report

M

mustistuff

Banned
just finished a three day hunt in the Norton area, pastor john, me and three mutts. we saw and had a great hunt for dove, john sure needs some help with his shooting, over the three days we saw one badger, 17 pheasants, only one hen for sure, no babies, one really young rooster, some birds were hard to tell the sex, coulda shot a number of roosters, most birds seemed mature, , 4 covey of quail, some with really little babies like tennis ball size, quite a few turkey, many babies, and 11 chickens, one of which I shot, one thing is didn't like was the still short grass and loss of walk-in properties that I have hunted for years. weeds were high but the grass wasn't. all in all there was cover, think it showed the effects of the rain coming in late may instead of march and april. one person I met thought there were few to no chicks (pheasant) and mostly mature roosters, hens were missing, the other guy at a sporting goods store thought the same as me, we were being fooled and there were most birds out there than are being seen but the caf? hunter's are going to have a hard time. had a great trip, dogs are shot from three days of running in fairly high heat

cheers
 
musti, its been so long since I shot a quail . I thought they were the size of tennis balls....must be bigger out west:D

I got a report out of the southwest maybe a month ago. It was on some ground that had a little bit of a hatch and carryover last year. Pheasant hatch ranged from colored to iddy biddy. Its good were starting to see some new birds out west.

Thanks for the report!

Oops didnt see you pheasant report,,,,you probably just walked over them
 
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I have a contact SW of Hays in the Ness City area who drives around frequently. He tells me pheasant numbers are poor and probably not worth my time driving from Colorado.
 
Zoeller, your contact is probably correct. My builder is from that general area of Kansas and his family still has a nice spread over there. His family said not to bother again this year unless he more or less is interested in some great exercise.

I will be in my normal area even though a couple large farmers have already said, "Please don't ask to pheasant hunt this year!" because the bird count is so low again. I guess I will try some CRP (even though much of it is gone) and enjoy the countryside.
 
Far west but central as far as north and south (pages 13,14,25,26 on the wiha map) is reported to be very poor according to guys cutting milo. Not good when they only see one or two birds in a whole day of cutting.
 
Sounds like there were some late hatches after the rains came. Wooohooo. Thanks for the report.
 
zoellner25 said:
I have a contact SW of Hays in the Ness City area who drives around frequently. He tells me pheasant numbers are poor and probably not worth my time driving from Colorado.
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I would second that -- pretty desolate place last year - The only thing rains would do for that area is help the cover recover -- not the birds.
 
remarks

one question is some post as to the number of birds, do you want to hunt or just go kill something? and in another one is that late moisture is never wasted, it does provide additional cover, gives the birds a chance to still raised some babies and at least in the areas that we are talking, some birds survived to start the recovery and I for one am sure that they did. as much as we don't shoot hens, staying home has no effect on the rooster population nor recovery of the birds. bitch or just go do it. your dog won't much now the diff.

cheers
 
mustistuff said:
one question is some post as to the number of birds, do you want to hunt or just go kill something? and in another one is that late moisture is never wasted, it does provide additional cover, gives the birds a chance to still raised some babies and at least in the areas that we are talking, some birds survived to start the recovery and I for one am sure that they did. as much as we don't shoot hens, staying home has no effect on the rooster population nor recovery of the birds. bitch or just go do it. your dog won't much now the diff.

cheers
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Ditto...very good comment..hunting is about enjoying the outdoors and the experience..enjoying what nature has provided..the companionship of dog and hunter..catching up with friends and family..the shooting to me is a secondary thought..if killing birds is what you want there is always the game farms
 
do you want to hunt or just go kill something?

I want to hunt. To me hunting is the outdoors, the dogs, the food, friendship, and everything else that goes along with it. However, hunting is ultimately just a process for bagging wild pheasants, and while I love the process, if there are no Pheasants to bag, then is it really hunting?
 
Wingmaster said:
I want to hunt. To me hunting is the outdoors, the dogs, the food, friendship, and everything else that goes along with it. However, hunting is ultimately just a process for bagging wild pheasants, and while I love the process, if there are no Pheasants to bag, then is it really hunting?
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no. of course if there are no birds period, ya can't really hunt something that can't be hunted or doesn't exist. mostly, however, there are nothing but a bunch of lame excuses. there are at least some birds to hunt everywhere in Kansas for example, whether or not hunter's would enjoy the work trying to find them is, maybe another thing. in my lifetime I surely have had my ups and downs on every trip I ever took but I have never ever failed to find birds, never. been skunked before for whatever those reasons were but birds were available and will be again this year. bet on it.

cheers
 
mustistuff said:
no. of course if there are no birds period, ya can't really hunt something that can't be hunted or doesn't exist. mostly, however, there are nothing but a bunch of lame excuses. there are at least some birds to hunt everywhere in Kansas for example, whether or not hunter's would enjoy the work trying to find them is, maybe another thing. in my lifetime I surely have had my ups and downs on every trip I ever took but I have never ever failed to find birds, never. been skunked before for whatever those reasons were but birds were available and will be again this year. bet on it.

cheers
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Sure of course, I was more speaking in generalities than absolutes. But out of curiosity, let's say that you did in fact go hunting and actually did fail to find any birds? What if you hunted a whole season and saw nothing on more trips than not, what then? Is there a point where you finally would throw in the towel?
 
