I'm thinking very seriously about not getting on a lease this year and instead, spending that money on a couple of long road trips. Was thinking about taking off the whole week after Thanksgiving and hunting Kansas, Nebraska & South Dakota. Could hunt all the way up and back. Might even get a tent or a truck tent and camp some too but my wife will probably be with me so motels are more likely. Just not having any luck finding a good all season Quail lease and I have a few places I can go after deer season so I'm kinda tired of paying all that money for an after deer season lease. Plus I think it would be a fun vacation for the wife and I.

Anyone have any tips or tricks to share? Kansas is as far north as I have been. Will the week after Thanksgiving be a good time to go?

I figure leave Friday 3-4 am and get at least half way into Kansas, hunt a couple hours that evening to get the dogs some exercise then head on into SD Saturday morning, hunt Sun, Mon, Tues in SD and start working back south Tuesday evening. Couple of days hunting Nebraska and a couple more in Kansas. Of course all of the planning will go out the window if I get into a bunch of birds somewhere too. But this sounds like fun to me. But can't afford this and a Quail lease. What to do what to do. I have been on a quail lease every year since 2004 so it's a tough decision for me.

This would not be a great year to do that. South Dakota prairie grouse were marginal last year. This year there has been a a summer long drought from Valentine, Ne through the Dakotas and into eastern Montana. If you must go to high prairie it is best to go as early as possible--although it is warm the birds aren't as wary--prairie grouse tend to gather in bigger coveys later in the year and are much harder to approach. Montana, Wyo and Nebraska all open prairie grouse season Sept. 1. After Thanksgiving the weather starts to get a little dicy. If you are going that late have a lot of straw or bedding for your dogs. Finding dog friendly motels on the high plains isn't that difficult unless you are in the oil boom country. There (Western North Dakota) you may have trouble finding a place to stay without reservations well in advance. If you are going to do this consider getting a chip showing property ownership for your gps. Cost is about $100 but well worth it; especially for Montana and Wyoming where there is a lot of accessible public property. If you go call the local game warden--they can tell you what the situation is and save you a lot of trouble. With lots of states you can find ways to contact local wardens and game biologists on the internet. If you don't take up a lot of their time they will usually help you. Don't be afraid to ask for permission in the upper prairie states. People expect big bucks for pheasants but on the western prairies will often give permission to polite sharptail and prairie chicken hunters. I will probably go to wyoming this fall. It is best to go early and plan to be back before Thanksgiving.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

If you must go; consider Wyoming--it appears to have been spared.

Kansas early in the Pheasant season can be interesting. Lots of walk in areas --look for crp walk in areas near harvested crops. I haven't been in several years due to the drought some years back and understand that there isn't as much crp as in the past. Like the upper prairie, sooner is better with pheasants in Kansas. Early in the season the hold well for dogs and can be taken with small shot and a .28. Later in the season they start running and getting up well ahead of the dogs.

If it is either or I would get a lease and plan on doing it in a later year. Things are shaping up for a pretty good season. Ruffs in Minnesota, Mich and Wisconsin are up but that is little different than the prairie an you need a close walking dog with beepers or gps -- many of the finds are out of sight.

IMO. One week isn't near enough time to hunt 3 states. Especially if you never been before. There is a lot of scouting and exploring in finding habitat and birds. This year I would pick Kansas of the 3 you mentioned. And then target the birds that are most plentiful.

If you can spare it buy a topper if you have a truck. Keep your gear/ dogs out of the weather

Even though I have a lease, I'm going to Nebraska the week before Thanksgiving, past history says it will still be hot in North TX and I need to get my Jack dog out and let him run. He sits all summer and I want to hunt longer than a couple hours in the morning and afternoon. And hope for some cold weather in Dec-Feb.

Sounds like a fun trip to me, if you need a traveling partner and some extra dogs holler, Im not getting a lease this year for the simple fact if I can't afford it. Anyhow, all state land for me. I have a 30' horse trailer with living quarters and a 8 hole dog box that I can haul my ranger in! Bird Hunting Road Trip 2017

I dont get it ------ you have places to hunt in those states?

Public land and there's plenty of it. Buy an out of state hunting license with the proper stamps and you go hunt.

Almost all prairie states have a walk in program where the state leases land from landowners for hunter access.
And, most forest service land, most national grasslands, blm land and school land is also accessible. Some wildlife refuges are hunt able with steel shot. In Montana it seems like half the state is accessible. Almost all the Indian reservations have their own limits and licenses and are accessible. A lot of the big cattle operators in the prairie states lease more land that they own from the feds. That land is almost always accessible to hunters if they can get to it without crossing private property.

I went to North Dakota once. A friend and I flew up there and met a group who drove up from Kansas. It was a good trip but we didn't get the dog work like you get on wild bobwhite quail. We got into a lot of sharpies and only had one point that we walked up to for the flush. The Huns held more like quail but we only pointed a couple of coveys each day.

