that one rooster would expose himself to a great deal of predator risk trying to fly around and mate with 10 hens in a square mile.

Read what PGC biologist DeLong said about rooster to hen ratio prior to nesting season for the population to increase:

http://republicanherald.com/wpra-s-why-change-success-1.872457
 
A friend went up to scout pronghorn and said the blue gramma was 2 feet tall. You rarely ever see it anywere close to that! A lot of the rain that hit Nebraska started in eastern Colorado and went through NW Kansas along the way. Yes, 1:30 is feasible as well. Most private ground would never get that lop sided. I don't know what the forecast is there. Should be coming out soon.
 
NW Kansas will be better, much better summer conditions for reproduction, but not the best pheasant range in Kansas and with all the negative publicity on the SW and SC part of the state, the NW will get a lot of pressure....still if you have to hunt Kansas, the NW will probably be the best part of the state.
 
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