Day 1 involving wood ducks, snipe, and squirrels is appropriately in the migratory forum. Click here for day one.

Day 2
Had a nice sunrise to wake up to from my hilltop view on Black Kettle. Made the long winding drive into no-where Oklahoma to Four Canyon Nature Conservatory Preserve. This was an Oklahoma State Controlled or lottery hunt. A State Biologist was waiting to let me in the gate. He gave me a map and marked on it for me areas where he had seen quail. He did say it was a bad year and that I would be lucky to find two covies. Only me, the dog, and 4000 acres. The gate was locked behind me. No other hunters were on the Preserve. Blaze found exactly two covies on the Canyon rims. I was happy for Blaze to have found them considering the high winds that day. First time I ever shot DOWN at quail flying through TREETOPS. They would come off a canyon rim from under cedar trees and fly straight down.



Saw other game, but due to the State agreement with the NC I could only take quail. For the migratory forum guys, here is a picture of Blaze chasing a ringneck duck off one of the tanks.

Overall a great time even though it was windy and a poor quail year for the area. Still I was excited to get to hunt the area even if just to hike the canyons. I had been part of a team fighting the wildland fires there earlier and always wanted an opportunity to go back to just hike and hunt that part of the county.

Got to see a lot of beautiful country and not all in black this time.

From there I headed back south to meet Jim Cristy, Refuge forum member "That Old Guy", at a restaurant to discuss the next days goose hunting plans at Washita NWR, then made my way to a motel room in Elk City Oklahoma.

Day 3 and 4 of my road trip is in migratory forum.
Click here for day 3 and 4.

Hey John, not to be a smart alec or such.......have you ever thought of doing wildlife photography??? Those are some awesome damn pics. I still love that dog of yours, he is just a beautiful bird dog. It almost looks like he poses perfectly fo the pictures. Nice hunting by the way, but I sure enjoy your pictures. Roy

Thank you for the compliment Roy. Blaze might be a little offended though if she knew you were calling her a he.
Blaze makes a great model. Being very trainable to begin with I can stand, sit, her in most any position and she will stay if I tell her to. I did run into some trouble recently in that I had trained her when heeled to drop to the ground or crawl with me if I drop to the ground or crawl for purposes of jumping or stalking game. So every time I would get on my knees or lay on the ground to take a picture of her from a low angle, she would do same as me.

Jump to Day 7. Day 6 is in the Gun Dog Forum. Click here for Day 6.

Day 7
SteveTexas made the drive to meet me in Kansas and this his first day huning. His first KS Pheasant hunting experience also. We studied the maps and made a road plan to hit public WIHA hunting areas trying to pick ones that had or where near water. Locals had indicated that due to the drought, if we find water we will find birds. First place was CRP and had strips of land cut and bailed. We walked the uncut strips, only finding rabbits and a couple hens. These Mule Deer ran off when we drove up.

Passing on some other units that did not look so good, we found one still with fairly tall CRP. A prairie chicken flew off a tree when when we drove by it. Steve wanted to pass on it, but I told him it was the best I had seen in three days of looking. We picked a large corner of the property and did a zig zag walk back and fourth making the triangle smaller with each pass. A few hens and three prairie chickens flew out, but not in season yet. Steve picked up a Rooster on the second time we flushed him as we closed the triangle up. First Pheasant of the trip and the first one for my dog. I was relieved after talking SteveTexas into driving all the way up there to hunt.


Moving on down the road to the next area we saw Roosters running down the road next to the hunting area. One I was watching took flight and was trying to get to the private side. I hit reverse and kept up with him for a while trying to block him into staying on the public side. I ended up in the ditch and the Rooster ended up across the road.

Turns out the owner of the property nearby saw us. Nice guy. He reminisced some old hunting stories with us and offered his half section of land for us to hunt during our stay. We picked up three more birds here, including my first. I lost one that ran, because my dog was busy retrieving Steve's bird. The bird I did come away with also ran. Blaze showed great skill in running it down, catching it out of the air as it tried to take flight again.


You know how there is always one guy in the boat fishing the same depth, the same bait, and off the same side of the boat, that just keeps catching all the fish. That was Steve this day. Pheasants just kept appearing before him, and most with easy straight away shots. He finished his limit at the next WIHA area we hit. We saw only three quail this day, but I was in a decisive moment trying to block a running pheasant for Steve. I hesitated ended up missing the quail, and had no shells in hand for the pheasant, but man was it fun. Turned into a great day of hunting.

On the way back to the cabin I noticed a Kansas Sunset picture opportunity and just had to run off into the ditch to get the camera out.


To be continued soon

John......
I am in awe of your pics and stories.......That is some great reading.....Congrats on a fine hunt.......

Day 8.
The morning of the 17th we moved from the Cabin at Sylvan Grove to the Americana Motel in Stockton. Stayed there the next three nights. Most everyone in the Motel were hunters and had dogs. Along the way to Stockton we mostly hunted WIHA units again. Lots of walking, a few missed shots. Kicked up a lot of birds. Got an amazing picture of Blaze this day.

