Your Experience With This?

W

Wolfchief

Well-known member
I keep getting pop-up ads on my computer for Upland Inn Hunts, out of Greensburg, Kansas. I've never hunted in Kansas and the daily fee, which appears to be all-inclusive,at $530/ day is not cheap. What attracts me is the "12,000 acres of CRP fields and "wild pheasants".
I'd appreciate any feedback from those who have hunted at Upland Inn. How was your experience? What value for the money? Birds really wild?
 
Wolfchief said:
I keep getting pop-up ads on my computer for Upland Inn Hunts, out of Greensburg, Kansas. I've never hunted in Kansas and the daily fee, which appears to be all-inclusive,at $530/ day is not cheap. What attracts me is the "12,000 acres of CRP fields and "wild pheasants".
I'd appreciate any feedback from those who have hunted at Upland Inn. How was your experience? What value for the money? Birds really wild?
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Kind of on the high side...If you were not a guest and had permission plus fee it might look something like this: Lodging $100, Meals $75, Trespass fee $200. Under #400. As for wild birds: I'm sure thy have to mix in penned birds.. And 12,000 acres of crp sounds like a lot of land dedicated to set-aside.
 
My thoughts as well, but could be a time-saver. No way to ensure if birds are really wild till you hunt them. With lodging and good meals it could be worth it--but I suspicion you are right---probably some pen raised birds in there somewhere.
 
There’s some you tube videos out there on them.Im guessing 90 percent released I think they do a good job with it. I have never hunted it myself but I’m sure I know people who have. It’s fairly well known around here.
 
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I believe this is the place Jason Johnson runs. Great habitat and yes he'll have wild birds but he also uses surrogaters to supplement birds. He's been on TV a few different times on the Outdoor network, his hunts look good. It's been a while since I've seen the show but it seems like he mentioned running over 100 surrogaters on his land to release birds.
 
some buddies and I tried to make a “last weekend of the season” trip to SD in Jan 2023. Unfortunately, the area we were planning to go was snowed under and we had to make a last minute change of destination.

A mutual friend of one of our group recommended Upland Inn. UI was able to accommodate our group of 5 for a two day hunt on short notice.

The lodging was subdivision style houses that appeared to sleep 10-12 hunters at a time. Since we only had 5 in our party, we stayed in the house with another smaller group.

Suppertime meals were delivered to each house every evening and lunch was cafeteria style buffet in the main office building. I believe breakfast was also delivered to each house in the morning. The meals were great.

Our group of 5 was paired with another group of 5 (not the ones that stayed in the same house we stayed in) for a ten gun hunt paired up with a guide and several dogs.

Our 10-man group hunted one field each day, which consisted of mostly grass with some corn row food plots.

We decided not to bring our two dogs on account of the outfitters no dogs in the house policy (which is certainly understandable). It is my understanding hunters are welcome to bring their dogs, but they had to stay at the outfitters kennel facility or in the client’s vehicles.

If I was invited to go with a group of friends or clients, I would go back.
 
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Thanks to all who replied. UI would seem to be an acceptable hunt destination, but I would not likely be able to bring 3 to 5 hunters to the Inn, and the idea of hunting with large parties does not appeal to me. I would agree with gps4 on the dog issue, and hunting my own dog over wild/release birds is why I'd make the trip in the first place. I also wonder--is "party shooting" allowed? I'd want to shoot my own birds....
 
KansasGsp said:
I believe this is the place Jason Johnson runs. Great habitat and yes he'll have wild birds but he also uses surrogaters to supplement birds. He's been on TV a few different times on the Outdoor network, his hunts look good. It's been a while since I've seen the show but it seems like he mentioned running over 100 surrogaters on his land to release birds.
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Jason does run Upland Inn and he does use surrogaters. It is a first class operation. This was my third season with them. First year we had three in our group. Last year 7 and this year 10. The lodging and meals are great. We had our own house this year with our larger group. Breakfast and dinner are delivered to each house which is nice. Some birds are "wilder" than others, but all in all it is a much better experience than the put and take places. For me it's a chance to spend time with family and friends and we have a couple of younger kids in the group so it's fun to get them into a bunch of birds. It isn't cheap, but to me the value is worth the money. We'll be back next year. Is it hunting wild roosters on public land? No. Is it a good time? Yes.
 
Wolfchief said:
Thanks to all who replied. UI would seem to be an acceptable hunt destination, but I would not likely be able to bring 3 to 5 hunters to the Inn, and the idea of hunting with large parties does not appeal to me. I would agree with gps4 on the dog issue, and hunting my own dog over wild/release birds is why I'd make the trip in the first place. I also wonder--is "party shooting" allowed? I'd want to shoot my own birds....
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I bring my dog. They have heated kennels which I have used. I've also let the dog sleep in the truck when the weather was nice. They are pretty accommodating. I think you could call and talk to Jason and give him an idea of what you are looking for and he would do his best to make it work for you.
 
It's absolutely a released bird operation. Maybe the birds are better than most, maybe not. I've never used them. We own some ground in the area and they sent us an inquiry letter about leasing our ground. Of course it was phrased as a "research project" investigating re-establishing wild populations with surrogators. The offer was multi-year, and oh, did we mention that you can't hunt the ground while we're doing our "research"?

Ron Boehm did an episode of his podcast with them several years ago. I listened long enough for him to mention surrogators. "they have to release some birds to maintain huntable numbers throughout the season" something like that.
 
I would say that there is NO pheasant operation that runs continuous hunts throughout shooting preserve season that does not release birds. There is no habitat that can sustain that kind of hunting pressure over 9 to 12 weeks year after year with wild birds alone.

That doesn't mean there can't be good, fun trips.
 
Chestie, I agree. With the plethora of pheasant hunting operations and the pressure of nonresident hunters in South Dakota, particularly in the Winner-Chamberlain-Pierre-Aberdeen areas, it stands to reason that no wild population could be reliably sustainable year-in, year out without releasing birds.
 
A bird hunting camp that doesn't allow dogs in your dwelling is a red flag for me. All our motels in Iowa allow them. Sounds like a good place to shoot birds for people that rarely get the opportunity.
 
Wolfchief said:
Thanks to all who replied. UI would seem to be an acceptable hunt destination, but I would not likely be able to bring 3 to 5 hunters to the Inn, and the idea of hunting with large parties does not appeal to me. I would agree with gps4 on the dog issue, and hunting my own dog over wild/release birds is why I'd make the trip in the first place. I also wonder--is "party shooting" allowed? I'd want to shoot my own birds....
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Do not pay to hunt.
 
Our group went into Creston IA years back and the motel wanted $20 per dog per night. I asked if my dog got her own rollaway. Just got a "get your ass out the door look". The other motels in Creston would not allow dogs in the room. And there was a sign outside town proclaiming Creston as the pheasant capital of Iowa. We kept heading north to Greenfield. Dog friendly motel there.
 
Wind--good to know. I have a 4wd truck with an ARE cap and I put his Ruff Land kennel with cover on in the back; he sleeps fine with that setup.
 
Wolfchief said:
I keep getting pop-up ads on my computer for Upland Inn Hunts, out of Greensburg, Kansas. I've never hunted in Kansas and the daily fee, which appears to be all-inclusive,at $530/ day is not cheap. What attracts me is the "12,000 acres of CRP fields and "wild pheasants".
I'd appreciate any feedback from those who have hunted at Upland Inn. How was your experience? What value for the money? Birds really wild?
Click to expand...
That part of Kansas is generally a birdy area - when there are birds - but I know nothing about that outfit.
 
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