Western Kansas Pheasant Hunting Milo and Grass

Western Kansas Pheasant Hunting combining crops and cover it then becomes a matter of degree of better to worse the Kansas pheasant hunting quality. Dogs always handle such changing habitat better than hunters. Self guided hunters often need to curb their frustration at wild pheasants and enjoy the hunt as much as the dogs do. There is little wonder why the best pheasant hunters quickly choose to hunt with their dogs alone often finding another hunter a nuisance to a good hunt.

Thank you to Jeremy, a Kansas deer hunter, for these great pictures.

Western Kansas Pheasant Hunting – Far Vistas

This type of Kansas land offers quail.

Shown is a series of must hunt pheasant spots in western Kansas.

While “must hunt” is a phrase implying all must hunt these spots, not all will enjoy that hunting.

The milo field (right) with the leaf remaining after harvest with waste grain on the ground gives pheasants protective cover and food in one spot. This will hold quail as well.

 

 

Dog Power And Kansas Pheasant Hunting

A slow working dog will find cut milo a good pheasant hunt. Hard runners can be at the field’s end one mile distant in the picture above quick. This Kansas land gives much observation on wild flushed birds from any dog the hunter cannot close with. This is where we get conflict. That conflict is over what is good or not so good pheasant cover.

There are pheasant hunters that make it a point to hunt each cut milo field where ever encountered. These are hunters with one type of dog power.

There are other hunters with another classification of dog power that will find these fields with pheasants and void of point or flush with shot opportunity.

The difference is dog power not if milo holds pheasants.

Advantage

This brings us to an advantage of this Association. That advantage is our variety of terrain.

Each hunter will find one type of cover suited to his dog power and hunting style. Our picture display of all types of Kansas land is not intended to say that all will find Kansas pheasant hunting success on all land.

Grass Does Not Mean Kansas Pheasant Hunting

Standing in the same spot as the first picture (milo field) turning the camera 180 degrees shows this field. An ideal lease of protective cover next to grain fields.

This year this was a great hunting spot. That value was more due to the fall harvested waste grain in the crop field than it was for the tall grass. In this region of Kansas this field will rotate into wheat. The year it is in wheat it will be of less value during the hunting season. Likewise the tall grass will hold fewer birds.

 

Kansas Prairie Chicken Spot

This grass field with its higher elevations is this is prime Prairie Chicken habitat. The tall grass is not so tall on the poorer soil and less water ridge tops making the thin cover Prairie Chicken prefer.

 

 

 

Time

The hunt itself covering the milo and grass field pictured above took three+ hours.

It covered most and not all of the cover. With maximum during season daylight starting before 8 AM and done by 530 PM (CST) giving 9 hours hunting time it takes a few such spots plus lunch to make a day.

For most in the Association with more than a couple of hunting seasons under their belt the daybreak to last light hunts begin to be fewer. A more relaxed and tranquil hunting approach is taken. That attitude comes from the confidence the pheasants are there, there is more Kansas land than time to hunt. No rush needs be made.

Short Drive Different Cover Different Hunting

The next Kansas pheasant hunting spot but a five minute drive away also gets us quail hunting.

A western Kansas dry drainage with grass, scrub and trees running for a mile plus on the main branch and double that on tributaries.

This drainage is wide. A single hunter with one dog will not cover it all on the first pass. The return walk will yield fresh land.