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Deer hunting in Kansas #5606070 02/18/15 04:02 PM
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I've been kicking around the idea about getting a place to hunt(lease)in Kansas and I don't really know where to begin. Any of you Kansas hunters have any advise on what part of the state to look in, what I should expect to pay, what type of property will afford me the best opportunity for success. I believe I read that you draw for tags,how does that work and what are the bag limits? I can hunt archery, muzzle loader or rifle if that give me a advantage. I would also add that I don't really have anyone to hunt with so it will just be myself. Thanks for any advise that you might have in advance.


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Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Booner1] #5606209 02/18/15 04:55 PM
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Go to Ks web site. Should answer all your questions. Or call the Pratt office if not sure about something. The ladies there are very helpful. But I can answer some for ya.
Ks is a draw state. The draw takes place in April. You need to know where you are going to hunt then. Non residents can only apply for 2 units and they must be adjoining. You can only hunt by one method only. When you apply for the draw, you must either put in for a muzzleloader, archery, or rifle tag. Muzzleloader season is 2 weeks in Sept, but you can also use the smoke pole in rifle season, which is 12 days long, starting the first Wed. after Thanksgiving. Archery season starts the same time Muzzleloader season and runs till Dec 31.
Finding a place to hunt, you either have to hunt public land or go thru a outfitter, unless you know a LO. Kansas has what they call Walk in Hunting Areas, or WIHA's. Find 2 units with the most of these and go from there if you don't want to pay for an outfitter.
When you apply for a deer tag in the draw, you will have to pay at that time using a credit card, which is around $325. If for some reason you don't draw a tag, Ks will refund you the money minus $20 something for fees. You do not have to buy the license at this time.
I use a outfitter because I only get a week to go during the season. If I had more time, I would probably try my hand on the WIHA's up in units 7 & 8. There are quite a few up there and most have some sort of timber on it where you can hang stands with crop land that surrounds it.
I hunt in 15 & 16. A lot of Texans hunt in 11 & 12, but if it were me, I would drive the extra miles and hunt the north east to north central part of the state.

Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: sqiggy] #5606220 02/18/15 05:01 PM
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This is probably the most helpful and complete answer you will ever see on this forum.

I have nothing to add.

Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Booner1] #5606348 02/18/15 05:55 PM
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When you say "getting a place" Are you talking about buying land? If you own the land you will be hunting on, that changes your options for tags. And, I will leave you with my standard answer on this subject...There are NO deer in Kansas. wink

Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Triplesnake] #5606377 02/18/15 06:07 PM
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Originally Posted By: Fire1
I will leave you with my standard answer on this subject...There are NO deer in Kansas. wink
I forgot and left this out. I have been up there the last 10 yrs. I have only killed 3 deer with my bow.
Another thing, when you apply, make sure you apply for "Either Sex" and not for "Antlerless Only". If you draw a tag, you will also have a doe tag included. So you could take a buck and a doe. The rut usually runs the first 2 or 3 weeks into Nov.

Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: sqiggy] #5606400 02/18/15 06:21 PM
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Originally Posted By: sqiggy
Go to Ks web site. Should answer all your questions. Or call the Pratt office if not sure about something. The ladies there are very helpful. But I can answer some for ya.
Ks is a draw state. The draw takes place in April. You need to know where you are going to hunt then. Non residents can only apply for 2 units and they must be adjoining. You can only hunt by one method only. When you apply for the draw, you must either put in for a muzzleloader, archery, or rifle tag. Muzzleloader season is 2 weeks in Sept, but you can also use the smoke pole in rifle season, which is 12 days long, starting the first Wed. after Thanksgiving. Archery season starts the same time Muzzleloader season and runs till Dec 31.
Finding a place to hunt, you either have to hunt public land or go thru a outfitter, unless you know a LO. Kansas has what they call Walk in Hunting Areas, or WIHA's. Find 2 units with the most of these and go from there if you don't want to pay for an outfitter.
When you apply for a deer tag in the draw, you will have to pay at that time using a credit card, which is around $325. If for some reason you don't draw a tag, Ks will refund you the money minus $20 something for fees. You do not have to buy the license at this time.
I use a outfitter because I only get a week to go during the season. If I had more time, I would probably try my hand on the WIHA's up in units 7 & 8. There are quite a few up there and most have some sort of timber on it where you can hang stands with crop land that surrounds it.
I hunt in 15 & 16. A lot of Texans hunt in 11 & 12, but if it were me, I would drive the extra miles and hunt the north east to north central part of the state.


