Kansas Upland Bird Hunting

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Kansas upland bird hunting in Mid-America Hunting Association is self guided private land wild pheasant and Bobwhite Quail hunting. Kansas hunting land map.

In general terms Kansas upland bird hunting offers the best pheasant hunting of our three state region. Quail hunting on the other hand being more wide spread covering Association Kansas, Missouri and Iowa hunting land leaves it to which state has had the better weather of where to quail hunt. The advantage to Kansas beyond its better pheasant hunting includes its reliable mixed bag hunts including quail more so than Iowa or Missouri. This includes those years when Iowa and Missouri have better covey counts than Kansas.

How to make a hunt work is to talk to one of the two Association partners, Jon Nee or John Wenzel, who are responsible for hunt quality. They train and hunt behind their own dogs. They are out on the land throughout the year. This hunting Association is their full time employment. And, has been for a long time. While all will be hunting on their own none will be left to their own to know where to hunt. All will be able to talk to one of the partners before, during and after the hunt.

These two will get the hunter using the Association online land maps to the point of where to park their truck, put dogs down and hunt. All will have a plan 'A' and 'B' for every hunting trip. All will have a choice of cover habitat and bird distribution to chose from. Each hunter will have more places to hunt each day and more hunting acreage than daylight hours to cover. This allows the hunter to further refine what cover or bird hunting that best suits his dog power and hunting style.

Association's Self Guided Kansas Upland Bird Hunter

Pheasant hunting is king amongst the Kansas upland bird hunters.

These Kansas pheasant hunters include those without dogs, flushing and pointing dog hunters. In this Association the prohibited pheasant hunter is the drive or gang hunter.

The wild Bobwhite Quail hunter is more rare. Quail hunting for many reasons inclusive of the longer training requirement for pointing dogs working specialized cover. Quail being a tougher hunt due to shorter duration shot opportunity. Protective woody cover blocking shots. This is on top of all the walking required. All of this combines to keep quail hunter numbers down. Pheasant hunting on the other hand requires no dog, offer high flat, slower flying targets in open sky's.

Quail shot opportunity is lower due to their ground loving nature. Any covey or singles flush will quickly seek return to ground cover offering a brief instance for a shot. This increased over pheasant shooting frustration is often enough to keep many pheasant hunting.

Regardless of any one upland bird hunter's orientation what Kansas upland bird hunting has is diversity. Flushing/retrieving dog hunters spend more time pheasant hunting. Pointing dog hunters preferences swings both ways hunting both pheasant and quail. Regardless all see to enjoy their hunts.

Kansas Prairie Chicken A Bonus Upland Bird

Kansas bird hunting is unique as it also includes the Prairie Chicken. This bird is seen frequently within a week long bird hunt and rarely bagged. An often missed bird for looking too much like a hen pheasant.

When the upland bird hunter harvests his first Prairie Chicken new discoveries await. That first bird will show well through its meat coloration, odor and taste why the next one, especially if a male, will go to the taxidermist. A nice grasslands mount of a strumming male being watched by a hen makes a unique mount few have collected.

While Kansas does have Prairie Chickens they do not exist in any predictable pattern to allow for reasonably successful hunt. Current agricultural practices support far more pheasant and quail than it does open ground with low cover prairie grouse habitat. So much so this is true that while some Kansas guides and outfitters may offer Prairie Chicken hunting this Association does not manage for them at all. To do so would be to oversell this Kansas resource.

For those chance encounters when Prairie Chickens are seen before flush the hunter will make good use of 3 inch shells with Heavishot. Leading this fast in flight bird much like a duck. Once one is harvested and the dog learns of this new bird then the frequency of encounters will surely increase.

The Prairie Chicken has strong scent to it that humans can smell it when holding one. That strong scent is instantly captured by dogs. This creates many a long point standoff. That is both a benefit and a consequence.

The Prairie Chicken is similar to a Ruffed Grouse at not wanting to hold long under close point. The Prairie Chicken's strong scent allows for long point standoff which in turn allows for the longer hold to flush. That creates another issue. The hunter will probably be conditioned to walking in on shorter standoff pheasant and quail points. This will often set the hunter up for believing the dog is on a blank point when on a Prairie Chicken. The effect is drawing that hunter's attention to the dog rather than 25 to 40 foot out as that occurs on a good Prairie Chicken experienced dog. The hunter stepping about 12 feet in front of his dog attempting a flush will put pressure on the Prairie Chicken to flush. This distraction of being immediately in front of the dog rather than looking about 35 feet or so out where the Prairie Chicken is laying adds to the shot delay. This alone is why many Prairie Chickens are seen and not shot at.

