Pheasant Hunting Dogs
Pheasant hunting dogs are any dog that Association hunter wants to take to field.
We make no distinction amongst pheasant hunting dogs. The observations contained on this web page are merely offered as common points raised to us by those that have hunted our various upland bird regions.
Kansas Pheasant Hunting
Kansas tall grass pheasant hunting at the end of January. There are two dogs out in that grass with point mode only collars.
It is generally accepted to be most effective at pheasant hunting is to hunt quiet. Down to the hunters not talking and walking as quietly as possible. As these birds will occupy some of the thickest low ground cover to be found the challenge is to know where the dog is and what he is doing.
For those with pointers many would consider to hunt without a beeper collar. Those hunters with confidence in their dogs will hunt with the beeper collar in the point mode only. The longest lag time setting between dog assuming point and the beeper sounding.
Bell dog hunters are frequently those with flushers/retrievers that work at within direct observation range of the hunter. In grass they must be tracked to know where the hunter should follow.
Those flusher/retriever dog hunters of close working dogs will find that no beeper or bell is necessary. The quieter dog movement should make for more shot opportunities.
Pheasant Hunting Dog Power & Changing Habitat
Dogs capable of pheasant hunting over a variety of cover types is one distinction amongst dog power.
Same dogs in three types of cover. Tall grass above. Wheat stubble below.
Corn stubble.
Many hunters have expressed much satisfaction with pheasant hunting the tall native grasslands. With flushing and retrieving dogs alike. The thick grass cover tends to keep their dogs working close to keep an eye on the master.
For those on their first central mid-west pheasant hunting trip we will provide them with options of where to hunt. These will be based on habitat types that are more predominate within any region. In most cases we will encourage the tall grass hunt for the first trip. Otherwise, the crop field edge and brush filled draws holds birds. And, are certainly easier walking.
The pointing dog hunter will maximize the pheasant hunting that MAHA has to offer. For the pointing dog the entire range of habitat types is available to effectively hunt. The difference for flushing dogs is that some regions of good mix with closed in quail cover.
Recommendations where to hunt will be by bird of preference in terms of which areas have the better quail or pheasant hunting in terms of population densities.
Habitat types will range from the brush filled draw, thicker waterways and crop edge as well as the tall grass fields. This habitat variety advantage means that every day and between fields on the same day each pointing dog hunter will have the added adventure of different pheasant hunting conditions as well as the opportunity for quail.
In all cases we offer fair chase hunts of wild upland birds for the self guided bird dog loving hunter. This is a true hunt on natural terrain within the agricultural region that allows for the better upland bird cover that we have. There will be as many good as better days and anyone that finds a bad pheasant hunting day should refocus his attitude.
Association Upland Bird Hunter Feedback
Captured from a during season update posted to the update web page.
We always seek Association hunter feedback and include all the good and bad into our decision making. The intent of advertising it within the web site is to develop reasonable expectations of the hunt quality to be expected.
Summarized observations sent in by member feedback is that rooster numbers are down. This is an inverse correlation with observations on quail (at or above previous year) and turkey (numbers observed above the previous year).
Those offering cause and effect analysis with their observations offer:
Ground nesting birds that have overlapping regional population distribution along with similar nest and brood periods all should do similarly well or not during the same spring reproduction period. The observation that two of the three have seem to have a higher reproduction success rate indicates other causative factors for the decline of the third bird.
Another offers bird numbers have been most affected by thinner and shorter tall grass due to dry summer weather. The effect is that birds are not concentrated within the now shorter than last year tall grass. This requires hunters to find them in less population dense protective cover. Dogs that can effectively hunt the tall grass for the harder holding cover may not be as effective in other habitat types.
Two emails that represent the two extremes of the range of feedback received and interestingly cover the same county in specific and counties in general are posted below.
Email #1
john-
Well it certainly has been a tough bird season in Kansas this year, compared to last year.
The drought has really had a negative impact on the reproduction cycle and it shows, but that is the nature of bird cycles...one big effect of the drought was the early wheat harvest that took place in [location deleted]...talking personally with several farmers 2 things happened that hurt immensely...1) the wheat harvest in that area took place 2-3 weeks earlier than normal, which resulted in a lot of nests that were destroyed and never were allowed to produce hatchlings; and 2) the first hatch was impacted by 4-5 days of 100 plus degree temps, which severely impacted chick survival rates as well...a double whammy for the birds...2nd hatch was marginally productive as well, according to many locals...there are spotty areas where the birds did produce pretty well...
