Just tell them what you think about your NR view of upland hunting in KS and what you think would make it better.
Ever see Clark's rant on Christmas Vacation? Like that.
If you're talking to our KS legislature I hate to be a negative nancy but there isn't much you can say as it falls on deaf ears - however I do believe there are 2 commissioners now that get the problem - the rest are clueless and dont care.
doubtful, they are too damn lazy to even conduct a bird count in the fall.
16.5 million acres were enrolled in the CRP program in 1997. I would think that would have something to do with the increase in pheasants from 2000-2011. In 2010 only 4.3 million CRP acres enrolled. 2012 we started to see a decline. Everyone likes to point towards drought, but pheasants survive just fine in drought years. Just look at the northern plains this year. I guarantee you that if there would have been 16.5 million acres enrolled again this year, in a couple of years you would have seen another pheasant boom.
Yep. Everyone on here is down on the KDWP and they have done a terrible job in regulations with Deer Management (especially Non Resident deer hunting) but they are limited on upland birds. It is private land owners that will determine pheasant populations, not the kdwp and not drought. Pheasants will always have a better hatch in a dry year versus a wet year, especially when we have adequate CRP. The more CRP you have, the more cover you have and less haying. Hay bales are a pheasants enemy. As far as drought, when Kansas had all the CRP back in the 90's and early 2000's, drought had no effect on birds. At least he wasn't the scape goat.
I am not stunned at all. Been putting up with that since 1995 when they started the out of state deer hunting B.S.
and that is exactly why i am done with hunting upland in Kansas. i will spend my money on Iowa and SD.
All the complaining, emails to representative, emails to the legislature, emails to the commission, emails to the KDWP are a total waste of time. Unless you can convince them of a way that produces revenue, they are not going to entertain you at all. When revenue all but disappears, then you can make change. When they have a surplus for the 24,000 available NR deer tags, they are not going to listen to anyone's concerns about upland hunting. They are never going to listen to residents, we tried that in 1995 then again when they went with crossbow inclusion. The only thing they hear are NR's applying for deer tags and NR's coming here to hunt upland game and waterfowl. There is a reason that NR's hunters out number resident hunters, because that is who is catered too. Outfitters pave the way with non resident guided hunts for all species of game. Show Me The Money is the states slogan.
If you want a surplus of birds you have to talk landowners into putting land into CRP. Less than 4 million acres enrolled in 2021 compared to 16 million in 1997. Those acres expired the last 2 years.
No I agree, however they could be persuaded to put a small portion, maybe 2.5% back into some type of habitat through a gov't funded program. Until that happens or we see 16 million acres of CRP enrolled, don't plan on having an abundance of upland birds in Kansas. If crop prices are up, pheasant number will be down. You say "can't expect farmers to give up their livelihood". At the same time I don't expect them to plant crops to the edge of the road. They plant all the way to the road, then wonder why the county can't maintain roads after a rain. The only place water can go is straight to the road. Some of you just want to blame the the KDWP for bird numbers. All they can control is the regulations. Its the landowners that can impact bird numbers. The KDWP owns about 60,000 acres in Kansas, private landowners control 98%. If private landowners contribute, we will have birds. That's the bottom line, like it or not.
Agreed, Last few years in K.S. has been more of a hiking vacation than a than a hunting one. You mentioned 5-7 dollar corn. I'm wondering what's going to happen next year after these anhydrous ammonia prices. Most guys around here not planting much corn. Astronomical corn prices next year? Beef/poultry prices? Hell, we may not even be able to afford to drive to K.S.!!