doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kansas Prairie Chickens

Maybe you need some young guy with a spaniel to drive them to you Chuck

Last Dollar-get 4-5 friends together.
Pick the fence post you think has the highest likelyhood of them flying by. Sit by it.

Post your friends along the fence far away from you to either side. 100-200 yds. When someone see chickens flying in, have them stand up and wave a flag.

The flock will swing right over you.

Colonel-
Chickens have several things going against them.

Hard work-Lots of walking.
Poor table fare compared to pheasants.
Totally reliant on landowners wanting chickens on their land for various reasons.

They are never going to be endangered by specimen collectors and eccentrics.

Cattle and spring burning, Absolutely! But not walk them up guys.

Clapper, agree habitat not hunting is their issue, I just like the solitude of early season chicken compared to later seasons on the marsh

A.B. Frost

"Prairie Chicken Shooting", 1895



"Prairie Chickens"

As ground nesting birds, the wind generators are their enemy. Chickens will not (normally) nest within a couple mile radius of a tall object. Their main predators are avian which will rest on a tall object. Put up enough wind generators and there won't be any prairie chickens nesting. The wilder areas of the Flint Hills is great habitat for them because of the vastness without utility poles or other tall objects. Likewise, the Cimarron Grasslands for the lessers in southwest Kansas.

Cimarron Sunset

William Inge screenwriter for 'Splendor in the Grass'
"Violence on the plains exists more in nature than in man. A person lives in this mid-country with an inherent consciousness of the sky. One is always aware of the sky in these states, because one sees so much more of it than in the mountainous regions where the horizons are blocked and the heavens are trimmed down like a painting, to fit a smaller frame. And human life on the prairie is more dependent upon and influenced by the sky and it constant maneuverings than in other regions. Men here look at the sky each morning as soon as they get out of bed, to see what kind of a day is indicated. Life and prosperity depend upon the sky, which can destroy a season's crops in a few hours, by hail or blizzards or tornadoes or a relentlessly burning sun that can desiccate the land like an Old Testament curse."

Hard to believe Drew, but I've been known to just stop my truck, and head aimlessly out into the short grass prairie for entire days. Usually by day 3, the dogs are done.
But I, like the Old Colonel, like the solitude.

Just me, a couple dogs, and my thoughts until we get tired.

I hunted them near Scott City at Christmas time in the snow.
Easy picken's.

This makes it

Sunrise. Thomas Gray "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" - Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.



Sunset



I sorely miss the prairie this time of year

I decided years ago, when chikin' hunting (really shooting) with a 92 year old man, that I would walk the fields until I couldn't walk them anymore. And then block.

I walked about 12.5-13 yesterday. My hips feel it more every year. Got an ankle wearing out too, it seems.

But if a man is compulsive in his manner, following bird dogs is excellent therapy. One foot in front of the other, over and over, and over.

........................Georgia Prairie Chickens...............
The State of Georgia can't grow pheasants and has never had any grouse but for about three Ruffs which are purported to live somewhere in the Cohutta management area in the mountains at the top of the State. Noting that shortfall, the game dept. decided years ago to import some Red Jungle Fowl as an experiment.

They were stocked at Bowen's Mill hatchery near the City of Fitzgerald. Unfortunately for the game dept., some unscrupulous person sold them bantam chicken biddies instead of wild jungle fowl.

The bantams didn't especially like living in the woods and all migrated into the City of Fitzgerald. The citizens adopted them as the city bird and encouraged their proliferation in the residential areas. They even built raised nesting places in the street dividers. Fitzgerald has a "Wild Chicken Festival" every year to celebrate the birds.

Any time I am driving in that area of the State, I make a point to go through Fitzgerald to see the Georgia Prairie Chickens. There are decidedly more of them in the nicer residential areas than in some other areas of the city...Geo