Thoughts on this past season

B

Banjo Boy

New member
Now that the dreaded off season is upon us. Would love to hear your thoughts on this past season. The breakdown on my season is this; Seemed like the bird numbers were up this year. But with the warm and dry weather they were spread out and difficult to pin down. In my mind the hot and dry made scenting conditions difficult for the dog. Also it seemed like more hunters than ever were out even until late in the season and during mid week when I like to hunt. When the snow finally did fly the hunting was amazing. My young dog and I had our best season yet. Thanks Kansas for providing such a great opportunity for us to enjoy our passion!

BB
 
I thought bird #'s were up as well. Like you, the hot dry days weren't very productive, so I actually put fewer birds in the bag than I have in many years. The last month of the season was spent at work, so I missed all of the good weather/late season hunts that usually produce for me.

Another similarity in our season was the high volume of hunters. My optimistic side is hopeful that this will prompt the state to fund more WIHA, but my negative side just doesn't see it happening. It was a bittersweet season in that the birds are rebounding, but I feel like our state is migrating toward a SD type situation.

All in all I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to hunt w/ old friends and make a few new ones:cheers:
 
My thoughts are that the bird numbers are down, and have been moving downward for the past several seasons, and the hunter numbers have been moving upwards in the past couple of seasons. It could be though that the birds are good and just pressured or shot out due to hunter masses. Also, the hunter numbers may seem to be more due to the concentration of hunters the first two/three weeks due to season being pushed back to second Saturday. I would like to see some license sales data for this theory.

So bottom line, still the best thing out there and enjoyed every minute of it! Had a great time with the new pup/dog and look forward to his many years. Definitely frustrated with the hunter pressure, hopefully the state will work on acquiring more WIHA's, as the area I hunt has been losing ground last several years, and it was good ground.
 
Can't speak for KS, but bird numbers are def way up the past couple yrs over here in CO just across the line from you guys! Now if we can just get one more yr of favorable moisture & nesting conditions with all the carryover birds, things might get downright insane... :thumbsup: :10sign: :cheers:
 
I shot almost a case of shells. It "musta' been pretty good!! :thumbsup:
 
I only have hunted Kansas in 2010 and the previous year. I primarily hunted the Rooks/Graham/Norton county area. I think there were as many birds this year as last. Like the rest of you I found the hunting tough in the last 2 weeks of December this year, then it really changed drastically after the modest amount of snow at the end of the year.
I killed a lot more birds this year because I had a lot more experience with local conditions. Unlike the reports I read, I did not do well on quail this year which was the only disappointment.
If the hatch is reported to be good, I will be back next year.
 
Banjo Boy said:
Yeah I would say you "musta" had a great season!!! Did you wear the legs off your pup with retrieves?

BB
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Naaa... "both" roosters that I killed fell pretty close....:p

Looking back, I think my opportunity to introduce two more grandsons to the sport, ranks right up there near the top, as far as "high lights" of the season. THANK YOU Kansas!
 
grouchyolddude said:
Naaa... "both" roosters that I killed fell pretty close....:p

Looking back, I think my opportunity to introduce two more grandsons to the sport, ranks right up there near the top, as far as "high lights" of the season. THANK YOU Kansas!
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I'll say those are great highlights of the season Sir! Congratulations, not everyone gets so lucky:thumbsup:

My highlight was watching a new friend from Salina kill his first rooster in NC KS (he's a member of this fine site). Well, watching his 11yo son handle a fine young dog may very well tie. Not sure I can pick between those to things.

Can't wait till next season:)
 
kansasbrittany said:
I'll say those are great highlights of the season Sir! Congratulations, not everyone gets so lucky:thumbsup:

My highlight was watching a new friend from Salina kill his first rooster in NC KS (he's a member of this fine site). Well, watching his 11yo son handle a fine young dog may very well tie. Not sure I can pick between those to things.

