What's your worst experience in the WIHA?

CharBroiled

CharBroiled

Active member
I'm not talking about getting skunked either.

I am a huge fan of the WIHA. The guys I've hunted with over the years and myself have always been a "first come, first serve" type of group where if we see someone in a WIHA, we'll go on to the next patch.

After reading kb's wrap up from the second weekend about being "joined" in a WIHA, I wondered what was the worst experience you've had in a WIHA?

For me it was the second day of the season in 2000 around early afternoon. There was a group of five or six of us, and we had just started walking the edge of a quarter section of CRP bordered by a tree line. We were walking along the road and there was no mistaking we were there. A caravan of pickups drove by just as we broke a covey of quail and two roosters.

They heard and saw our shooting, proceeding to drive ahead maybe a quarter of a mile. These guys jumped out, lined up and came TOWARDS us. They almost got within a distance which would be dangerous before they swung out. I was livid yelling at them for lack of ethics, lack of morals and reckless behavior.

Realizing our walk was now spoiled, we tromped out of the field and found they were mostly from Arkansas with one gentleman from Kansas who was "guiding" them around. I was so mad I could chew rocks and spit sand because he told them to jump in. We all ripped him up and down about the lack of ethics, morals, his "guiding" skills and the incredibly dangerous practice he had just encouraged. I was so mad I went back to yell at him some more but my buddies had restrained me.

Anyways, just wanted to see what the discussion would be on this topic.
 
Similar things happen in the duck marshes. Guys set up down wind and shoot your decoying birds or try to call at birds working your spread. Even see races to see who can get there gear on the fastest and out in the marsh. It's pathetic and the main reason I don't duck hunt much anymore.

A lot of guys have turned hunting into a competition with one another and complete strangers. A lot seem to judge a hunt by the number of dead birds.

Yesterday was the best quail hunt I have ever had and I didn't kill one bird. Hard to believe sucess can be had without killing anything. That's the way a lot of people think these days.
 
This could have been my worst but we rolled with it. Four of us were taking a line through a half section of nice walk-in grass along the road. Two pickups came from behind us on the road. One stopped even with us. Two guys jumped out and joined our line near the road. My initial thought was wtf?? But my immediate second thoughts were: this is walk-in, we don't own it, and its a big piece of ground with plenty of room for all. I was kind of guiding so I waved my party to move over to make room for the two strangers. The other pickup went to the end of the walk-in and those two guys blocked. The blockers helped and two pheasants were bagged, one by one of the strangers.

As we grouped up after the shooting, one of the four strangers was the most outgoing and the talker. He was a nice guy from KC. All in all, we enjoyed the experience. Our response to this "intrusion" made for a nice hunt, rather than an occasion for anger. We then went our separate ways on friendly terms.
 
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Several years ago -- we were working a 1/4 section of ground. We were into the birds pretty darn heavy. A group of hunters gets out less than 1/4 of a mile away from us -- we shoot a bird or two while they are getting ready to enter the field. When we see that they are being dumb butts and are about ready to enter the field -- I fire a couple of shots in the air, blow my whistle and tell them hey, we've got folks over here. They continue to work the field - and end up not less than 100 yards away from us. My dog was literally working over towards them. When we got to the end, all these idiots could do was chuckle. I had a few choice words for them as I was pretty pissed off. I mean, they were probably 45 minutes behind us in the hunt and we were at this spot for over an hour before legal shooting hours. That was them just be lazy jackoffs and it makes me mad.

Fast forward to yesterday -- We are parked on one end of a piece at the bottom of a hill. Guy parks at the other end of a piece at the top of the hill. He shoots at a rooster we had moved his way a little while earlier. He then sees us walking. Steps out of the cover -- yells an apology at us and says he's going to turn around. I yell back, no worries -- we're headed to the truck, hunt it out. I understand things happen, but he could not have seen us until he did, we didn't see him until he stepped back out of a fence -- that's fine. It's the slobs above that piss me off.

I've walked up on guys in deer stands. Apologized, leashed my dog and walked out. It's the reaction to the situation, in my opinion, that tells me the most about a hunter.
 
Most of my experiences have been pretty good. Two years ago I was hunting WIHA out west and had a group enter the field and walk towards me and the dog. I just changed direction so that I was out of their line and let them come. The CRP was a mile by a mile and a half. Plenty of room for the two groups. They walked the area with no results. I walked through it heading back to the truck and bagged a rooster.
Opening day this year we were in place pretty early since we were hunting public land. An older gentleman stopped to ask how we planned to hunt the area. After we told him, he told us where he would be. We had planned to hunt the low section so he took the high about a half mile away. It worked out well for all of us.
 
A couple stick out for me.


