They've gone insane here. Yesterday morning I walked out to my truck in the parking lot at work and there was a youngish doe trotting up the shoulder of the fairly busy 4-lane highway. It paused, and I shouted; "What are you doing? Get away from the road!" It stared at me so I shouted, "Get over here!" and here she comes.

Walked right up to me and sniffed my leg and let me rub behind her ear. I said, "Come on with me away from the road" and started walking to the back lot that is wooded about 200 yards back. She walked beside me all the way like a damned dog. Craziest thing I've ever seen.

How's everybody's upland bird numbers looking?

Season starts tomorrow here in Kansas. Better quail numbers, not sure about the pheasants. Probably a feast or famine type of season.

Gonna be a shitty opening weekend for the orange army...cold as hell and windy as shit. Hope they all stay home

My dad has only seen a few pheasant the past two weeks. He and I saw a hen run into some milo stubble today and that is it. My uncle used to combine for a family out in Healy and all year round they said they saw them every where. What we’ve heard from all over is that opening day hit and the suckers just disappeared. We just checked into a hotel in Hays and are going to hunt some areas he scooped out earlier in between here and Healy. Though an old boy here at the hotel coming from Colby said they are all over out there. Said they have signs on the hotel rooms saying not to clean the birds in the rooms. Of course, those signs could have been there for some time and not indicative of this season.

Otherwise, it’s been a covey of quail here and there.

There are some, not a ton out here. (I’m south and west of Healy 30 miles)

The only ones I’ve seen where in stripped wheat stubble and they’ll be hard to get out. Probably OK if you have a good dog, but not a ton.

I went pheasant hunting for about 10 years out in Gorham, KS and it got progressively worse every year.

I quit going 6-8 years ago. It’s mostly just walking fields these days.

I’m sure there’s a reason but the hell if I know what it is.

Usually habitat quality and drought are the greatest factors, but in my area of South-Central Kansas, we didn't have significant issues with either.

Predation is likely worse due to rock-bottom furbearer prices and a decrease in trapping interest.

My guess is that if it does get good, it will be after the weather gets consistently cold, and all the standing milo is cut.

Even the waterfowl openers were meh, likely due to such a mild fall throughout the flyway.

Still working on the good dog. High bred and you can tell but, only two years old and needing to actually get into birds consistently to get it all put together.


Weather certainly hasn’t been helping. It was good and cold yesterday morning but, we got back to truck at one point in the afternoon and it was reading 75 degrees out. A nice cold spell and maybe even a light snow would be nice.

I haven’t been up there, but there are probably several reasons.

6-8 years ago was the worst drought since the Dust Bowl. Here anyway. I imagine there too.

That area is probably far enough east they probably switched to some beans. Those are cut off on the ground as opposed to leaving standing stalks.

Another component is there are fewer shitty farmers. When I was a kid there were always some ****ers that would have a weed mess. And that is cover and a good food source for pheasants. Economics and attrition has drive those guys out to a high degree. I’m guessing Gorham hasn’t escaped that economic trend.

Here there is less irrigation by a substantial amount. I don’t know if there was ever irrigation there, so that may not be a factor.

Predation is a major issue. Now there are far more coyotes than there used to be. And the first Fox moved in probably 5 years ago. Those quick little ****ers are hard to kill.

I’m sure there are other components I’m missing, because in theory the bitds should have bounced back better after the drought. And there will be some where there is cover and water, but the numbers just won’t take off it seems.

I'm almost certain birds of prey are a factor.

I saw a covey of quail in Holt County Missouri while deer hunting last week. First quail I've seen or heard in the 9 years I've lived at Big Lake. Brought back some fond memories of my old English Setter Sam I enjoyed for 13 years back in the 70's and 80's.

Just an idea for you pheasant hunters out there that are struggling to find pheasants.
Up here in Nebraska the pheasant population is dam near zero.
But we do have a Pheasants Forever club about 35miles west of Omaha. Have I ever hunted the P-forever land or belong to the club? No.
But I know every farmer and land owner with in 2 miles of
P-forever's land and have permission to hunt it. And those lands around Pheasants Forever are full of escapees.
So if you have a pheasant preservation club around.
You want to hunt as close to that property as possible.
And dogs you need good dogs to hunt Pheasants.

Could very well be. I was on the tractor and I saw a hawk come along and just obliterate this hen pheasant. Couldn't see it coming, had no chance. They're not made to defend against that kind of predator.

Holy shit.

So my sister won a dove hunt in Argentina for 6 people and my brother in law invited me and my best friend (who's my OTHER brother in-law but who's wife is my wife's sister and also my sister's best friend; long story).

Evidently Argentina dove hunting is one of the 'bucket list' items for hunters. From what I can tell Doves are a massive nuisances in Argentina and so these hunts are so insane that EACH hunter in the group can be expected to fire 1,000 rounds in a given day.

