doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kansas or S. Dakota this year ?

I am looking for advise as to where to plan our after Xmas hunt this year. Last year we hunted in Kansas within a couple of hours west and north of Salina with limited success. It was extremely cold and the last day we hunted up near Beloit and the high temp for the day was 3 above. Didn't see as may pheasants as expected and did stubble through several coveys of quail with no pointing dog. Hunted all walk-in public that had probably been hit hard at that point.
Our normal area in South Dakota just north of Kimball is not sounding good. Our rancher friend says stay home and his place is usually lousy with birds. We also usually hit several public areas with good results.
May need to branch out to look at other areas further north/east?
Any reports are appreciated.

WE hunted east of Miller with very limited success this year with our land owner having put out hens and roosters that he had raised. 8 of us got 45 with 5 days of pretty hard hunting. I don't think I could with a clear conscience recommend that you go to SD, at least to the areas in Hand county where we hunted. Mighty slim pickens.

Perry,
Thanks for the information on your trip. I have hunted just south of there and east over to Huron area in the past. Most of the reports I have been reading are not good. 20 years ago we hunted south of 90 down near Winner and may check on that area.
I talked to a guy at my trap club that had good success in Kansas west of Salina over Thanksgiving but he was guided and hunting on private land. The quail are a big bonus when going to Kansas.
The drive for me from Maryland is brutal either way 18 to 22 hours!
I could take the easy route and stay home and do more pen birds but 1 wild bird equals 10 pen raised! I sure miss the 70's and 80's when there wild birds here.

You only live once and don't get any re-do's.

Deciding on whether to go or not based on the number of birds you might (or might not) shoot? ...stay home and shoot pen-raised birds, or just go and have some fun in new country.

I agree with Cman. We have heard good and bad reports for the past 16 years hunting in SD and we still go, every year without fail. We decided a while back that numbers dont mean as much to us as the good times we have with a bunch of friends. I realize that this is not for everybody, but it sure has worked for us!! Our party has ranged from 6 to 12 and regardless of the number of hunters we still come away with birds and a heck of a good time is had by all!!

I'd say that the main thing is to be flexible: both where you go, and when. If you think 3 above in KS is cold and you're looking at a post-Christmas hunt, check the forecast before you head to SD! Much better chance of finding it at least that cold. And very possibly with a whole lot of snow.

I've been to Iowa twice. I can't really recommend it for people who don't have access to private land, because Iowa has way less public land (or private land open to public hunting--walk-in areas etc) than do any of the other top pheasant states. And I had to change the timing on both trips to avoid bad weather. And I had to pick another area to hunt in one case because they got over a foot of snow where I'd planned to go. I was going alone and hunting with friends down there, which allows for more flexibility than if you're putting a group hunt together. But given pheasant numbers these days, you need to do everything you can to stack the odds in your favor.

I lived pretty much Ground Zero of the pheasant recovery in Iowa, after CRP got going and the total harvest jumped from about 700,000 in 1984 (which would be outstanding today!) to nearly 1 1/2 million in 1987. Back then, if you had a good dog and the desire to do it, along with decent private land access, you could shoot a limit just about every day you decided to try. It's a far cry from that these days. But I've been down there on two short trips, 2 1/2 hunting days each time. (I can get there in an easy day, so the short trips work for me. Last time, I got out of there with a limit in the truck by mid-morning the last day. If I'd waited until the next day, I would have had to deal with freezing rain.) But I shot birds every day but one, when it was real cold and windy and the birds really spooky. And one other limit--that one off public land--in addition to the one I mentioned above. So I've had two really red letter days, been able to hunt with good friends, and watch good dog work--by mine and my friend's. I could shoot released birds a lot closer to home--and I do--but the wild ones are a different challenge entirely. I'll likely make one more trip this season--two if I'm lucky. Unless Mother Nature rules it out.

My pheasant hunting is done for the year. Now it is on to quail, my very favorite of all upland birds both the shoot and to eat.

Larry, what region or counties of the state are you hunting in?

I've been in Greene a lot and there are birds, but also heavy snow in some place that has flattened the cover.

