My nephew, Cody Williams, won the Grand Nationals calling contest in his age class and received a 3 day hunt for 2 at http://www.kansaswhitetails.com/. Since my brothers, a friendand I generally take an out-of-state trip in the spring, we decided to go hunt with my nephew and his father (one of my brothers) at the same time/place for that 3 day hunt. I assume we will be pursuing Rios on that hunt.

We pretty much wanted to hunt additional days in another location since we are traveling so far and felt like a shot at Merriams might work good. We are trying to weigh our options as for as either flying into KS for that hunt and renting a vehicle then either flying or driving to another location or maybe driving up to KS and then driving to another location.

Basically, at this point, we are trying to see what our best and/or most economical options are for an extended hunt in a different location. We'll have to balance economy of time with economy of dollars too.

Drive time from Uvalda, GA to Benedict, KS is approximately 18 hours, non-stop so it would probably take us 2 full days if we drive the route, going and coming. I don't think we will make that choice but are more likely to fly from Atlanta to Wichita then rent a vehicle.

After the KS hunt, I'm pretty sure we prefer a public land hunt for merriams.

Another option is to start the drive back towards GA and hunt easterns along the way. Again, we are exploring our options and will try to make the best choice for us. My brothers have hunted somewhere in Missouri. We have hunted in central KY as well as Peabody WMA and LBL in KY. We would definitely want to hunt a place we haven't already hunted -- that "wanderlust" for new places and new birds.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joel