Report The good, The Bad and The Ugly for this weekend

Good luck and bad luck for us this weekend.

Saturday - A buddy and I limited on pheasant by about 10:30 on Saturday. Didn't see many birds but had excellent dog work and shooting was pretty decent. Group of 6 in the field next to us never saw a bird. Took the rest of the day to scout and picked up a covey of quail after deciding to try a good looking spot. Took three and let the rest go.

Sunday - Hunted what may be the best looking spot I've ever seen. In addition, we saw milo being taken out next to this spot the day before. When we got to this great looking spot the following morning, all the milo was out. Worked the area with three very experienced dogs and never saw a bird. Got too hot by 10:30 so headed home.

A couple of notes:
1) Hunters were back in large numbers with most complaining about lack of birds.
2) Forecast seemed to be somewhat accurate in the birds are up, but in very marginal numbers.
3) After speaking to multiple hunters on Saturday, I've decided that people are getting more rude as time goes on. Met three or four groups of really nice people that had some very poor experiences on WIHAs due to slob hunters.

Point!
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
Bagged three nice roosters Saturday morning with Bilbo II. We drove all night to get to Kansas and started late. Then, Bilbo II hurt his foot around 9:30 and was done walking. Unfortunately, I injured my right leg and couldn't walk either so we went swimming before 11:00 and called it a day. Both of us were still down today so we drove back to Texas, just got back.

Only heard around six other shots fired Saturday in the area we hunted. Normally, you would think WWIII just started. We had a good time and will be back after healing up our injuries.
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You guys get well. Glad you found some birds.
 
Point,

Sounds like what I expected on all accounts. Glad you had a good Saturday, with some birds in the bag and especially some good dog work. That makes for a good day. Congratulations.
 
Hunted NW KS, Sheridan and Graham counties, one walk-in, the rest private.

Saturday: two hunters bagged three pheasant on a total of four shots. My buddy got two, me one. Missed my second shot which was off the one point of the weekend. :confused:

Sunday: hunted solo from 7:30 to 11 when temp hit 60 and the 8-year-old Brittany was panting hard. Two pheasant, one quail. Put the quail on the barbie with some shrimp last night.

Bird sightings were way down where we hunt. Other parts of the area that got mid-summer rains reported higher numbers. Lots of die off of plum thickets that have been around for 20 years. Gobs of koshia from late summer rains.
 
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Glad to hear of y'alls success. Didn't see a bird the first two spots, both private land. Third stop, put up two very nice coveys of quail, the first had about 15 or so, second 20-25. Final stop of the morning was a small section of milo stubble. Had a farmer friend's 12 yo son join us for this round. Put up two hens.

Final spot for the day was one of those "pockets of birds." Put up 3 hens, 7 roosters, and two more nice coveys, both 12-15 each.

Highlight of the day was watching my brother's pup work. Only eight months old but well on his was to being a very good bird dog.

Only hunted Saturday as I had to make the drive back to Indiana. Will be back in a couple weeks.
 
Brought 5 hunters & 6 pointing labs from Colorado. We hunted N & NE of Colby all day Saturday & Sunday until the dogs let us know it was getting too hot. Saw quite a few birds (probably 30-40), bagged 7, missed a few more, and lost one that hit the ground running in uncut corn.

Didn't run into too many other hunters until late in the day on Sat, but heard lots of shooting. Got some great tips from a couple of locals passing by hauling hay. They put us on a nice ditch that we would never have seen from the road. Put up six birds there, and dropped 3.

All in all a pretty great weekend, considering how it's been the last couple of years. Much better than the reports I'm hearing from CO. :)

Cheers :cheers:
Dave
 
Observations

Less CRP in the Southwest where we hunted.

Lost two more "honey holes" that are now planted with wheat.

Corn and beans are all down.

Milo is still standing in a few places but was being cut while I was there.

Fewer birds than I thought.

Every farmer I spoke to said they thought the pheasants were down a little bit from last year which was the worst year on record. These guys just did not see any birds on the last pass of cutting a quarter of corn. Normally, they put up a ton of birds on the final pass with the combine.

I took my first shot around 7:45 and did not hear another shot in the area until then. Actually, I started to wonder if I was a week too early.

Cover is improved which should help for next year.

Most of the cut milo is knee high which is great for the birds to hide and feed.

Very dry!

Farmers seemed depressed with the low price they are getting for corn right now. Lots of wheat planted.

Saw some hens which will bode well for the next hatch.

Enjoyed my short time in the field and will go solo in just a couple days.
 
Point! said:
3) After speaking to multiple hunters on Saturday, I've decided that people are getting more rude as time goes on. Met three or four groups of really nice people that had some very poor experiences on WIHAs due to slob hunters.

Point!
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This is the primary reason I despise opening weekend and really have little to no desire to go. Starting in 2-3 weeks most of the rude people will be home. I think part of the rudeness has been prompted by the low #'s of quality WIHA's for birds. Too many people fighting over too few areas.