Guys, thanks for all the information. Unfortunately, I am kind of limited time wise to the week after Christmas and know the drill with the weather. Also I only have one buddy interested this year and a 7 month old GSP that I will probably leave home. I have done 3 hunts in the past during the same time frame. One in Kansas and two in SD, last year Kansas and 2015 in SD were brutally cold but we got by. Usually late season SD the birds have been bunched up and we have done OK. This was not the case last year in Kansas, we had trouble finding pheasants and we wondered if the public areas had been hit hard. We found a lot of public walk-ins but many were very sparse for cover and we did a lot of driving/scouting for the places that we did hunt.
First day last year I stumbled into a covey with no dog and shot my first true double on wild quail in 30 years with a 110 year old Lefever and that's what makes it all worthwhile! Missed plenty of easy birds after that too!
At 54 years old I'm realizing that I will never shoot or need all of the doubles I have collected over the years. I'm thinking of starting to find takers to swap guns for bird hunts in different states as the hunts and experiences and more important that the guns. Not a big fan to the cushy pay to hunt experiences, nor do I have the budget for those types of hunts.

I had intended to hunt south of Iowa City on my last trip. That was before that region got a real dump of snow. Most of it may be gone now, I think. Rain took care of that. But I had a friend hunting deer in southern Keokuk County and he said the result was a muddy, sloppy mess. Even with 4wd they were doing their best to avoid the B roads.

Had decent luck north of Ames. Not much snow around there, unless they picked up some last weekend. But it sounded like the worst of that was more up along the Minnesota border.

Larry, I don't think anything has happened in the last week or so to get rid of snow. So, that area you mention may still be in it. Check out some on-line cameras or make some calls.

There is effectively zero snow north of Ames, which is where I live, but I don't know how far I'd have to go to get to the snow line. Raptor populations are not super high, which suggests that the snow line is pretty far north of me.

Thinking about heading Northwest tomorrow, but maybe just west. Can't make up my mind.

My friend who hunted deer for several days in southern Keokuk County--which is SW of Iowa City--said the problem down there was mud. Expect it might depend on how much snow they had to start with. (I know some areas had over a foot.) And then how much rain they got, which would have helped to get rid of the snow. But then you hope for cold weather to freeze the mud.

Where I live in Kansas is now pretty much a "pheasant free" zone. Up until maybe 5 or 6 years ago finding pheasants was not a problem at all, they were everywhere. Except for some really good pockets they are now scarce. Quail have rebounded quite well but, for some reason not the pheasants. For example, on some ground of ours is a 40 acre patch on native prairie grass. Used to always be anywhere from 5 to 25 birds in it. Now lucky to see even one bird. And NO, absolutely NOTHING has changed habitat-wise anywhere even remotely near there other than normal yearly crop rotations. Why the quail have done well and not the pheasants is giant mystery. Have access to a massive amount of private ground and it is the same virtually everywhere.

Interesting that quail # have increased while pheasants appear to have gone the other way. Usually, good cover for quail is also good cover for pheasants. But the reverse isn't the case. Some very good pheasant cover can be too tall and too thick for quail.

I don't know if quail nesting habitat is particularly different than pheasant habitat, but if it is, that could easily be sufficient to drive the two species in opposite directions, as could competitive battles for key food resources.

Right now in central Iowa and west, early snows flattened a bunch of productive cover making it very difficult for pheasants, so they have concentrated in cattails - which are frozen "early" this year. As a result they are getting pounded hard. Lots of hens but roosters are declining faster than they have in recent years - or at least that is my personal observations.

What about Northwest Kansas. I may be going there in 2019. My initial intel is that there are few pheasant but some quail. What do you know?

The CRP cover I hunted a week ago Friday, north of Ames, was in excellent shape. The big storm that hit Iowa early was south of there. The worst, from what I saw as far as snowfall totals, was south of I-80. Southeast getting the most. The storm that followed that one was mostly up along the MN border.

For the last several years, we have been in a hole in the snowstorms. I haven't plowed my driveway in years.

So it looks like we are going to Kansas, leaving the day after X-mas.
Probably will start out around Salina. We are not sure if we should focus on heading north or south of I-70 from there. Any recent reports? I spoke to a friend who hunted near South Bend and got into alot of birds at the end of November, but he was guided ($350 per man/day..ouch!) and hunted all private land. We will be hunting walk-ins and any land we can gain permission by asking. Any info is welcome and appreciated.

That's a pretty stiff guiding fee. But if he got them into lots of birds . . .

wow! $350 per man per day! Heck, I'll guide for that. I live less than 90 minutes from Salina and have access to about 9000 acres ( true, believe it or not ) of private ground. Oh, wait, you wanted pheasants. Never mind.

My nephew has been here for three different 3 day hunts for a total of nine hunting days. Saw a total of about two dozen pheasants of which only a couple were hens.

