Pheasant Hunting Expectations
Reasonable pheasant hunting expectations within Mid-America Hunting Association is to recognize our wild pheasant hunting is on natural terrain. That also means the hunter must travel to where the pheasants are, as the best pheasant hunting habitat is not distributed statewide in Kansas, Missouri or Iowa.
When recommending to the first year member where to go pheasant hunting his choice is along a range from the best pheasant hunting that we have that exists within the tall grass where quail are limited, to draws of mixed quail and pheasants in limited numbers, to quail predominate areas of thinner crop edge.
The tall grass will concentrate the easiest to hunt birds and in the most dense numbers. These are the easy hunts where when 10, 20 to 50 birds get up within seconds and there are always a few that allow for blue sky shooting.
Mixed bag pheasant and quail hunting in draws and crop edge is the next most likely location to find pheasants. These will be overgrown in plum thickets and grasses typically bringing the cover habitat to grain field edge. Shooting is tougher as much of the cover is higher than the hunter.
Limited pheasant hunting opportunity will be found in the better quail regions of largely grain fields with thin to thick edge along woody cover. These are the larger watersheds within heavy agricultural land use regions.
Pheasant Limits & Hunt Quality
To expect a pheasant limit each hunting day every day of a trip is unrealistic given wild pheasants on natural terrain. Enjoying dog on bird action every day is reasonable. Just how much of that bird action will occur is dependent on dog power, hunter willingness to walk and shooting ability.
To know what is reasonable is to examine some of the unrealistic expectations of some.
What is unreasonable is for the hunter to state he seeks the best pheasant hunting we have, typically meaning the most dense concentrations, but does not want to hunt the tall grass. Some hunters seek ideals that do not exists such as easy pheasant habitat and plenty of birds.
We have heard from some hunters that the tall grass is too hard to hunt for either the hunter or his dog. If that is the case then that hunter must settle for different habitat that will yield less pheasant density.
Another unreasonable expectation is for all dogs to do well at pointing pheasants.
Pheasants, from those that have hunted grouse, pheasants and quail will tell that pheasants are in-between ruffed grouse and quail for tolerance of a dog on point. Pheasants while more tolerant than ruffed grouse are far less so compared to bobwhite quail. While a particular dog may have proficiency at one type of bird and hunting condition that proficiency will not always translate to pheasant hunting, in spite of the hunter's expectations.
A common hunter statement that indicates dog to pheasant issues is a hunter that says he has seen many pheasants and they must be pressured birds as they will not hold for point. Typically, when we drill down on this type of statement we find a dog with limited wild bird hunting experience and any wild bird experience is likely not on pressure sensitive birds or is on released birds. In this example the problem with the pheasant hunting is not the presence of pheasants, it is a dog that does not have sufficient point standoff to prevent the pheasant from run or flush.
What is reasonable pheasant hunting expectations is to be able to hunt wild pheasants on a variety of cover conditions where both hunter and dog will quickly find out just how good they are at wild pheasant hunting.
Association Unguided Hunter Perspective
Father and Son - No Dog
John,
Clayton and I went to [location deleted] County, Kansas on opening day [pheasant season]. Weather was comfortable, but would have preferred colder temperatures. At least the wind was cooperative. Overall, we had a very successful pheasant hunt, bringing home 6 birds. Left 3 downed birds in heavy CRP. The pheasant numbers are not what they were last year in this part of Kansas, but oddly enough, I estimate we saw 8-1 roosters, which I believe was just a fortunate coincidence, unless someone can convince me to think otherwise. The condition of most CRP fields shows the effects of the lower rainfall earlier in the year. Like we did last year, Clayton and I pheasant hunted alone and without the aid of a dog. Not that I wouldn't like to hunt with a good dog, but just goes to show that you don't have to have a bird dog or an army of people to have a good Kansas hunt.
Thanks, Gerald
Thanks Gerald for the azimuth check on the values of hunting, pheasants, dogs and being with family. For the rest of us Gerald and Clayton spend far more time deer than pheasant hunting. This description of an incidental pheasant hunt should put "bird availability" well into perspective.
Long Time Upland/Waterfowl Hunter/Member
John:
Hope you had a good pheasant opener. Jasper and I hunted [location deleted] County, Kansas Saturday and Sunday. Hardly any hunters in the area. We limited out by 9:30 both days. Not bragging, just wanted to put some optimism in the air.
Also, there wasn't much "quail" habitat in the area. But in the little we had, we found 3 coveys in less than a 150 yards. We hunted this Kansas farm the last two years. The year before was great. Last year was tough. I think a lot of hunters had a tough time with all the milo still in the fields, but it should leave a lot more for the rest of the year.
So far so good. Andrew
Andrew has been a long time consistent feedback provider with an experience history that can put conditions into objective analysis quickly. Or, to say more simply listen to what he writes as it is fair and free of ego. Thanks Andrew for always thinking about others. Andrew also offered comments he rarely has a good Iowa opener, but later in the season always finds the bird hunting too good to pass.
Good Habitat - Few Birds
John,
Just returned from [location deleted] and the opening of the pheasant season. The habitat on all of the MAHA properties was tremendous. The weather was tough the first day with no dew in the morning and temperatures reaching 65 by 2:00 p.m. We had 2 roosters pointed and a few hens pointed. We hunted late afternoon and another rooster was pointed. Sunday started out as a great Kansas pheasant hunting day. It was foggy and misting and about 45. We hunted hard until 11:00 and did not get one point. We did flush a juvenile rooster that Colt harvested. We did not encounter any quail.
My opinion is that they did not have a really good pheasant hatch in that area for two years. I make my assumption on the fact that over 90% of the pheasants we have harvested there in the last two years were mature birds...We did see a number of roosters feeding with deer in green wheat fields. I do think the pheasant hunting in that area of Kansas will be much better as the weather cools down more.
I am planning on Kansas deer hunting there during the rifle season and will go a couple of days early to pheasant hunt; hopefully there will be a little snow and about 25 degrees.
Take care, Mike
Thank you Mike for the honest assessment. Sharing feedback like this is always a reminder there may not be anything as a bad pheasant hunting day, but there are certainly good and better days. For the rest of the readers Mike and Colt have sent in fair and balanced feedback for years on Kansas pheasant hunting as well as Kansas deer.