What do you hunt at 1st light?
- Thread starter JSMITH
- Start date
Goosemaster
Well-known member
Grain
Wind River
Well-known member
Grassy edges of various feeding fields, corn, wheat, milo, etc. Water nearby a bonus this year.
Kansasoutdoorsman
Member
Normally grass, but the last few years grass is leaving quickly so if you can find stripper head wheat stubble that is actingblike grass and they are staying in it till the snow beats it down.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
I don't hunt pheasants at first light. I generally wait til sunrise. That said, I hunt them where they are at.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I rarely hunt before 10.30 am.
Munster927
Well-known member
This reminds me of when I was a kid and would ask my uncle where he shot his grouse and his reply would be "in the woods, by a tree"
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
Most pheasants fly off their roost before legal shooting hours so I just try and get lucky and hunt them where they roost and hope to catch one napping. I hunt by myself so trying to hunt a milo stubble field is about worthless. And wheat stubble fields these days provide about 3 inches of cover. Just go hunting.This reminds me of when I was a kid and would ask my uncle where he shot his grouse and his reply would be "in the woods, by a tree"
Munster927
Well-known member
I was just giving you a hard time haha I regularly use my uncle's old statement now when people ask me where I see game
I guess this is very dependent on where you are hunting. With kansas being 30 minutes before sunrise I'd say you are very likely to kick birds off the roost, especially when it's cold. This of course means getting up and around much earlier than most prefer but it is typically the most productive time of tbe day for me personally.
Sd, iowa, ect where legal shooting times are later I'd definitely agree with you though.
I think it also depends on the food source. In Kansas corn stubble doesn't really provide much cover. If that's their food source, I think they feed early, even in the dark, and then head back to cover before light. Milo, on the other hand, can provide a lot of cover. Sometimes even enough for roosting. If that's their food source, I think they're a little more relaxed about getting some breakfast.
Although, because I usually hunt alone w/dog now, I rarely walk through cut corn, when I was a kid learning to hunt the group that took me out often walked through cut corn. Early/ mid 80s didn’t have much CRP, but corners were often grass. No one having a dog, We would line up from fence row outward and walk the entire field to the other side, move over and do the same back. I remember the first rooster that I flushed under my feet around age 10, scared the crap out of me right out of the cut corn. How I couldn’t see it before stepping on its tail was a mystery at the time, but now I understand how disadvantaged a hunter is without a dog, even in cover that is less obvious…. those birds are cagey! Your comment got me thinking and I wonder if those birds in the cut corn were running out there out of the corners ahead of us. Maybe so, but I think we also lucked into them while they were out feeding, no one back then really thought about the behavior patterns of birds, we would pull over at a field that wasn’t posted and walk it if it looked alright. Regardless, I appreciate your post as it let me sit here drinking my coffee and reminiscing about past happy times rather than getting in the truck and going to tear out that leaky bathtub in rental I’ve been putting off for awhile now
Big difference between a stubble field (corn or milo) of 1980-1985 and one of 2022. Lots more weeds, lot better habitat in those stubble fields in the 80s than today. But today's fields are much better at generating profits for the farmer and food for the world.
I remember hunting irrigated milo stubble in SW Kansas that was mid-thigh height. This was well into the 90s. We'd start at the center and make as many passes back and forth as necessary to get all the way out to the edge. In good year you'd pick up a bird or three on each pass until the last pass. That last pass you might get 5 or 6. You'd sometimes see birds crossing the rows way out in front of you. It was very important to pick a part of the field where the combine had moved through in the same direction you were walking. Milo stalks leaned over pointed at your shins is not fun.
It seems there's very little irrigated milo these days. All corn and beans under the circles. Not quite as far west as what I described above, we have a tenant farmer who almost considers milo a noxious weed. Here around Wichita my friend won't grow it anymore because of sugar-cane aphids.
I remember hunting irrigated milo stubble in SW Kansas that was mid-thigh height. This was well into the 90s. We'd start at the center and make as many passes back and forth as necessary to get all the way out to the edge. In good year you'd pick up a bird or three on each pass until the last pass. That last pass you might get 5 or 6. You'd sometimes see birds crossing the rows way out in front of you. It was very important to pick a part of the field where the combine had moved through in the same direction you were walking. Milo stalks leaned over pointed at your shins is not fun.
It seems there's very little irrigated milo these days. All corn and beans under the circles. Not quite as far west as what I described above, we have a tenant farmer who almost considers milo a noxious weed. Here around Wichita my friend won't grow it anymore because of sugar-cane aphids.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
Wheat stubble used to be my preferred habitat back in the day. Worthless now. Kdwp needs to put the axe to WIHA and pay farmers to leave those harvested crops taller, leave those draws on baled, don't spray those wheat stubble fields after harvest. Lots of things they could be doing to provide winter cover. It's easy to get permission to hunt pheasants, we don't need WIHA.
I agree with you that those things would make a huge difference. Problem is, the program to pay farmers to do some of those things already exists. https://ksoutdoors.com/Services/Pri...riptions/Practice-Descriptions-Specifications
Wish I understood why this program doesn't seem to show much impact in my part of the state. Maybe the payment rates are too low; maybe the program exists but is funded so low that nobody can can enroll; maybe the farmers don't know about it; maybe farmers don't trust KDWP.
uplandPheasent112
Member
Things are way different now! I remember when my uncle used to put me in the bed of the pickup truck and say we're gonna drive through this corn field, If you see a bird shoot it!Although, because I usually hunt alone w/dog now, I rarely walk through cut corn, when I was a kid learning to hunt the group that took me out often walked through cut corn. Early/ mid 80s didn’t have much CRP, but corners were often grass. No one having a dog, We would line up from fence row outward and walk the entire field to the other side, move over and do the same back. I remember the first rooster that I flushed under my feet around age 10, scared the crap out of me right out of the cut corn. How I couldn’t see it before stepping on its tail was a mystery at the time, but now I understand how disadvantaged a hunter is without a dog, even in cover that is less obvious…. those birds are cagey! Your comment got me thinking and I wonder if those birds in the cut corn were running out there out of the corners ahead of us. Maybe so, but I think we also lucked into them while they were out feeding, no one back then really thought about the behavior patterns of birds, we would pull over at a field that wasn’t posted and walk it if it looked alright. Regardless, I appreciate your post as it let me sit here drinking my coffee and reminiscing about past happy times rather than getting in the truck and going to tear out that leaky bathtub in rental I’ve been putting off for awhile now
oh how the times have changed hahaha