I chased them wild pheasant more last year than i ever have before. Many many weekends we were lucky to see birds at all. I will say that where we did see birds if you got more than 5 miles away from that spot you didnt see anything. It all did pay off on new years eve and day. We got into a couple locations where i havent seen that many birds in my life. I just started hunting about 6 yrs ago so i havent seen the good ol days like a lot of you. The guy i hunt with did say at one location he has never seen that many flush from one location in all his years(30+yrs). So many birds the sky turned black on new years morning. I was blocking field one and couldnt keep my gun loaded fast enough. Shot three should of limited out and sat in the truck. Next field we walked down to a corner and my buddy wasnt ready for what was next. 30+ pheasant all flushed right above him. Looked like elmer fud out there. More screaming and profanity than i have ever heard. And he didnt know one down. Needless to say we are heading out there on opening day this year. Hoping some of them were able to survive the drout and extreme heat. Been talking with some farmers in the local area and it doesnt sound good. But hey neither did last year. Good hunting boys a lil over a month out.
Pockets of Birds
- Thread starter Wingmaster
- Start date
mustistuff
Banned
pheasants
i most likely do not hunt opening weekends, being retired, i have no real reason too, i go out later in the week after everybody has gone home and mostly empty handed. anyway, a farmer i know in kansas, i have never hunted with him but could, also don't usually hunt his land but could. he and his tribe or whatever last year hunted the better parts of 3 day, like about 1 1/2 each the first two weekends. there are about 22 yahoo's in the bunch and they took 73 birds. hate that kinda hunting but it is their business and get together, while i hunt that same area as they do, probably not the same fields as the guy hunts other people's property, so i don't really, know. the area is the same. while i had a pretty serious year last season, i never saw enough birds to satisfy that size a group. mostly they had a couple of mutts and surrounded the field and for them to shoot that many birds they must have gotten into far more than i did, while i don't know, a good average from that kinda hunting they must have shot at several hundred roosters and about 300 shells. just a guess. anyhow, they found birds and most people didn't
cheers
i most likely do not hunt opening weekends, being retired, i have no real reason too, i go out later in the week after everybody has gone home and mostly empty handed. anyway, a farmer i know in kansas, i have never hunted with him but could, also don't usually hunt his land but could. he and his tribe or whatever last year hunted the better parts of 3 day, like about 1 1/2 each the first two weekends. there are about 22 yahoo's in the bunch and they took 73 birds. hate that kinda hunting but it is their business and get together, while i hunt that same area as they do, probably not the same fields as the guy hunts other people's property, so i don't really, know. the area is the same. while i had a pretty serious year last season, i never saw enough birds to satisfy that size a group. mostly they had a couple of mutts and surrounded the field and for them to shoot that many birds they must have gotten into far more than i did, while i don't know, a good average from that kinda hunting they must have shot at several hundred roosters and about 300 shells. just a guess. anyhow, they found birds and most people didn't
cheers
kick them up
Active member
Last year was the first year I did not harvest a rooster in 20 plus years!
My crew manage to scratch out 13 roosters on the opener in prime habitat. Which was down 68% from 2009 opener totals. I did shot one quail on the last weekend over my britts in Jeff Co out of my house covey just so I wouldn't blank all season
I ended up hunting deer with my bow more during the opener than I rooster hunted and it looks to be the plan again this year, but it suck casue the dogs are in thier prime. They are now 4,6,9 and you don't get hose years back
Kick'em Up.
My crew manage to scratch out 13 roosters on the opener in prime habitat. Which was down 68% from 2009 opener totals. I did shot one quail on the last weekend over my britts in Jeff Co out of my house covey just so I wouldn't blank all season I ended up hunting deer with my bow more during the opener than I rooster hunted and it looks to be the plan again this year, but it suck casue the dogs are in thier prime. They are now 4,6,9 and you don't get hose years back
Kick'em Up.