Yikes! Works out to 3 pheasants a day. I hope quail numbers are a lot better!

In speaking with the nephew again he said he doesn�t think he saw even twenty pheasants, probably less. Most troubling is the virtual lack of hens. Normally one sees a fairly equal ratio of roosters/hens when hunting wild birds. And, again, he is hunting all private ground with excellent habitat that is not hunted by anyone else. Yes, the quail numbers are a lot better. But we prefer them anyway!

You do sometimes find them segregating by sex this time of year. My last hunt in Iowa, we hunted two small patches of CRP divided by a creek. The first patch held several roosters and only 2 or 3 hens. The patch on the other side of the creek: My little Brittany stuck 6 hens in a row, and I was beginning to think I'd found the ladies' powder room! But the last one she nailed was a rooster.

I've never had a bad year in SD. This year was no exception. I saw twice as many birds this year as last. I hunted all November primarily on public land. I hunt by myself or with one other person. I don't do the big group thing. I don't wear any orange. Bought three licenses to hunt 30 days. South Dakota has the best pheasant hunting bar none.

One problem I've always wondered about, hunting as a nonresident for a long period of time: What do you do with the birds you shoot once you've exceeded the possession limit? Especially with big birds like pheasants, it's pretty hard to eat that many of them. Especially when you're on the road.

Was that an accusation.............. or an admission? Hard to tell.

SRH

I have solved that problem in the past by freezing the birds solid, packing them in a disposable cooler and Shipping them 2nd day delivery to friend. Worked like a charm.

You eat them or you follow the law and share them legally, Larry. I doubt you�ve �wondered�....you know exactly what happened to the upland journal golden boy �roysetters�. He deserved what he got, he was a game hog, braggart, and as unethical as they come...I�m glad he got nailed.
I�ve hunted with �DuxDog� many times, he�s a friend. I can tell you this...he eats what he kills and he has the culinary skills to change it up and keep things interesting. He doesn�t break the law either. He�s a killer, but he�s about as ethical as they come. He�s also one of the finest game shots I�ve ever seen. Heck of of a shooter.
SKB, the shipping of game birds to a friend is pretty sketchy if not done by the book, not saying you didn�t go by the book, this is more for others information. It also varies state to state. Usually, Birds have to be tagged, I believe both parties have to have valid hunting licenses, and there has to be a note of transfer with your drivers license and hunting license numbers on it. There�s some pretty by the book rules when it comes to the transfer of game. No, not everyone follows them to the T. A landowner that allowed me to hunt her farm asked me for 2 plucked mallards for her Christmas dinner..I obliged and kept up my end of the bargain...totally by the book, nope..

Coming from him I'd say a little both....with just a hint of jealousy thrown in for good measure.

Nice pics dukxdog.

Great question! I have a house in SD that I use as a "Bed and Breakfast" for pheasant hunters. It's a nice place to stay, reasonably priced and I cook nice meals for those there. I don't guide anyone. All bring their own dogs to hunt with. They opt to hunt solo or with their friends.

Not all guys get their limits while there for five days. I give the guys birds to fill out their possession limits to take home. They all like eating pheasant so are glad to take them.

I keep the birds I shoot the last five days of my stay. All is legal and above board. Here are some photos of my house.

Thanks for the compliments LeFusil

I too have a house in South Dakota.....man I love the high plains almost as much as the mountains. Might be where I retire to.

The Ice storm brewing just canceled my trip to SW Nebraska....maybe after it passes.

Wouldn't be a good thing, Stan, for an outdoor writer to be caught exceeding the possession limit. When I lived in Iowa and we were the #1 pheasant state in the country--and I had the time and the inclination to do a lot of hunting--the only way I could stay under the possession limit was by giving birds away. Fortunately, several of the landowners who let me hunt their farms liked pheasant. One of them had enough kids for his own baseball team. Also people at work when I was teaching at Iowa State; soldiers in my Army Reserve unit, etc.

And that was as a resident, with a kitchen in which to cook them and a wife to help eat them. As a nonresident, the only issue I've had was with woodcock, especially back when the possession limit was 6. (And I never hunted as a nonresident for much longer than a week at a time.) Fortunately, woodcock are small. My hunting partners and I stayed in a resort cabin with cooking facilities and would have a woodcock feed or two before heading home.

Looks like the poster has hit upon an excellent solution. Just interested to hear how he does it for a month's worth of hunting.

And by the way, Dustin . . . I agree that the individual to whom you refer deserved to be caught.