please help! my boys have talked me into a kansas pheasant hunt

O

oklahoma

New member
Hello everyone. I am new here. This is my first post on any forum ever. I live near Blanchard, Oklahoma. I have two boys, 10 and 15. They are ate up with Hunting! Anything. And I love it that they are that way.

They have been wanting me to take them pheasant hunting for a couple years now. They don't know it yet, but I have finally decided it is time for us to go. I have only been pheasant hunting one time, in Kansas, about 8 years ago or so, for about 3 days with my dad. We just drove up NW of Liberal where he had hunted before and knocked on some doors. We had a few people tell us "yes" and we had a very good hunt. We ended up with plenty of birds.

I don't have the money to afford a guided hunt, so that is my plan this time, to knock on doors and hope to get permission. I am hoping to find some people that will let us but am not sure if that has changed much there.

It will be me, my dad and my two boys. Dec 18th - Dec 21st. We plan on staying in Liberal. If there is anyone that may be able to point me in some good directions, or people to go talk to, please let me know. I just want to get these boys into some birds like I was lucky enough to do my first time after them.

Thanks,
Clint
 
Should be plenty of wiha to hunt and with this cold weather here you may end up having a pretty darn good hunt. Are you bringing dogs along?
 
Sorry I cant give you any advice on Kansas, but I do offer words of encouragement and congratulations. You are extremely lucky that you don't have to pry them off of the couch and away from video games especially during the winter. Hunting together as a family is the great thing, getting some birds is just a bonus. Please keep the site updated with your results and photos. Taking copious notes as well.
 
You need a WIHA atlas for sure. I happen to have an extra--I intended to pick up two and actually picked up three. PM me your address and I'll stick it in the mail.

Other than that, a little time on the internet with the atlas looking at satellite photos will help you pick a few WIHA tracts to target. Look for CRP grass next to grain. People have different theories on choosing WIHA. Some look for the big tracts thinking many groups are intimidated by the size. I look for isolated tracts thinking that many groups won't drive to a single tract that is many miles from other WIHA.

You won't face a whole lot of competition from other hunters during your time frame.

Knocking on doors can work, but it can also be frustrating. The person living in the house next to that good-looking field may not even know who owns it or farms it.

I wish I had some specific intel on that area, but I don't get down that far. Good luck and I'm glad to see you introducing your kids.
 
Thanks everyone for the reply.

Thank you odenney. You are so correct. I am very proud to have boys the way they are. We do a lot of deer and turkey hunting together as well as just shooting rifles, practicing long rang, and fishing. We have just never went after any upland birds together.

Duckn66, My dog died several years ago and I didn't get another because the quail population here had been so poor. That is changing now thank goodness. I am still out of town for work but My dad and boys are going to look at a dog today, 6 month old pointer that has been "partially trained". We will probably take the dog with us just for some field time and because the boys are so excited about getting the dog, but not with expectations of it tearing the fields apart. They don't know I've decided to take them after some pheasants yet.

Homeboy, we are just planning on staying at liberal and hunting N/NW of there because that is where my dad has been a few times and where we went on the only pheasant hunting trip I was on. We would defiantly make some miles to be able to hunt a good spot or two.
 
Get the "onX Hunt" app for your phone, you choose the state that you want and it will tell you who owns the property and how much they own in a map setting, like your doing google map but it breaks it down to the property lines for you. You will know where your at by the blue dot in relation to property boundary. I use it for Indiana and it is as handy as a shirt pocket.

Not for android phones I don't think.
 
Like others have said, get the WIHA atlas. I would also have the boys knock on doors to try and access some private land. My experience has been that people tend to say yes more often if they know you are trying to get kids into some birds. Good luck and enjoy your trip. As has been mentioned, the best part is that you are going to be spending quality time with your dad and your boys.
 
Nick said:
Like others have said, get the WIHA atlas. I would also have the boys knock on doors to try and access some private land. My experience has been that people tend to say yes more often if they know you are trying to get kids into some birds. Good luck and enjoy your trip. As has been mentioned, the best part is that you are going to be spending quality time with your dad and your boys.
Click to expand...

go to the door with the boys........tell the owner how far you came to teach your kids about bird hunting and proper etiquette and getting permission...you will get plenty of yes answers, provided you can find the landowners.
 
