Back at home and now rested up lol. Walked many many miles!!! It was looking good on Friday while scouting. Seen birds everywhere. But once we hit the fields, they were far few in between. Shooting was terrible. Saturday we kicked up over a dozen or so roosters. Knocked down 10 but only picked up 5. Sunday wasn’t any better. Only one bird knocked down and not found. The other 4 kicked up were complete misses but they did get up a little ways out. One field I knew had birds, only kicked up a handful. Couldn’t understand why. Then after sunset, we were riding in the back of the truck headed to the rest of the trucks along the field and a winter wheat field. Several roosters flew over us coming out of the wheat field back to CRP for roost.

Well we were supposed to leave for Liberal a week from today to hunt on some private land that we’ve hunted the last 10 years now. There’s been a couple of the farmers pass away since last year and things are changing.
The group I hunt with were told that there were not any pheasants to speak of and they work the fields just about every day. Don’t know what the future holds for us to keep going up there and hunting that area, but I’m sure it’s going to be tougher every year as kinfolk pass away and land sells to others. I miss it for sure,

Getting the same word from my friends 20 miles SW of Liberal. Rains came, just not early enough. If they can stay out of the drought for a few years, we might get back to some good numbers. But then again I've been saying that for 15 years.

Got back from SW Kansas Monday. Had a solid day on Saturday, 10 roosters and a few quail. Expected to see more quail than four coveys based on what the farmer we hunt on had told us, but capitalized on the roosters we saw. Rained some overnight and we had a good start to the 2nd day with several points on pheasants and quail and then it started raining hard and we had trouble getting roosters up in the thick cover and scenting conditions went to pot. Tough walking through the thick cover and had solid dog work on hens but felt like we walked past a bunch of roosters. Saw a lot more hunters this year in that area than any prior years, which is scary for future years if KPW forecasts a good crop.

Talked to a number of hunters in the cafe and seems like a down year, pretty similar to last year. If you have land with shelterbelts/treelines, you probably will have solid quail. The coveys we put up were all 15+ sized. My younger pointer had her first pheasant points and a couple of long retrieves out running the labs to the downed birds, so that was cool to see. This was my younger son's first pheasant hunt and he got a true double and bagged the most birds, so nice trip overall. Few pics below.

Nice !!

I sure miss it. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Love it! Thanks for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving.

Great hunt and great pictures! That's God's country up there.

What region did y'all hunt? Looks like a great time!

Near Mullinville - between Dodge City and Pratt

NICE!!!!!!

I am thinking about running up for a few days to try and get my 8 month old on some quail. Anyone have suggestions on what region of the state to start with/focus on? Based on maps/forecast from the state it looks like south central may have the highest densities?

My main goal is just exposing my pup to as many wild birds as possible.

Traveling for other purposes or just dog training? If the latter, have you considered other options like Joshua Creek Ranch. They offer starter sessions and might provide other opportunities to put you on birds - not cheap though, but I guess it’s relative…

Anywhere around Pratt is good quail country. Look at Bryon Walker WMA and Pratt Sandhills. Been to both and great quail grounds. Can’t say if there are any good amount of birds this year. Best thing to do is get there before daylight and whistle and see if you can locate some coveys.

Just returned from the Pratt area. Although last week the weather wasnt the best. We didnt jump a single quail.
The landowner we hunt on said they got a bad hail storm this past spring/summer. Hail the size of peas, he said it was about 4 inches deep. pheasant numbers were waay down.
Only thing that saved our hunt as far as dog work and bag limit numbers was we went to Upland Inn Outfitters 2 days. But even with the wind chill being -22 for three days it was the most fun we have had out there. Been going for 11 years or so. Beautiful country and better people.