Rain

I didn’t mess with Kansas I couldn’t think of enough places that I hunt that I could get to. Boy a lot of people did though. Driving up here cars were parked on about every blacktop walkin I drove by. I followed some hunters for a while from Maine . That’s a first.
On her rotation Wally the nose got it done in short order. We walked it out to see if we could find some quail that had been in it a year ago. Lot of pheasants in that patch.
Took Roo to the only other quail patch I thought we could get close to. Still had to walk a half a mile of min maintenance road to get into it. A lot more pheasants and found the covey but they flushed into private. Crazy how fast they wise up. Rained on us the whole day.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4253.jpeg
    7.4 MB · Views: 51
We are fortunate to have many gravel roads in the area that I’m hunting. Plenty of minimum maintenance where we can’t get to some spots…maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday. Really good morning with lots of roosters seen and several in the bag. Quail numbers are low compared to the last several years. The afternoon was much different with very few birds flushed. Overall, great day!
 
We hunted all private in Rooks County. Decent pheasant numbers but that may be due to excellent cover and food sources on our land. Saw no quail on Saturday which is unusual for the land we hunt. Stayed on rock roads. Talked to some folks who had rough mornings. One group of 6 who were hunting around Nicodemus who had one rooster at lunch. The rain may have had birds in weird places Saturday as we found them more easily this morning. 3 guys, 2 dogs 4 roosters on Saturday. Two guys, one dog today and 2 roosters and two quail in about an hour and a half.
 
I went out this morning. Hit a couple of spots. Roads were a bit sporty in places. Ran across one hen and a rooster that was on the next property over.
 
Yesterday ended up being pretty darn good too though it did get a bit warm. Hunted a variety of cover within about a 25 mile radius. Saw a good number of pheasants across the area. We did get into a few more quail, but certainly not like last 5 years. The roads are starting to firm up a bit. Looking forward to today!
 
Only got into one covey Saturday in an area where we normally see quite a bit more than that. Wasnt expecting that. Did get the kids out sunday and hunted a little patch, and moved two coveys (dropped a couple). Talk about a circus, between my buddy's kid and mine, we had a 5, 4, 3.5, and 18 month (strapped to my back). Thats what its all about though
 
I forgot about Kansas opener. Glad you guys are seeing some success. Somehow I got the ducks to work in 60 degree weather, instead, but the opener slipped my mind entirely.
 
Pretty good for us. We hunt a sandier part of the state, so while there were big puddles in spots there was no risk of getting stuck as long as you stayed on the roads. 6 of us killed 11 by 1:00 on Saturday. Mixture of private and WIHA. We quit then because it was getting warm and to save some dog power for Sunday.

Hunted closer on Sunday, again in sandier areas, and found a couple of coveys of quail. Those things are hard to hit when you've been shooting at pheasants the day before and 3 days the previous week in SD. Saw a nice bunch of roosters flush from the ditch and fly 20 yards to a thicket right behind some purple paint. Ended up killing a few flarenares that crossed a fence from a preserve to a WIHA tract. Better than nothing...
 
We have an old farmhouse out in NWKS and I got in Friday night when it was raining. There is a large windbreak behind the house that I hunt a couple of times a day but rarely see any birds and if so its just a single or two. I only really hunt it because its right behind the house and super easy.

Anyways Saturday morning comes around, I make a cup of coffee then head outside to check my gear in the car. All of a sudden I hear a couple cackles from the windbreak. Sweet! An easy bird to start out the day! I grab my shotgun (dog is still inside eating) and start creeping behind the house when all hell breaks loose for 20 seconds. There are birds flying out of the tree tops, birds busting up from the ground, birds running across the road....Just complete pandemonium. Guess how many I got?

ZERO. Just complete panic....Do I shoot that one, wait there's one to my left, is the tree in my way, now that one is too far etc etc. I'm guessing it was around 20 birds that flew out and I ended up only firing two shots.
 
Bird numbers were much better than the last couple of years, I got 6 over the weekend hunting solo with 1 dog for 3-4 hours each day. The highlight was halftime of the Chiefs game...I left the house with about 2 minutes left till half for a quick hunt in the field across the street. Got two birds in 20-30 minutes then headed right back inside to watch the end of the game. I don't think it gets much better than that.
 
Hunted Sunday thru Tuesday, letting the roads firm up a bit. Did very well on public, pretty good on private. 2 guys, 2 dogs a few misses and 15 roosters in the bag. Fields with waste high grass, mostly bordering grain but even if next to winter wheat, had birds. Had to know where those were though as many spots were knee high.
 
I got out yesterday and managed to get back to some WIHA close to the house. Roads were pretty rutted up but they were mostly dry. First walk ran into a few birds. Second walk was my labs first solo. My springer turns ten this year and his age is starting to show. Both of the dogs work well together and seem to feed of each other so this was a big test for us. She did well. She works much closer in when she is alone. Really worked the cover well and put up some birds which one was rooster that fell to the gun. IMG_5177.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top