One that had me the most upset was 3-4 years ago on a Western KS WIHA - my buddy and I and our dogs had been working it for an hour or more herding the birds down to the corner of a quarter or half section of WIHA. (dont remember how big it was but it was nothing larger than a half section for sure and even less of this property was huntable due to the limited cover.

We were both in our 20's at the time - our truck was parked in a very obvious spot and we both had orange on. 2 Older guys drive across someones private pasture for a mile or so, go down to the corner we were working all of the birds to, get their dumb pointers out then let their dogs run through all of the birds and end up shooting some. I think after spending all of that time in the WIHA we only got one or two shots -- at the point they got out and started hunting we were probably less than 400 yard away from the area they cut in at and got all of the birds up. There wasnt a tree for miles where we were at and we were on top of a rise in the terrain so there was no mistaking what we were doing and where.

I walked over to one of the old men and asked why they cut in and why they were driving across private property - they came up with some BS Story that they knew the farmer who owned the pasture or something like that. To top it all off they were two fine out of state southerners. When I was walking over to ask what they were doing they tried to act like they couldnt hear me and kept hunting. I calmed down, stated my case over how rude their actions were and walked off. I just didn't get the disrespect and it's made me hate pointers even more than I already did.


Have had other instances on opening weekend being in a party of 4-5 in a WIHA already - a larger group from KC (johnson county with a ton of out of staters in tow) would cut in on the walk in and start walking towards us wanting to intimidate us into leaving. I think this happened a couple times the same day. After that it's the reason I pretty much have had zero desire to go out opening weekend. I certainly will not go out and fight over WIHA's or to find a place to hunt have to park on it at 4-5:30am to secure my starting point for the day. I've got better things to do than fret over hunting spots or get all aggressive over it. Hunting is not supposed to be about that.
 
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bad days

I have only hunted the great state of Kansas once back in 2010 and where we hunted we didn't ever see another hunter near the WIA areas we were on. I would think if you were to come across another hunter a guy would keep driving on a mile or so and find another spot to hunt. Unless you are invited to go with another group, I like my space and sure respect others space as well. In Utah it is combat pheasant hunting and respect and courtesy doesn't exist very often. I lease and POST a small acreage along a small stream and I catch people trying to hunt it every year. Some people just don't respect nothing or nobody it seems these days.
 
BritChaser said:
This could have been my worst but we rolled with it. Four of us were taking a line through a half section of nice walk-in grass along the road. Two pickups came from behind us on the road. One stopped even with us. Two guys jumped out and joined our line near the road. My initial thought was wtf?? But my immediate second thoughts were: this is walk-in, we don't own it, and its a big piece of ground with plenty of room for all. I was kind of guiding so I waved my party to move over to make room for the two strangers. The other pickup went to the end of the walk-in and those two guys blocked. The blockers helped and two pheasants were bagged, one by one of the strangers.

As we grouped up after the shooting, one of the four strangers was the most outgoing and the talker. He was a nice guy from KC. All in all, we enjoyed the experience. Our response to this "intrusion" made for a nice hunt, rather than an occasion for anger. We then went our separate ways on friendly terms.
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I'm with you BC. Experienced hunters can see ways to work with others to the advantage of all.
 
Years ago when the birds where thick and the hunters were thicker.....
We hunted a large tract of state owned property with rolling hills. A few times that day we ended up with other dogs working with our dogs. We would turn one way. They turn the other. We would keep hunting until we would crest a hill and see other hunters and have to change directions again.

This year we drive up to some WIHA that had a quarter section on both sides of the road. There was one truck parked at the corner. It was a deer hunter in one of the heads. We knew there was a covey on both sides of the road. But didn't know where the man with the bow was......so we left.
 
I have been really lucky in walk in areas in Kansas. The worst experience I have had was on private land. The farm manager gave permission to everyone who asked him hunt. One day we were hunting a 1/2 section and two truckloads of guys got out and started hunting toward us so that we were walking toward each other. I walked out to the side, got on the road, and waited in my truck. The farmer must have seen it, because he kicked everyone out and closed his place to hunting for the rest of the season. In fact, he said that there would be no more hunting on his land..ever. I called him the next year and asked him about it. He said that he knew me and that I could hunt. He told me that I was the only one allowed to hunt anymore. So, it was a horrible experience but it worked out in the end.
 
BritChaser said:
This could have been my worst but we rolled with it. Four of us were taking a line through a half section of nice walk-in grass along the road. Two pickups came from behind us on the road. One stopped even with us. Two guys jumped out and joined our line near the road. My initial thought was wtf?? But my immediate second thoughts were: this is walk-in, we don't own it, and its a big piece of ground with plenty of room for all. I was kind of guiding so I waved my party to move over to make room for the two strangers. The other pickup went to the end of the walk-in and those two guys blocked. The blockers helped and two pheasants were bagged, one by one of the strangers.

