Upland Bird Hunting in Midwest? (Kansas, Others?)

[Derwood]

Have any of you ever traveled to the midwest to hunt upland birds like quail and pheasants? I'm thinking about going to Kansas to take advantage of their Walk-In-Hunting Program. Under the program, private landowners allow access to their fields for anyone with a KS license to hunt.

http://ksoutdoors.com/Services/Priv...ife-Biologists/Walk-in-Hunting-Access-Program

It seems like a fantastic program and there is a whole lot of land available.

I've been training my puppy (Deutsche Drahthaar) to hunt birds with me all spring/summer and would like to expose her to wild birds while she is still in her first year. (I've been using planted birds to train her during the off-season). I also want to have a good time and adventure hunting in a new landscape.

So, have any of you ever tried this? Or perhaps something similar in another state? Any tips/suggestions/advice?

Side note: do any of you hunt ruffed grouse or other upland birds in this area? I've attempted to hunt grouse several times without a dog. I've found plenty of grouse but they're so quick that I never managed to bag one. I'm planning to hunt them this year as well, now that I have a pointing dog.

 

[rbird7282]

I went on upland bird hunting in Kansas about 20 years ago on public lands. Friends brother used to go out there every year so he met us there along with my friend and his dad. Got a bunch of quail. Had a shot at one pheasant but missed. Had a great time though. Weather can be very unpredictable. Was 50's the week we were there in October (I think) but was snowing the next week


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[Klunatic]

I go to Iowa and South Dakota. The Southeast part of SD or Northwest part of IA have really good hunting for Pheasant. If you hunt public land you will need steel shot. We have had really good success in SD the last few years limiting out near Aberdeen. Don't know much about Kansas for upland game.

 

[trickg]

I grew up in a little town called Imperial in SW Nebraska - I don't know if Nebraska has a program like that, but we had some friends who used to travel in from Denver every year to hunt pheasant. We got to know them clear back when we still owned our family farm south of town and they hunted on our property.

I could probably put you in touch with some folks from my hometown who could get you set up to hunt. There is a family who lives just outside of another small town in Chase County called Champion, and they have several cabins they rent out, along with having some farm ground where you can hunt.

I don't know much about hunting quail - when I hunted, it was mainly for pheasant, and that was easy enough to do by walking tree rows, wheat stubble fields, grassy corners of corn circles, etc - basically any place that provided cover where they'd bed down.

To my knowledge, you don't need to do anything special for hunting licenses - you can buy non-resident hunting licenses online. The main things is finding someone willing to let you hunt on their land, and as long as you don't come across as a dumbass, you should be good to go - Nebraskans are pretty nice folks in general.

 

[Mickey the Dragon]

My family's from Iowa and we used to go back and hunt pheasants every year when I was growing up. We've made it back a few times more recently, but not as regularly as we'd like. I can't speak to the other species, but a pheasant will only fly as a last resort, it would much rather run on the ground or sit still and let you walk past. For pheasants, I'd recommend bringing a friend or two or three along, . More guns means (theoretically) more chances to hit the birds, which means your dog gets rewarded for finding and flushing birds as well as practice at retrieving. Plus, with more people you can use walkers and blockers to contain the birds that try to run and flush the birds that decide to sit. I'm moving to South Dakota in two weeks, so I might have more advice for you after this season.

 

[trickg]

...but a pheasant will only fly as a last resort, it would much rather run on the ground or sit still and let you walk past.

One of the most startling things is when you are walking a field and almost step on the hen that just wants to sit there. They make all kinds of damned racket when they finally decide to fly - it seems hens are worse about it than roosters, and hens are protected so you can't shoot them.

Heck, even when they do flush, and you don't get a shot, that doesn't necessarily mean that you missed your opportunity - half the time they fly a couple of hundred yards and land in the same damned field, so your idea of having walkers and blockers is a great way to approach it, just so long as someone doesn't pull a Cheney and shoot their friend in the face!

 

[BigCity]

You could just stay home and shoot Quail at TOWcritter's house

 

[Marshmallow]

We did Montana last year. They have a similar program. They call it block management. Gonna go to Iowa and hunt some family land this year. Shoot me a pm if you want to hunt birds locally. We use a game farm in southern New Jersey for dog training and conditioning.

 

[STeveZ]

Been to SD once. I hunted the CRP land all around the farm we were staying on (without a dog) flushed one hen pheasant. Hunted the farm we were staying at, saw no birds but nearly got run over by a big racked buck. Saw a lot of birds the evening our host took me road hunting. All in all it was an interesting though not very productive trip. I hope to get our west again once my Brittany gets a season or two under his belt. Its just so damn far.

If you believe the current upland TV shows Kansas is the up and coming destination for pheasant and quail.

 

[Rocky BearDog]

Hunted pheasant in eastern Montana 2 years ago. Almost as much fun as ducks... almost

 

[Yingpin]

We should maybe get together and meet. I have been going to Kansas every year since I was born to hunt Quail and Pheasant. We do a family trip and we bring about 7-10 people from MD every year. Most guys have been going off and on the whole time but it is not a fancy trip. Family ranch in a very small town.


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[jsanwo]

Well I just booked this Pheasant or Dove Hunts for $95 buck in the Midwest not public land but not a bad price.