# Kansas Walk In Hunting land



## cjones (Jan 31, 2012)

Planning a trip in November out to Kansas for some pheasant hunting.  Has anyone been out there and hunted the Walk In land and had any success?  Looks like there was several acres in the program this past year.  Is it usually decent ground?  Looking at SW Kansas in the Dodge City area.


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## Warrick (Jan 31, 2012)

I have stayed at Covert Creek B&B and hunted the Russell County area North Central KS.   If your looking for a mixed bag of pheasant / Quail I would hunt that area over any other in KS.


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## gtfisherman (Feb 1, 2012)

Kansas does a great job with the WIHA program. I know several guys who go out every year to hunt deer, birds and turkey. They have real success out there on those areas. 

I hunt north central KS and the pheasants are much up there. I've seen far more in SW and NW. 

Enjoy!


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## cjones (Feb 1, 2012)

Warrick said:


> I have stayed at Covert Creek B&B and hunted the Russell County area North Central KS.   If your looking for a mixed bag of pheasant / Quail I would hunt that area over any other in KS.





gtfisherman said:


> Kansas does a great job with the WIHA program. I know several guys who go out every year to hunt deer, birds and turkey. They have real success out there on those areas.
> 
> I hunt north central KS and the pheasants are much up there. I've seen far more in SW and NW.
> 
> Enjoy!



Good to hear!  Thanks for the info.

My father-in-law has family with farmland in SW Kansas, but I wanted to check on the WIHA as a back-up plan or more variety of ground to cover.

Should be a good trip!  Can't wait to get the dog back on the big birds!


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## Bird Hunter (Feb 1, 2012)

I've only been to KS once (Dec. 2010) near Natoma, Plainville and Russell.  I was not impressed with the walk-in hunting areas.  I'd say about 25% of them were actually huntable; most had little to no cover for the birds.  The problem is that farmers can open their land to the WIHA program but still farm it.  So you may pick a spot on the WIHA map and drive out there only to find it all grazed over, or plowed under, etc. This is a little different from other states where if a land owner opens his land to the state's walk-in hunting program, and collects a check for it, he cannot also farm the land (he can't double dip).  Certainly, in KS you can find some good WIHA areas, but be prepared to see plenty that are not even worth stopping the truck at.


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## leeledger (Feb 1, 2012)

Been going to Kansas for over 10  years. WIHA can be good. Do not judge kansas by last years numbers. It was a miserable year. Be prepared to do a lot of walking.


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## Luke0927 (Feb 1, 2012)

Yes best bang for the buck by far.


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## easbell (Feb 2, 2012)

Lots of walking and the land does get hunted hard. The good tracts are known to the locals and they hunt them first and save their land for Thanksgiving and later. Never hunted the SW it may be better.

Bird numbers are down this year as well. I didn't go this year but will be hunting private land again next year. Plus I understand the hunters are pouring into Kansas and Iowa due to the low quail numbers in Tx/Ok this year.


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## huntchesies (Feb 3, 2012)

Been the last five years. This year was a washout on the peasants. They had a bad hail storm that killed most of the birds. Got several nice ducks though. The best time to pheasant hunt or quail hunt is in January. Especially when snow is on the ground some. The birds hold a lot better. U at least want it to be cold and some kind of water falling a little from the sky. I hunt private land out there. The locals do know the spots and yes they save and hunt them themselves. I hunted the WIHA the first two years and had luck. The first year I hunt north central and wasn't many birds. People that live there will even tell u that the best areas is north west ks. Good luck for when u go. The first year I went I called the state and had them to send me the maps and all the info for their hunting. That way I had an idea on where to go. I went to the area that had the most public hunting land. And if u find a house that is lived in and not abandon then stop and be real nice to the farmers and they might let u hunt their land. Money also talks. Like 50 a person per day. Good luck.


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## Matzrig (Feb 3, 2012)

We had some luck in Pratt.  They have an area called the Sand Hills.  It was a slow pheasant year but we had some good luck with the quail there.  We flew into Whichita and our main hunt was around Dodge City TheSand hills was a nice area just to do a couple hour walk in hunt on our way out west.


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## leeledger (Feb 3, 2012)

You had luck in the Sand Hills? We were there opening day. There were more folks there than I have ever seen. That was our worst day. We did a lot better on the WIHA.


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