I hunted very briefly in northwest a couple weeks ago, probably 5 hours total. I put up 6 pheasants and one lone chicken on a combo of very good private and one WIHA tract, behind a very experienced lab and a coming on spaniel. The private was pretty discouraging, but it was also a very small sample size.
I used to go out to Kansas and feel really connected with the place, and just kind of in love with being out there, but now it's just depressing. I can't help but get depressed at how dismal the bird hunting is, the shorn ditches and waterways everywhere, the pitiful corn. I will say, Mexican immigrants have sure made the small-town food better.