Taking the dogs up to Kansas for the first time this Dec for a pheasant/quail/chicken hunt. I've read about the walk in hunting opportunities, just need a general idea of where to start the adventure. I can do some online scouting, but I just don't know what areas might have a higher bird density than others. Any tidbits of info would be greatly appreciated!

Unless there has been a major hatch, the Dodge City area has yet to get it’s pheasant population back since the drought several years ago killed so many.

This was last years forecast. Keep an eye out on the KDWP website for this years forecast when it is published.
https://ksoutdoors.com/content/down...0Kansas%20Upland%20Bird%20Forecast-2.pdf

After the WIHA book comes out, be sure to check online before you make your trip. Sometimes new walk in hunting areas will be added at the last minute that will not be in the book of areas they publish. Long shot, but if one shows up in the area your hunting, less people will know about it.

If you know now when and what area you will be headed to, check the "special hunts" draw on the KDWP website to see if there are any hunts in your area that you could apply for now. It may be too late. I don't know. I have not looked at it this year. It's free and and non residents can apply for the ones listed as open to anyone.

Good luck. Wish I was going myself, but sadly I have no dogs this season.

I've got one old one, and one young one, so it's time to put them on some birds.

Here's the pheasant historical range on the top and the current drought conditions on the bottom. Similar drought conditions have happened in the western portion the past several years along with emergency haying both of which have affected populations. Plan accordingly.

Awesome idea overlaying that drought map over the Range map.

One more thing I might suggest. When looking for an area to start. I try to avoid the WIHAs that are near populated areas or cities. I draw a big circle around those big cities and towns on the map and stay out of that circle. Just like a public lake near or in Dallas and Tarrant Counties will get hammered with hunting pressure from the large number of waterfowl hunters that live in those areas, Those WIHAs near big cities or towns are going to get hammered by the locals.

Best advice I can give you. Always be ready. Always believe there is a Pheasant in front of you. Always believe your dog.

Look at the map that shows where you can hunt chickens. I always find them in areas where they aren't legal. The legal areas will narrow it down for you.

Kansas is in bad shape this year. These droughts, these last few years have been really hard on the birds. Good luck in Kansas.

I haven’t been in two years. I’m going this year with or without birds.

North central part of Kansas doesn’t look bad according to the drought map.

I've been away for so long but I think our lease was not far from Cottonwood Falls. Always good for quail and a pheasant or two. Pretty country.

I'm thinking of doing the same. With the sheer amount of WIHAs out west, there have got to be a few birds around.

That's what I was thinking, just looking for a starting point.

is hard to find any area that is not out of reach of CITY hunters, had them out to the farm (Finney county) as far as from Topeka, over run with Wichita hunters.

Last year we were up around Dodge City for the opener. Never seen so many hunters out. I guess with the Covid outbreak the year before, everybody had to get out.
My brother is up there now. He’s going to be scouting places out today and tomorrow. Not sure where he will all go, but this morning he was gonna start off around Garden City. Said it’s dry dry!!

We hunted 3 days around Dodge City last year. It was terrible. It had been three years since I’d been up there.

Three years ago was a great trip, we limited out on quail every day and killed a few pheasants each. I won’t be back until I see some good reports.

We put in a LOT of miles last year with good dogs and barely killed enough for a good meal. We went later in the season and didn’t see many other hunters. It didn’t take long to figure out why.

I was looking at the north central part of the state. It seems the drought may not have hit that area quite as hard. I would appreciate any reports.

I went to this area years ago and it was a lot of hunters in the area. It’s the only pheasant hunt I ever been on, but it wasn’t nearly what I expected.

Talked to my brother last night. He just got back from a scouting trip in Kansas. He said anything around dodge city and west is a bust. Said it looked like a dessert. Said he found one place that might be ok, but there isn’t any place to stay. Not sure if we are even going now. He’s gonna talk to everybody in our group and see what they want to do.

Thanks for the heads up, if you hear any other reports, please post them.

My buddy has about 12,000 acres about 30 - 40 miles east of Dodge. Said quail seemed okay, but still not seeing many pheasant at all.

Thanks for the report!

Well, we decided we are going to head up there this coming Friday morning. Just about all the guys still want to go. At least we will have a good dog on the ground. I’ll let y’all know how we do on Saturday night.

Just got back from SD. Going up through KS we went through Liberal to Atwood and on the way home our route was Phillipsburg down through Pratt. Basically everything we saw was not good. Lots of CRP has been mowed and where it wasn’t baled it was very spotty and thin. Crops have been mostly harvested with a lot of those fields baled as well leaving very little cover.

Sounds bleak, good reason to give them a break this year maybe?