Author: Webmaster

Posted By:
mdavis3
Guest

flint hills 11-18-2006 17:25
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Had a good hunt this morning! We ended the day at 10:15 with a limit of geese and mallards (2 man limit). Best part was a banded bird my partner let me claim it.

Posted By:
Water SWAT
Guest

Harvey County 11-18-2006 16:10
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
We didn’t see the birds in any numbers this morning. We killed 2 Red Hed Drakes right out of the gate. Next came the Honkers. Had a group of about 20-25 that wanted into the decoys. 5 stayed with us. Had two orver 11 lbs. All were good sized geese. Next we had 4 mallards work us. Only one wanted in and we let him, well for a minute, he was greeted by steel. I had to leave at 0800. We had some more geese fly over between 0730 and 0800 but I think they were looking for breakfast, not a drink. After I left, the others stayed until 1130. Only added one more Gaddy to the bag. So 5 Honkers, 1 Mallard Drake, 2 Red Head Drakes and 1 Gadwal.

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

South of Quivera 11-18-2006 15:55
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Good mixed bag this morning (mallards, widgeon, gadwall and 1 bullsprig pintail). Weather was very mild and virtually no wind, surprised we had such a good hunt. Birds flew very steady until about 10am, most in small 4-6pack, but a few very large groups that appeared to be looking, but didn’t commit. Largest group we were able to call in was 10-12, worked good to the call and decoy spread for the most part. Not a lot of shooting we heard, suspect many felt the weather was not condusive to duck activity (must admit, I felt the same going into the morning). 10 big ducks in total. Strange though, didn’t see one group of teal this morning nor the number of pintails I saw on Wednesday. Guess the fact remains, everyday is a new day on the water.

Set-up, 4 dozen floaters, 1 dozen full body motion dekes and 1 mojo……did the trick for the most part. Hunted a very small 1-2acre creek pond, lots of exposed grass and a well camo’d pit blind. Prepared for a North wind, but really wasn’t a factor, birds were landing from all directions.

Hunt safe and take a kid with you when you go!!!

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

South of Quivera 11-18-2006 15:44
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Posted By:
kerhonk
Guest

11-17-2006 10:50
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Greg, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a hunt to remember. I can just imagine those pinnies dropping in by the truckload.

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

Just East of Quivera 11-16-2006 13:07
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
By invitation (which I was thrilled to get), I hunted with Gov. Hayden, KDWP Chairman Harrington and several other distinguished guests yesterday morning. On a private watershed with snow/rain mix, 30-40mph wind from the north and MORE ducks than I’ve ever hunted under in KS. 10 mins prior to legal time, they were swarming the 5-6 acre water. Couldn’t shoot until 15 mins after legal due to low light and inability to identify what we were seeing. Teal we easy to note, but didn’t want to fill our limits w/teal. Our 1st 4 birds (had 6 hunters) were bull-sprig pintails which made the balance of the morning intense trying to ID species. We filled out the stringers with greenheads, widgeon a gaddie and 5 GW teal. Enough on that, it was an incredible hunt, certianly one I will remember for a long time.

Here’s really the important part of this, I cannot tell you how many Pintails wanted in this watershed, hundreds upon hundreds which is just incredible given the number of pinnies I’ve seen in the last 5 seasons. This is a remarkable migration turnaround for this species in KS (as least where I hunt). I realize there could certianly be a fluke congregation/consolidation of the species in this area, but was very encouraged by the shear numbers, especially given I hunt this general region and have never seen Pintails this thick. I was a little concerned about the hunt given Quivera is currently closed to hunting (due to whooping cranes), but didn’t make a bit of difference. I did take the opportunity to ask these gentlemen why Quivera was the only State wetland area that closed the entire compound to hunting when whooper’s were on site (other areas just close certian pools where they are, etc..). The answer was simple, “it is in the sole discretion of the wetland/park manager to determine if, how and what areas are to be closed or modified during the whooping cranes stay”. So, there you have it and don’t beat up the entire KDWP organization over one man’s decision. You should now be clear on who to talk too!!! (if your opposed to the current process of full closure).

Normally I share the set-up used on the hunt, but in this case, pop bottles and milk jugs would have worked just fine. Actually 6 dozen floaters, no full body land/motion dekes and 3 spinners all tucked hard against the north bank (no more than 10-15yds off) where slightly protected water was evident. Good luck all and be safe, back with more after the weekend.

