Do It Yourself Upland Bird Hunting
Do It Yourself Upland Bird Hunt Key Points
Recommendations where to hunt.
Do it yourself upland bird hunting does not mean you are alone when hunting with Mid-America Hunting Association. True that each upland bird hunter will be able to hunt on his own as often as wanted behind his own dogs at his own pace. However, the two Mid-America HUnting Association partners take personal responsibility that all upland bird hunters their first year in the Association and whenever traveling to a new area have a plan. That plan is where to hunt right down to which farms to park the truck as well as a local lodging listing for both plan 'A' and plan 'B'. This means that on each trip every new Association upland bird hunter will have more than one locality and type of terrain to insure one that may more fit his dog power and bird of preference.
Do it yourself hunts includes the hunter's own variable upland bird dog power.
Within our approach to do it yourself bird hunts the biggest discriminator we have observed over the years between a good and bad hunt has centered on dog power. In this pictorial display we are examining one aspect of dog power that significantly adds to the enjoyment of the hunt.
The pictures immediately above and below show some quail cover. Not the best quail cover, but cover on a very good quail farm that is also open enough to illustrate very good quail finding dog power.
The pictures immediately above and below show some quail cover. Not the best quail cover, but cover on a very good quail farm that is also open enough to illustrate very good quail finding dog power.
In the picture above the dog is running the downwind edge of the cover. This dog is not the author's best bird dog ever, he happens to be the best of the current three. This dog and the others get good at edge running about the end of their second and frequently not older than their third season.
Running the downwind edge is the start. The next indicator of quail dog power is the willingness to dive into cover at indications the dog learns on its own where to find quail.
This dog on the return leg always runs the opposite side ran out. Runs along the edge back to the main branch of the creek bottom and heads along to the next finger of cover and repeats the process. This dog is also a long runner that will cover all edge to the extent the land allows him to maintain eye contact with his master. This range is typically well in excess of a hundred yards. The value of this dog is that he will cover many miles of edge saving the hunter the need to walk the dog along it and he does find more coveys faster than the other two dogs.
This same dog is not any good in the tall grass pheasant hunting. He simply runs too hard at too long of range to be effective. This dog is a specialist on quail, not solely by desire of the owner, but also dictated by the nature of the dog.
The quail farm shown in the previous ground level pictures, 240 acres. Examine the length of the edge habitat. We have timed many of our hunts with estimated mileage and believe we walk at 20 minutes per mile. Most hunters will believe they walk faster. However the dog action, contours and habitat will conspire to slow down walking speed deceptive to observation.
This farm pictured is 1/2 by 3/4 miles. The edge lines amount to over 6 miles counting all the creek line, fingers and circular cover each capable of holding quail. A good edge running dog will cover this ground far faster than a hunter could walk it all and that alone makes a big difference in the number of coveys found per day. Even at 20 minutes per mile this one farm is a 2 hour hunt, and that would be a fast hunt.
There are several forms of do it yourself upland bird hunts and we will take the time to clearly define our approach to do it yourself hunts.
We do not provide any guide service, bird dogs or advice on how to hunt. We provide land, recommendations where to hunt and a list of local lodging.
When it comes to do it yourself upland bird hunts, our concentration is on the Ringneck Pheasant and Bobwhite Quail. For these two birds alone do we seek and lease the right habitat in the right region of Kansas, Missouri and Iowa that can support long term reproduction of season long huntable wild populations. We do not promote Prairie Chicken, Dove, Grouse or any other species of upland birds that while present are not so in huntable numbers within our three state region to make for a good hunt.
Members may feel free to pursue these other birds and should understand the limitations of doing so beyond our land lease focus.
The Prairie Chicken occupies a very limited range and in highly localized specific habitat in Kansas. We have not observed any in Missouri or Iowa.
Prairie Chicken habitat is highly specialized and is lacking due to agricultural use of these wide open flat land areas for crop or pasture. These agricultural land use practices prohibits reproduction. While it is common to see flocks well in excess of 20 when a flock is seen and up to 200 through a year's hunting season, there is not any predictability to their presence. This combined low bird density and lack of behavior patterning lends this bird to be an incidental bonus to any hunt rather than the main pursuit.
Plains grouse such as Sharp Tailed and Sage do not range into our area. Ruffled Grouse and Woodcock do exist in very limited population areas and not to any degree to be huntable.
Dove hunting is very possible and conducted by many in early September. We have plenty of dove in a wide area of Kansas and Missouri with the Kansas Milo field a strong feed source. What the MAHA hunter will not get from the Association staff is where to hunt dove as they are like the goose or Teal, highly mobile an need to be scouting the day before or of the hunt.
For all migratory birds, to include our waterfowl hunts, they are where they are and there is nothing to promote or predict where the better hunting will be on any particular day. While they occupy nearly every area where we lease land it will require scouting immediately before the hunt to find the better areas.
Self guided upland hunts for pheasant and quail are managed very differently and far more intensely.
For every new member we will provide recommendations based on our year round boots on the ground experience as well as that gain from hunting our own bird dogs of where to hunt. We will make these recommendations based on the upland hunter's habitat preference and bird of choice between the varying ranges of wild Bobwhite Quail and pheasant population densities. For most this should be considered a starting point as we will also encourage the new members to take a tour of our various regions.
The first season MAHA hunter approach determined to be most useful is to agree that the first season is more to set the hunter up for years of hunts to come rather than just an upland bird hunting trip. We encourage a all to take a hunt tour of our various regions of habitat. The shallow ditches and open sky habitat of southern Iowa for pheasant and quail. Transition to the crop edge of Missouri for quail and then to Kansas to experience the brush filled draw for pheasant and quail and tall grass for pheasant. The value of this upland bird tour is to see if the bird dog or hunter has a better time in one type over the other based on their own hunting styles. When a favored habitat or quail and pheasant combination is achieve then that hunter may look forward to years of returning to those areas as well as exploring new ground when wanting that added bit of adventure.
For the do it yourself upland bird hunts we offer an easier approach to getting on good habitat within reproductive upland bird regions, more private land to hunt than any bird hunter can cover, a choice of habitat and two birds that can be hunted the same day or trip. It will be hard to find a better do it yourself private land upland bird hunting alternative.
No Dog Pheasant Hunt Story
