Back from Kansas

[ky birdhunter]

My Son and I got back from Kansas yesterday. My Son, who is 12, killed his first wild Pheasant and missed another.
In total, we saw 7 hens, four roosters and two coveys of quail. One covey was 15-18 birds.
the dog work was very good. We were blessed with good weather as well.

[ky birdhunter]

I forgot to add that my 6 month old Braque Francais pointed her first covey of quail and first wild Pheasant.
That was almost as good as spending the week with my Son!

[Nhuskr]

Congrats! Sounds like a wonderful bonding time for you, your son, and the dogs.

Cheryl

[gittrdonebritts]

Way to go dad, I'm still waiting for the time my son is old enough to take a gun in the field with me

[ky birdhunter]

My daughter is 7, I am hoping to be able to take both of them in a few years.
They do grow up very quickly.

[Hunter]

What part of Kansas were ya in if you dont mind telling? I made my first Kansas hunt about a month or so ago after hearing all the good things about it but we really didnt have much luck between 3 guys and 8 dogs. They do have allot of walk in public ground but I think it gets hit pretty hard and some that was marked walk in actually had cattle grazing on it at the time. Sounds like ya had a good trip thou.

[russnhunter]

Hi, I did a couple hunting trips in Colorado to the Holyoke area...been going there for about 20+ years.
The weather was nice but I think this hampered the pheasants.....they were not where they usually would be....took a couple days to re-group and get results.
Saw a boatload of hens...1 flush, 30 hens!!
Shot 3 but I had a modified choke and none were killed....my Brittany (Hunter) had to chase one down.....we think he was on the trail of another when I called him back.

Do you know of good areas in Kansas as I want to make a trip next season.

Do you know where I can obtain good walk-in access info?

Thanks and glad you had a good hunt.
Russ"N"Hunter.

[ky birdhunter]

Hunter,
We went North of Salina. A lot of the WIHA's had cattle on them and were not productive, especially around Lincoln.
The WMA's were hit HARD! We hunted Jamestown hard and only produced 1 rooster and one hen.
I didn't expect to be overrun with birds but my Son got his first over a really nice point and my 6 month old Braque Francais
nailed a big covey of quail and a pheasant.
All I can tell you is to hunt hard all day. We went sunup to sundown.

Jeremy

[ezzy333]

Shot 3 but I had a modified choke and none were killed....my Brittany (Hunter) had to chase one down.....we think he was on the trail of another when I called him back.

I can guarantee you they didn't die because of the modified choke. I always hunt with an open cylinder or improved cylinder. With our modern shells the modified will give you as tight a pattern as the full did a few years back. I find the biggest problem is the guy shooting my gun as the gun does real well when someone else shoots it.

Ezzy

[Birddogz]

I shoot a 12 Ga. improved cylinder with 1 and 3/8 of copper plated 5s. I regularly kill birds at good distance. Hit them, and they will die.

[Mountaineer]

IC is a fine choke for pheasants...it never equals an old times Full tho, with any shell.
Modified can be a help in very windy conditions.
1 3/8 or 1 1/2-4s at a reasonable velocity.
5s are ok as well.

Hunted west of Kansas City during early December and 2 of us possessioned out on public access in 5 1/2 days.
We had 4 setters and a pointer.
One must walk.
Two keys would be to reverse hunt any area that always gets pounded one way and never make a sound....zero blaze orange also helps.

[ezzy333]

IC is a fine choke for pheasants...it never equals an old times Full tho, with any shell.

Our modern shells with the shot inclosed in the plastic wad shoot about 1 step tighter than the old shells. I can't prove that but I do know they shoot tighter and the people who do a lot of target shooting have said it is about that much.

zero blaze orange also helps

I am not sure it helps with the birds but it surely does help increase your risk of being shot and killed. Don't think there are many places anymore where you can hunt and not wear orange. But regardless of that, It sure makes sense to have it on if you value your lifeand that is not worth trading for an extra bird.

Ezzy

[Mountaineer]

Blaze orange is not required in Kansas for bird hunting, even in deer season...it is strongly advised tho....and it indeed is THE safe choice...operative word being "choice".
I have worn blaze in Kansas...and not....(I never hunt in groups, skirmish lines or in shared fields tho)
Some places/times I think it a wise option and in others I think it totally unnecessary.
Nice to have that choice....and it can make a difference.

Modern shells can shoot "tighter" and often do.
1 constriction is not unusual, and is the often quoted difference, but neither is it guaranteed....Full is a bit much of a jump from IC or less, IMHO.
Having patterned for years, from Trap/target to hunting loads, I find the variables to be many in what tightens or loosens a pattern.
But, in general, folks can be well served with less than traditional constrictions for many gamebirds....hence the IC I mentioned.

[ezzy333]

Blaze orange is not required in Kansas for bird hunting, even in deer season...it is strongly advised tho....and it indeed is THE safe choice...operative word being "choice".
I have worn blaze in Kansas...and not....(I never hunt in groups, skirmish lines or in shared fields tho)
Some places/times I think it a wise option and in others I think it totally unnecessary.
Nice to have that choice....and it can make a difference.

Modern shells can shoot "tighter" and often do.
1 constriction is not unusual, and is the often quoted difference, but neither is it guaranteed....Full is a bit much of a jump from IC or less, IMHO.
Having patterned for years, from Trap/target to hunting loads, I find the variables to be many in what tightens or loosens a pattern.
But, in general, folks can be well served with less than traditional constrictions for many gamebirds....hence the IC I mentioned.