Posted By:
wtrfwlr44
Guest

SE KS 11-15-2006 21:40
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted a.m., field for geese. Saw NOTHING moving. No geese, no flocks of ducks trading around. Guess the birds hunkered down during the big wind or they moved on. will know in the next few days.

Posted By:
Tim-Carrigan
Guest

Private Marsh – Miami Co 11-14-2006 20:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
A series of events has had me out of town and not able to hunt or scout much, but I did sneak out for a quick hunt Sat AM. We had average success and saw a good number of birds, but the calm winds and bluebird day just made it tough to get the birds to commit. I dont think Friday’s winds and the cool front brought any new birds — those we saw and it sounds like from the other posts that there are birds, they just know where to go and what to look out for. Weather doesnt look like it will push much our way either, unless it happens tonight or tomorrow. Might have to work to get too the out of the way places to get willing birds….good luck.

Posted By:
wycohunter
Guest

Clinton 11-14-2006 08:30
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Well said bernie, i hunted clinton lake on sunday morning. One word, Horrible. I saw maybe 6 big ducks fly over head and that was it, water is extremely low where i hunted and the marshes were pretty low as well. Drove by the refuge at about 11, only saw a group of six at the most. Dont plan on goin back for a while, gotta find some new honey holes.

Posted By:
Bernie-Jones
Field Editor

Cheney Res 11-13-2006 20:01
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Hunted Sat morning south of Hutch. Set up a spread of fullbodies for a dry run, I guess. Nothin in the area for some reason. Hunted Sat evening at the Res. Didn’ see much of anything. A few groups of mallards and a few teal. Nothing even interested in lookin at the decoys.
You guys don’t have to give up you specific locations that you hunt but at least give us a county. No offense intended.
Thanks

Posted By:
wtrfwlhunter
Guest

11-13-2006 16:18
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Tough tough day, did not see many birds today. We managed to scratch a 2 man limit. 3 mallards, 3 teal, 4 gads. Not bad overall considering we did not have a duck in the decoys at early light.

Posted By:
Col4600
Guest

Flooded millet pond-N. of Cheney Res. 11-12-2006 20:51
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted a flooded millet pond this morning. Very very windy day, figured the ducks would stay off the lake and head for a little cover and food. Me and my son were running a little late and when we arrived lots of teal were already on the water. Once we were set up we had a few nice groups work us. Ended the day with 1 redhead, 1 oddball and 6 Gw teal. They stopped flying early, and most of the teal that we scared off early didn’t come back. Usually they will and seeing how there’s no water out by the lake I was expecting it. We had a nice little morning none the less. It’s fun shooting teal and divers but I can’t wait for it to get cold so we can start pounding the river and the cornfields. Nothing better then Mallards and 20 degree temps…….

[Edited By Col4600 on 2006-11-14 21:47]

Posted By:
Bumper
Guest

POND 11-12-2006 18:23
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
We did pretty good this morning. Seven drakes and one Canada. Could have had more but my partners gun wasn’t working and when it was it couldn’t hit anything. Six Canadas land in the decoys at twenty yard and I get the only one. What can I say. The birds did not fly well after the early morning barrage.

[Edited By Bumper on 2006-11-12 18:24]

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

Ark River NW of Wichita 11-12-2006 15:40
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Saturday morning was a beautiful crisp morning on the river, tons of turkey, several good bucks and NO DUCKS. Didn’t fire a shot. Had two large groups of ducks moving across the river from south to north and knew exactly where they were going, not the river. Several other small 3-4 packs that were lower, but still not interested in the calm wind and sunshine the river had to offer. Hopefully you guys hunting ponds, lakes and marshes had a better hunt. A big ZERO for the tally sheet. Didn’t hunt this morning, still licking my wounds from yesterday. Noticed not a drop of rain projected for the next 10 days, man we sure could use it. Also looking forward to the Whooping Cranes leaving Quivera so it can re-open for hunting and scatter those masses around the area. Hunt safe!!

Posted By:
wtrfwlr44
Guest

SE Kansas 11-11-2006 14:53
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted a cut bean field on the farm yesterday for Canada’s. I’ve watched numerous geese fly every morning to a large pond about a mile away. It’s next to a house and cannot be hunted. I figured with the weather forecast I might be able to get some of these locals to give me a look. I put out 5 dozen real geese. The geese fly like clockwork just after 0800 until about 0900. Yesterday they surprised me by starting at 0650. They SEEMED to quit about 0800. They all knew right where they wanted to be, to the pond! Didn’t get an honest look. Went back to the famrhouse to work, we’re renovating. Hadn’t picked up the dekes yet. Lo and behold two groups went into the dekes at 0900. Bout 40 of em. So back out I go. Had a group of 10 come in and took one and missed one. Learned a lesson, change in weather be PATIENT.

