have any of you been to kansas pheasant hunting on public land there?

Yes

I hunted Kansas in the early and mid 90's. We mostly hunted on private land, but we tried public land a few times, we did not have much success, there was a lot of hunting pressure then on the public land.Kansas now has a huge walk-in program so the hunting pressure might not be as great. But I would not go back for just public land, from what I remember. I don't know if this helps you, I may have just muddy the water. My 2cents. GA DOG

The secret to P.L. success in Kansas is to Walk, Walk, Walk, and Walk some more, then drive to the next spot and do it again. You have to have a positive mental attitude believing the Pheasant are there. Keep pushing, be ready for that shot at any and every moment. Use the terrain to your advantage. Walk patterns that corner the pheasant against natural barriers.

Yes, I have hunted pheasant in Kansas the past three years. Last year was tough with a poor hatch from the drought and in the winter they lost a ton of birds due to extreme weather conditions. Still, I had a good time and will be back this season again. The walk-in program is very good in Kansas. Just purchase your out-of-state license and get the WICA (walk-in Atlas). It will show you all the places you can hunt without permission. I scouted Kansas last week and the cover is much better this season due to better moisture levels. Good luck. (The license is around $75.00 on-line for the out-of-state.) If you go, remember to pull the plug in your shotgun. Why, if you flush four or five roosters at one time you will have a better chance at bagging a couple. Be prepared to walk your butt off!!!

thanks, i just got my wiha atlas in the mail yesterday and looking it over there are lots of areas. one question though, which region has the best population of birds?

That changes from year to year mostly depending on weather. Kansas will post a summary of how the bird populations are doing per region on their website soon if not already. They give a fairly good report. I changed what part of the State I was going to hunt to the area I did hunt based on that report last year. Common sense tells me hunting pressure will be higher near the larger cities, but I don't know that for a fact.

The 2007 August Roadside Survey will be released on September 20th so I would use that as a rough guide of where the bird count would be highest. Most of Kansas, with the exception of the SE corner, holds birds.

thanks i will likely stay away from the larger towns if possible, just depends on hotel locations. thanks for heads up on report.

I've hunted both Public and Private lands in Kansas (near Katula) for the past 3 years. Bilbo's absolutely right, if you want to do good on public land you have to be prepared to do a lot of walking. Then do it all over again. For the last couple of years we have also been going around and knocking on doors looking for permission to hunt the private land in the area. We have done so with great success. I was honestly surprised how well receptive the land owners were of us. I got lucky and found a land owner that's going to let me hunt his 15 plots this year. Be sure to keep us updated about where you find them. I'll post my results from Katula as soon as I get back.

We hunt Kansas every year for the past 8 years. We have a friends family that owns hundreds of acres of farm land, and we still usually hunt some of the public land. They're walk in lands are great, usually you need to be the first group to walk a land to have the best opportunity. We will go and junt the public first thing in the morning and then our own land after lunch and the next day. Be prepared for weather, we have been there walking in shorts to near blizzard conditions, just depends. I'm ready!

I'm so ready to for Pheasant season to open. I'm headed to Pratt opening weekend. They had a very large tornado go through there a few months ago, so I'm hoping that it didn't ruin the fields. It sure ruined a lot of the homes in the area. My heart goes out to the people that were displaced.

Greensburg had the huge tornado. better pheasant populations further north.

Great news for Kansas hunting this year. I saw more birds on yesterdays scouting trip then I've seen in over a decade and we've had a couple banner years recently. Time to get it on bird doggers!