VERY dry bird season!!
03-02-2002, 08:53 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lindsborg Kansas USA
Posts: 61
VERY dry bird season!!
i know its been a while scince upland season but i was just wondering if central kansas was the only place that didn't have any birds?? i walked about 4 miles in one day through hedge rows, ticket, cattails, milo fields, and everyother spot that looked promising and didn't even hear a bird!! the hole season i only saw one bird about a half mile off. it was a real depressing way for me, a fourteen year old in his first hunting season, but i'm not even ABOUT to quit. hope you all had better luck than me.
03-03-2002, 09:41 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
RE: VERY dry bird season!!
this was my first year i got to pheasant and grouse hunt...all and all i had a great season...i hunted 2 saturdays for pheasant and all around small game..with a dog for pheasant...we did good...alota walking but one day we came out wiht 8 birds between like 5 of us..and a rabbit and a woodcock..and shot at another rabbit...and the next week i got the only bird...we walked like 6 miles that day i bet....and only got one bird up and i drilled it...and the saturday b4 deer season we were up the mountains at another one of my friends camp and went out grouse hunting with my dad...i got the only grouse...i got my first grouse and pheasant this year...we had a pretty good year i think...only hunting 2 days killing 9 or 10 cocks is pretty good...
mauser06
mauser06
03-04-2002, 07:41 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Kansas City Area
Posts: 13
RE: VERY dry bird season!!
Jason,
Most of this part of the country had poor bird numbers. Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa all had poor carryover populations from 2000 due to the very cold winter. This coupled with very wet and cold weather during the hatch made for a poor season. The pheasant harvest in Kansas is expected to be the worst since records have been kept.
That being said, there were birds to be had. You didn't say whether or not you were hunting with a dog. If you were hunting with a dog and saw only one bird....that indeed makes for a long day!
Most of this part of the country had poor bird numbers. Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa all had poor carryover populations from 2000 due to the very cold winter. This coupled with very wet and cold weather during the hatch made for a poor season. The pheasant harvest in Kansas is expected to be the worst since records have been kept.
That being said, there were birds to be had. You didn't say whether or not you were hunting with a dog. If you were hunting with a dog and saw only one bird....that indeed makes for a long day!
03-05-2002, 05:01 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lindsborg Kansas USA
Posts: 61
RE: VERY dry bird season!!
Fred, wasn't hunting with any dogs, just me and a few huntin buddies. I never heard anything about the dry season having anything to do with a cold winter but it makes sense. But what i did hear was that it was because of a drought as well.
03-09-2002, 05:07 PM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Kansas City Area
Posts: 13
RE: VERY dry bird season!!
Jason,
In Kansas, the cold had less to do with the poor populations than did the hot weather and drought. My belief is that that the main culprits were the cold wet weather from May 26 to June 11 followed by the extreme hi temps we had for the following 5 weeks.
In general, we had 27 months (July of 1999 to September of 2001) that were about as tough as Mother Nature can dish out to pheasant and quail. It really took it's toll on the birds.
Fortunately the rains last spring made for good nesting habitat this year. Pheasants and quail nest in year old grass. Last year's over all habitat was some of the best that I've seen (with the execption of extreme western KS.) Unfortunately, the rains this year wiped out many chicks and the hot weather got most of the rest. Remember we had several days where the heat index exceeded 115 degrees.
Hopefully this year will be perfect....the bird populations need it. I envy you, you're area normally has some of the best combination hunting in the country.
Best of luck to you next year.
In Kansas, the cold had less to do with the poor populations than did the hot weather and drought. My belief is that that the main culprits were the cold wet weather from May 26 to June 11 followed by the extreme hi temps we had for the following 5 weeks.
In general, we had 27 months (July of 1999 to September of 2001) that were about as tough as Mother Nature can dish out to pheasant and quail. It really took it's toll on the birds.
Fortunately the rains last spring made for good nesting habitat this year. Pheasants and quail nest in year old grass. Last year's over all habitat was some of the best that I've seen (with the execption of extreme western KS.) Unfortunately, the rains this year wiped out many chicks and the hot weather got most of the rest. Remember we had several days where the heat index exceeded 115 degrees.
Hopefully this year will be perfect....the bird populations need it. I envy you, you're area normally has some of the best combination hunting in the country.
Best of luck to you next year.
04-04-2002, 07:25 PM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Bakersfield CA USA
Posts: 11
RE: VERY dry bird season!!
Yeah I haven't gone upland bird hunting last year because i was in Montana but never had a chance. But the year before that i went dove, quail and a rather very bad pheasant 'ranch' and it wasn't too bad in all. The Dove season was little bit slower because of the weather being what it was at the time. As for quail, there is lot of places around here but so many people know about them that the birds get really shot up and hunted out that its hard to find them but i did manage to get bout 7 that year. Its only April 4th and its getting really hot quickly so maybe this dove season will be good. My dad told me that last year the weather was so bad that he saw only a few dove hunters out. I am not even going to start it on the pheasant 'ranch' hunt i went to. Lets just say way too many people in one spot when the birds were released.Hopefully this year will be good for all of us