1,000 ****ing rounds?!?!

5 days in Argentina with guides taking us up into the mountains to roust these things and 'bird boys' who chase down and count our birds. Then around mid-day you go cut down some trees, start a big damn fire, have some drinks and then go out shooting again.

Not gonna lie - this sounds cool as shit.

It really is a bucket list hunt for wing shooters.

The only thing that really compares from an action perspective is a midwest snow goose hunt when you're on the absolute X during a weather event.

Enjoy the shit out of that. I'm jealous.

Wow. You better get some rounds through the gun just to get your shoulder ready.

I’m not sure what 1,000 rounds would feel like at the end of a day.

Enjoy that man. That sounds awesome.

Sounds like a blast DJ! Enjoy!

Well since all you damn farmers have gotten good at your jobs and the pheasant hunting sucks these days, I haven't done any real shotgun shooting in a looooooong time.

I've done more bow hunting in my 40s (like, 9 months) than I did shotgun hunting in my 30s. It just fell apart.

But yeah, we've been working on quail stands up at the ranch the last couple years (pain in the ass to mow around) so I may have to get my gun on this spring if Jim decides he has enough of them for us to throw some lead at them.

So I just got the link:

https://mgwoutfitters.com/?gclid=Cjw...hoCeqcQAvD_BwE

We're gonna be at La Volanta. Criminy that looks incredible. Pretty damn stoked.

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Yeah. My bad. LOL.

Buddy came out and had to walk a bunch of stripped wheat stubble because I didn’t have any weeds and planted a bunch of cornstalks back.

Blue rock man. Just do it.

Dad put like a 5 foot handle on your basic hand held thrower which can get some speed on it if you need to work on that part.

But I’d just go get a basic thrower and get some lead out. 1000 rounds is A LOT

You have to be on top of your shotgun skills to hit those fast movers.

Shooting will be amazing

If in right place food and drinks top drawer

Take plenty of credit/cash cause the shells are high dollar

Cash for tips....tip drivers, the kids who retrieve the birds, the cooks, just plan to tip.

.16 cents/bang. So yeah, figuring on $500-$750 in ammo. My understanding is most guys will taper off as the hunt goes along. By the last couple days it's mostly drinking, eating, and getting a couple hundred rounds up when the mood strikes.

Better hit a euro pheasant hunt to get that shoulder ready!

Go jump shoot a flock of snow geese.
Then spend an hour running around shooting cripples.
That'll have your shoulder and stamina ready to go

Every farmer in my part of the world does a good job leaving cover for quail, its just that there is too many predators for them. A guy I used to work with is a big time bird hunter, goes all over from Kansas up to Montana, he said all the farms cover is perfect but the predators are too much for any big coveys anymore.

My part of the world is too dry for quail. At one point somebody stocked some that lasted a few years but they never took off

At least here in Kansas, it’s a myriad of issues, some a predator issue but, a whole lot of other things ranging from habitat/farming practices to the state prioritizing out of state deer hunting and mismanaging that and the bird hunting and all the gritty details involved.

I’ve been following a thread on Kansas specific quail and pheasant hunting, and it has been rather enlightening. I’m sure not that everything contained with in the discussion can be completely trusted but (I’m sure Buehler and a few others might have differing thoughts on some the farming criticisms) but, it is quite obvious that there is more than one issue lending to the decrease in the bird population here.

For anyone that might be interested or is just plain off-season bored -

https://forum.ultimatepheasanthuntin...-change.24921/

OUTSTANDING! Have a blast man...

not a hunter-but respect it.

https://bringmethenews.com/.image/c_...9136512_n.webp

A nature enthusiast caught a rare glimpse of what appears to be an albino deer near Lake Mille Lacs.

Lora Elfmann snapped the photo of the ghostly deer among a pack of white-tails in a field between the towns Isle and Wahkon, which are located on the southeast side of Mille Lacs in east-central Minnesota.

"I drive around or hike almost daily looking for pic opportunities," Elfmann wrote in a message to Bring Me The News. "I've only seen the albino twice. Same one in the same field. But I know there's at least one other one."

Barbara Keller, the big game program leader of the fish and wildlife division with the DNR, says biologists estimate albino deer occur only once in every 20,000 or 30,000 deer.

As magnificent the sight of an albino deer is, the genetic disorder that causes a lack of pigment makes them an easy target for predators. Albino deer are also known to suffer from other genetic defects.

"They generally experience greater mortality than typical deer due to their diminished ability to evade predators when the snow melts, and can also be associated with other genetic defects including vision and spinal problems," said Keller.

The white deer running alongside a white-tail near Mille Lacs Lake earlier this month.
The white deer running alongside a white-tail near Mille Lacs Lake earlier this month.