Most openers I've experienced in the past 10-15 years have been forgettable events.

Anxiously awaiting getting out this Saturday and may call in "sick" Thursday if it wont' be too windy.
 
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We've never had any issues with other hunters on WIHA. One time we ended up meeting a group out in the middle of a field but they were parked on the opposite end than where we started and could not see each other. They swung wide and we swung wide. No issues. If we see somebody else is in the field we won't hunt it.
 
Much better this year. Our group was 10 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday and we were way short on dog power--only two. We shot 9 on Satruday and 5 on Sunday, but we quit at about 11 on Sunday. All birds were shot on WIHA. Saw lots of hens (a great sign!) COnsidering our lack of dog power, the best is that only lost two birds (not included in above).

All the birds were in the grass. We hunted some milo that looked great and was private, but only saw a couple of hens. That really surprised me.
 
Went back out this morning for a few hours. Two points early, a hen and a rooster. Saw 6 hens and two roosters today. Public land. The dew this morning helped with scenting a bit. Came home with one bird.
 
You guys that are listing counties are sure giving out more information than I would!!
It doesn't take much research (or driving for that matter) to figure out where a few WIHA's are within a county.

Over 4000 views...
Loose lips ruin hunting spots...
Just sayin'...
 
Duckdog17 said:
You guys that are listing counties are sure giving out more information than I would!!
It doesn't take much research (or driving for that matter) to figure out where a few WIHA's are within a county.

Over 4000 views...
Loose lips ruin hunting spots...
Just sayin'...
Click to expand...
Maybe it's disinformation.
 
Well, here's an ugly one.

Hunted some private land Saturday and also some walk in -- North central. Saw one hen. About a half hour into Sunday morning on some different private land the dogs got into a skunk. I went to dispatch Mr. LePew, and my gun simply wouldn't fire. I got the dogs in their kennels and drove 45 minutes back to the motel with a stop at Wally World to get some stuff. Cleaned them up as best I could and started for home. I left a note and $40 in the room. Hope that was good enough.

It was pretty bad in the car, but driving 80 with the windows open kept things moving enough that I could handle it. Got home and washed them a couple more times, then focused on the rest. That smell permeated everything. Pitched some stuff, washed a bunch of the rest. Spent $90 to get the deluxe car interior cleaning today. Things are about done, but the most stubborn are the Alpha collars. I pitched the straps, but there's enough nooks and crannies that they still stink.

Hands down my worst trip ever.
 
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ness said:
Well, here's an ugly one.

Hunted some private land Saturday and also some walk in -- North central. Saw one hen. About a half hour into Sunday morning on some different private land the dogs got into a skunk. I went to dispatch Mr. LePew, and my gun simply wouldn't fire. I got the dogs in their kennels and drove 45 minutes back to the motel with a stop at Wally World to get some stuff. Cleaned them up as best I could and started for home. I left a note and $40 in the room. Hope that was good enough.

It was pretty bad in the car, but driving 80 with the windows open kept things moving enough that I could handle it. Got home and washed them a couple more times, then focused on the rest. That smell permeated everything. Pitched some stuff, washed a bunch of the rest. Spent $90 to get the deluxe car interior cleaning today. Things are about done, but the most stubborn are the Alpha collars. I pitched the straps, but there's enough nooks and crannies that they still stink.

Hands down my worst trip ever.
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Hydrogen peroxide, dawn dishwashing liquid and baking soda cocktail.
 
That's what I usually use too...
Knock on wood, but my dogs haven't been sprayed in a couple of years.

But that wasn't always the case! My last dog was sprayed so many times, I think he started to like it!
We get them bad here at the house. I killed 11 in my yard one one "season".

Got sprayed TWICE on one trip out west a few years ago! AND, my son got sprayed on that same trip!
 
ness said:
Well, here's an ugly one.

Hunted some private land Saturday and also some walk in -- North central. Saw one hen. About a half hour into Sunday morning on some different private land the dogs got into a skunk. I went to dispatch Mr. LePew, and my gun simply wouldn't fire. I got the dogs in their kennels and drove 45 minutes back to the motel with a stop at Wally World to get some stuff. Cleaned them up as best I could and started for home. I left a note and $40 in the room. Hope that was good enough.

It was pretty bad in the car, but driving 80 with the windows open kept things moving enough that I could handle it. Got home and washed them a couple more times, then focused on the rest. That smell permeated everything. Pitched some stuff, washed a bunch of the rest. Spent $90 to get the deluxe car interior cleaning today. Things are about done, but the most stubborn are the Alpha collars. I pitched the straps, but there's enough nooks and crannies that they still stink.

Hands down my worst trip ever.
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That's pretty awful.:eek: Just when I am 100% sure I will get a Jeep or similar SUV when I trade off my truck, somebody posts a story like this... Reminds me that having a truck can be handy sometimes. Sorry about your misfortune. Hopefully you got your season's bad luck out of the way.
:cheers:
 
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