We are off to the Panhandle, Canadian area for the pheasant opener next weekend.
Anyone up there seeing some birds out in the fields?


thanks.

Now I'm really pumped.

The Canadian area has never been known to hold any pheasants...no grain. Are you hunting a public place (Gene Howe?)

My mistake. This hunt is closer to Perryton.

Was outside of Liberal, Ks for KS opener on private land. Very few birds compared to couple times I have been before. Sill had a lot of fun though.

I hunt around Petersburg. Quail numbers are way down. The covey's I am seeing are big birds, no small ones. The Pheasant are almost non existent.

Hey Ted, I'm part of the group that comes up the second weekend of pheasant season with Fox. We aren't coming next weekend because we heard there weren't birds (also we didn't get an invite ha!) Are the birds ever gonna recover? Do we need to find other places to hunt? We shoot less n less every year. It's a real bummer because I love hunting pheasants!

Looking at going this coming weekend - choosing between OK opener around Hooker, OK or at Mullinville, KS. Any reports in those vicinities (and I did see Chalet's report about Liberal)?

that's what I like. If you going to hijack a thread, go all in.

I didn’t go further east then texahoma, but around Texahoma I saw a few birds.

I’m headed up second week of season to scratch out a few birds and knock pronghorns back some.

It seems like since they extended the season and increase the limit , fom 2 to 3, it has steadily gone down hill. I wish they would go back to a 2 week season, with a 1 or 2 bird limit.

I have. A cousin, who farms near Dimmit. He said the numbers there are pretty good.

Reports from family out in the Plainview area are that the harvesters are seeing very few pheasant and zero quail.

Did the Olton Chamber of Commerce hunt again this year.
Windy...40 MPG gust on Saturday. It was tough to get birds in the air.

The Game Wardens and camera crew from Lone Star Law were there! Maybe we will be on TV

Super nice guys. They took the time to pose for some pictures after checking everyone's licenses and birds





Then, to make a great (but windy) day even better, the High Plains Pheasants Forever chapter invited us over for some BBQ and a brew. Danny Glenn and the rest of the folks there were super hosts. Lots of hunting stories were swapped.

We hunted twice on Saturday (wind was a little tough, 25/30), and about two hours Sunday morning.
Birds were more plentiful than last year, saw a LOT more hens this year. We did not flush any quail, which seemed a little strange. Quail numbers were supposedly a little higher this year.
Temps were perfect.
These birds were holding in CRP. Did not find many in the sorghum stalks.
We had a great complement of savy dogs that helped a lot.
Good times with the guys, swapping old stories and lies.

Can't wait to go again.

Had two decent days in the Spearman area. Here's my boys Jax and Duke with Sunday's bounty.

We are going to hunt in Cotton Center this weekend, anyone hunt in or around there?

Hunters shooting roosters is not the problem. You can shoot a lot of roosters without impacting next years population. One rooster can breed a whole bunch of hens. In Kansas the season is is twice as long and the limit is 4 birds. That’s what Texas should do.

The birds have steadily gone down hill because there is less habitat every year.

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Nice trip!

I hunted Floyd and Crosby counties Saturday and Sunday. Only saw 4 roosters and got 2 of them. Maybe saw a dozen hens total. What was really sad was the quail. Only got up 2 coveys and they weren't very large. Also killed around 20 hogs, which is also alarming. Those sorry bastages were all in the CRP. Next year I'm carrying my 1911 with me and I'm really gonna wear them out! Best part of the trip was getting up a 180" mulie on the edge of Blanco Canyon and watching him pogo off the side and down into the deep bottom.

It amazes me the deer there are in places where there might not be a tree within sight.

Can we get some more Panhandle wild pheasant reports before the end of the year. Anybody hearing about pheasants around Hereford or Pampa, those areas were good for seeing pheasants ten years ago. Years ago we flushed around 20 pheasant in one flush near a small community called Easter. I don't get out like I use to, just curious to know if we still have pheasants in those areas, let us know.

I don't hunt either of the areas you mentioned, but I'll tell you what I've seen where I do live,and hunt. Bird numbers are down from last year. Too dry all last summer and not a very good hatch. Some places are better than others, and some of my go to, always has birds spots haven't had a single bird in them. I live here, and hunt a lot! I agree with panhandle 10 above, limits and season length is not the problem! Herbicide (which directly relates to cover)is the problem! I am a farmer and the herbicides we have available to us these days are incredibly effective in cleaning up weeds. Chicks need lots of weedy cover to survive. Gone are the days with over grown ditches, tail water pits are all cleaned up, few to no overgrown junk piles, corners are clean and weed free. We've become increasingly more efficient at managing our water ( we've had to) so there's less runoff. Follow fields are no longer left idle to grow up in nesting and brooding habitat, and we have been WAY below average on rainfall for too many years. I hate it, and have decided to start massive habitat improvement projects on my land, and the land I manage.

My opinion, and suggestion to guys down state that would like more opportunity to hunt pheasants would be to petition our state to get involved! We are all paying for an upland game bird endorsement on our license, where is that money going? It's not being spent here! Kansas and other states have implemented a walk in hunting program, providing access to people that don't have access to hunt, and compensating land owners at the same time, that has been very successful. CRP program has fallen by the wayside removing thousands of acres of habitat for birds to live and survive. Some states have bird release programs, supplementing the wild population, and providing hunting opportunities at the same time. There are steps that can be made, but it all boils down to money in the end. How much are we willing to pay? Me I'm willing to spend what I have to in order to have birds to hunt, but our numbers are to few, and you guys with little to no opportunity to hunt pheasants, why would you dump money into it?