So answer me this. The KS Department of Tourism uses the term "pockets of birds". Is a "pocket" bigger or smaller than an "area".
There will be "pockets" with good populations vs there will be "areas" with good populations.
Or, is a pocket found within an area? Hmmmm, could be.........
Just something to think about and ponder on as we go about our business today.
There will be "pockets" with good populations vs there will be "areas" with good populations.
Or, is a pocket found within an area? Hmmmm, could be.........
Just something to think about and ponder on as we go about our business today.
Good pockets of birds refers to the birds we are going to have to buy and keep in our pockets and occasionally pull one out and shoot it in the field since numbers are so far down lol
kansasbrittany
Banned
HA! Now this is insight.
I am good for one zinger a season lol...just had to get it out of the way..but sadly enough the statement may be true
Hope for the future
I was out scouting and hanging tree stands a few weekends ago and I kicked up four hens in an area that I have not seen a Pheasant at since 2008. I also kicked up the largest covey of quail in my life this morning while checking scouting cameras. The covey was over 30 birds maybe as many as 40. A great thing to see.
Tom
I was out scouting and hanging tree stands a few weekends ago and I kicked up four hens in an area that I have not seen a Pheasant at since 2008. I also kicked up the largest covey of quail in my life this morning while checking scouting cameras. The covey was over 30 birds maybe as many as 40. A great thing to see.
Tom
Florida Man
New member
I think I know what the "pockets of birds" they are talking about is. Last year in Kansas was better than the year before but still slim to say the least. We would walk for miles and not even see any sign of pheasants and the dogs would not even get birdy. Then we would suddenly find 5-10 birds in one small spot and get some shooting. I have only hunted late season once but opening week last year was a lot like that. The birds were grouped together in spots of their choosing and not spread out all over.
mustistuff
Banned
they were referring to the pockets in your pants bucko. to me it would mean an area maybe 6 or 7 miles square, certainly more than a farm or two. i am afraid that some of the historical pockets like maybe north of hays, norton etc are struggling, norton in part cause they got cheated on what moisture there was to go around. in a few weeks some of us just might know and then we can tell the fish and game dept. so they can change their forecast if they ever make on. kinda like sticking you finger up in the air to see which way the wind blows. politicians do it all the time and then go on vacation
cheers
Toad
Active member
Everywhere I went last season, this was the story. Nothing for miles and miles and miles AND MILES of plodding along through the desert and just when you think you're about to hit the oasis, it was dry.
It's normal to not get much action until you get to the "sweet spot" of the field, or get it pushed to the end. But, like you say, the dogs wouldn't even get birdy, and we would walk two miles of a gorgeous, week-choked draw, and there would be nothing at the end but tumbleweeds... Places where we have found great numbers of birds for years, they were just gone. Tough, tough, tough last year.
I would say "pockets of birds" accurately describes my experience last year. If you didn't find the pocket, then you could easily walk all day and not even see a rooster.
On one trip, I think we hit every WIHA within an hour of our hotel that had even a knee-high weed in it, and only found birds in one shelterbelt in three days of hunting.
If not for a small handfull of honey-holes we discovered last year, I would have no proof that pheasants still exist in KS. :laugh:
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that sucks, that also is proof any rebound will be slow indeed.
We must have stayed at the same hotel... No doubt it was a tough season last year... We are still going to make the drive again...
Toad
Active member
See you at the shelterbelt! :laugh:
I make two big trips out to western KS every year, but this year I'm abbreviating one trip to an overnight at most, and the other one will be the same length but at a new location.
Last year I did a lot of exploring in the general areas that I have been hunting for years, and didn't come up with much. This year seems like as good a year as any to try and venture out to some new places and maybe find some new spots.:cheers:
Yep, I'm not going to do much hunting, instead I'm going to go "scouting" taking along my shotgun and dog. That way, when I get skunked, I can say I wasn't really hunting, I was out "scouting".