I was wondering if I could get some advise from you guys. Myself and 3 or 4 guys are planning on heading out to Kansas sometime in the middle of January. We were thinking of heading out to Cawker City and hunting the surrounding area, we were their 4 or 5 years ago, so I do somewhat know the area. However it seams like the reports for that area haven't been that good. Would you guys suggest going farther west or should we stay at the area I'm familiar with.
Where to go?
- Thread starter OhioTodd
- Start date
kansaslabman
Member
I have hunted that area for years, therefore, I have gained access to private land. Bird numbers have been slowly decreasing for the past 5 years. It seems like each year gets a little worse. Although you might do better in January I didn't harvest a single pheasant on my private spots. Quail numbers are up though, but your not gonna find any close to cawker city. Both my spots about 30 miles out.
Thanks for the reply K-labman. I was wondering if you seen any birds while you were hunting in that area? Were they flushing wild for you or did you just not see any at all? This really has me scratching my head trying to figure out where to go. Anyone else that has hunted the Cawker city area this year feel free to chime in. Any input about that area would be greatly appresciated. Thanks.
kansaslabman
Member
I would say that for 1 and a half days we saw maybe 50 birds at most! I had two long shots and that was it. Last year me and three other people harvested 8 birds in a half day at those same spots. Three of four years ago we would see alot of birds on the sides of roads or flying into a field. This year we didn't see one bird on the road or in an open field! And every corn/milo field we saw was cut. To tell you the truth I don't think I'm gonna go strictly pheasant hunting again this year unless I get up to SD. I will put in probly 2 or 3 more quail trips and probrably run into a few pheasants in South Central Kansas or near dodge city. There is nothing more fun that than just me and my dog getting into covies of quail. I might walk a few more CRP fields for the heck of it but im just not seeing the birds that I used to three or four years ago. I think other people would give you the same reports on North Central Kansas. Talked to three farmers probrably and they all said the same thing as well.
kansasbrittany
Banned
I'll say that from what I've seen, quail prospects are much better than pheasants. There are good pockets of birds, which is evident by some of the pics and reports we've seen. This has been the worst season in recent memory for me.