Worst Season Ever

RoosterTim

RoosterTim

Member
I don't know about anyone else but this is the worst season I've ever had. I can't get on a bird to save my life when I do have time to hunt. A new job has me stretched thin on hunting time but the time I have been able to go has been very unproductive. Any one else been having trouble this year? Man I hope turkey season gets here quick.
 
Same here..a year in review.

yep I feel the same. Here is my season in a nutshell.

1 )Dog hurt on opener( dislocated shoulder)
2) Truck got shot by idiot hunting field next to us.
3) Saw no antlered deer during the rifle season
4) Finally stuck a buck on the 30th of dec and then couldn't find him after he crossed a creek and his blood trail dried up. Hunted for him for 2 days!
5) Hunted 5 days with the boy for any deer and no standing shot within 150 yrds.
6) Weather..need i say more..should have wnet crappie fishin!
7) Going bird hunting for only the 2nd time all year this weekend.


Hope 2012 is better than this year.

Spring Turkey opener in April:thumbsup:
 
Same here guys. I've yet to shoot a rooster in KS, though I did see 4 of them while in Pawnee county. That's the only trip I've taken W of Salina. Drove out there hoping to hunt in snow the next day and all it did was rain. The massive reduction of CRP acres soured my mood too, so I spent that w/e playing in the mud w/ the boys and grampa. The weather just hasn't been the kind of weather I enjoy hunting in either. All things considered, I'm the reason I've shot no birds this season; it has little or nothing to do w/ population declines. I did put an honest day in up in Washington county but didn't put up a rooster in range.

I'm planning to hunt N of Salina next w/e. I've heard there aren't many roosters there this year, but we always seem to find 1 or 2. Throw in a covey of quail or 2 and I'm pretty excited about the opportunity.

On a brighter note, I did learn how to enjoy quail hunting w/o shooting any. I filled my freezer with pen-raised quail, but spent several 1/2 days chasing coveys locally and just watching the dogs work. The kids really enjoyed those half-day hunts so close to home.......too bad, daddy's going to spend more time out west next year.
 
Fellas, I am sorry to hear your bad news. I have no bad news. Had two weekends of good phez hunting in NE before KS opened, and every weekend in KS has been good phez hunting with some quail. I was fortunate to have land to hunt north of I-70 in NW.
 
I have only been out west once this year on opening weekend. Saw quite a few birds, shot a few, not nearly as many as years past. Hunted NE Kansas a couple days this year. One day got 2 roosters. One day got skunked. Going back west this Saturday afternoon untill tuesday of next week. Going west and north till we find some birds. I am with KB, I like hunting in the cold. Would prefer some snow. Hunted in 50 degree plus weather twice in SD. Looks like 50 degrees plus this weekend. Oh well beats working. I can taste that enchilada rancheras at the mexican restaurant in Wakeeney already. Thats probably as far as I will make it on Sat evening. Heading north and west on Sunday.
 
I'm having one of the best seasons I have very had and have not shot a bird outside Sumner County. Most years I make 4-5 trips out west to hunt with friends but those entire hunts have been called off because of the lack of cover. It does not seem like pheasant season with out a trip to Ulysses, Bucklin, Lyons, and Liberal. Bird numbers are down over all around here but I have a few places with great cover that have been very productive. One place my son and I have hunted for years is loaded with birds this fall; we think it is because a ¼- ½ mile long cattail filled waterway that we know has always held lots of bird about a mile away has been burned off and disk up. That is the second waterway of cattails that I know of that is now bare ground.

On a positive note we are walking ground this year that has always been to wet and had cover to thick & high in the past to hunt that are holding some birds. I'm worried that if we have another year without rain these spots will also be gone. Three of the five places we walked Sunday that have always held birds in the past did not have enough cover to hold any this year. We need a mild winter for good hen carryover and timely rains for a good 2012-2013 season.
 
I too had a tough pheasant season, between work and family, I only hunted 3 days this year and shot a lot more quail than I did phez. On the other had I spent quite a bit of time chasing deer (closer to home) with my oldest son and we did quite well, but I would have had as much fun just hunting with him if we hadn't even got a buck (though I think he enjoyed the fact that we were seeing deer!).
Looking forward to more hunts with my boys in the future and hopefully a better hatch of pheasants in 2012!

Rut
 
I hunted North of Beloit on private ground for 3 days straight and did absolutely awful. worst I have ever done there. I dont know what it was but Jewell county has very few quail and pheasants this year. I hunted counties a lot further East of there and ran into more pheasants and how thats possible I have no clue.
 
I have had by far the worst quail season bird numbers wise in this area, I have ever had. I still got some, but it was way off (at least 70%) from last season.

I shot a few pheasants, but I mostly hunt quail.

We went west earlier in the season, hunted pheasants in the same area as we did last season, and saw and shot, less than 1/2 the birds.

Its just a good thing that my 3 year old dog did a good job of handling most of the birds we came across. But is was a tough year to be starting a pup. He got into a few coveys, but it took a lot more hours in the field than it should have.

Lets hope it rebounds next season.
 
We used to hunt quail and pheasant and remark on the number of deer we saw, because they were a novelty. Now we hunt quail and pheasants, expect to see deer and remark on the novelty of a couple of coveys and a rooster or two.
 
oldandnew said:
We used to hunt quail and pheasant and remark on the number of deer we saw, because they were a novelty. Now we hunt quail and pheasants, expect to see deer and remark on the novelty of a couple of coveys and a rooster or two.
Click to expand...

And now Turkeys. They are everywhere around here now.
 
SetterNut said:
And now Turkeys. They are everywhere around here now.
Click to expand...

