Texas Hunting Forum

NW Kansas live hunt

Posted By: Wacm

NW Kansas live hunt - 01/19/18 11:37 PM

I thought it'll be cool to post this experience since we are doing lots of driving.

We got to Liberal KS around 2 today. Got our licenses and hit the road. We only hit two areas cause we've been not liking what we see and moving on. We pointed one hen and kicked a few up before our dogs locked up. We saw two roosters but they got up early. Finding the birds on the back fence lines of the properties. We are near Colby now and are getting a room for the night. So far it seems Kansas has been rode hard and put up wet.
Tomorrow is a new day and we learned not to plot out the areas to hit this late in the season cause it's better go to see all of them. First day was tough but honestly we didn't hunt enough. Tomorrow amongthe new strategies is hunt a few bigger tracts. It's super dry and discouraging went the dogs push birds but maybe I'm to used to quail hunting. By the way we didn't get into any quail..we thought that was weird.
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/19/18 11:47 PM

Looks like we are out of light but tomorrow I'll snap some good pictures.

Kansas sunset isn't a north Tx sunset but still nice
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 12:03 AM

Ok here's a better one
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 01:56 AM

Dinner Kansas style
Posted By: 68rustbucket

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 02:04 AM

Good looking ribeye! Good luck mañana
Posted By: fway

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 04:13 AM

Good luck....don't forget glen elder!!!!!lol
Posted By: redhaze

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 03:03 PM

Nice pictures
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 07:13 PM

We drove around last night and found a nice section way off the beaten path. We saw a few pheasent right off the road at last light.
We got in at first light and we're about to go out but realized the wind was switching so we had to reapproach. So we drove around and couldn't really approach from the right side so we leashed the dogs and walked a mile in at least. On the back side we worked into the wind. The cover was nasty. Super super high. You couldnt see the dogs but you'd see the grass tops shaking. We got a few points on pheasent which only let us know get ready cause another 50yards they would erupt. We hit this spot where nothing grew and noticed the birds were running in front of us. They got pinned between the bald area and us and pheasent starting getting up. I rolled a double. Tony my brother hit one but it kept going.

We only found one which was sad but this cover is super dense. It's easy to lose em here.
We hit a few other spots close by and found one other rooster. We are looking for more cover like that one unit but not finding it. We have a new strategy we can't wait to try.
Posted By: 68rustbucket

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 07:41 PM

cheers
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 07:46 PM

We think there are more birds so we are going to separate and try to run them into cover and then push the cover into the open ground.
The cover was so dense. Look at Cocos muzzle.
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 07:49 PM

Tomorrow the weather gets here. Smart people would probably head back to Texas early but hard headed bird hunters like me will be super excited to hunt the snow and if I'm right, and there are more birds in those units but they are to smart to hunt. Maybe they'll sit tight and wait for us like Texas quail do.
Posted By: georgia-bird-hunter

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 11:25 PM

Bird hunters are a tenacious breed. I am going to make the 1,000 mile trip from LaGrange, Georgia to Snyder, Texas next weekend. I plan on hunting for a week.

I hunted Kent County the last week in November. It was very dry and birds were hard to come by. But, I did get into birds on a new place the last day of a week-long hunt.

You trip sounds like something I would do. Drive 1,000 miles in the hopes of finding birds. Good luck and keep the pictures coming. It is inspiring.





cheers
Posted By: georgia-bird-hunter

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 11:30 PM

One word of encouragement -- I hunted around Smith Center, Kansas, in the snow about 5 years ago. The pheasant and quail were sitting tight. Focus on cover and areas out of the wind.

Good luck.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/20/18 11:47 PM

cheers
Posted By: fway

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/21/18 02:02 AM

I was looking forward to hearing how you were doing! Thanks for the updates and good hunting!
Posted By: redhaze

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/21/18 12:49 PM

Great fun! Thanks for the update.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/21/18 02:30 PM

Do more, do more, I wish you would.
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/21/18 02:34 PM

We are in a new area with no phone service. Got on a few yesterday. Learning so much. HVing a blast!!

I'll post later..weather is coming!!! This one will be a slam dunk. I think
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/21/18 02:38 PM

We are sitting on a road watching a birds. They are not on public yet they are moving the ward it. Thinking they are in there but letting them get in. Snow will be here around 1. We're going to go back to the heavy cover field we hit Sat.
Posted By: danceswithquail

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 01:48 AM

Nice start, stay after 'em
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 07:38 PM

Didn't slay em. They just wouldn't hold... we hunted snow we hunted ice storm. My shotgun was completely iced over. I kept brushing the ice off the rib. They just wouldn't hold. The only thing better about the nasty weather was if the birds were there we knew cause they didn't try to out run us they got up. We hunted to complete exhaustion. Dogs were shot.

