WIHA Question

C

CowboyBirdDogs

New member
The first time I ever got to hunt in Kansas was January 2011. I went twice that month to the same general area of DC/Meade and did pretty good for a complete newb. I had about 4-5 fields that were my "honey holes" and I consistently found birds in those fields. However, due to drought and lack of birds I went to the Wakeeney area this past year and on the way home I went S through DC and checked up on my fields to see if they held birds still. What I found was downright depressing. One field had been removed from the WIHA program due to deer hunters paying the farmer so they could hunt the land privately for deer. Another field had been plowed up and planted with winter wheat and my best field that I shot my very first pheasant in had been temporarily fenced off and let a ton of cattle on it and was down to bare stubble. All these fields had great crp on them and they were reduced to NOTHING. Is this common for fields to change year to year and go from a hunters honey hole to nothing but cracked dirt and stubble? I'm pretty disappointed in this. I hope new fields that I found up north won't be annihilated as well. Thanks for any info.
 
What you saw are common occurrences. Fields coming out of CRP is less common; it is my understanding that CRP contracts are ten years and often a large number of contracts expire at the same time. As for cattle on the stalks, when you see that, you should contact the KDWPT and report it. The KDWPT does not tell farmers what to do with their land, but if something is done that competely takes away its hunting value for a season, KDWPT will adjust the payment. Same for the green wheat. But keep in mind that the green wheat will, hopefully, be tall, thick wheat stubble this fall which may provide excellent bird hunting.
 
That's pretty depressing. So from year to year I'll have to deal with the fact that I'll probably have to find new fields all the time. Bummer.
 
I wouldn't necessarily say that. There are some WIHAs I've been hitting for years, and they are still good.

The western KS drought probably did a lot to affect the hunting this year. The grass wasn't great to start with, and they authorized emergency grazing and haying down there. As for the turnover in CRP and WIHA, yes the maps do change slightly from year to year, but I would guess we hunt about 80% or more of the same places from year to year.

So if you find 5 good ones this year, I would expect to see at least 4 of them next year. We always hunt a lot of the same spots, but try new ones too, due to the changes.

I think some of the very best plots do get cherry-picked by leasers.

Make notes on your WHIA map each year, and compare it to the next year's map when it comes out. I don't have any statistics to back up what I'm saying, but I don't personally believe the turnover is all that bad.
 
Toad is correct. A lot of the changes you noticed were probably due to emergency haying/grazing. Over the last 3-4 years I've only had two plots that I regularly hunted come out of the program.
 
Ok that's what I kind of figured. I thought the drought had a lot to do with it. It was just so depressing to see the fields that I literally literally learned how to pheasant hunt were just reduced to stubble and dirt. I always keep notes on my booklet and compare when the new book comes out. I was just curious about the turnover rate of WIHAs. Hopefully they'll be back next year. DC to Wakeeney wasn't such a bad drive. I wouldn't mind hunting in-between both of those cities if the areas get good rain. Texas is getting hit with a big storm right now, I know y'all could use the moisture as well! I can't wait for next season!
 
ElectricShorthairs said:
DC to Wakeeney wasn't such a bad drive.
Click to expand...

That drive takes your through scenic Ness City.

stick12Oct08078.jpg
 
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