I spent last Thursday and Friday mornings and evenings in Rooks, Graham, and Trego counties checking on various hunting spots (got rained out on late Thursday evening and moved south). I've been hunting this area for a long time and have seen good and bad years, but nothing compares to the lack of habitat that I saw on this trip.
There is simply very little of anything. I saw almost no corn, only about 10% of the milo even had heads, and the CRP that wasn't grazed or hayed was so thin that it really couldn't hide much of anything.
If you're going to hunt the area, the crop that you'll be hunting around will pretty much be wheat and wheat only. There's milo, but we'll probably see a bunch of it that doesn't get cut.
Did I see birds? Yes, but very few. If you look long and hard enough you'll always find a few in the best spots....there just aren't very many good spots.
I had planned to head that direction on opening day as I have plenty of private ground to hunt. I have cancelled those plans.
I didn't think it could get much worse than last year....I was wrong.
Good luck to all,
Point!