Quality of Walk-In Lands?

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IOWA_Tallgrass

New member
Just joined up on the site and finished reading a post in the South Dakota thread including some observations of the poor habitat quality of some of the WI lands in that state. I'm planning a DIY trip to either KS or SD since the pheasant numbers have essentially crashed here in east-central IA where I live, so I was curious to hear what Kansans think about the quality of the Walk-In lands in Kansas since in all likliehood, I will be hunting public land on my 1st trip.

I'm a veteran of many DIY hunts on public lands, with a decent tract record. I never got skunked so far and always enjoyed myself. Certainly, the first time in a new state you have to figure on spending some time paying your dues and learning the lay of the land-with the possibility of a lighter game bag, but that's how you grow and learn about new places to hunt. So please, do not take this a request for spots to hunt. I will go to a county that has good bird numbers and take it from there.;)

Anyhow, just wondering if there are similar issues in KS about the quality of the Walk-In lands? If I go to Kansas, I am thinking of hunting out of the Wakeeney area. It will either be just me and the dog or maybe me and buddy. We'd sure enjoy sharing a steak and brew with fellow pheasant hunters if you are there the same time we are. Stay tuned. :cheers:

Regards,

Joe
 
I have not hunted the Wakeeney area specifically, but I will say that in general the Kansas walk-in areas are a good representative of birdy habitat. Bear in mind that not all areas are equal, and the walk-in areas are also selected for deer and turkey, some of those may be less suitable to upland. As you know from previous experience, some trial and error is going to be required, and as a side note, especially in Kansas and Nebraska, don't assume their aren't birds, just because you cna't see habitat from the road. Lots of isolated,patch cover 1/2 mile in over the rise hold birds that nobody sees. General area you picked will gethigh pressure opening couple of weeks, but will have a lot of birds, according to KWDPW. Good Luck.
 
oldandnew said:
i have not hunted the wakeeney area specifically, but i will say that in general the kansas walk-in areas are a good representative of birdy habitat. Bear in mind that not all areas are equal, and the walk-in areas are also selected for deer and turkey, some of those may be less suitable to upland. As you know from previous experience, some trial and error is going to be required, and as a side note, especially in kansas and nebraska, don't assume their aren't birds, just because you cna't see habitat from the road. Lots of isolated,patch cover 1/2 mile in over the rise hold birds that nobody sees. General area you picked will gethigh pressure opening couple of weeks, but will have a lot of birds, according to kwdpw. Good luck.
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ditto!!!!!!!
 
Kansas has over a million acres of Walk In Hunting Areas(WHIA). Since these lands are private lands available to the hunting public through a lease arrangement between the land owner and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks(KDWP), they are not managed specifically for wildlife(pheasant, quail, ducks, geese, sandhill cranes, deer, etc.). It could be farm land with green wheat, wheat stubble, milo stubble, waste areas; or it could be grass lands with native prairie or planted CRP grass.

In my part of Kansas, I see many acres of grass that is part of the CRP program enrolled in the WHIA program. These acres may not provide all the habitat that a pheasant needs for survival, but they may border crop fields(many times that are not in the WHIA program). The CRP grass provides good roosting areas.

In other words, it is What You See Is What You Get. I pull up to one, take a look, make a decision to hunt or pass and am thankful of the hunting access opportunites. With that said, "Come to Kansas and enjoy our great outdoors."
 
We didn't have a chance to scout for the youth opener, we just left in the dark planning to hunt one of the yellow or brown squares and tried to use the species key as a guide (you'll get an idea of how to use that in time, but don't rely soley on it). We picked 2 squares while we were on the road and drove to one before sunrise. It had some great habitat and was full of birds. Went to the next yellow square and it was full of birds in great habitat. In fact, we drove by about 25 of those squares and I would've hunted any of them....they all looked great. The majority of our WIHA habitat is good. If deer and/or turkey are listed in the species key, you may be wasting your time if you're looking for pheasants........I'm not going into anymore detail.

Good luck!!
 
Iowa tallgrass that is one of my favorite areas as is the Hill City area. Theres very good bird numbers there and you will see alot of hunters too so get out if you can and scout a few good fields with nesting cover and be sure you are there a good 1/2 hour or more before daylight. I like the areas 20 miles or more away from I-70 and town as theres less pressure. I dont think you'll have a hard time finding birds out there at all.
 
The Wakeeney area can get some presure and the hotels fill up during the first few weekends. Its likely due to the easy access via I-70 for "greenies" like me.... i.e. Colorado bird hunters.
 
rsm said:
The Wakeeney area can get some presure and the hotels fill up during the first few weekends. Its likely due to the easy access via I-70 for "greenies" like me.... i.e. Colorado bird hunters.
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WaKeeney is a good choice. In NW KS lodging for the opener and early season can be hard to come by on short notice. But people cancel their reservations so you never know. I hope you have a good hunt in the great and hospitable state of Kansas, my home place on the Great Plains.
 
Thanks for sharing, fellas. :)

Its much the same up north where I go grouse and woodcock hunting in northern Wisconsin. If you have some miles on your boots chasing birds (of whatever specie) in their preferred habitat, you know what to look for. Up north, its some type of 6-15 year old aspen clearcut with good edge habitat. Most of the land is county forest crop land or paper company land and its usually open to hunting. If you see a truck or bird hunting rig at a pull-off, you simply keep rolling and move on to the next cut, plenty to go around. I usually go out from my cabin with all these spots I have scouted/marked on my maps only to find myself finding even better spots and usually only trying a handful of the original spots I spent time scouting-kinda funny, but true. :D

Do the same thing here in Iowa pheasant hunting, if a spot is taken, we move down the road to the next one.

We have very little public land in Iowa, so I am grateful to the landowners in other states who participate in these walk-in programs providing public access.

Certainly understand there can be very legitimate reasons for fields being cut to hay unexpectedly; landowners absolutely have the right to manage their land; if it was my farm and my cattle needed fed, I wouldn't think twice about making hay if I was in a bind, though can certainly see that it would also be a bummer to plan a trip only to find lots of the public ground you had planned to hunt mowed down.

I like to hunt pheasants in what they used to call "10 year" (large CRP grass prairies) adjacent to picked crops. These pheasants have pretty basic needs, if you find a place with shelter and food in an areas with good bird density, then you're in business. Long drainage ditches have also been very good to me over the years.

Great to hear the bird numbers are good out there in NW Kansas. More and more, I think that's where I am gonna head sometime hopefully before Christmas. Maybe we'll get to share a cold one! :cheers:

Regards,

Joe
 
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