Kansas Pheasants?

Anybody have any early reports for western Kansas?
Planning on opening weekend. Last year was very dry but so far this year, that part is out of the drought according to the map.

Spent the last week of August and first week of September in the Garden City area cutting silage and saw more than usual. That part of Kansas has seen rain all summer. Should be a good year up there. A few places have had bad hail this summer not sure how that will effect the birds.

Thanks, we are going just west of Garden City. Had heard of some bad hail but not sure if it affected the area we are going.

From what I was told the really bad hail was north of GC. I bet you'll find plenty.

My son lives in Garden City and says the numbers appear to be better than last year.

I heard the cover and food was decent but the birds are just ok.

Guess we’ll find out in a couple of months. If anybody wants to join us, you’re more than welcome. Gonna be hunting public ground around the Syracuse area. If anybody wants to meet up with us, shoot me a PM.

Hopefully will be a good year. I remember as a child they were much more prevalent.
Please let us know what you find. Good luck.

I was scouting east of there a ways and jumped quite a few 3/4 grown pheasants and quail, and heard a lot of quail calling. Think it should be an improved year.

The Kansas outlook says it will be a very bad year. I am glad to hear these reports. I can't go a year without going to Kansas.

Trying to work my schedule to get back out there this year. I had a great time last year which was my first time to hunt those birds in Kansas.

Heading to Downs this Friday can't wait.

This hunt is coming up this weekend. Got about 14 going so far. Could use some more walkers lol!!! Shoot me a PM if you want to meet us there!!!

Ah yes...the classic military maneuver pheasant hunt. Last time I did this my dog caught and edge and ended up pointed in front of the blockers, a long way ahead. I think they shot 5-6 pointed roosters before we got to them. We weren't invited back.

Good luck to y'all. Hope you get into them.

My buddy has been cutting milo 35 miles east of Dodge. He said he was not seeing many pheasant but quite a few quail (been the same for a few years now it seems). Will be up there this weekend to find out.

As you guys get into the weekend, post up your findings. I hope the Ks forecast is wrong.

Here in Goodland KS visiting my daughter who married into a wheat farmer family!!! How blessed am I !!!! Looking forward to getting my new pup on some pheasant.
My grandsons who were out for youth weekend last week advised that birds are quite plentiful this year. Looking forward to Saturday opener!!!
Give you guys and update on Monday.

Spent all day scouting out fields. Seen close to 20 roosters this morning just driving the roads. This part of the state is out of the drought and totally looks different from last year. The fields I plan on hunting look really good. Just hope we can get in some. I’ll try to update tomorrow night.

Oh, man, I wish you guys a great weekend. Was just looking at a photo of pheasant schnitzel a friend put up. YUM!

Two of us (and 1 dog) hunted around Greensburg and Mullinville today - private land. Only saw 4 roosters and 3 hens., together with one covey of quail. I’ve jumped up 19 deer though! usually come later in the y season and see lots more birds. We talked to one group of four hunters who only saw four hens all day. My buddy was cutting milo today and hardly saw any either. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

I am typing this without my glasses in case there are errors on misspellings, so I apologize

Hunted Saturday and Sunday in the Goodland area. !5 in our group. Not a banner year. Was spotty with some really thick cover. We harvested 6 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. Probably half our drives produced no birds. A couple produced a mix bag of Hens and cocks, One field we pushed out about 15 birds mostly cocks and a few hens.

There's birds but you'll need to work for them.

Heading back to my place in Dickens with what appears to be an exceptional crop of quail.

Just got back last night form an amazing hunt. As usual Outdoor Obsessions in Downs, Kansas knocked it out of the park. If your'e looking for a straight up first class Pheasant hunt, Fishing or Turkey hunt contact them. The best not sure how to post photos but I can give you my number if someone could help out. 817-965-1354

Yesterday was just a little bit better for us. Saw 5 roosters and 8 hens. Got 3 of the 5 roosters. Plus we got a couple of bonus dove during extended season. Hoping to come back later in the season and maybe they are more congregated. Right now there’s so much cover it’s hard to cover enough for the small sampling of birds.

Just got back. The birds are still there, you just need to know where to look. If you are planning on going, I would recommend going.

There were a lot more hunters this year than in the past.

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.