Discover ways to find larger prairie-chickens in Kansas’ legendary Flint Hills, Smoky Hills, and Excessive Plains.
Lately, the states of Nebraska and South Dakota have been getting a lot of the consideration from hunters in search of to pursue larger prairie-chickens. This makes numerous sense, given the nice inhabitants of birds in these states and the abundance of publicly accessible land out there to hunt. Nevertheless, Kansas has lengthy been a pacesetter in larger prairie-chicken harvest and continues to supply wonderful looking. With a protracted season and the power to reap different species whereas chasing chickens, it is best to take into account Kansas in your subsequent prairie-chicken hunt.
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The Flint Hills
Better prairie-chickens in Kansas exist in three most important ecoregions of the state: the Flint Hills, the Smoky Hills, and the Excessive Plains. The Flint Hills have historically been seen as the center of the prairie-chicken vary, and the city of Cassoday, within the southern Flint Hills, payments itself because the “Prairie-chicken Capital of the World.” Whereas this has been traditionally true as a result of massive quantities of native tallgrass prairies within the Flint Hills, populations there have declined markedly during the last 20 years as a result of ranching practices.
Whereas prescribed burning and grazing are useful for larger prairie-chickens, the generally used vary administration methods nowadays within the Flint Hills make the most of prescribed burning over huge landscapes slightly than smaller patches. This method reduces the quantity of nesting cowl out there to hens and populations have suffered.
Moreover, the Flint Hills has little or no publicly accessible state-owned land or Stroll-in-Searching-Entry (WIHA) lands, so discovering a spot to hunt might be tough. That stated, I’ve had some excellent early-season hunts within the Flint Hills by knocking on doorways and gaining access to massive tracts of grasslands. Nevertheless, discovering the landowner could be a problem, as a lot of the Flint Hills is owned by absentee landowners. The ranch supervisor would possibly grant entry in case you can not observe down the landowner.
An alternative choice for looking within the Flint Hills is concentrating on prairie chickens within the winter once they feed in harvested crop fields. The Flint Hills have a number of rivers and creeks that reduce via them, and a lot of the adjoining bottomland is planted for crops, normally soybeans. Prairie-chickens roost and spend their day within the grasslands above the rivers, however they fly down to pick out fields to feed each morning and night. Scouting for flying birds or glassing fields simply after dawn and within the late afternoon is a wonderful option to determine which fields birds are utilizing. It’s typically simpler to get permission to hunt these fields because the land is normally owned by native farmers who reside close by.
As soon as entry is secured, merely watch the fields and determine the flight path these flocks use to enter the sector and arrange in that actual flight path. The capturing might be quick however very tough because the birds descend from the encompassing ridges and have a great deal of steam. Whereas your pointing canine is ineffective in such conditions, it’s nonetheless an incredible hunt and one of many few alternatives to go shoot upland sport birds.
The Smoky Hills
The most effective ecoregion within the state to hunt larger prairie-chickens is the Smoky Hills. An attractive panorama that could be a combine of huge tracts of native prairies and crop fields of wheat, soybeans, and corn, the Smoky Hills have seen a secure to growing inhabitants of prairie-chickens over the previous 20 years.
Non-public lands right here are usually owned by the locals, so monitoring down somebody to ask permission to hunt is comparatively simpler than within the Flint Hills. There may be additionally significantly extra WIHA land within the Smoky Hills, together with some massive tracts of native grasslands with good chicken populations. I keep in mind one opening morning on a WIHA within the Smoky Hills, the place my canine pointed a pair of birds simply after daylight. That was the quickest hunt I’ve ever skilled for prairie-chickens, and I spent the remainder of the day scouting and capturing doves.
The Smoky Hills even have massive Corp of Engineer reservoirs whose surrounding land is managed by the Kansas Division of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism for the good thing about wildlife. Hunt these wildlife areas’ thinner, upland grasslands when on the lookout for prairie-chickens.
The most effective locations to hunt within the Smoky Hills are grassland tracts close to some kind of crop discipline, even within the early season. Whereas birds don’t want crops to outlive, they readily feed in them for considerable meals or in disturbed patches between cropland and grassland, that are often stuffed with weed seeds and bugs. I’ve had nice success in these spots through the early season looking behind pointing canine. Additionally, don’t neglect to hunt the tops of ridges or different recognized lek websites, as birds can almost all the time be discovered close to them at any time.
An alternative choice for wonderful prairie-chicken looking within the Smoky Hills is to comply with my recommendation on finding birds feeding in crop fields through the winter. This feature might be more practical within the Smoky Hills as a result of a stronger inhabitants of birds and flock sizes that are likely to common bigger than these within the Flint Hills.
The Northern Excessive Plains
The Northern Excessive Plains area is the ultimate ecoregion for locating prairie-chicken success in Kansas. This space is characterised by massive quantities of cropland interspersed with CRP fields and a few tracts of mixed-grass prairie. Birds right here might be hunted within the early season and winter utilizing the methods beforehand described. Nevertheless, many chickens on this area are taken by the way to bobwhite quail and pheasant looking.
Prairie-chickens and pheasants can typically be present in related grassland habitats so long as the grass shouldn’t be too thick. Prairie-chickens like grass they’ll see out of, and plenty of Kansas CRP fields are full of tall grasses that chickens principally keep away from. Search for them in grazed CRP fields or native rangeland.
As with the Smoky Hills, WIHA floor is considerable within the Northern Excessive Plains ecoregion. Not all of them shall be appropriate for chickens, however you’ll discover some with the fitting habitat to carry birds. Additionally, knocking on doorways would possibly acquire you some entry, significantly on native vary lands away from extra conventional pheasant and quail floor.
As I famous above, Kansas is a spot the place hunters have the possibility at a number of species of upland sport birds in the identical stroll. That is very true within the Northern Excessive Plains and Smoky Hills, so be looking out for chickens even when pursuing a special species.
Issues to Keep in mind when Prairie-Hen Searching
One enormous word of warning when looking larger prairie-chickens in Kansas is to do not forget that the lesser prairie-chicken, a federally threatened species, additionally exists within the state, and their inhabitants overlaps that of the larger simply south of Hays. In consequence, most of south-central and southwestern Kansas is closed to prairie-chicken looking. The closed area is clearly marked by freeway boundaries, however pay attention to the place you’re looking. Even in case you flush a larger prairie-chicken within the closed zone, it’s nonetheless off-limits to reap.
The larger prairie-chicken is actually a outstanding species, and a hunt for them must be on everybody’s bucket record. As an alternative of heading to the well-known and infrequently crowded public grasslands of Nebraska and South Dakota, I counsel giving Kansas a strive. You discover loads of birds with good entry in sure areas. Plus, I’ve discovered landowners there to be particularly good about granting me entry to non-public lands in case you’re there for chickens solely. The birds are current in good numbers; give it a shot.
