Have a college buddy who lives up in Kansas now....so two days after my truck was struck by lightning....I headed north to Kansas to hunt ducks like I had been planning since October.

Much thanks to my Dad for letting me borrow his truck and to my wife for still letting me go!

The first day there were about 4 other groups hunting nearby, shooting regularly, and extremely heavy fog. Limiting visibility at times to under 80-100 yards until after 1 PM. We didn't shoot our first ducks until 8:30 AM, and then were getting singles or pairs working the decoys every 20-30 minutes after that. It was one of those great duck hunting days. Hunting with a good friend I hadn't physically spent time with in about 18-19 months, and hadn't hunted with in 3 years. The birds were numerous if uncooperative, and the weather was perfect 40-48 degrees with overcast, foggy conditions. We ended up staying out the whole day and it felt like just a few hours. Definitely one of those days that will stick in the old memory bank for awhile. We ended up with 7 ducks total. 5 mallards and 2 gadwall.


Fog started early and stayed late!


First 2 ducks were gadwalls. We only ended up seeing maybe 20 the whole trip out of a couple hundred ducks!


Picking up my first Kansas Mallard! This is the 3rd state he and I have hunted together.


5th duck I shot sailed into the fog. We got the pup from the truck and we found the bird across the levee within 30 minutes. However, a northern harrier had found it first and made short work of the feathers and breast meat. A first for me where a hawk got the bird!


My birds for the day!



Day 1 legal shooting light coming to a close.




Day 2
to be continued...will update later

Day 2:

Was clear with not half as many ducks flying...it was clear and windy and the birds were high. Birds were extremely skittish....we had a few ducks dip down, but most were 100 yards or higher and hell bent on going anywhere but to our decoys. We managed 3 ducks, and I got 2. WE probably saw 3-4 thousand geese get up off the other side of the river and fly through making quite a bit of racket. There were even more behind us we couldn't see through the trees. It was a good enough hunt, and the 8 month old lab pup my buddy had got it's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th retrieves.

We quit early around 11 AM and decided to try our hand at quail hunting and jumped 2 coveys on walk in areas, but managing only 1 bird due to the thick fence rows they were flying into and out of. It was a great afternoon and the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas were awesome to walk through looking for quail.


Afternoon quail hunt...Red watched Little Jerry the English Setter look for the quail.


Only quail we got, but flushed 2 coveys. The little bird marker I got for dove season this year came in handy!


Lots of good looking tall grass prairie in the Flint Hills! Flights of Canada geese going overhead all day!


2nd day had a beautiful sunrise!




My 2 ducks! We had 3 birds commit all single drakes and all 3 stayed.

Day 3 was only a morning hunt as I had to head back to Texas. I was flat worn out at this point. 4 out of 5 mornings getting up at 4 AM and only getting about 5 hours of sleep and walking 6-8 miles a day had taken it's toll. The drive to hunt was still there though so out we went. It was an overcast morning with way more ducks than we had seen the previous two days. The first shot from another group sent up 1,000 or more birds almost all mallards in all directions. It's the most ducks I had seen in a marsh in quite some time. We had singles and pairs giving us looks all morning and were able to shoot 4 the rest skirting shotgun range, and we were really only wanting to take decoying ducks. Of the birds we shot Red retrieved them all, but one managed to sneak it's way into some tall reedy vegetation. After a couple of dives by the duck and 30 minutes of searching even with the young pup we were unable to locate its final resting place.
The most regretful part of the morning was getting a trio of pintails to decoy from the stratosphere, and after about 5 or 6 passes they dipped down to within 30-35 yards feet right over the decoys.....we emptied out.......and whiffed!! I couldn't believe it! I was cussing myself the rest of the morning for that one. We had shot pretty decent the whole weekend up until that point.

5 or 6 groups landed outside of the decoys as they had become leary of the trees we hid in...much as they had been most of the trip as this area is pretty pressured. All in all it was a great trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again in the fall. The great thing about Kansas is their licenses run from Jan. 1st-Dec 31st so if you do a late season hunt you can go back again the following Fall and only have to buy a waterfowl endorsement, no new out of state license! A quick nap and then load up of the gear and it was 9 hours back to Texas and home!


Sky slowly clearing as the morning wore on for Day 3.


The haul for the day plus 1 that died in the marsh and wasn't found.


Owner and pup after first waterfowl weekend at 8 months!


Short nap before the long drive home!



After 3 days this pup was worn smooth out!

Kansas is one of favorites. Close to paradise for wing shooting and fat toms.

Drove from Wichita about three hours north and every tank I saw was loaded with ducks or geese. This was last week when I was up there for a few days of pheasant hunting. I want to go back and hunt waterfowl too.

Cool pictures and story. Looks like a good time.

Was a great time! I wish we would have had permission for some of the private ponds. Seems everyone had at least a dozen or so geese on it. Would have made for a good, quick early morning shoot!

I was unable to do an out of state extended hunting road trip this season. So thank you for the post thread and allowing me to live the trip vicariously through your story and photos. I always do a few waterfowl side hunts on my Kansas upland trips. Every time I tell myself I need to do a dedicated Kansas waterfowl trip one year with the upland hunts as the side hunts.

Great looking trip and great pictures. Thanks for posting.