Kansas January

[Bruce Day]

Russ Lindsay, Todd Kaltenbach and me. Makes the winter shorter.

We ran into a couple flocks of turkeys that each had about 75-100 birds. You might see that in the distant photo.

[Pete Kappes]

Hunting there is cheating, not enough snow and below zero temps.

[wayne goerres]

What is the big round thing in the first photo? Those are some nice guns.

[Mills Morrison]

Beautiful!

[Fred Verry]

Bruce, Cawker City Parker Twine-A-Thon Challenge?:bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

Nice Grade 3 lifter! I hunt with my hammers cocked too.... or were they just cocked to show the engraving on the lock plate?

What is the epithat on thet headstone - I can't quite read it.

[Rich Anderson]

While I'm no expert at hunting with my hammerguns I would think that to walk around with the hammers cocked and the gun closed would be unsafe as a trip, brush ect could cause the gun to disscharge. I have used mine with the hammers cocked and the gun open but that was problematic as the shells would fall out. I hunt with a pointing dog so when Gunner or Daisy would lock up I'd cock the gun and move in for the flush. I have always hunted alone while using a hammer gun also.

[Jeff Christie]

Kansas is timeless.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I'm guessing that Statue of Liberty was erected by the Boy Scouts about 1950.

[Kenny Graft]

Hi Bruce....did you get any roosters??? Did not see one in all the pics...)-: I hope the birds get a break this spring!, numbers are way down...SXS ohio

[Bruce Day]

Kenny, we hunted for 2 1/2 days in every area I have known to produce birds in the past. We hunted corn, milo, wheat stubble, cattails, cane, big and short bluestem, koshia, sunflowers , ragweed, pockets and big fields, along creek beds and uplands. We saw three hens and one rooster, the one hen held close, others far out. We don't shoot hens out here and if a rooster had come up within range it would have been like shooting the white buffalo.

Normally late season we see birds with lots of hens and most flushing out of range. The lack of birds this year is troubling and does not bode well for the next few years, assuming that we have good hatching and rearing conditions for the next few years.

Predators were way down as a cycle, few bobcats had been seen or trapped and we saw one coyote. We saw some hawks but they were mostly the small ones, not the big redtails and no golden eagles that prey upon pheasant.

We saw two flocks of turkeys each numbering 75-100 birds, so that population did well.

So the weather was turning bad and we turned and made the few hour drive back home. I doubt I will go again this season, but will head to the san Juan for trout in a month.

A disappointing end of season, when we normally do fine.

[Mills Morrison]

Hopefully, it is just the down part of a cycle. At least you had good scenery

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Where the hell is the snow??
My friends started to S. Dakota in early January,but an approaching blizzard sent them south to Kansas. They said the hunting was very tough, flushing far fewer birds than they normally do in Kansas. They did find a few coveys of Quail however. I'm working on obtaining a hammer gun. Great pictures and hope you can get back out before the season ends.

[Richard Dow]

You needed me along. That always brings out birds for you guy's.

[Steve McCarty]

I was raised in Bucklin, Kansas. Your pics brought tears to my eyes! Thanks for posting. I love Kansas and the hunting was just wonderful. I love the people. Hard working no BS folks. All of my family came from there and for four generations back (including my son and I).

[Russ Lindsay]

Dick, we at least needed to rub your hat band for luck!