kansas opener

[muddycreek]

Sighhhh, I had a long detailed post on my opener, but lost it.

Here are the cliff notes. Got 3, Had great dog work. My 5 yr old vet Scout really was looking good. Gunner the pup (17 months) was showing some really nice bold moves, had some really nice finds, a couple bad bumps and chases, and must have a nasty "ear infection" as he went deaf for a while. The miraculous thing was once the collar went on the "infection" disappeared He's a really good pup, never hunted him with a collar until today, I guess opening day gets to us all.

Only one bad part, the lack of respect and courtesy many show. I was working a quarter of grass, was plainly visable, but a group of 6-7 trucks and 10-12 guys decided to start a drive in that field straight at me. I got out of there, but believe me I was a bit cranky. THe good and bad of opening day I guess.

One a positive note, I made a new friend. The last piece of ground I hunted had a truck parked across the road by an oil rig. It was there when I started and when I left. As I was hunting I saw someone get out occasionally and walk around. When I left I stopped to see if everything was ok. It was the land owner waiting for his son and friend to get hunt a few birds. We struck up a conversation, and next thing he said "wait here, your coming with us". WHo am I to argue?!?! Spent the next few hours getting a tour of his property and trying to get a few birds. At one point the son asked me out in one of the fields "how the heck did you get my dad to let you hunt?" I replied that I never asked, only stopped to help. He laughed and said "He usually hates hunters" I felt really good leaving thinking I made a new friend.

All in all a great day. Sorry only got one pic I'll get up later as the camera ran out of batteries.

[luke0927]

Well least you to got go out and your lucky you live so close....I'll be headed to North Central Kansas Thanksgiving....hows the crops coming are they being cut?

[Shadow]

owner of the land said she had some freinds who were going to hunt the land- I said i wouldn't hunt
9:30 I see a long line of vehicles come down the road- some with dog trailers- 20 or so get out at one end- most of the vehicles start up and come to the other end, dropping off hunters along the road- some drop off hunters on the other edge of the field and park on the road- they get out and form a line-

I let the Britt's in the house and sit on the porch steps and watch- soon there's a long line stretching out across the field alongside the house- soon they're at the end- there's 9 shots and three roosters come sailing by the house- they all load up and drive down the road- I'm chuckling

3:00 I boot the Britt's and we go out to see if they left anything- 11 hen points two rooster points

5:00 6 vehicles pull into the driveway- 7 hunters and one GSP get out and head into the cut corn- 4 vehicles drive down the road to the end and 6 hunters get out- pretty soon they all load up and two pull into the driveway- where's R---, we wanted to say hi- were from Prairie Center- he moved last December

not much shooting arround here- except for the road hunters- they'd cruise- stop- get out and shoot- sometimes running into the field- then drive away

think I'm going to stay right here and watch the excitement

[muddycreek]

Shadow-you probably had the right idea. Let the circus come and go then go get em.

Luke-Slowly coming along. Still alot of milo out there, and it looks to stay there for some time. A major storm is coming thru, potentially dumping up to 6 inches of snow in some areas. I have a thunderstorm going on right now. If we do get all that snow, it will be quite a while before the farmers can get back out into the field as it's been so wet already this fall. THere will be some major yield loss on the crops left out there, good for the birds, bad for the famers...

[southernblues]

thanks for the updates. i've got several buddies in different groups who went out west while i lay in bed.. flew to CA last sunday for business and caught the flu (prob on airplane) and started running fever tues. flew home thurs to kc with one eye open and fighting to stay out of hospital...

got my pup last march and been looking forward to this weekend for 6 months. worst case scenario we head south to the farm in iola and hunt some quail but been painfully listening to the britt howl in his pen out back and making the pain harder to bare. BUT -- with the wet sunday i figure all the opening day hunters go home early and leave more birds for those who hunt often throughout the season. here's to hoping so...


my buddies were north and east of dodge in jetmore. about everyone in their party bagged at least 2, some their limit. knocked down a ton but couldn't find em. can't wait to feeling better to get out there.

[ezzy333]

my buddies were north and east of dodge in jetmore. about everyone in their party bagged at least 2, some their limit. knocked down a ton but couldn't find em. can't wait to feeling better to get out there

This is what I hate to hear and one of the very best reasons to have a good dog. Everyone of those birds knocked down and not recovered is wasted and is a bird no one else will get to hunt. Almost makes you want to make having a dog a requirement to hunt since so many people just don't do a good job of marking where their bird fell.

Good to hear though that they are finding some birds.

Ezzy

[topher40]

Shadow-
Thats what I hate about that part of the state, rude hunters in big groups that have NO idea how to actually hunt a pheasant!

We had pretty good luck here in the NE with the group with 4-5 hunters both days. Hunted 9 fields with 7 coveys moved and 35-40 pheasants. I wont even tell you how many the group brought home, shooting wasnt spectacular as a whole! :roll:

[southernblues]

my buddies were north and east of dodge in jetmore. about everyone in their party bagged at least 2, some their limit. knocked down a ton but couldn't find em. can't wait to feeling better to get out there

This is what I hate to hear and one of the very best reasons to have a good dog. Everyone of those birds knocked down and not recovered is wasted and is a bird no one else will get to hunt. Almost makes you want to make having a dog a requirement to hunt since so many people just don't do a good job of marking where their bird fell.