Wingmaster said:
I want to hunt. To me hunting is the outdoors, the dogs, the food, friendship, and everything else that goes along with it. However, hunting is ultimately just a process for bagging wild pheasants, and while I love the process, if there are no Pheasants to bag, then is it really hunting?
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Wingmaster, if it ever gets to that point in Kansas I would look for something else to do. I don't want to be the guy responsible for shooting the last rooster left in Kansas. Just saying...
 
no birds

at my age it just ain't gonna happen. if I blanked on pheasants, like not seeing any period, true, I would give them up at least on one area and then look for some in another area. however, there are more birds out there than pheasants that one can enjoy their dog with , if no specie are left to hunt then that problem is solved, we won't be here either. one has to get into birds more than once in awhile to keep interested or at least know that there are some out there, there are in fact birds of one type or another out there, fewer than we would like, but there. what I find more frustrating than not seeing at least a lot of birds is not finding suitable places to hunt, one kinda supports the other

cheers
 
jsdriggs said:
I understand all you guys from KS and the other legendary pheasant states have a different perspective on things. It is understandable the dismay with the numbers you see now.

That said, I have been in Wyoming and Idaho for the last 26 years. Pheasant hotbeds??? No frickin way! But I'll tell you what, I have a blast getting out after the few birds that are there. A good day is flushing maybe 8 roosters, usually less. And I mean a whole day usually! It's always, everywhere, what YOU make of it. I believe Musti said the dogs couldn't care less. I believe that too.
Now get out there and shoot straighter if you have less chances. That's what we do:D
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If I could flush four roosters in a day with one or two shots I would be golden. The last time I hunted my relations farm we saw one hen in 1.5 days of sun up to sun down hunting. What we are talking about is going for two days and not firing your gun. There are plenty of areas in kansas that have been like that the last couple years and will be like that this year. I don't have to kill a pheasant to have a good day of hunting. But the threat needs to be there. My dog at least needs to smell some, hen or otherwise, to stay engaged. I have access to some great places in kansas that used to hold a bunch of birds. It is 6 hrs or so for me to get there as I live on the wrong side of the state. The reports I have gotten are not good. It is 8 hrs for me to get to South Dakota. Really isn't much of a decision. There used to be some pheasants northwest of me a couple hours, probably in the same numbers you talk about. They are nearly extinct there now. The last day I spent there two years ago in a fresh snow, I struggled to find a rabbit track.
 
Kansas was definitely down last year, but I didn't experience the disaster some on here describe. I hunt Ness, Lane and Finney counties mainly and last year I never hunted a day without shooting one. When I talk hunting a day I mean hunting sunup to almost sundown. I'm almost to get to old for that kind of walking. I'm not sure I even hunted a spot without seeing a few birds. I hunted all private ground last year, and all of it was good cover. I suppose the guys that don't even see any are hunting WIHA or ground that gets hunted a lot. A lot of it depends on the spots you have to hunt. I heard all year Ness County was terrible, but a friend and I shot 6 before 11am one morning the last weekend of season. We should have had a limit but we lost one and missed one.
 
carptom1 said:
If I could flush four roosters in a day with one or two shots I would be golden. The last time I hunted my relations farm we saw one hen in 1.5 days of sun up to sun down hunting. What we are talking about is going for two days and not firing your gun. There are plenty of areas in kansas that have been like that the last couple years and will be like that this year. I don't have to kill a pheasant to have a good day of hunting. But the threat needs to be there. My dog at least needs to smell some, hen or otherwise, to stay engaged. I have access to some great places in kansas that used to hold a bunch of birds. It is 6 hrs or so for me to get there as I live on the wrong side of the state. The reports I have gotten are not good. It is 8 hrs for me to get to South Dakota. Really isn't much of a decision. There used to be some pheasants northwest of me a couple hours, probably in the same numbers you talk about. They are nearly extinct there now. The last day I spent there two years ago in a fresh snow, I struggled to find a rabbit track.
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in my life of hunting I can't imagine having your experience, hope I never do. not sure how I would handle it. I range as far east as about Norton, north of hays and west back to Colorado. some places surely are better than others but none of them are what you describe. don't know what to make of it. come west I guess. my drives are never less than 3 hr. one way so I am not really close to anything

cheers
 
mustistuff said:
in my life of hunting I can't imagine having your experience, hope I never do. not sure how I would handle it. I range as far east as about Norton, north of hays and west back to Colorado. some places surely are better than others but none of them are what you describe. don't know what to make of it. come west I guess. my drives are never less than 3 hr. one way so I am not really close to anything

cheers
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Maybe I need a better dog:). Seriously if I am going to hunt in kansas anymore I am probably going to have to adjust my approach. In the Dakotas or Kansas in some thick CRP or heavy cover I will put my flusher up against any dog. In Kansas hunting a lesser number of birds, or quail or chickens, I need to change if I am going to continue to hunt here. I am honestly thinking of getting another pointer. I have not had one for twenty years. I wonder how I will break it to my wife? I am thinking if I put the pen behind the old barn, my wife will never know...... My neighbor to the north trained pointers before he died and the pens are still up. Maybe I could keep it over there. hmmmmmmmmm.
 
flushing dogs

you'll never get me to bash a good flushing dog, at least not with a straight face. however, the farms as you well know have changed over the years and so has the cover, fewer wind breaks, fewer ditches, fence rows, big thick weed patches and it just keeps going. I have always felt that given the birds and lots of cover, a springer will out perform a pointer, that of course is only part of the reason to have one or the other. with todays current landscape, most springer's would have a hard time competing with my dogs and it is because of what we have to hunt in and not talent. good luck with behind the barn stuff, you can always say you are borrowing them or taking care of them for a long lost buddy etc.

cheers
 
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