As we grouped up after the shooting, one of the four strangers was the most outgoing and the talker. He was a nice guy from KC. All in all, we enjoyed the experience. Our response to this "intrusion" made for a nice hunt, rather than an occasion for anger. We then went our separate ways on friendly terms.
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That's a good example for folks right there. You could have let it ruin your day, but instead everyone's happy in the end. That's what you went out for, right?
 
KsHusker said:
I certainly will not go out and fight over WIHA's or to find a place to hunt have to park on it at 4-5:30am to secure my starting point for the day. I've got better things to do than fret over hunting spots or get all aggressive over it. Hunting is not supposed to be about that.
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Agree. I don't get it. I don't have that sort of desire to do that. If someone wants to hunt a spot that badly, and is in that dire of a need for something to eat, then by all means, go ahead.

As an aside, in your other example, it wasn't the pointers fault. I blame the owners. Improperly trained dogs are the trainers/handlers fault.
 
ness said:
That's a good example for folks right there. You could have let it ruin your day, but instead everyone's happy in the end. That's what you went out for, right?
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So right. But I think a difference between my report and the other reports in this thread is that the strangers in my case blended in and did not oppose us by taking a line toward us with the implied message to get out of the way. And the talker made it clear at that end that he hoped we were happy with what they did. He was considerate and genuinely interested in enhancing our hunt.
 
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V-John said:
As an aside, in your other example, it wasn't the pointers fault. I blame the owners. Improperly trained dogs are the trainers/handlers fault.
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Oh I know -- I probably should have inserted a smiley to show some sarcasm - - :) If you have ever subscribed to the Pointing Dog Journal and saw the "Spaulding Hoffhacker" pieces at the end I subscribe to his take on life, love of setters and disdain for pointers or dogs without a tail ;)
 
KsHusker said:
Oh I know -- I probably should have inserted a smiley to show some sarcasm - - :) If you have ever subscribed to the Pointing Dog Journal and saw the "Spaulding Hoffhacker" pieces at the end I subscribe to his take on life, love of setters and disdain for pointers or dogs without a tail ;)
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Oh that guy.
I've had the misfortune to read his stuff for quite a while now. :D
 
This thread could be aptly titled rude hunters as opposed to wiha. I had problems mostly with rude hunters in our motel this year. Loud and drunk at night and taking my chair while I ate breakfast when I got up to get a cup of coffee. That one just about got dumped out of a chair before he got off it... I was pissed. :mad: lol.
 
In my experience the rudeness element has increased steadily over the years. Can't count how many times other groups dropped off right into the same field we'd be hunting - especially aggravating on opening morning when you get up early to stake out some space only to have a caravan pull off 5 minutes before the start to trample over you.

I'm not proud of this necessarily, but I did get even one time by placing a turd on the windshield of a group who took over the half of the field we had not yet covered. I've gone to SD since.
 
hunterofbirds said:
In my experience the rudeness element has increased steadily over the years. Can't count how many times other groups dropped off right into the same field we'd be hunting - especially aggravating on opening morning when you get up early to stake out some space only to have a caravan pull off 5 minutes before the start to trample over you.

I'm not proud of this necessarily, but I did get even one time by placing a turd on the windshield of a group who took over the half of the field we had not yet covered. I've gone to SD since.
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So were you on the guy's hood when you placed the turd, or did you scoop it up off the ground?:D
 
I've had great experiences on WIHA land in the years I have hunted Kansas for the most part. Last year a friend and I were hunting Western Kansas and wanted to hit a narrow draw filled with tall weeds that had corn on both sides. As we were getting the dogs ready a truck with three men from the great state of Texas decided they were going to hunt the same spot also. We decided to start walking before they did since they could clearly see us. They ended up hunting right behind us and made both my friend and I feel very uncomfortable.
One other bad experience was up north of Atwood where we had stopped to hunt another WIHA and had a truck pull up and the fellow driving it told us the land we were about to hunt was no longer WIHA land as they had purchased it from the previous owner and were there to take the signs down. We believed him and respected the fact that he may have in fact bought the land. A week later all the signs were still up on the property and the next year the same field was back in the WIHA program. I guess they were full of you know what and didn't want us hunting their honey hole.
Beside the two experiences I talked about above all other WIHA experiences have been great and Kansas remains my favorite state to bird hunt in and I have hunted all of the Midwest for pheasants. The amount of WIHA, diversity in upland birds and friendly people will keep me coming back for many years to come hopefully.
 
I'm picking up some good ideas in this thread! :D

The one about owning the land and taking down the signs is a classic.
 
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