The 5th day of the season (the first Wednesday of the season) saw temps hitting 89 degrees in the [location deleted] area where I was hunting and I had to pull my dog from the field at 11:00 a.m. due to the excessive heat...first time in 40 years that I ever had to stop pheasant hunting due to heat conditions...anyone that thinks climate change is not happening is asleep at the wheel, I can assure you of that!
I ventured up to [location deleted] last week, as I had not been to that area for many years...wow, what a huge disappointment, as the dynamics of farming has changed drastically there over the past 10 years or so since I had been there...there is virtually no CRP or set aside anywhere...you couldn't lease it if you tried...it is extremely scarce...what exacerbates the problem is the intense farming from fence row to fence row (even the brome grass waterways have been cut and baled, leaving no cover whatsoever), leaving only hedge rows and a few brushy draws for real cover, which is still working for the quail, but has decimated the population and their ability to find suitable nesting cover...I have never seen so few birds in as many days as I hunted there...making it even worse are the many soy bean fields which leave no stubble cover for the birds to feed in...although that is a rotational row crop (same fields could be milo next year), the current result is the huge lack of additional cover left when that crop is in...
Finally, I hunted/looked at most of the properties in [location deleted]...I don't mean to offend you, but that ground is primarily "moonscape" and offers no value whatsoever for any game species...we are virtually throwing away good money for the majority of those properties...if I were to ever see any game on that ground it would only be moving through it to get to some other available adjacent cover...very disappointing.
Again, I do not want you to think I am being disrespectful towards your efforts (you guys provide a lot of good ground and no one can expect you to be responsible for the weather) and I realize you have a ton of ground to review, but quite frankly the good bird ground/cover will harbor a good deer population as well (we saw a huge whitetail and a really big mulie on several [location deleted] properties last week), but I STRONGLY suggest that you guys review [location deleted] and especially [location deleted] as they are not providing the value to bird hunters or deer hunters either one. Yes, the quail hunters can still enjoy [location deleted] and find some coveys, but I would like to see us reduce our lease ground in [location deleted] and especially [location deleted] and maybe shift it further west to [location deleted] and other areas that have a stable CRP or set aside environment, which not only favor the birds, but would still provide suitable ground for deer hunters as well. With as many bird hunters as we continue to see join our ranks, we need to keep reviewing those old leases for their value and try to rotate out of some of those pasture type properties.
First, all should take that we as an organization do seek feedback that many would consider adverse. To publish it in this open format should be all the proof necessary of that fact. It is recognition that our, the MAHA staff's opinion, is not the only or the most important opinion.
Next, we look at causative and contributing factors before coming to conclusions.
Finally, all feedback needs to be accepted as snapshots and it takes many such snapshots for a more accurate assessment prior to taking action. These snapshots also illustrate to what degree any single hunter's experience can be different than another's and shown so in the email below from a second traveling bird hunter of long term membership covering the same county as the one above the same week.
Appreciate you taking time to read and review my suggestions/reports. I love the club and what you guys do (there is some great ground out there for bird hunters) and appreciate your hard work, just trying to pass along what needs to be reviewed and will add even more value to our club and to the membership. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessment of the situation as described.
Thanks, [name deleted to encourage others to send in their feedback]
Email #2
John,
Hope all is going well with you. Recently returned from what I call a Midwest safari. I went after deer and bird in [location deleted]. Did not harvest a trophy buck, although I saw two I would have liked to. One was a [deleted] deer that was beautiful. The other was a magnificent [buck] that would have scored at least 170 B&C. The terrain is so open in [location deleted] that you can glass for miles and see deer everywhere. I would normally deer hunt until 9:00 a.m. and then bird hunt until 3:00 and then deer hunt the last two hours.
The bird hunt was about as good as it gets. I was working my two old Brittany male brothers Zeke (10 years old) and Scout (9 years old). I owned both sire and bitch and they just came out of different litters. Zeke and Scout have been after birds since they were 1 year old so between them they have 17 years of pheasant hunting. It showed during the safari. At 3 to 4 hours a day, I averaged harvesting 2 roosters a day. My best day I had my limit in 3 hours. All of the birds were mature 2 to 3 year olds. One bird that I harvested (that Scout had a great point), his head was almost completely white and his tail feathers were almost pink. He was an old guy.
On a down note, if they don't get some rain in that part of [location deleted], the wildlife will be severely affected next year.
Take care. [name deleted]
Thank you to these two contributors as well to all the others that have sent in feedback this season. It all counts and it all adds up.