Please help

Lucky to get to enjoy your family in great outdoors. The Southwinds Motel is priced right and across road from Pancake House., Cattlemans etc. Liberal that is. Wal-Mart at north end. All you need is a bird. Not much WIHA AROUND THERE. It is hard to find someone to ask sometimes but possible. Good luck. I'm sure those boys will be beside themselves.
 
Thanks again for all the replies.

odenney - I have actually got the onxhunt hunt app on my phone but its the "free version" and doesn't let me see that stuff. I have been kinda skeptical about purchasing it. Glad to know it really works. I will pay for it now.

I am definatly going to look into the WIHA for sure.

Nick - We are for sure going to try knocking on some doors and hope for the best! Thank you very much! I agree, the being together out there will be a lot of fun and memories plus it has been forever since me and my dad have been on a bird hunt. So this is gonna be really awesome being me, my dad and my boys! history in the making. I am sure looking forward to it.
 
You picked a good time to come hunting. Be sure to bring plenty of warm clothes. If you can handle the cold hunting should be superb. With the extremely cold weather that's forecasted the birds will be bunched up, in the thickest cover, and out of the wind. Look for that type of habitat and you will see birds. I'm going out Sat. supposed to be snowing hoping for a great day.
 
d

sas said:
Lucky to get to enjoy your family in great outdoors. The Southwinds Motel is priced right and across road from Pancake House., Cattlemans etc. Liberal that is. Wal-Mart at north end. All you need is a bird. Not much WIHA AROUND THERE. It is hard to find someone to ask sometimes but possible. Good luck. I'm sure those boys will be beside themselves.
Click to expand...

Hey SAS, are you the Liberal tour guide now-days? Hope to see you at the Pancake House one of these days. PM me with a possible day and time.
 
oklahoma said:
Thanks again for all the replies.

odenney - I have actually got the onxhunt hunt app on my phone but its the "free version" and doesn't let me see that stuff. I have been kinda skeptical about purchasing it. Glad to know it really works. I will pay for it now.
Click to expand...

I've got the onxhunt and purchased Wyoming for antelope and Colorado for elk hunting. It is very good. Be sure and 'cache' the maps you think you'll be covering, signal is sketchy out there and if you haven't saved the maps you'll be looking at your location which is correct, but there won't be a map to show you where you are. The GPS on your phone doesn't require a cell signal to be accurate.

I've not purchased for Kansas because we just hunt WIHA's and the state published map is good enough for that. I downloaded Explorer for ARCGIS and added the WIHAs map for Kansas, it didn't populate every property. Later in the day we ran into the state biologist for the area, he was the one that posted the signs on the properties, he said he knew it didn't show them all, he had told 'the powers that be' about the issue, and they didn't resolve it.
 
The hunting is good!

Thanks guys for all your replies. We ended up having to wait until the 20th to drive out cause my oldest boy had testing and didn't get out of school until then but we are here now. Seen over 100 birds today! Killed 4. I hate to say it but we knocked down 3 others we couldn't find. I just hate that. As soon as I can figure out how to add pics I will. The boys are beside themselves. My youngest boy took his first shot at a quail today and got him!! He's so happy. Me too!! My oldest is just figuring out his new Maxus he got as an early Christmas present but tomorrow will be better for him I hope!
 
Please help

Sounds like you all are having what it is all about. A great time and the birds are just a bonus. Planning the trip and looking forward to it are the best part sometimes. I have been chasing them for 70 years and still get excited just to see one. Having your family along is the rest of the equation. Bird numbers are just a figure. BTW if there is a storm coming through up there soon they may change their habits and feed differently so be prepared to change your routine to account for it.
 
No doubt man. These boys are loving it. My youngest got his first pheasant today and two more quail!! My oldest apparently got use to the Maxus because he limited today!! I'm am so happy. Great times! We are sure making the best of it. We got 12 pheasant today. Pretty good memories with dad and my boys. This will happen every year if I can pull it off!

I Still can't figure out how to post pictures??
 
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