I'm looking at going to Kansas this year for pheasant and quail hunting. Mostly I will be looking at using public land. Not familiar with Kansas and wondered which part of the state if any was better for pheasant and quail hunting? Esox357.

we are going to north of the Okla panhandle. The guy taking us said he couldn't count the phes must have been 1000 birds if 1 at one of the pivots!

There ARE plenty of pheasants in the Southwest corner of KS near Oklahoma. But be ready for LONG shots on WILD birds except on opening day. The local guy I was hunting with kept yelling "KANSAS lead, Mike!!!!" when I shot 20 feat behind a rooster! Can be very windy, too. Real hunting, in short. We hunted south of Liberal right next to the OK line.

Be vewy, vewy, quiet.

Pointing dog, no yelling, no bells, and injun up on them. It never gets old.

Just the wind can make them flush wild.

Thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction.

Then, Grasshopper, you must be more silent than the wind...

Being more quiet than a western Kansas wind is not hard to do, but they'll still be jumpy.

Public access is on the following map.
Kansas Walk In Hunting Areas If I were you I'd read the bird report and then go to the map and draw a line from section 4 to section 27 and stay west of that. The bird report will be more specific of what is hot and not. As the season starts there will be reports of who is seeing birds where.

Upland bird report is here:

Kansas Upland Bird Forecast



I love it.



Sunday Limit


Saturday Limit


Late Season Success


Sister's Place

The only thing I can add to the good advice above would be to temper your quail expectations. I suggest you take a "pheasants and incidental quail" mindset rather than a "quail and incidental pheasants" mindset.

If quail are important, I'd stick as close to the middle of the state as possible and hunt where the grass isn't quite as think and where there's some shrubby type cover. If you're willing to put a higher priority on pheasants, then I would think strongly about the area from Hays to the west, north of I-70. There's plenty of WIHA up there and there have been lots of birds in the past couple of ears with a similar forecast for this year.

Bring a good dog or three, a good friend or three, and a comfortable pair of boots, preferrably with tread that won't pick up a lot of mud.

That's a killer pic, Cheesy. A GSP working a crossing wind is a dangerous and beautiful thing.

They are already starting to bunch up in western KS.

More birds this year than we've seen for years..

SWEET

I'm out of town next week for work so I had to pass on hunting this weekend. My brother just called me from the farm - two of his GSP's just got mugged by a skunk about 100-ft. from the campfire. It should be a fun night.

Thanks, I was the cameraman on that one with a disposable camera, dog is my brother in laws though. He might just be a $30 backyard bred unregistered dog, but he is deadly on wild pheasants, and even better around my 3 and 5 year old niece and nephew. That picture he was actually pointing a covey of quail which surprised the heck out of me when I went in for the flush.

Lots of bobwhites some years in W. Kansas. They tend to be easy to find because they stay near trees and brush and that only occurs in a very few places. So they get thinned out pretty fast once the bird season begins (some of the survivors are protected by staying VERY close to somebody's house. Don't even try to hunt those....Kansas country gals are tough! Liable to Cheney ya!).

Western Kansas gets pretty marginal for quail habitat-wise, but this year could be better than most. Try to remember not to take a covey below 5 or 6 birds for winter survival. You can't stockpile them, but it's nice to have a chance of carry over.

Great pictures Cheesy! I am itching to go and the dogs want get started no doubt. Nice looking dogs too!

Do you know how hard it is trying to get people to be quiet when they get out of a vehicle? Most slam their door, then proceed to let the tailgate slam down, then start yelling at the dogs and then proceed to load their shotgun while carrying on a loud conversation with anyone listening. By this time the birds are all 1/2 mile away and hopefully the blockers are in place.

Wind in Kansas???? You must be mistaken, LMAO. The wind is one of your best allies. Always keep the wind in your face (if possible) and it will help you bag more birds. The dogs will actually work better for you if walking into the wind.

The #1 problem I see the most is when you start walking and there are always those that just take off like there is a race to the other end. Take your time and you will get up more of the birds that try to sit tight and let you walk over them.

Yeah, I think I permanently wrecked my spine on one of those "sitters"! He launched out of my left back pocket, or so it seemed. My back has a permanent left twist, like some revolver bores. Got him with the second barrel; if the first had connected, he would have been a feather duster for sure. (Got a little excited; cut back the caffeine a gallon or so, maybe?????).

How can a brightly-colored bird that seems as big as a B-36 when it takes off, hide in a puny furrow in an open field so you walk right past it? Some Chinese ninja magic????

Okay guys, just how realistic is it for a Colorado elk hunter to load up the truck, drive to NW Kansas and hunt the public walk-in areas on his own and solo and without a dog, and expect to find and flush a few pheasants?

And just how crowded will those WIHAs likely be on opening weekend? I�m thinking between WaKeeney and Norton.

Any input would be much appreciated.

Bill Krenz
Colorado Springs

Timberline:

I have never hunted without a dog. I have hunted a lot of times where the dog was 30 yards to my left and a pheasant flushed 10 yards to my right. Was it because of the dog casting back and forth that made the bird flush? Maybe, maybe not. I've had good luck just wandering large patches of CRP following the dog, trying to stick to areas that looked 'different' than the rest of the field. You can put birds up by yourself I'm sure, just how many is a question.

The WIHA's are going to be packed. We typically get to hunt private ground, but opening weekend this year is off for us, so we'll be part of the crowd on the WIHA's, will hit the private ground later in the year. If you get there at 5am you might be able to claim a field to yourself, but after the first couple of hours most of the fields will have had hunters in them. I've also heard of single guys with a dog going into a half section of CRP that an army has just walked. The single guy goes slow, follows the dog, and comes out with birds.

You might also just get lucky and find a group that invites you to join them.

Good Luck.

Should I read the hunting forums for another 30 minutes or go ahead and hit the road for western Kansas? Which is more profitable for my company?