10 Nov PheasantJohn, Again…hats off to you and the staff at MAHA. Had a great time chasing roosters…and I do mean chasing…with my two boys this 06 Kansas pheasant opener. We did not see as many birds as last year, but there is still an abundance of standing crops and the cover is not as abundant or thick as last year. Enclosed are four pictures. My oldest boy joined us on Sunday and he continues to shoot straight given his limited hunting opportunities due to sports. The picture of Mike says it all…a true double off of our dog, Griz. Both roosters flushed simultaneously and Mike put them down with his 20 gauge Benelli pump. Dad couldn’t have been prouder!!!! Another great family day on MAHA land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Steve
Bow DeerJohn, Too often we get wrapped up in the details of hunting and seem to miss out on the experience. Yesterday afternoon I had a neat experience on some prime MAHA property.
I spotted this buck trolling along a hedgerow between two cut cornfields. Rattled, bleated and grunted and he crossed the corn from about 225 yards away. I got to watch him work several overhanging branches and make 6 different scrapes. Finally, he worked directly underneath my tree stand where he rubbed his pre-orbital glands on several limbs. He crossed behind me and I was able to make the shot at 10 yards.
Getting the deer was minor in this case. Getting to enjoy watching this whitetail behavior up close and personal made it a memorable experience for me. He gross scored at 132” and field dressed at 197 pounds. Thanks again for your recommendations. They continue to be right on!!!
Best to you the rest of the season.
Steve
For the rest of us the pheasant update above this bow deer are from the same Steve upland/deer/turkey hunter and family of hunters who harvested 12 spring turkeys last season as well. Congratulations to all of the Steve M. family, can it get any better?
8 Nov Missouri Quail OpenerNot much feedback from our Missouri quail hunters and they seem to like it that way. For the opener the same high-power quail dog hunters that start conditioning their dogs do so with early season (warm weather) short hunts. Once the cooler weather arrives these same hunters will find much time to spend long days chasing coveys.
The reports so far have been largely verbal and follow along the lines the dog work was great early morning on the cool days. With our forecasted high of 80 today and above 50 for the remainder of the week followed by Missouri rifle deer season (quail hunting shut down for safety) will leave plenty of un-hunted coveys to be found come December's expected lower temperatures.
Kansas Upland OpenerAs has been the case for years the opening weekend in Kansas is far more a traditional hunt marking almost as a celebration the hunting season itself. Reservations reflect mostly family members largely of fathers and sons, first year members and duck hunters taking their large retrievers out to field hunt along with a smattering of pointing dog hunters. The Kansas hunters are also more willing to share pictures and accounts and we have included what we believe represents the range of email feedback (shared to allow reading of firsthand accounts of what others found) that we received. For those that sent in feedback and do not see it listed here we do thank you for taking the effort to keep us informed and please understand we had to draw the line somewhere and selected but a few to share.
Father and Son - No DogJohn,
Thanks Gerald for the azimuth check on the values of hunting, birds, dogs and being with family. For the rest of us Gerald and Clayton spend far more time deer than bird hunting. This description of an incidental pheasant hunt should put "bird availability" well into perspective.
Long Time Upland/Waterfowl Hunter/MemberJohn: Hope you had a good opener. Jasper and I hunted [location deleted] County Saturday and Sunday. Hardly any hunters in the area. We limited out by 9:30 both days. Not bragging, just wanted to put some optimism in the air.
Also, there wasn't much "quail" habitat in the area. But in the little we had, we found 3 coveys in less than a 150 yards. We hunted this area the last two years. The year before was great. Last year was tough. I think a lot of hunters had a tough time with all the milo still in the fields, but it should leave a lot more for the rest of the year. So far so good. Andrew
Andrew has been a long time consistent feedback provider with an experience history that can put conditions into objective analysis quickly. Or, to say more simply listen to what he writes as it is fair and free of ego. Thanks Andrew for always thinking about others. Andrew also offered comments he rarely has a good Iowa opener, but later in the season always finds the bird hunting too good to pass.
Good Habitat - Few BirdsJohn, Just returned from [location deleted] and the opening of the pheasant season. The habitat on all of the MAHA properties was tremendous. The weather was tough the first day with no dew in the morning and temperatures reaching 65 by 2:00 p.m. We had 2 roosters pointed and a few hens pointed. We hunted late afternoon and another rooster was pointed. Sunday started out great. It was foggy and misting and about 45. We hunted hard until 11:00 and did not get one point. We did flush a juvenile rooster that Colt harvested. We did not encounter any quail.
My opinion is that they did not have a really good hatch in that area for two years. I make my assumption on the fact that over 90% of the birds we have harvested there in the last two years were mature birds....We did see a number of roosters feeding with deer in green wheat fields. I do think the hunting in that area will be much better as the weather cools down more.