[Edited By wtrfwlr44 on 2006-11-11 14:54]

[Edited By wtrfwlr44 on 2006-11-11 14:54]

Posted By:
wtrfwlhunter
Guest

11-10-2006 20:34
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anyone hunting the bottoms lately?

Posted By:
Col4600
Guest

Cheney lake area-beaver pond 11-10-2006 17:13
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Decided to head out this morning to a spring-fed beaver pond. This pond was dry 4 weeks ago, but the beavers moved back in like they do every year and the water came quickly. We were covered up with teal and mallards before shooting time. A good 40 mallards were on the water to our left and the teal just kept pouring into the water that was on the other side of the beaver darn. The Mallards got a little nervous and took off but the teal just kept pouring into this little hole. At shooting time we had a nice flock of Gw buzz the decs and decided to take them. I would say the little hole the teal were using had a good 100 plus birds on it. We ended the morning with 7 greenwings and 1 mallard drake. It was a good hunt but we should have shot our limits. The pond is a little tricky to work with. It’s basically a slough that is about 400 feet long and anywhere from 20 to 50 ft wide. The edges of the water have about 20 ft of native grass on each side then runs into a treeline on each side which has wheat on the other side of that. The teal will run the gauntlet at mach 1 and sometimes its hard to pick them out while looking directly at the other side treeline. The mallards drift high overhead and have to drop a long ways in. Might give it another try in the morning since I don’t think we did any damage to the massive amount of teal on the water. That and this pond is alot of fun to hunt…….good luck this weekend….

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

Ark River W. of Wichita 11-10-2006 15:37
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Got out this morning for a few hours on the river, not a lot moving around. Had 25mph north wind and saw 2 large groups of ducks passing over the river pretty high, no interest in my set-up, but had multiple 2-4 packs splash into the dekes, just like I like it. Ended the morning with 4 mallards, couldn’t close out the limit. Tommorow should be pretty good with 29 degree temps and 10mph north wind at shooting time. Report back after the wknd. Oh yeah, missed reporting last weekend and only hunted Saturday, 2 groups shot 13 ducks (mixed bag mallards, gadwall, teal)

Posted By:
Mullen
Guest

Near Quivira 11-09-2006 20:02
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hunted opening day 4 man limit of cranes and 6 geese..second day 6 man limit of cranes and only 1 goose…cranes everywhere

Posted By:
mazoniacutem
Guest

near Quivera 11-09-2006 10:15
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Well boys The sandhill kill’n has started, along with a few geese. We hunted the fields yesterday morning and the cranes were everywhere. Shot a few bonus geese that flew a little to close the the dekes. Hunted the “Bottoms” last night and killed a few ducks. This moring was much the same with cranes with our group killing 16, and 7 geese. Will head after the geese this afternoon in hopes to pick up a few more.

Posted By:
Col4600
Guest

Central Kansas 11-06-2006 23:03
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Went back to the same place as on Saturday. Didn’t see near the numbers as the day before, it was more like early November usually is on the Arkansas River. We did have 2 nice groups work us and managed to shoot 8 mallards. Most of the other birds we saw were flying very high and didn’t pay us much attention. It was just a very different day all around. I think some of this had to do with the moon, it was very heavy on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I didn’t notice it on my Saturday hunt because of the cloud cover. My guess is the Mallards were up in the fields half the night and weren’t following any set pattern. Every bird we shot was stuffed full of corn. Anyway, I was glad to see the Mallards are moving down. Nothing better then Mallards cupped coming into the decs………

Posted By:
Water SWAT
Guest

Harvey / Marion Co. 11-06-2006 07:48
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We saw a fair amount of ducks yesterday, the shooting early on was poor. We didn’t see the Mallards that Col4600 saw although we did manage 4 all of which were adult birds. Also a nice Red Head Drake. 7 ducks total.

We did see alot of geese. Didn’t look like migrators, just the local pigs. We will be giving them a run next weekend.