Go back and read , I said your mod shoots like a full and then in the next one I again said they tighten up one step or there abouts. Shoot some paper and you can sure see it.

Ezzy

[Mountaineer]

I read the original.
I have shot many 8" rolls of paper.
One step is sometimes, not always, the result.
Modified choke sometimes shoots modified patterns.
I would agree on "there-abouts."
I do not agree with many generalizations.

[ezzy333]

Are you sure we want to argue about there abouts?

I got better things to do I think.

Ezzy

[russnhunter]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the info.
I am guessing it was mainly operator error.
2 of the 3 birds were going away and my partner thought I was shooting low.
When I skinned out the one I had hit high on the back of the bird.
The other one was a broadside, broke it's wing.
I generally shoot 4's with no issues.
I am guessing as the year was busy I did not get much oportunity to shoot clays.

Going again in a couple weeks so we will see what happens.
Thanks,
RussnHunter.

[tfbirddog2]

Umm, are we now saying that pheasants can see blaze orange? I have heard everything now. Ky glad you had good time in my home state, wishyou would have given me a call I am always willing to point guys in the right places to go in Kansas. should have driven a little further west, and you would hae seen more and we have some snow now.

[hi-tailyn]

Hunted the Mon.-Thur. the week before Christmas around La Crosse, KS just south of Hays area with a friend and my 13 yr old son. Tons of walk in areas. Like others have said many were either grazed down or had cut wheat stubble too short to hold anything. While driving to new areas, saw roosters crossing road to and from private land. We only saw and shot 1 cock per day on walk in. Not what we were expecting. Had 10 dogs to rotate through the day. Wanted to get young dogs on birds to point.

Do people try asking for permission later in the season? Are the farmers more receptive to letting out of state hunters on their property after the holidays?

Should I have gone farther West to find more birds? I drove from Ft. Worth, TX, so another hour or so wouldn't have made much difference. Main reason to go to this areas was the large numbers of walk-in's.

Wanted to get some dog work. Some are 2-4 yrs old and have not seen very many or any wild birds. Just pen birds.
I can see the difference in my old dogs that grew up with more wild birds. Wild birds are what make a great bird dog!

[Hunter]

I know what you are talkin about, we were in the same area but were there the 3rd week of the season in Nov and we didnt see much either. Kansas says it has a ton of walk in but like you said it is either wheat stubble or being grazed on. We had 3 guys and 8 dogs that we just wanted to get on birds but it was very tough. I would have been happy to just see a ton of hens just to get some dog work but we didnt even see those. Dont think it would have made much difference if you went farther west as we ran into a group at our hotel that came from that way and had about the same luck.

[ky birdhunter]

Umm, are we now saying that pheasants can see blaze orange? I have heard everything now. Ky glad you had good time in my home state, wishyou would have given me a call I am always willing to point guys in the right places to go in Kansas. should have driven a little further west, and you would hae seen more and we have some snow now.

Thanks, all in all my Son and I did have a good time. The highlight was my son downing his first wild Phez.
We went down around Lincoln one half day but did not see much.
We will be back next year. I noticed on our lincenses' that they don't expire until 12/31/11. A friend of mine was there in Nov
and his expire mid December.
I will get in touch with you.


Jeremy

PS I didn't mean for this post to become a disagreement in chokes, shells or blaze orange. I will have to say that one of my Roosters was taken with a 28 gauge
improved Cylinder. with 7 1/2 shot.

[russnhunter]

Hi,
I think some of my old school thoughts may need some improving. Logic dictates "in my opinion" that when the birds are flushing farther out, tighten up but that may not always be the case....have to agree with you and thanks for the humor...will give the improved cylinder a try..

Thanks again.

I shoot a 12 Ga. improved cylinder with 1 and 3/8 of copper plated 5s. I regularly kill birds at good distance. Hit them, and they will die.

[airmedic1]

I just got back from Kansas and had great luck. I shot my limit on WIHA three out of the four days I was there and saw lots of birds. I was by myself so hunted small areas and places that I had to walk to. In other words I hunted hard and stayed away from the easy to get to spots.
I wouldn't think of not wearing my hunter orange, I think my safety is to important to risk on the chance that a pheasant might spook by seeing me.
The one thing that I don't do is yell at my dogs, whistle at them or make a lot of noise. I use a TriTronics collar with the tone feature and a Garmin so I can find them in the tall CRP grass.
I also shot 2.5" B&P High Pheasant loads out of my side by side. 1 oz of #6's and that seemed to be all that I needed. Most were shot over points or close flushes but I did shoot a few that were at least 30+ yards away.
I did see some WIHA that was cut short, being grazed or was short wheat stubble but there is still lots of places to hunt. I didn't see another hunter the whole time I was there but I only went out to eat once and to the grocery store and filling station.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

KyBirdHunter,
Great way to introduce your son to Bird hunting!
RGD/Dave

[hi-tailyn]

I just got back from Kansas and had great luck. I shot my limit on WIHA three out of the four days I was there and saw lots of birds. I was by myself so hunted small areas and places that I had to walk to. In other words I hunted hard and stayed away from the easy to get to spots.

How far west did you go. I hunted just south of Hays and only saw one rooster per day for 4 days of hard hunting and lots of walking. Lots of WIHA in the area. Just must of got hit pretty hard, being close to Hays.

[northern cajun]

sounds like a blast!