I received this email from a guy at Kansas Wildlife Dept:
There are a couple resources online on our website that I would suggest you check out. One of them is the Upland bird forecast which talks about numbers for quail, pheasant, and prairie chicken by region in the state. The forecast numbers come from our surveys that are conducted every year. Here is the link for the upland bird forecast
http://kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/Hunting/Upland-Birds/Upland-Bird-Regional-Forecast. You should also get a WIHA or Walk-In-Hunting-Area atlas. They can also be downloaded from our website, or picked up at most any wal-mart or KDWPT office in the state. WIHA areas, are areas that have been leased by KDWPT and made open to public hunting.
Unfortunately, due to the drought this year, our bird numbers in southwest Kansas are pretty poor. The majority of the broods that hatched this year, did not survive because of poor forb production which led to a lack of insects which is the main food source for chicks. This effected not only pheasants, but quail, prairie chickens and non-game bird species as well. A second issue that we will be facing this year, which is also related to the drought is the emergency grazing of CRP. Since grass production was poor, USDA opened CRP for emergency grazing in 31 counties in southwest Kansas. So, most people turned cows in on their CRP grass and have grazed it down to almost nothing. This means a great loss of habitat for upland birds, and also a reduction in the number of areas that are suitable for hunting. A third issue, for the southwest part of the state, which is also drought related, is wildfires. There were several wildfires in southwest Kansas this past spring. The largest one taking place on the Cimmarron National Grasslands, which burned up several thousand acres. This again, translates into a loss of habitat and reduced carrying capacity for upland birds.
So, to be completely honest, hunting pheasants in southwest Kansas this year is going to be pretty tough. I am told that bird numbers are the lowest they have been in several decades. My suggestion would be, if you still want to come to KS to hunt birds this year, would be to drive a little further north and hunt north of I-70 in the northwest part of the state. I would check the upland bird forecast, but I know they had a lot more rain than we did and were not effected by drought conditions like we are. They should have had better brood survival and should have a lot more birds to hunt. They also didn't have any wildfires, and less counties open for emergency CRP grazing.