Day 9.
This was the opening day of Prairie Chicken Season. Having never hunted them, much less seen one before this trip, we wanted to give it a try. Talking to locals such as the owner of "The Duck Blind" Bar in Stockton, we had an idea what areas they liked and knew that they flew between roost and feeding areas in the mornings and evenings. Started the morning on a large WIHA area that should have been good. We only saw one PC and no Pheasant during the morning. That's why they call it hunting. Blaze picked up her morning rabbit and SteveTexas was temped by a Jackrabbit which Blaze did retrieve.


We kicked out a nice Mule Deer from one of the Draws. He got far out before I could get my camera on.

We then looked at more WIHA areas and ended up at Webber WMA at the recomendation of the local Bar owner. A friendly Game Warden checked us and offered us all kinds of information and help on where to hunt. He was a hunter, bowhunter, and trapper himself. After hunting with no luck an old cut corn field the GW suggested, I left SteveTexas to scout the Lakeshore for a possible Duck Hunt. Unprepared, I flushed as many as 30 Pheasant all at once from Dry-Lake bed weeds taller than me. I only knocked some feathers off one of the Roosters in the bunch. We spent the rest of the day driving birds in 5 to 8 foot tall weeds. Most flushed too far out and the ones Blaze found almost always were hens. She did goose one Rooster for me that I shot. SteveTexas walked up a covie of quail here, but Blaze was off with me. It was the only covie of Quail we saw in Kansas. The day was tiring, but we got to see lots of birds and as always had a great time hunting.
Blaze on Point.



Day 10 Will be in the Migratory Forum. Once there you will have to scroll down to day 10.
Link to Day 10

Day 12.
This is continued from the Migratory Forum.
After the duck hunt we ended up in the parking lot by my tent where the guys from Colorado offered me a sandwich that was most appreciated. Then someone drove up who was with the Combines working nearby. He told us they were pushing out a lot of Pheasant and invited us to come hunt in front of them as long as we did not shoot the Combines.

Off we went. We staged at the corners as blockers waiting for the birds. I kept Blaze healed close. Most Birds too far out, or high, or too fast, but it was fun to hunt that way. Mark did pick one bird up. I shot one that hit the ground running. Blaze saw it and charged, but right at the spot she met up with the Rooster, a hen flew out, and a rabbit jumped out. It was too much confusion for her and ultimately that Rooster got away.




Then we hunted the strips not cut by the combines. The three of us and two Vizslas hunting together. Found several hens and a couple Roosters this way. Got my last Pheasant of the trip just as we finished the day.

Blaze now in her 12th day of hunting is worn out and this picture shows it. I was sure proud of her.


I picked up camp and headed to Cheyenne Bottoms near Great Bend for my last day of hunting.

Day 13 will appropriately be in the migratory forum.
Once there, you will have to scroll down to day 13.
Link to day 13

John,

what a great story. Did you try the optima WMA in the oklahoma panhandle. I hear it has some good
quail hunting, but I have never been there.

David

Fantastic pictures and great story John!! I have a lot of family in the areas you hunted. Several family members buried in Stockton. My Grandfather grew up and farmed in that area. Went to high school in Plainville. I grew up just north of Phillipsburg, just across the state line. I have hunted that area many times. I'm surprised more farmers didn't offer their places for you guys to hunt. The public land there is hit hard early and the birds tend to run a lot. You won't see 5-10% of the birds that are actually there. Looks and sounds like you guys had a great time!! Again, great pictures and story!!

Some observations. Lots of empty houses and farms or ones with no one home. There were a lot of "No hunting without permission" signs, but we saw/found very few people to ask for permission. And we did see a LOT of "Hunting Leased" signs too. We got to meet the owner "Scott" of "The Duck Blind" in Stockton. He talked about once having several good places with permission to hunt at one time, but that that had dwindled down to only a couple with landowners leasing their lands to hunters. He apologized to us for not having any contacts for us to ask for permission to hunt. What he did have, he obviously had to save for himself. We had a long conversation with a Kansas Game Warden. He felt the WIHA program would go away within 5 years. He said the first year or two of the program was truly something with outstanding places to hunt, but that the best places were no longer in the program. The State does not pay much per acre with that program. Each year the best areas get leased the following year by hunters and outfitters who contact the owners and offer a dollar an acre more. So each year it is harder for the State to add quaility properties and they lose even more every year. He said the State is afraid the program is causing Kansas to become like Texas and trying to find something to replace it.
John

That is unfortunate! I didn't know that area was headed that direction. If you ever go back, PM me and I can get you on some hunting ground around Hill City and if you will just drive a little farther north, I know a lot of folks on the state line(Franklin NE area) that will let you hunt pheasant. Good duck hunting on the Republican also!!

Awesome hunting John. Thanks many times over for the great pictures and stories.