Good news is that in Kansas and Nebraska you can buy a permit and shoot one over a point in the fall season. My daughters live for that, they'll walk miles and suffer for the opportunity. Copper 6's in the head work great. I have one male Britt working on his masters degree in turkey. He's pointed and held 1 flock and 5 individuals, and accounted for 5 birds in the bag, 2 Christmas dinners, 2 Thanksgivings, and an Easter. Sure makes the trip feel fulfilling when the quail and pheasants are hard to find.
 
oldandnew said:
Good news is that in Kansas and Nebraska you can buy a permit and shoot one over a point in the fall season. My daughters live for that, they'll walk miles and suffer for the opportunity. Copper 6's in the head work great. I have one male Britt working on his masters degree in turkey. He's pointed and held 1 flock and 5 individuals, and accounted for 5 birds in the bag, 2 Christmas dinners, 2 Thanksgivings, and an Easter. Sure makes the trip feel fulfilling when the quail and pheasants are hard to find.
Click to expand...

now I wanna see this. I know the regs say you can use dogs in the fall but I never imagined they would hold for a dog. Crazy, my world has just been changed.
 
I don't know where you guys have been hunting, but I've been doing GREAT!!!:rolleyes:

Nice to know it's not just me.
 
kansashunting said:
now I wanna see this. I know the regs say you can use dogs in the fall but I never imagined they would hold for a dog. Crazy, my world has just been changed.
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Rusty (my old departed golden) flushed a flock of maybe 8 turkeys at about 10 yards once. I wish I had been in possession of a turkey tag at the time. It was more luck than anything. I think they were trying to hide in a little creek bed. He jumped over the side, and turkeys went everywhere! He was jumping around and snapping at them as they flew in all directions. Then he swung his head back and looked at me with eyes as big as can be with an expression of, "WTF, DAD!?!" He was still really excited by the flush, but seemed confused and even a little pissed off that I didn't shoot. It was a very intense expression that sticks in my mind.

It seems like maybe he flushed a single one other time, but I didn't have a shot like I did on the flock.

I bought fall turkey tags for several years after that incident just in case, but was never lucky enough to get one over the dog. It would be cool though. I am 100% confident that daisy would at least ATTEMPT to retrieve one, and that would be awesome to witness!
 
kansashunting said:
now I wanna see this. I know the regs say you can use dogs in the fall but I never imagined they would hold for a dog. Crazy, my world has just been changed.
Click to expand...

I did it a few falls- won't any more- I can tell you 2 heartbreaking stories of losing a Britt who would really work hard to pin turkeys- not good to have a turkey pointing dog who ranges out there and is determined- I for sure do not want any of mine to get into real turkey areas- if hunting with someone and we got into turkeys- I'd have to put mine up- down by Scranton, Kansas I won't even hunt any more- over run with turkeys a few years ago- farmers aren't happy and complained to the KDWPs- they told him- allow hunting- problem is- you can't shoot enough to knock the population down enough so they don't once again breed like rabbits

CandysteadyonTurkey002.jpg
 
Shadow said:
I did it a few falls- won't any more- I can tell you 2 heartbreaking stories of losing a Britt who would really work hard to pin turkeys- not good to have a turkey pointing dog who ranges out there and is determined- I for sure do not want any of mine to get into real turkey areas- if hunting with someone and we got into turkeys- I'd have to put mine up- down by Scranton, Kansas I won't even hunt any more- over run with turkeys a few years ago- farmers aren't happy and complained to the KDWPs- they told him- allow hunting- problem is- you can't shoot enough to knock the population down enough so they don't once again breed like rabbits
Click to expand...

LOST lost, or just lost for awhile? Because they were trying to circle around front to pin the birds and just kept running farther and farther away and you couldn't find them? How did you know they were trying to pin turkeys?

I'm sorry I know we already hijacked this thread, like so many others, but I just had to ask. There are a lot of turkeys around here, but this is the first I have heard of anybody losing a dog because of them. I'm not disagreeing with you, but I've just never heard of that happening before, not that it couldn't easily happen.

I think the turkey population is down this year around here. That 6+" rain we got this spring ruined a lot of nests and killed a lot of birds, including turkeys. That's my opinion anyway. I'm sure if you were in the right place at the right time, you might say the opposite.
 
KDWP trapped a bunch of turkeys off a friend's farm and relocated them somewhere else because he was overrun years ago. I think it was more about getting turkeys in the new location than it was helping him out though.;) I'm sure if they didn't want to establish a turkey population somewhere else, he would have been told the same thing... "let more people hunt."
 
I too have struggled this season. I got a wild hair up my butt this past week and decided to make a day trip out to the Norton area, boy was that dumb. Although I did see some birds they were very spooky. I believe that with the decline of birds in much of the state the NW has taken a pounding. I was able to relocate some 30-40 birds all day and never came across a rooster. I enjoyed the dog work and just kept telling the ladies that the next one will be a rooster, it never came though. As far as wild birds go I have done my part to make sure that the carry over is good in the parts I hunt.

I have been fortunate enough though to keep birds in front of the dogs. I picked up a guiding gig early in October so that has kept the smell of birds strong in my dogs nose. With no shortage of raised birds the dogs have seen more birds this season than any other. It has been great for the young dog especially. I still continue to quail hunt regularly around my home core area but am finding many covies that have just been shot down too low for me to harvest any just for the sake of saying I did.

With a little luck and a lot of cooperation from mother nature next season will be better. To those of you still in the trenches good luck and remember it could always be worse we could be like many states that don't have a single bird to speak of.
 
i am going this weekend corey out there man i cant beleive you didnt do that good out there what type of stuff were you hunting? LIKe i said before on here i couldnt make the thick stuff work i wore myself out until about 130 i changed up and really found them just by myself im going with a couple buddies this weekend i could give you a few lesons if your up to it :D pointers are not that good as the old man but they will point a few birds
 
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