Posted By:
Col4600
Guest

Somewhere in CENTRAL Kansas 11-04-2006 22:41
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Went out this morning by myself to do a little scouting, maybe a little shooting. Lets just say the first wave of mallards may be moving through Central Kansas. I had my limit of Mallards by 7:00 a.m. I decided to sit for awhile to check out just how many more birds might give me a look. I was seeing wave after wave of mallards. It reminded me of late season. If my regulars were with me there’s no doubt we would have ended the day with a bird count in the 20’s. At one point I had 8 birds sitting in the decs and at least another 70 to 90 circling me. I’m heading to the same spot tommorrow to see how it goes, this time with backup. These weren’t Wichita Mallards either….

Posted By:
slassley62
Guest

10 miles east of Quivera 11-01-2006 15:41
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Two of us had a great shoot this AM. Two limits consisting of 4 Drake Mallards, 3 Gaddies, 2 Pintail and 1 Red Head. We had them right in the decoys despite the calm winds. We could of had a go at some sandies and specks but gotta wait for seven more days.

While some of you are chasen pasture chickens this Sat. I might be waiting for them ducks you all scare off the little waters..

Good Luck!!!

Posted By:
wtrfwlhunter
Guest

central 11-01-2006 14:41
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Birds worked great this a.m. Lots of birds, and were willing to make the turn in the hole. Still not seeing the mallards anyone have any ideas? 2 limits of gaddies/teal….

Posted By:
MrMallard88
Guest

N of Manhattan 10-31-2006 11:22
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
With this cold front I decided to head out to try and kill a few mallards. Was covered in teal at shooting time but decided to hold off until the bigger ducks started flying. Ended up killing 4 drake mallards and a gadwall by 8:15. There were deffinetly a lot more ducks than there was this weekend and even decoyed a group of 50+ mallards. Heard snows over the house non stop from about 8-11 last night and saw many large flocks of snows and ducks headed south this morning. Bring on the cold. Oh, and on a side note, there was some skim ice on the water this morning…

Good Huntin to Everyone

Posted By:
Col4600
Guest

Flooded millet pont-Cheney lake area 10-30-2006 22:26
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Went out Sat. for the opener and had a nice morning. The teal were covering us up before legal shooting time, and luckily kept coming in till around 8:30 or so. We only saw 2 groups of “other” ducks. A trio of gadwall came over and circled about 3 times before checking out, and a nice group of mallards buzzed us heading towards the lake.
We ended the morning with 15 greenwing teal and 1 woodduck. There was lots of shooting going on around the lake but I haven’t heard any other reports. I think our pond is 1 of only a handful that is holding large amounts of water around the Cheney lake area……..

Posted By:
Bumper
Guest

W Kansas 10-30-2006 19:35
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
I hunted both Saturday and Sunday. Two drakes and a baldpate on Saturday, three drakes and a gaddie on Sunday. Did as well as I could on Saturday with few opportunities. Sunday I couldn’t hit the side of barn. Ducks responded well to calling on Sunday and I blew numerous opportunities to limit out. By ten am they basically stopped flying. Scouting would have paid off but my job is killing me right now. I scouted Saturday after I hunted to find a better spot on Sunday and it worked out well.

[Edited By Bumper on 2006-10-30 19:36]

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

S. of Quivera 10-30-2006 12:37
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Opener was not what I expected, fair number of birds in the air, none wanted anything to do with our spot. Heard a decent amount of shooting in the area (all direction) and have since learned that most shot limits by the end of the hunt (mix of divers, gaddies and teal). I failed to scout which area we should hunt on Friday and paid the price Sat morning, Hunted an area w/little activity on the water and passed on several spots that were much better suited for the bluebird conditions (scouted after the disappointing hunt). Lesson learned!! Ended the morning w/one gaddie and several missed opportuniteis, but all in all, it was not our day, offered everything but the kitchen sink and they didn’t want it on that day.

Here’s to trying again later in the week and for sure some better scouting efforts.

Got a report this morning from a hunt in the Quivera area on a group shot 10 greenies and their one each limit of pintails this morning. Maybe a decent sign that a few mall’s are arriving the scene, certainly didn’t see many mallards this weekend, mainly gad’s, divers and teal.

Posted By:
Givem_three
Guest

Central Kansas 10-29-2006 16:21
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Had a fun opener! Saw lots birds, both my boys shot their first birds! Myself, my two boys and a friend of mine shot 2 blue wing teal, 1 widgeon, 1 Gaddie, and 9 mallards. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

Posted By:
jball
Guest

Labette County, Privte lake 10-28-2006 21:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
hunted the opener here and got a limit. 3 GWT 1 M

Posted By:
wtrfwlhunter
Guest

central kansas 10-27-2006 13:43
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Birds not decoying at all today, can not figure it out. Moved everything that we could think of, boat, blind, changed decoys, blah blah blah….still flared at about 60 yds, just before they became into the hot spot. Saw fair aomount of birds.