I am planning on deer hunting there during the rifle season and will go a couple of days early to bird hunt; hopefully there will be a little snow and about 25 degrees.
Take care, Mike
Thank you Mike for the honest assessment. Sharing feedback like this is always a reminder there may not be anything as a bad hunting day, but there are certainly good and better days. For the rest of the readers Mike and Colt have sent in fair and balanced feedback for years and they keep on hunting.
GuestsReminder no guests for upland bird hunting until the Monday after Thanksgiving and none after January 15.
Pressure ManagementA hunter day per deer lease or upland unit is measured by reservations and not actual hunter's boots on the ground. If you are not going to hunt a reservation please call and cancel it. This is just one aspect that with others manages hunter pressure to ensure all that hunt do so on the least hunted areas.
DeerThe weather has been unseasonably warm the last two weeks, which has made all hunting conditions tough, especially for the archery deer hunters. Hopefully, in the next day or two the switch will flip and the bucks will start chasing the does.
Several nice bucks have been harvested, but the main movement of the deer has been a very narrow time frame both early and late.
Good luck to all those participating in the Missouri Firearms season this weekend. Remember to be safe at all times!
Congratulations to Mike M, for a fine bow harvest. Thank you Mike for sending in a good looking buck and sharing with the rest of us. We seen you worked hard and it paid off, congratulations!
6 Nov For ConsiderationHey John...I have received numerous mailings from the above group [The American Hunters and Shooters Association Foundation (AHSA)], mostly attacking the NRA and purporting to support hunting and the shooting sports. I had never heard of them so I started looking a bit closer. Their website http://www.huntersandshooters.com presents a nice picture of support for hunting, conservation, gun safety, and law enforcement and even provides links to many well known organizations like DU and REMF, but you have to look at the individuals behind the organization to see who they really are....
The following website helps see past the facade... http://www.gunlawnews.org/asha.html and I recently saw this report as well from the NSSF: Fake Hunting Group Endorses 'Camouflage Candidate' Newtown, Connecticut - Responding to ads sponsored by the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) political action committee that support Missouri senatorial candidate Claire McCaskill, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has issued a statement warning hunters and sportsmen to educate themselves about the candidates and the groups that endorse them.
"It is vitally important that Missourians, and all Americans, look closely at their candidates and pay particular attention to the groups supporting each candidate," said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for NSSF, the trade association of the shooting, hunting and firearms industry.
AHSA purports to be a pro-hunting, pro-conservation and pro-gun organization, he explained, but its leadership and board do not reflect such a mission. The AHSA leadership includes a president who funds the country's leading gun-ban group, Handgun Control Inc., which in 2001 renamed itself the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; an executive director who is a highly paid witness in litigation against the manufacturers of hunting rifles and other firearms and a consultant to several national and state gun-control groups; and a foundation director who, in addition to moonlighting as the head of a Massachusetts-based anti-gun group, is also a former member of the Brady Campaign's board of directors.
Claire McCaskill's record on hunting and firearms rights is just as duplicitous as AHSA's, continued Keane. She has consistently opposed the rights of law-abiding Missourians to carry firearms and as state auditor pushed a proposal that could have jeopardized the Missouri Department of Conservation's funding source, a small percentage of the state sales tax, which is widely considered the model funding mechanism for state wildlife conservation agencies. Hunters and conservationists throughout Missouri could have suffered badly had McCaskill succeeded.
"Today, gun-control forces are trying to undermine the importance of the votes of sportsmen and gun owners by attempting to divide and conquer," said Keane. "AHSA is just the latest in a long line of such anti-gun groups camouflaging themselves as pro-hunting and pro-conservation in a coldly calculated political maneuver to split our community."
NSSF has encouraged all hunters, shooters and sportsmen to visit the AHSA fact sheet on the group's Vote Your Sport Web site.
Formed in 1961, the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) is the trade association for the firearms and recreational shooting sports industry. NSSF's mission is to provide trusted leadership in addressing industry challenges and delivering programs and services to meet the identified needs of its members by measurably advancing participation in and understanding of hunting and the shooting sports. For more information, visit www.nssf.org.
Media Contact: Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF (203) 426-1320
In my opinion, alerting fellow hunters and shooting sports enthusiasts of the tactics our opponents are willing to employ to gain their goals is critical. The fact that these folks will go to these ends to trick, hoodwink, or deceive hunters into supporting them is amazing to me. I think it's important for all of us to understand these tactics and to keep each other informed and aware. Thanks for your efforts in making our association such a pleasure to be a part of.
Matthew D. Kramer
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