First they look like hen pheasants. Second they have a long point standoff giving them an extra jump on range. Next they are fast to get to top flight speed and fly faster than pheasants. So, the end result is for those few hunters that do harvest Prairie Chickens they have a trophy harder to come by than a limit of quail.

The final point about plains birds is they are highly reactive to visual movement, sound and color. More so than Ruffed Grouse, pheasant and Bobwhite Quail. Those that turn their dogs into successful Prairie Chicken hunters soon shed orange for camouflage clothing. The next step is no bell or beeper. Walk during the hunt to avoid sky lining of hunter and dog. No voice or whistle commands to the dog or hunt buddy. These tactics gain more point opportunity.

Achieving a level of recurring successful Prairie Chicken hunts puts that hunter and dog into the top 1% of upland bird hunters. That is the advantage that Kansas brings to the upland bird hunter. The chance to move on when successful pheasant and quail hunting becomes routine.

Kansas Pheasant Hunting

Kansas pheasant hunting is mostly over tall grass cover in close proximity to grain fields. Other common pheasant holding cover is that of the brushy draw that quail occupy as well. Inside of these draws when a dog goes on point or a retriever gets birdy it is a guess whether a pheasant or quail will flush. It is the tall grass, the plum thicket and draws that create the stories of the great hunts where a limit is bagged in less than an hour. Or, the story of how more birds were seen in one day than that traveling hunter's previous experience within his home state.

On the same trip those that chose to hunt pheasant and quail may do so the same day or alternating days. That extra variety of cover gives a boost to the hunt when fatigue begins to set in the third day.

Have a read of our detailed Kansas Pheasant Hunting page.

Kansas Quail Hunting

Kansas quail hunting is mostly over linear edge of transitional cover lining a grain crop field. Many times this edge will take a hunter across ridge lines into draws, in-field waterways and small wood patches. The benefit and consequence is this quail cover runs for many more miles than most have walk in them to cover. Those that have good down wind edge running dogs capable of being cast out with good visual check-back will find many coveys. Anything less and there will be much walking for less point opportunity.

For the quail hunter the Kansas land adds to that of the better Missouri and Iowa quail regions. This gives flexibility of where to hunt should one region have a down hatch. Add that to Kansas quail country being more open and those with the dog power, willingness to walk and shooting skills will simply find more eyes on points and shot opportunity. In general terms when working the more woody cover of Missouri easily half of the points go without shot due to intervening trees. In Kansas the open lands, waterways and thin fence lines offer farm more shots per points.

Review some greater detail on our Kansas Quail Hunting.

The Mid-America Hunting Association Advantage

Private land. Every bit of the land we lease for our Association is exclusive to the Association hunter. We do not share or franchise our operation.

Wild upland birds. Take the time and cost to travel our way to hunt wild pheasant and quail. No other bird hunt comes close. For those that simply want to shoot birds over dogs go to a local preserve and get that 1/2 day experience. To have a wall full of pictures and memories for a lifetime comes only through true wild pheasant and quail upland bird hunting.

Self guided. That extra addition of setting your own alarm clock. Pick where to hunt, walk, rest, break and resume without anyone telling you when. No guides to rush you through to be done with you.

No lodge. Pay for what you want that is a wild upland bird hunting. No special lodge with huntsman decor. The benefit is this Association is not limited to the driving distance around any lodge. That allows us to acquire land where we get the most return for the hunter. This is example of why traveling a bit longer distance for a better hunt pays off. Lodging will be by local motel that we maintain an up-to-date listing for the Association hunter.

Simplicity Of Operation. One cost for the entire season to access all land to hunt any time that hunter has time in our three state area. No one is ever denied a hunt.

Ease of access any time at the hunter's schedule allows on long or short notice hunt. All that is required is a telephone call.

There is not any guesswork. We provide the private land, recommendations where to hunt and a lodging listing in time to set all travel requirements. The hunter does the rest on his own and without competition. That includes the hunter provides his own licensing, transportation, hunt equipment, meals and dogs.

The downside is when hunters want the Association to be something different than what it is. We take great effort on this web site and over the telephone to be clear at what is offered. No one can say after joining they were misled.

How To Get Started

Once the new Association hunter has access to our online maps it is a lot easier to talk about where to go for what he is after. The new Association hunter will be able to look at the same map as we are when we talk on the telephone. This makes simple planning for his first upland bird hunting trip.

