Heading to Kansas

[Texrab]

I'll be heading to Kansas for a four day hunt January 11th. I plan on hunting South East or South Central KS. I'll be taking my 3 yr. old and 1yr. old gsps which have never had wild bird contact. I've worked them both on preserves and I go out most weekends trying to find some birds here around TN. I've read all the reports and searched the internet for stories. I've got a a couple of questions for you more experienced bird hunters out there.
Can you mess up a pointing dog on pheasants if they have not had any exposure to them? Will the dogs figure them out? Do the pheasants ever hold for a point?
I'm really wanting to get into some quail with maybe a pheasant here or there. Any advice would be great.
Thanks
Kevin

[gonehuntin']

Hunt the heavy cover (cattails, etc) with the dogs. The heavier cover you hunt, the better the birds will hold. Hunting wild birds will not harm your dogs, it will teach them. Decide before you go how you will be handling running birds; do you want them to hold point until they are released to relocate, or do you want them to relocate on their own? Decide now.

[birdhunt]

good luck out there............I'll be out around that time also........will be in NE, and then out west.............did better on quail than roosters back in Nov. when I was out............your dogs will be fine, they'll learn quick............hope you get into some quail for them................

[tfbirddog2]

Texrab, you wont be finding to many cattials if any, but hunt your heavy cover first thing in morinings then move to milo, and corn fields after,Then remember pheseants like to sun in CRP and field edges in mid mornings say 10 to 12 then try the feed again then go to cover late in the day around sundown.Pheseants are very good runners and love to run in row crops, so hunt across rows or zig zag the fields.I guide at a preserve(2GSPs,1 Lab/Cross) hunting both released and wild all the time It does not ruin them just think about it and when you see that dog take off in a straight line the bird is most likly running just call your dog back.Dont go South east go to the southcentral I would go to the Medicine Lodge area a good combo of bird in the area,dont' forget to pick up a Kansas W.I.H.A book.Any other info I can help with pm me.

[NE Vizsla]

Can you mess up a pointing dog on pheasants if they have not had any exposure to them? Will the dogs figure them out? Do the pheasants ever hold for a point?
Thanks
Kevin

Do they ever hold for point ? of course some will. these did and yes your dogs will figure them out or they will at least try to..this is both of my Vizsla's first season on wild Roosters. They are getting better every time out.



Good luck in Kansas with your hunt!

[birdhunt]

tfbirddog2----how is the bird population in your area.........I hunted around Grainfield a bit the last couple of years...............I hear the population is down....................we will most likely be out that way in January.............usually hunt south and west of Hays after trying Washington county.

[tfbirddog2]

The birds are spotty but pretty good here, but i havent done to bad I have been out three days in a row , and then two other times after work and limited each time.If I were you try Rooks county north of Hays.Try to look for uncut milo.That has been where I have got a lot of my birds.

[birdhunt]

Texrab------be sure and post results of your Kansas hunt.........I'm going out the 16th, later than I wanted, but things happen...........good hunting.

[tfbirddog2]

Good luck trying to walk birds you can see them, they can see you and it is a race.I did some road hunting this morning easily saw 500 to 600 hundred birds in one section.Got a limit though on birds that ran to cover close to the road that i could get to.We had 18 to 2ft of snow a week ago.I have been working alot of OT helping patrol lines down at work.

[birdhunt]

Colby was mentioned on the news here as getting hit pretty hard......it didn't say anything about ice though, hope you didn't get that before the snow.
Hunted after a blizzard a couple of years ago south of Hays, we had a ball. The worst thing was getting to the property we wanted to hunt--the 'graders' were only cleaning the roads that had houses on them....that left a lot of them unplowed.

[tfbirddog2]

Yeah we did get the ice first, more of that east of us like grainfield to wakeeny.they have less snow too east of us.Pheasants arent to hard to find you can see them a mile away.

[Vizsla Vince]

According to my breeder & some time mentor, the more exposure a dog gets to wild birds, the more he learns. He'll learn from each experience, & experience is the best teacher.

[whoa on 'em]

I've always heard that birds make bird dogs. I agree with the guys saying that your dogs will learn from it.

I hope the ice storm doesn't ruin your hunt, I'm in NE Oklahoma and it's pretty bad.

[birdhunt]

Had a pretty good hunt out in Kansas[16th-24th], we stayed in Washington county. 7-8" of snow fell, which made it a little rough on the ole hips, but helped finding the birds. Got into a lot of quail, especially after the closer on the 21st! All in all it was a good trip, better than it was in November when I was last out.