We've started going to Kansas at the end of January, mostly to escape our North Missouri weather. I love Kansas. The Flint Hills are one of the most beautiful places on earth to me.
Here are photos from the Kansas leg of our season ending hunts.
1. Part of the charm of our Kansas hunt is that the dogs can stay in the cabin with us. They adapt to this hardship quite well.
2. There are lots of things that poke, stick and scratch where we hunt, and it makes shooting tough. Aspen has a single pinned in this tangle. If you're taking bets that I missed, you won yourself some money.
3&4 I still wonder if Mountain Mike has stations like what we encounter while after wild quail. Most shots are in tight quarters (3), but every now and then you get an open shot. But when the covey flushes, it does not matter -- open or tight cover -- you still have to earn your bird.
5. Another back door bird. This one was headed to Oklahoma. They seldom play nice.
6. We found an old homestead in a very birdy looking area. I told Elaine even I could smell birds here. Within a minute, Rill locked up. I'm glad the well in the foreground was fenced off. It would be a bad fall for man or beast. And I'll bet there's something evil lurking in the root cellar.
7. Yet another back door bird streaks out after the bulk of the covey flushed. But this time, instead of distracting me, I had already gotten a double -- with one shot(!) On purpose, you ask? Well, why not?! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
8. The subtle beauty of the bobwhite always makes me stop to look. I don't think I'll ever tire of holding one in hand.
9. If you've never walked under a brooding Kansas prairie sky, you've not lived. On a late winter day when the Southerly breeze is warm on your face, there is nothing quite like it.
10. The dogs are the stars of the show...as are the birds...and the land that holds them. What a privilege to hunt wild birds in places such as this!