Poor Kansas Pheasant Hunt

[Bill Thibeault]

Rick Scruggs, his son Eric, and I went pheasant hunting on 13 & 14 Dec in north-central Kansas.  Weather and field conditions were perfect: cold sunny skies and 4-6" of new fallen snow to keep the birds from running.

After two days of hard hunting, we only got two roosters and three bobwhite quail.  This is the fourth year I've gone with Rick, and the pheasant population has steadily decreased year after year.  I believe this is due to moderate draught and to farmers putting more CRP land back into crop production, which severely limits the cover for young birds.

IMHO, Kansas needs to reduce the daily bag limit (currently four roosters), or shorten the season, or both.  The bird population is really stressed and will need both help and time to recover.

Next year we hope to find a place to hunt in South Dakota.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!!

Bill Thibeault

[Bill Thibeault]

Correction:  We hunted 10-11 December, NOT 13-14 Dec.  Sorry for the confusion.

Bill T.

[sakorick]

I also posted a summary on this hunt in the hunting with dogs thread. Regards, Rick.