Credit: Lora Elfmann

White deer that are not 100% white are known as a leucistic (also called piebald) deer. Leucism causes varying levels of white on a deer's body, which is why some are half brown, half white or sometimes only have white splotches on their bodies.

Elfmann's photos show a couple of tan splotches on the deer's hind legs, but Keller and a second could be urine stains rather than an indicator of leucism.

"That spot on it’s back leg is where the tarsal gland is located, and that is an area deer typically urinate and stain. So I think that area might just be stained, not an actual area of dark fur," said Keller, whose opinion was confirmed by the DNR's ungulate research scientist.

There are no laws protecting albino deer from hunters in Minnesota.

As trophy hunting in Africa diminishes, so does protection from poachers and game conservation. It sounds counter-intuitive, but regulated trophy hunting is, at present, the best way to preserve game habitat and support animals.

https://www.biographic.com/africas-c...ion-conundrum/

Article is long but worth while. Starts as follows:

RUVU MASAI, Tanzania – In October 2018, around 20 of Africa’s most respected wildlife research, management, and conservation experts quietly convened at a meeting in Johannesburg to discuss an urgent problem: trophy hunting. They were concerned not about the much-maligned industry’s continuation, but about its decline—specifically, about how the disappearance of trophy hunting might harm Africa’s wildlife.

This probably sounds illogical. Trophy hunting in Africa has been vilified on social media and in news outlets. It is the punching bag of numerous (mostly Western) celebrities, animal rights activists, and politicians. Many people feel disgusted when they see a photo of a privileged white hunter hulking over the corpse of a beautiful animal—and understandably so. “There’s a majestic, dead lion, there’s blood coming out of it, and there’s some leering idiot right behind it,” says Adam Hart, a biologist at the University of Gloucestershire. “You’ve got this unique, almost perfect storm of your victim and your villain. The framing of it doesn’t need any explanation.”

The problem, however, is that simplistic memes and incendiary headlines that condemn the practice obscure a more nuanced truth: Conservation is not free, and trophy hunting revenue preserves more wild land in Africa—and thus, more animals—than do areas with stricter protections, like national parks. “Work in conservation areas requires money,” says Victor Muposhi, a conservation biologist at the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Trophy hunting has been a critical source of funding for that, and if it’s taken off the table, then the whole of Africa is going to suffer.”

For all of us that have built tree stands and spent hours scouting and waiting...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwXt5nJqVFo

Chopped a silage field near the house and have 50-150 geese coming in every morning and night.

Them removing the early goose season is painful. I can't even grill the evening steak or have a beer on the deck without being taunted by the bastards. :sulk:

Choot em off da deck!

Seriously though, why would they do that? Geese over the years have changed their patterns. So much so, back in the 50'-70's shooting a Canadian goose was like finding the golden egg. Now they live here year round and are a nuisance.

I don't remember their reasoning for changing.

Originally, we killed the hell out of the golf course geese off farm ponds during the early season and then moved to the early silage fields during the end of the early season. Now, we can't really start until the silage fields are all fed out and the golf courses are paying people just to scare them off.

Rack em and stack em when you can man

Just blast one. Just one. It'll make you feel better. And hopefully you don't get caught.

Curious if anyone’s ever collected acorns offsite to use as bait for deer? My dads got 60 wooded acres that border 500 plus of public. I’ve got a 1 acre foodplot and an acre and a half plot. I’m putting in a small maybe 30’x30’ kill plot in a nice evening stand on a creek that I can hit after work until the time change. I was wondering about collecting acorns from the two oaks at my house and 5 at my in laws to save on corn.

I should note that I’m in Oklahoma, it’s very rocky and my food plots don’t do super great but I do it to keep up the herd health.

Get you a small square bale of horse quality alfalfa and spread it around. Way cheaper than corn and works nearly as good

What’s everyone using for cellular cameras? I’m fed the **** up with spy point, their website and garbage customer service. 4 cameras set up for monthly billing. Two will auto renew, two will say the transaction failed every time. It’s the same card! So today I thought maybe the amount isn’t enough. It was 5$ a camera to upgrade for unlimited during the season. I added 50 hd photos or something to get the total over 20$ thinking maybe it was flagged or something. The hd photo charge goes through the camera transaction fails.. customer service is always hours on hold. Then they call you back at the worst times. I always miss the calls.

Some European countries are looking at banning various trophies from Africa, such as tusks from lawfully hunted elephants. Germany, for example, was the most recent country to propose such a course of action. Botswana then stated that they would send Germany 20,000 elephants. I think Germans might change their mind about the hunting of elephants if 20,000 were suddenly loosed in Germany.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-68715164

ROFL.

I’m hoping for that just for the chaos.