Pretty much sums it up.

I hunt in Unit 14 and know people that hunt in the NE and farther East of where I am at. WIHA's are tough hunting but with scouting, there are some good deer that come off the places. Most the private places that I am aware of run from $1500-$3000.

I would not choose to hunt the rifle season only. This is typically the post-rut and chances of a big deer are reduced. If you go by the cold storage units, the quality drops dramatically in December. Not to say some big deer aren't killed in December, but the overall percentages are reduced.

If you hunt with a muzzle loader, the early season can be a good time to locate a buck and catch him on his feeding pattern. Overall daylight movement is typically down but their patterns are pretty consistent.

Bow hunting the rut can be outstanding hunting. Deer move alot, big deer are up during the day, but trying to get a pattern is virtually impossible. Grunt and rattling typically works pretty well too.


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Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Booner1] #5606793 02/18/15 09:33 PM
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I hunt Unit 14 as well, and the only thing I would add is that the are usually lots of tags left over after the draw for most (but not all) units. They typically go on sale around the first of June but usually sell out within the week. Some years I've hunted as a resident and some years as a non-resident, but I have yet to not be able to buy a left over Unit 14 tag over the counter (online) in June.

Oh, one more thing...to clarify a litte of what squiggy said, the tag is different from the license. Once you get your $346.96 (for 2015) buck tag, you still have to buy the $72.50 non-resident hunting license. That's one thing that almost tripped me up my first year hunting Kansas. I thought it was like Texas. loco


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Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Booner1] #5607136 02/18/15 11:59 PM
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I hunt in the western part of Kansas in units 1,2 and 17. I put in for WT and MD for muzzleloader. There are never any tags left over in those units IIRC. WT population is down due to drought according to the locals I talked to. I have to get drawn for a WT have to have sent money for the MD drawing to get entered in it. You can not get a MD tag without drawing a WT first. If I get drawn for both then my tag is an either species ML for Sept and if unsuccessful in Sept then ML only again (used instead of a rifle) in the rifle season. Lot different terrain out west with very few trees if any in some areas. I have gotten drawn the first 2 years for an either species tag then WT only last year. Early season in those areas is tougher when the grain is not harvest. The deer stay in the standing corn or milo. If you can find one moving in or out of standing crops then you chances improve a lot if you have permission to hunt that land. Lot of WIHA and public land areas but you have to know which ones have WT or MD in better numbers. Some WIHA have different dates to allow hunting so you have to check the info on each area. Some are small quarter section and some are up to 4-6 sections in size. Fun hunting if you like glassing and stalking. I ran into a young man who was strictly a bow hunter and he has taken 2-150-160 class WT stalking with his bow on one public hunting area. He was a local and put in his time scouting in the summer to pattern bucks. He also had some private ground to hunt and had taken a 160 class 10 point and his Dad a 160 class 8 point off of in the past few years also. He said the same about WT numbers being off a lot with the drought.


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Re: Deer hunting in Kansas [Re: Booner1] #5608724 02/19/15 10:30 PM
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Hey I was up in Elkheart Kansas last October and the wind was blowin like 90. My hard hat blew off my head and flew about 20 yards into a cyclone fence and then hit the ground. On the way up there somewhere around the Texas/Oklahoma border I got cought up in some kind of black cloud/squa line/ tornado like thang. DANG! it was on the ground and I was in it. I pulled over to cover some stuff up and almost got sucked up by the gods. I couldn't breath and I could barely open the door of my truck to hide for my life. Oh ya and my hat it's gone baby gone. Last time I saw it, it was stuck to the side of an s10 truck about 30 yards away and there was no way in heck that I was going to try to retrieve it. Needless to say I was glad to make it back to the pineywoods. Never saw a deer up there anywhere. I looked till my eyes hurt.I must of been in rabbit country.


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