Kansas Wild Bobwhite Quail Hunting page 3

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Habitat

Kansas quail hunting is largely along quail attracting food sources of milo and corn row crop fields and the brushy draw where open sky flushes are the expectation to offset the many wood line quail points accompanied by through the trees shooting.

While there will be some woods shooting for the most part the Kansas quail hunter will have little excuse for missed shots. This same quail habitat variety gives the bird dog hunter a chance to work his dog on different habitat during the same day. While quail hunting this type of habitat is attractive, Kansas offers another quail cover that will provide an extra bit of adventure to any quail hunting trip.

Kansas quail hunting is unique to our other states that in the southern regions where cattle pastures broken by sand hills and short plumb produce quail in numbers that surprise many. Most quail hunters drive by this type of habitat and discount this land as un-huntable or not bobwhite habitat. The contrary is the reality.

This is ideal quail dog watching habitat as the cover is thin and open. The small sand hills while numerous provide and long range observation that may cover as much as 80 acres at a time. While this terrain has much to offer it is not without consequences.

It is common on day hunt operations to see piles of dead birds, pheasants and chucker mostly as quail are too hard to shoot for most day hunt hunters. On this website the reviewer will see as many dog pictures on point, flush and with birds than hunters as within a do it yourself hunter organization the hunter typically hunts for the dog work, not the bird. that is the quail hunter that enjoys our organization the most.

Twenty plus year Kansas quail hunting member Bob D., with the latest of a long string of great setters.

Consequence

Beeper collars are a must in the Kansas sand hills quail country.

They are not required due to thickness of the short plumb or pasture grass, it is the small 10 to 20 foot high sand hills that will hide the dog on point. This brings the second consequence.

This kind of Kansas quail hunting is best done with one dog per hunter. Having two or more on the ground will eventually lead to the condition of two dogs on point widely dispersed and when the hunter goes to one that walk may take him out of earshot of the second beeper collar.

This Kansas quail hunting terrain is unlike a wooded edge area and seems to absorb rather than amplify the beeper collars. The soft sand soil and the numerous small hills conspire to hide both sight and sound. Add to it a wind unrestrained by trees and brush and that beeper collar that is able to be heard 400 yards away in Iowa is lost in the Kansas sand hills at a 100 yards.

This discussion on Kansas sand hills quail hunting is not intended to discourage any from our Kansas quail hunting. It should rather encourage all to try all the variety that exists for the adventure of something new rather than the same field or habitat type each Kansas quail hunting trip.

Kansas sand hills in July.

When we talk of sand hills the word "hill" is often very deceptive to hunters.

Key points about this picture is first the dry land crop of wheat which is common in this Kansas quail hunting region as are the irrigation systems shown below for grain crops or in this case alfalfa.

These crop fields bring the winter, hunting season, food source to the cover habitat of the sand hills seen in the background (above) covered in low plum and grasses (spring/summer insect food source). What is deceptive about these hills in the picture is their height, at least twice as tall as the photographer, and they block the view of the hills that continue beyond them for the 480 acres of this one parcel of a 3/4 section. The single hills themselves cover a good bit of square footage making walking around them longer than shotgun range.

It is common to be in sand hills and cross an adjoining fence line and be back on flat land. The sand hills rise up abruptly and cease just as quickly. Add this habitat variety to the Kansas brush/grass draw quail hunting that can be experienced on the same trip or day leaves the quail hunter with boredom prevention changes in scenery.

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