Thanksgiving in SoDak is pretty late in the season and getting good dog work will be extremely tough. You'll most likely see a lot of birds flushing 200-400 yards ahead of you and your dogs.

I'll text you about some other options you could try.

As the season progress, the sharptails are much more likely to flush ahead of dogs. In places with a lot of pressure and used by trainers they are very difficult to approach. They are very sensitive to noise and any talking or whistle blasts will often get them up early. On the grasslands south of Pierre all the birds have ph.d's in bird dogs, because trainers begin working on those birds in July.

The group from Kansas was planning to road hunt their way back home.

Sounds like you spent all your lease money on your rig!!!

There is some pretty good public hunting in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to a friend who turkey hunted last spring in Nebraska, there are lots of quail up there and plenty of places to hunt. I can't walk good enough to hunt public anymore so I have to lease but if I could still roll I would be spending the early season up north.

I'm a longhunter and have done a few bird hunting road trips. Tips and advice off the top of my head. Kansas, Nebraska & South Dakota is a two week to 10 day minimum road trip unless you know your destinations well. Trying to hunt three states in a week you will spend too much time driving from state to state, then hunting area to hunting area, to be fun. It's not as bad as Texas APH Dove hunting, but expect to pull up to some that will be an obvious waste of time to stop and hunt. I too would go earlier if I could, but the best time to go is when you can. I prefer to do a combination of light camping, mixed with some set reserved cabin/motel destinations along the way. That way I can be somewhat mobile if need be but have some preplanned stops to relax and clean up. If doing all motels, do your research for areas early and make your reservations well in advance or you will have trouble finding places to stay near where you want to hunt. The bad thing about doing all motels for a long trip is your stuck in those places good or bad. I prefer to be as mobile as possible so if an area sucks for some reason, I can pick up and move to another part of the state or even another state if need be. Or... if I get into the birds, I can just stay right were I am and keep hunting if not tied to a strict schedule on lodging. Doing the walk in hunting program leases, take the walk in hunting maps and draw a big wide circle around the bigger towns and cities. Focus on the areas outside those circles and also away from the major roads leading out from the larger cities or expect a lot of hunting pressure. Other types of Hunting areas not on the Walk in hunting/state public hunting maps often get overlooked by the out of state hunters so don't rule them out. When bird hunting several days on a road trip I try to mix in an occasional non upland hunting day of fishing, waterfowl hunting, or whatever, to give the dog/dogs some rest/recovery time. As soon as you know what states your going to, look over their fish and wildlife websites for any drawn bird hunts, limited area permit bird hunting areas, etc. that might have dates in line with your road trip. I have bird hunted on state reclamation lands, national wildlife refuges, nature conservatory lands, State Parks, etc. by drawing or limited permit where I was only person allowed to enter the gate those days.
Good Luck

Lmao. No, traded dogs for the trailer, and had the ranger since 2010. Money was spent long ago! I refuse to pay a [censored] ton of money to have someone tell me I can't take my kids. To hell with that, I will hunt state property and hit as many region 7 horse back field trials with my kids before I pay someone to hunt where my kids are not wanted/allowed.

Three major trials in S. Dakota cancelled due to prolonged drought. Not good news for S. Dakota trips.

I totally get the getting away from a lease thing. Last year, I was kicking myself a little bit on not having all the different stuff leased I used to have leased, but there is a lot of pain/stress with it. I got tired of leasing heavy in a year and having to commit in March to see several thousand acres miss rain at key times. I have gone to day leasing a lot, and that gives you variety. Downside is you don't know how hard the birds have been hit, scheduling conflicts, etc. My wife thinks a long upland trip is hunting after lunch a couple of hours, so wife feet power and your dog power would come into play on a long trip like that. Maybe you do a south texas deal, a Midland to Big Lake blue quail hunt, some day leasing in the Rolling Plains that is not in drought, and a four day Kansas ditch parrot hunt?

I would like to do a Montana sharpie, hun, pheasant trip and sneak in a day of fly fishing in there as well as my dream week long trip

I sure could do something like that, south Texas back up to west Texas up through the panhandle to hunt some geese then up to Kansas for my annual pheasant trip...I know we talked about this before but how's Oklahoma state land?

Me and a couple buddies have a few bird hunting road trips planned for this year. We are starting off first in Montana for the first week of Pheasant season. Not sure exactly where in MT yet due to the drought. Figured if we stay along one of the large rivers and hunt BMA land we will get into our fair share of birds including sharpies and huns.

We will also do 3 trips to Nebraska and maybe one to Kansas. Nebraska was great this past season and they seem to be getting enough rain for a positive outlook this year. Quite a bit of good walk in land open to public. Pheasant, prairie chicken, and quail are all good possibilities each day.

The earlier bird forecasts for kansas look promising, will probably end heading there right after Thanksgiving lunch.

There is nothing like a bird hunting road trip, so my advice would be to bypass the lease and go ahead and plan your trip.

For MT and NE go to their parks and wildlife sites and sign up to get their public land atlas. It's free from both states and it will show you all the places you have access to. I would bet KS has one as well