Hunting Kansas

Never been out of state to hunt. Have a lead outside of Wichita Kansas. Just curious how the hunting is there and if I should pursue this further.

Depends on what your hunting. I hear the javelina hunting is pretty slow.

Deer mostly. But target practice with hogs and coyotes are always a plus.

It can be great if your in the wright spot. I have been hunting Kansas for 17 years. I would take the time and do some scouting this fall. Its to late to get a tag for this season anyway and they are no transferable tags in Kansas anymore.

Have hunted Kansas quite a few times, whitetails are huge in many areas, turkeys are over abundant and farmers hate them and want them killed for the most part. Fishing is great too...huge bass and stripers as well big crappie etc... Many hours in tree stands there, have tree stands I left hanging 10 years ago, wonder if they are still there.

Your are a little late for planning hunts for this year, but a good time to start researching fpr next year. I hunted central Kansas several times, but I was lucky in that I had friends that lived there and got me set up with them. Now I am too old to even think about it.

It wouldn’t be this year for sure. Couldn’t even make it happen if it was possible to get in for this season.

I’m probably headed to Kansas for the rifle hunt next year (barring drawing a late season elk tag). If I can’t find something else to do, I’m thinking of going up there this year for a weekend to chase some pheasants and look around for deer.

My experience was dont expect to see alot of deer and they appear out of nowhere literally come out of fields full of grass and travel the draws where you cna barely see them. I hunted western kansas near meaded theirs some giants out their if you let them grow.

No deer in Kansas.

I've hunted Kansas for about 12 years now, and it is awesome to be sure, but it's not "Outdoor Channel" awesome. There's not a Booner behind every tree like it and all the outfitters would have you believe. Based on my own experience and what I've heard from other folks, the buck quality is way down from what it was due to all the hunting pressure. And location dependent, it's actually tough to hunt. So sometimes you've got to get creative to find the right tree in the right place. Trees aren't always tall there so be prepared to hunt a little closer to the ground than you may be used to. Hunt the funnels close to bedding areas and concentrate on the first two weeks in November, assuming you're a bowhunter. Gun season opens first Wednesday after Thanksgiving, but it ca be a little hairy fighting the orange army.

Bottom line is that it's definitely worth pursuing, but make sure you manage your expectations. Good luck.

the dry years have really hurt the population in unit 17, my land owner farms over 10,000 acres and has 5,000 acres of grass (buffalo) I speak with him frequently, the pheasant population is spotty, good in some areas. I grew up 15miles north of Cimarron, hunted pheasant & jack rabbits, chased coyotes with greyhounds.

So someon please correct me if I’m wrong. As a non-resident of Kansas, I would have to apply for the drawing in order to take a buck or any antlerless deer? If so, I assume I’m too late since the draw deadline was back in April.

Simply put — I won’t be able to hunt deer this upcoming year in Kansas?

Yes you have to draw a non-resident permit and the deadline has passed. The 3 zones in SW Kansas that leftover permits are now all sold out of those.

Stx is on the money, but in my experience, most of the zones across the state have leftover permits after the draw. They usually go on sale in June or July and sell out within a few days. I've always hunted in Unit 14 and while I wouldn't bet on it, I never actually had to participate in the draw. I just waited for the leftovers. But you have to be paying attention and not miss the sale. To be safe, always enter the draw.

Rolling bones had various hunting sessons have a look

If you have family in Kansas that own at least 80 acres, you can get the Linear Family tag over the counter at the resident rate! Just have to hunt the family land. There is limit on how close the family has to be. Luckily, I grew up there and family has land.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I have just a few more questions. What’s the application price? I only saw the $492 for the deer permit and $90 something for the license. The whole price includes one buck and one antlerless, correct? What are the odds of being drawn? I assume everybody pretty much gets drawn if they have leftovers for sale.

If you are putting in for WT only then you pay the current price of the permit IIRC only to apply. Then if you get drawn they keep the money and you have to buy your NR license to be able to hunt. For example if you are hunting Unit 5 you can put in for Unit 5 and Unit 6 or Unit 5 and Unit 15 or Unit 5 and Unit 16 or Unit 5 and Unit 17 or Unit 5 and Unit 4 or Unit 5 and Unit 2. You put in two for units that join each other in any combination. I picked the unit that was more likely to get me drawn if I wanted to hunt a unit next to it that was less likely to get drawn. You apply for 2 adjoining units and IIRC you get 3 different chances to apply for when you enter(I may be wrong on the number of chances so someone may correct me on that). Used to be the more central or east you were the more likely you were to get drawn and the more likely there would be left over permits to buy over the counter when they became available. Not so now though. I know of guys who did not get drawn and there were no left over permits available. The western units generally have less cover and less deer so there are less tags available. I know the years I was drawn in the Units I applied there was no left over WT tags.
If you are wanting to hunt a mule deer you have to put in for the whitetail permit first then check the box to enter into the mule deer draw after that. You have to draw the WT permit to then be able to draw the MD permit and you permit is now for one buck of either species. So you can hunt WT or MD off the same permit. MD are only in the western part of the state and they offer very few NR permits each year making it harder to draw.
There are different seasons for different choices of weapons. You only get one permit and it is for that weapon and specific season. Muzzleloader, archery or rifle. Archery is the longest by and during the rut. ML or rifle are shorter and in Sept or late Nov-Dec with each season 12 days long.

Yes, that is the price to apply. But if you don't draw a tag, they refund the permit fee minus a process fee, which in the past was 20 something dollars. I did not apply this year. I had been going for the last 14yrs. I heard they changed it up this year when you put in for the draw you had to purchase the license as well, which is non-refundable. But was told if you don't draw a tag, you can call Pratt and they would refund the license fee.

have they changed that is the last few years?

You guya catch and grief from resident hunters?

Everyone is pretty much spot on.
There are very few leftover tags available these days. I attribute this to the likes of Michael Waddel, The Outdoor Channel, etc.

Colt, that has not changed in the last several years. I didn't get drawn in 2016 and looked into that option(however I don't have family in KS).

I did the math earlier this year on the odds of being drawn based off of last years applicant #s and it was something like 89% chance of being drawn in the unit that I hunt. Of course this was not taking into consideration who had multiple preference points. I did get drawn. I do know a lady who didn't get drawn this year as well. More and more people are applying and making it harder to get drawn each year.

KS is not what is used to be. Hunting pressure is high. A lot of outfitters are killing a lot of deer. Their population cannot sustain it forever. Look at Illinois. I know EHD played a role in that but Illinois is nothing like it was in 2012. I fear KS is 1 EHD epidemic away from destroying their deer population for a while.

KS is fun and tough but is rewarding when a mature deer walks within 50 yds of you.

I have been bothered by 1 resident hunter but that was do in part to the stupidity of a hunter in my group. We were up last Sept hanging stands. Hunting a creek bottom. The property line followed the creek but not exact. We had access to about 10 acres of milo on one side of the creek but couldn't get the ranger down in there because of the standing milo. Well, one guy with us decided to drive on the neighbors property approx. 100yds to get to the area he wanted to hang a stand. Needless to say, that neighbor hunts, saw the tracks from the ranger and we got a phone call before we made it back to TX asking us to stay off their property. There are not a lot of fences in the area where I hunt so he had easy access.