Ringing in 2025 correctly!

[CharBroiled]

We took to the field this morning working public ground. Socks did pretty well in the milo field by pointing a hen, working one skittish hen to a buffer strip before she hit her afterburners as he couldn't pin her, and pointing one other rooster (I think) breaking before I could get to it. Dang wild birds.
We switched fields and locations before working in a 1/4 section.

Socks is a big running dog. His family are all big runners, so we've always kind of had a target goal of letting him work out to about 150 (maybe stretching out to 200) and in. This morning, I lost sight of him, but my tracker was telling me he was at 171. Whatever happened with the GPS signal and suddenly Socks was at 262. I'm not real pleased at this point so I call to him to which, the arrow goes solid dot and my controller vibrates in my hand signalling he's stopped moving.
This stoppage was a true point at 262 yards away. I rumble through that crappy, knotty undergrowth in CRP which loves to clutch and grab at your boots, before I arrive to find my dog still locked up.
Rooster goes up, gun to shoulder, safety goes off and down goes bird. He wasn't fully dead as Socks couldn't quite figure out what to do or where to grab (odd because he's been solid retrieving before) but we bagged our first bird of 2025. Once he finds a bird, he wants to find all of the birds!

Happy New Year to y'all from Socks and I!

 

[GladHunter]

Glad to hear you found some, not too many good reports from Kansas this year.

 

[Carguy2Banker]

2025 had been good for me also. Went out with 2 guys on Wednesday, and we filled our 12 bird limit. Unfortunately, the weather kept them from joining me today, but I was able to get out today alone and thanks to some great dog work, I was able to get my 4 birds again.

Not going out tomorrow because I believe in letting the birds remain in cover during bad storms even though the hunting can be really rewarding as the birds don't really have any place to go for shelter.

 

[Wind River]

Must be some great property, Congrats. Nice pic.

 

[gsh lover]

2025 had been good for me also. Went out with 2 guys on Wednesday, and we filled our 12 bird limit. Unfortunately, the weather kept them from joining me today, but I was able to get out today alone and thanks to some great dog work, I was able to get my 4 birds again.

Not going out tomorrow because I believe in letting the birds remain in cover during bad storms even though the hunting can be really rewarding as the birds don't really have any place to go for shelter.

Just wondering what part of the state you are in. Don't want GPS coordinates, just glad to hear that there are some wild birds in that heavy concentration.

 

[Carguy2Banker]

All of Western and Southwestern Kansas that received timely moisture that avoided the drought has seen drastically increased bird populations the last 2 years. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but sounds like southwest had seen nice quail populations also. It appears that it takes a good wheat crop as it provides the nesting habitat that the CRP provided back in the good ol' days.
It's probably not anything like the days of old that constitute the influx of tourist hunting because the public land access is down, but those people with good landowner relationships are benefitting from some great hunting. Anxiously hoping for another good year or two of bird hatches.

 

[westksbowhunter]

This year is much improved but last year was horrible, the worst I have ever seen in my lifetime. I was thinking they would struggle to bounce back but they did this year. This storm won't help, too much ice, but they are tough. I have a dozen pheasants and a covey of quail behind the house, they will be coming to the bird feeder today.

 

[Kansan]

There are pockets of pretty decent pheasant numbers in western Kansas, that I found even during the worst years. I have the chance to hunt around a couple of feedlots where they really pack in during the wintertime, and can kick up hundreds. “Pockets” is the key. It very much depends on where you are.

The past couple years are substantially improved, but most of the birds are on private land “honey holes”. WIHA is still very tough, as the pressure is relentless, and most of the birds have found places where they don’t get messed with near as much by now.

If we could get a halfway decent summer or two without emergency haying and grazing, that would really go a long way in helping the pheasants rebound. The drought the past few years has certainly been very hard on them.

Quail are looking pretty darn good on private ground in many areas, even in my part of SEK.

 

[westksbowhunter]

A good spring hatch and no emergency grazing and haying, and it will be a great year next fall. People need to leave them alone this week. We got right at 12 inches of snow with a lot of ice. Extremely cold temps this week but hopefully back it next weekend.