Posted By: 68rustbucket

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 07:45 PM

Good try! Lots of effort
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 09:14 PM

Originally Posted By: 68rustbucket
Good try! Lots of effort
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 10:35 PM

It was a great time. For 24hrs of driving and 2 and a half days of really hard hunting. I killed three late season wild roosters. You go a long time without seeing anything up there. I learned to pheasent hunt. It's not as pretty as quail hunting that's for sure. When I dogs slammed into a point it meant run forward as fast as you can. My brother kept telling me when our dogs were birdy the pheasent were running off and I'll be honest I wouldn't really believe him at first. We would get to the end of the field and there would be fresh tracks on the road. We did some crazy stuff like...split up and hunt toward each other. Then we saw birds get up. Your in public land and feel like nothing is there. You hunt a little different and see that they were there every time. They are just super wary. Some fields we got to and thought it was going to be great only to see birds fly out as we entered.
You can't park right at the entrance or they are onto you. You can't make any noise either. I always heard the ice and snow would make the birds hold but not this late in the season. Seemed to me heavy cover made the best hunt. If you can barely walk in it you got a chance. That and hunting edges of fields that were really thick. One guy on either side. They will fly right into the wind without any issues so you gotta. Over both sides.
They best one was a 1400 acre place the had a deep bottom area. There was a forty yard long by 10yards deep swath of some weird grass that looked like skinny maiden cane. We pushed 12 or so birds out of it. Didn't get any of they cause they were leaving out the back as we started it. It was cool though. Our quail dogs might have failed us there cause they were in it before we got to it. It was cool to see it erupt.

This was us before the ice got there. We thought we were going to slay em cause we watched birds go into the field. We parked way off walked the dogs on leashes and they bust out of there as we entered..ugh we still got one at the end of the field...he didn't get the memo.
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 10:48 PM

We are in Texas now. Holy cow we had an adventure getting home between closed roads or jumping huge snow drifted roads.

Posted By: colt45-90

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/22/18 11:18 PM

good job, grew up hunting the ringneck north of Cimarron, was totally different hunts back then
Posted By: fway

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/23/18 01:29 AM

Sounds like a fun trip. One thing is sure....memories were made!!!!! What is all about is t it?
Posted By: Chet

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/23/18 01:33 AM

Spent my youth hunting ditch parrots with my dad around Colby and Hays. Shot my first with an old single shot 20ga. Good memories.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/23/18 01:50 AM

I saw on the local weather report that they were having white outs up there. I hope you beat that home.
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/23/18 02:09 AM

Oh no we in the thick of it. Drove right through some nasty stuff. Saw 5 different jackknifed semis and some cars and trucks in the ditches. The Waze app saved us. It tells you how to route past road closures and where not to go. We started near Scott City and worked Colby and worked west almost out of the state. This morning we were snowed in but I must be st work tomorrow so we drove through. We are in Abilene now and should be home by 12.
Posted By: danceswithquail

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/23/18 02:14 AM

Close to dark the first week in December we had 25 birds fly out of a wheat field into a 15 acre patch of CRP that we were about to hunt, pheasant gods smiling down on us we thought. There was scraggly calf high grass on the back side and wheat on the other two sides of the corner. We got about 10 points, one hen up and the rest disappeared into thin air (and thats on a piece of private land that hadnt been hunted all year). They are pretty dang smart, frustrating as hell, challenging, long legs give them the upper hand, but still fun to hunt (for me a max of twice per year is about my quota). You dont get a whole lot of "poetry in motion" moments chasing pheasants like you do quail, even with dogs that hunt close with long noses.
Posted By: Jim B

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/24/18 07:44 PM

Sounds like a great hunt to me.
Posted By: 12gauge

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 01/27/18 04:55 PM

Sounds like you need some blockers and flankers in the field with you. I'd sure be ready to volunteer for next time! wink
Posted By: Flashprism

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 02/04/18 02:20 PM

Your story is not unusual. I have hunted the Goodland area for 15 years. I am blessed that my daughter, while we lived in Colorado married a fine young man from that area. I must say the birds there have unbelievable hearing and sprinting ability. The locals who understand these attributes hunt in large numbers with drivers and blockers. Almost all have German short hairs who are mainly retrievers as the birds almost never hold. Even on opening weekend before the birds have been conditioned holding is a rare occasion. You had a good trip for 2 guys at this time of year as the surviving birds are experts at evasion!!!!!!!!
Posted By: Wacm

Re: NW Kansas live hunt - 02/04/18 07:20 PM

When we were in Goodland or near there we ran into thes two old guys. They had a basket on their Jeep and a limit of Pheasent on it. It was a little weird how they were displaying them so I instantly judged them as yahooos but we parked next to them and talked for 40min and they were really cool guys. They hunted private to get their limit but were so open. They told us were to hunt and how....mostly how. They explain how is more important then where. They also said something similar to your remark about the birds at this time of year being survivors.

The three birds I shot were trophy’s in my book. I’m not sure if I’ll return next year so late. Late season hunting is a whole different game.
© 2024 Texas Hunting Forum