Good to hear though that they are finding some birds.

Ezzy

I wouldn't be so quick to assume the party didn't have dogs. They had 4-5 of them. If anything to be critical of...would be the thick cover and wet condition in western KS.

[muddycreek]

Southernblues-get well soon. I fought the flu last week as well. I haven't felt that bad for many many years, still fighting it a bit but gettin better.

There are birds around to be found, my uneducated guess is that the bird harvest will be greatly reduced this weekend with the weather coming thru.

[Shadow]

my buddies were north and east of dodge in jetmore. about everyone in their party bagged at least 2, some their limit. knocked down a ton but couldn't find em.

nobody wants to hear this- it's amunition for the antis- sure hope they didn't talk about it or continue to
sounds like everyone was too interested to get more shooting and not going over the ground slow enough- best case- go back the opposit way slowly

interesting day over here- windy, sort of cold and wet- nobody came out so at 3:00 I booted the youngster and dressed in Goretex- turned the Garmin on and we headed out the door and downwind- actually was pretty nice and I was figuring on the pheasants to be holding pretty good- then he swung into the wind and locked up- that's when I realized it was blowing level with ice/sleet mix- short story- quite a few hen points- even saw two hens hunkered down in front of him- rooster was interesting- came up, caught the wind and he crumpled at 20 yards from the 7 steel-

I get to the door- pups and girl aren't too happy as we want to get in, they want out- so I toss everything inside and spend a bit of time with them- they're excited- Shadow's standing- so I go- burrs packed under his front and back legs- he's a mess- I've got them all over from the knees down- get the other dogs back inside- holler to the wife- keep them inside

get him up on the box and work the mess out then take off his boots and tracking collar-
dry him off and let him inside and then clean the birds- maybe out 2 hours- I was glad I went and just took him- 1st time hunting alone- think he's on his way to becoming good

we've got a bit of snow on the ground but looking out the window it's blowing sideways and doesn't look to be too much is going to be coming down

think I'll go out again in the morning- probably wait till arround 9:00

[RuttCrazed]

Well, I didn't techinically make it out for the opener due to my son's birthday party, but I did hunt Sunday and Monday. We were in NW Kansas and while the bird numbers weren't as good as a few years ago, they were better than last year. I had a good day on Sunday and shot 3 roosters (2 over point) and one of my dogs found a cripple in a cut milo field, so I switched over to quail and quickly remembered how fast they fly! The rest of our group (13 guns) didn't do as well, but still managed to get a few more birds.
Monday, however, was a different story! We woke up to high winds, freezing rain and muddy, muddy roads and fields. The high winds had the birds extremely jumpy and even when we entered a field quietly from down wind the birds still flushed over 100 yards infront of the dogs. We saw quite a few birds, but only managed to get within shooting range of 4, and I missed the only one I had a chance at (didn't lead him enough in the wind). I did have a very scary moment on Monday with one of my dogs. We had hunted several fields when my youngest dog started to really slow down and was shivering very badly. I put her in the covered bed of my brother's truck with a dog bed and 3 other dogs so she could warm up and we drove to the next spot, about 30 minutes away. When we got out of the truck she seemed better so I decided to hunt her and my older dog. As we worked a cut milo field I noticed she was slowing down again, but still hunting well, with several points so I figured she must be tired. We hunted into some CRP and she started hunting closer and closer until finally she was right next to me, still shivering. We walked down a dirt road towards on last ditch before heading back to the truck and I noticed her tail was between her legs and she was sort of hunching up as she walked and she began sitting down occasionally. When we got to the ditch I chose to wait with my pup while the rest of the group hunted through it to keep an eye on her as I was now worried. When they finished the ditch we headed for the trucks, about 800 yards away. We climbed a small hill with me coaxing the dog just to get her to come along, when we got to the top of the hill she stopped and layed down. I went back and stood her up and said "let's go find the birds", she stared blankly and put her head down, now I was very worried, normally this dog would do a back flip if I said that! I again tried to get her to follow me and she walked down the hill and curled up under a cedar tree, put her head down and closed her eyes, I seriously thought she was dying. I picked her up and carried her about 200 yards to a road and told my nephew to keep petting her and talking to her while I went for the truck. I came back with the truck and was glad to see she was still awake, I put her in the truck and gave her some food and headed for camp. I gave her some water and some meat from my lunch and let her rest. After about two hours we decided to hunt another field, I told everyone I would leave her in the truck, but as soon as I dropped the tailgate she was the first out of the truck with her tail wagging and bright eyes. I decided to hunt her, but keep a close eye on her and if she even stumbled I was picking her up, she never did and finished the day out running hard the rest of the time. The only explanation I have is that she ran out of gas??? When we arrived on Saturday she didn't touch her food, too much going on, after hunting all day Sunday she only ate half her food and fell asleep (I only feed after the hunting is done due to worries of twisting a gut) so after all that time of activity and shivering I think she was totally exhausted and that little bit of warmth and food in her belly got her fired up enough to hunt again?? She ate good on Monday night and was fine today. I hope that doesn't happen again, it scared the crap out of me!!!!

Rut

[Fowlplay]

Hey Rut..glad to hear the pup's ok!

[Beecher]

good trip, I have permission on 10,000 acres in southwest Kansas but have never been yet, I will be saving $ to go next fall!