In terms of Kansas upland bird hunting the hunter will have choices of where to bird hunt based on habitat preference of tall grass, brushy draw and crop edge. That choice extends to a choice of upland bird between wild Bobwhite Quail and pheasant hunting.

First Hunt Recommendation

The best starting advice has been split between two thoughts. The first is a tour for the first trip and the second is a concentrated approach.

The tour approach is to try several different regions of Kansas habitat that does vary by location within the state. Some localities offer quail only, others a mixed bag hunt. Still others will be pheasant predominate. The idea is for the new to the central mid-west hunter to try all of these three basic regions on his first trip. Doing so is to see which if any more suits his dog power and habitat preferences. Once that preference is established subsequent trips start within that locality and remain there or expand out later for variety.

The second approach is of concentration. Put all available time on a specific habitat type or bird of preference. This seems to be more suited for the seasoned upland bird hunter. Or, those that more seeks dog work specific to a bird rather than variety of different habitat.

The concentrated approach is to secure from us recommendations specific to bird and habitat preference. Travel to hunt that locality and continue to hunt that locality for the reminder of the season. Slowly growing from this base area outward to the reaches of those specifications.

A word of caution is due at this point. That caution is MAHA does manage hunter pressure. This is to ensure no one area receives an inordinate amount of hunter days. This means on the concentrated approach to hunting Association land to spread out. That spreading out is to not hunt any one upland bird unit more than 2 days per calendar month. On a 7 day hunt that would mean hunting three or more upland bird units.

The hunter on the concentrated bird hunt approach most likely will begin each trip on familiar ground. later on the same trip add to his knowledge of the local bird hunting through exploring new ground. This would grown until expanding out to have more knowledge of more land than can be hunted on a week long trip.

Private Land Self Guided Upland Bird Hunter Approach

It is no small thing that we manage our upland bird hunting in Kansas and elsewhere to prohibit public hunting lands mentality.

Hunters come to our organization to avoid the public lands hunter seeking specifically un-pressured private land bird hunts. We understand that and manage hunter pressure by assigning "upland bird hunting units" per hunter per day. The units separate hunters as well as prevent too many consecutive hunting days per unit.

We further prevent pre season dog work, commercial training, camping, off road vehicle access, horses and on and on. What we offer are hunts of wild quail and pheasant. That is for the do it yourself hunter that has the wherewithal, equipment and dogs to execute his own hunts. It is that simple and we do not allow any freelancing on the leases.

If what we have described here is what the hunter seeks then we should talk some more. If not, do not waste our time. We do not negotiate our service or the Association rules.

More Is Offered Than Any One Can Hunt

A recurring request from applicants is to seek a lower upland bird hunting cost though limiting hunts to one state or locality or bird. The idea is we offer more acreage than they can hunt. They do not believe they should pay for what they will not use.

Let us be realistic. Take the cost of the annual membership and apply that to just a single hunting week. Then apply the cost to the land that will be covered.

An illustration will be one hunter with two dogs will hunt at a minimum 400 acres of upland bird cover in a full day:

To have that 400 acres of habitat within the great plains where agriculture is king requires leasing anywhere from 800 to 1,000 gross acres. For sake of this example lets keep the numbers easy and say each hunter will walk on 400 acres of upland bird cover that includes a total of a 1,000 acre lease. That same hunter will travel out one day, typically a Saturday, hunt that first Sunday through the week to the subsequent Saturday and travel home the second Sunday. Under our system that one hunter hunted 2,800 acres (400/day for 7 days) that was part of 7,000 acres of leases. Now take a cost of just $1 per acre for lease to keep the math simple. That hunter hunted $7,000 worth of lease land on one trip. Compare that cost to our annual membership. It is clearly cheaper to pay our membership fee than pay for the lease land. And, have that lease land within several upland bird regions allowing hunting variety of quail and pheasant as well as habitat.

Now add to this that any given year one region over another will have better hunting. That same 7,000 acre example then applies to having land in iowa, Missouri and Kansas. That makes it possible to having good upland bird hunting every year when not every where will have good bird numbers each season.

The rest of the story of having only one type of season long membership covering all states and all leases is that it keeps our administration much simpler and less costly to maintain. Thereby lower annual costs to the hunter.

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Kansas Pheasant Hunting Iowa Pheasant Hunting

Missouri Quail Hunting Iowa Quail Hunting Kansas Quail Hunting