Can't wait till next season:)
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Point taken!.. The "veteran" gr'dson (only 12, but been packing his 12G single for 3 yrs) hnted/managed my two yr old lab by himself a few times this year. It put a huge smile on my face watching him come across the field, shotgun at the ready, and that yeller pup bouncing through the tall grass directly in front of him. It's tuff to express the pride I felt, for both the kid and the dog.
I'm not sure that I could pick a favorite highlight either. There were many.! I am a lucky man...:eek:
THANKS for your part in getting nubees to the feild ;)

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marsingbob said:
If the hatch is reported to be good, I will be back next year.
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And rest assured that it will be "reported" to be good! Because of this thought process they wouldn't dare do anything to miss out on out of staters money!!

Put out good report = More Money

Put out bad report = less money

Seems pretty easy to me!

Nothing against you personally... But thats the way I see it!!
 
You know, the "report" on the area I hunted this year was not that good. Still, I found reasonable numbers of pheasants.
 
Excatly... Your prob better of going to the places that have bad reports, the ones with "Good" reports weren't all so good this year.
 
If I was a rural mail driver, I'd have you all pheasant hunting in Southeast Kansas! "There are birds everywhere Mr. conservation officer, even on the highwires!!" :D
 
In all honesty I thought that the bird numbers were better this year than any other. I hunt around four different areas in Western Kansas and while not every area was the "best that it has been", overall there were a ton of birds out there. It was by far my most successful season as far as birds in the bag but it was one of the toughest for hunting conditions.

It was the first year in Kansas for me that I never hunted in snow. I never put the dog on the ground where there was snow. I would hunt a spot on a trip that held a ton of birds and I would come back the next time and it seemed like they all had disappeared. I trump the disappearance up to the fact that this was the tallest I have ever seen the cut wheat stocks in my life. In normal years the milo would hold most of the birds but this year the milo stocks were freeways (unless they were under a pivot).

I love Kansas and I will be back next year for trip after trip after trip.
 
i thought some of the areas i hunted this year were better than the last couple years, and others seemed a lil down. but over all i thought it was good numbers in general. i will say one area in particular that i hunt has been goin down hill the last few years, and was down right terrible last year, seemed to be starting to make a comeback from the numbers i saw this year. its my family farm, great grandparents farm, and last year 3 of us with 2 good dogs only saw maybe a dozen birds and left a 2 day hunt with 3 quail (from 1 covey) and 1 rooster. this year 2 of us with 2 dogs left a 1 day hunt with 7 quail( from 3 coveys) and 6 roosters and actually saw quite a few birds. not a ton but enough to make me feel good about the next few years if the farm has a couple good hatches over the next years.
 
After 51 years I finally got to hunt that bird paradise they call Kansas. My first trip was the opener in Colby and my second trip was in early December in Garden City. I have to tell you that I've never seen so many birds in all my life. Both trips were very productive and we never had a problem getting into birds. My hat's off to you boys in the K state. Fair warning, I'll be back next season.
My usual stomping grounds are south of Yuma here in Colorado and the numbers I saw this year were great. Last year was a good year and with a mild winter, good spring rains and very little hail to damage the eggs, this season was the best I have seen in a long time. Let's all hope for an even better bird population for the '11 - '12 season and if it doesn't play out that way....well, a bad day in the field is still far better than a good day at work.
 
What a Great Season

I had the best season ever. I spent lots of time aflield with my hunting buddy and other friends. Pheasants were up from last year yielding more limits than ever. I got a new gun that I seem to hardly miss with. My dog turned 4 and gave me a fourth season of brilliant hunting with about 25 days afield. My old SUV kept plugging along, the 4x4 system answering the call when needed. A warm room was waiting at the motel whenever I needed it.
 
I found the numbers we saw were down in the Ellis area from the previous year. We are going to try a different area if we go next year!
 
I've found this: to hunt private and nearby WIHA in the same area in late season is like hunting two different states. The birds on WIHA see 100X the traffic that the birds on private see. They aren't dumb and tend to move to areas where the disturbance is less. That'd be adjacent private land. As an example, I had 800 acres of private land in NC Kansas in the 1990's. We were moving 200-600 pheasants per day as long as it was private. It went into WIHA toward the end of the decade. The normal bird flush count was generally closer to 20 after the first year in WIHA. It makes a difference, especially late in the season.
 
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