Posted By:
kerhonk
Guest

10-26-2006 22:19
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Was out for about an hour tonight working the dog and saw a group of about 25 ducks and a group of about 50 geese. These birds were high flying and moving fast. Even more exciting is the downpour we are getting right now N. of Hutchinson! Maybe it will fill up some of the ponds around here.

Posted By:
Mullen
Guest

cheyenne bottoms 10-26-2006 22:06
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hunted the bottoms this morning, kind of wet and windy but well worth it, 3 guys 3 limits, 5 gadwall 3 Canvasbacks 3 Redheads 3 GWT and 1 Scaup, lots of new birds in the area

Posted By:
Derek-McDaniels
Guest

kearney NE 10-26-2006 20:05
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Grab your boots boys the specks are comeing your way from 4PM to present time the specs have been going over Kearney high and headed south have’nt noticed many ducks or snows though just a heads up.

Posted By:
wycohunter
Guest

Bottoms 10-23-2006 00:36
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Hunted friday saw many birds managed a 3 man limit, with a mixed bag of mallards,gadwall,gw teal and widgeons. Saturday was a very good day with ducks flying all over the marsh, managed a 4 man limit by 9:45. Today there werent as many ducks flying as we had hoped but we still managed 14. All in all it was a good weekends at cheyenne despite all the shooting goin on.

Posted By:
Greg-Haygood
Web Member

South of Quivera / Ark River 10-22-2006 16:42
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted with two boys on Saturday morning and man was it chilly with that 30-40mph wind. Overall not a lot of ducks in the area or moving around through mid morning. They did manage 4 in total, 1 Gaddie, 3 GW Teal. My son shot is 1st double that morning (2 GW Teal) which made it all pretty memorable, then his gun jammed and seems to have met it’s “waterloo”. Time for a replacement. We had several other groups wanting in our pool, one of which was a 12 pack of Redhead, which was neat to see. They dropped in our spread just like you’d want them too, but between a broken gun and a hesitent shooter, not a shot was fired. A couple more small 4-5 duck groups worked us while picking up the dekes. Could have had a few more on the stringer if luck would have come our way. In any case, our set-up was a 3-4 dozen mixed floaters (Mallard, Gad’s, Widgeon, Teal) set just north of our pit blind (to account for the STRONG north wind) and a dozen full body motion Mallards on a small mud flat just outside the floaters. Had a jerk sting and single Mojo in the water, but with the wave action towards the south, didn’t need to put either it in action.

Sunday morning on the Ark River we went, bad decision, not a single duck seen on the river up to 9am. Called it a day and packed up. Set-up used was 2 dozen Mallards and Gadwall floaters and 1 dozen full bodied dekes on sand bar. Never given a chance to see how it worked, no birds to test the layout. Love the spot and the look, but will have to wait for deeper winter conditions to light the river up.

All in all, the boys had a blast staying at the new lodge and shooting a few on Saturday. Next weekend the “Big Kids” get a go at it. Will report back shortly there after. Be safe, have fun and take a young one with you when you go!!

Posted By:
Bumper
Guest

sw ks playa 10-21-2006 14:51
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
We did pretty good this am. Two drake mallards, on pintail, and two teal. Saw lots of teal, very few big ducks. Lots of cranes moving thru.

Posted By:
drjakeb
Gold Sponsor

Cheyenne Bottoms 10-20-2006 16:01
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Hunted the Bottoms opening day. I’ll admit I was very disappointed with the way people opened up well before legal shooting time. I was so discouraged on Saturday that I passed on hunting there again Sunday.

I did manage a mixed bag limit. One immature Mallard drake, one redhead, two greenwing teal, and one goldeneye. I did see a few mallards before it was legal to shoot, and saw a group of pintails early as well.

Posted By:
Marshman54
Guest

Bottoms 10-19-2006 08:40
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the Bottoms yesterday in the morning got a nice mixed bag 1 woodie, 2 GW teal, Gadwall,and one rigneck. Pretty good morning not a lot of other hunters. Saw some migrators dumping into area as well. Good, cold north wind really brings them down. Dog worked good too. Great morning!!!!!