Pheasant Hunts
Open country sign posting is always a challenge. Trust our maps and count road miles from known landmarks seen on the ground and on the issued maps.
Some snapshots of leased acreage in northwest Kansas upland bird country. The yellow signs are the Association's posting.
Both pictures above and below are of irrigated fields where the heart of the land is in well developed grain crop with corners in tall grass CRP. Many patches of side by side food and cover repeated many times over. Neighboring farms are of a mixture of crops with most non-irrigated. For those interested singularly in bird counts it is hard to beat this land very similar to south central Kansas and the large acreage in contiguous tall grass cover we lease. The similarity is it has the same monotony of habitat as the large acreage tall grass.
For those that more enjoy dog work over a variety of habitat this area is good for a day or two then move on to brush draws and wooded drainage's for some quail and other pheasant cover. That distinction is similar to our prohibition against day hunts and our approach to season long hunts. The day hunters would sweep this type of cover regularly over pressuring the birds. Season long hunters of their own bird dogs seek that special satisfaction of watching their dogs work and that satisfaction is multiplied when experienced over a variety of habitat. Those are who we choose to work with and why some telephone inquires from some bird hunters are over in 30 seconds. Upland bird hunters continue to be our largest category of rejected membership applications.
For new members, one hunt approach that has received good reviews post hunt is to first travel to the MAHA regional location of bird and habitat of preference. Use that as a starting point for the first couple days of the hunt. After that, start a slow roundabout travel back towards home hunting one or two other regions of varying habitat and bird densities. Most will find that one regional bird predominance and or habitat type more suited to their dog power and hunting style. That is the point to pick up on for the next trip and so on.
