Kansas gun season - Opening day

Status
Not open for further replies.
9

95XL883

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
248
Kansas gun season opens today. My 15 year old and I are in our ground blind in the sw corner. It is 50 degrees and we are waiting for the fog to lift. The feeder is a 100 yards to the nne. Wind, when there is any, is from the nne. Trail camera has shown at least 8 does and 8 bucks visiting the feeder recently. Two bucks are pretty nice. No pics of the giant my son saw months ago. (He is really hoping it shows up.). The bucks show only occassionally during the day but the does are showing twice a day. Wish us luck.

P.S, Turkey's are gobbling right now. Woodpecker is hammering. :)
 
Gobbling has stopped but there is a hen behind us that ocassionally purrs. A shot in the distance. Birds are clucking and cawing. Sometimes we can see the feeder, sometimes we can't. This is a great way to spend the day.
 
Fog is thinning. Sun is peeking through the trees. Hens are occasionally purring. At least we can see the feeder now.
 
Stay out there, the weather is turning cold, they're gonna have to move and eat. Good luck!
 
Good luck.
I've got a buddy that goes to Kansas every year hunting with his dad and brother. I think its a farmer they hooked up with that wants them all dead because they're eating his crops. They've had wonderful luck in the past. Three or four deer that are over 150". And the bodies are just massive. I guess its all that good food they're eating off the guy's farm. lol

They have to use muzzleloaders though, even in gun season. I don't know if its the county they're hunting in or the farmer's rule because of close buildings.
 
Thanks guys. It has gotten overcast, a damp 45. At least the sun was out long enough to burn off the fog. We're having fun. Went through the giddy phase of whispering lines from Madagascar and Shrek to each other. The birds are interesting. At times it gets quiet, then the flock of I don't know what starts clucking noisily, then a few other birds sing a few notes and make few sqawks and if we're lucky a hen will purr. Then it all goes quiet.

At this point, it's a bit of a crapshoot if any deer show up until 4 or so. The does have been very consistent showing up then. Sometimes a buck is with them, sometimes not.

It sure is peaceful out here.
 
Paul,
I'm guessing the muzzleloader is a farmer requirement. I know a number of the state parks limit firearms to shotguns but I don't remember any muzzleloader requirement.

We're using a Marlin 336 in 30-30 as primary today. We have an AR with some TSX bullets as a backup.
 
Good Luck to you and your son. I hope the deer cooperate for you. I didn't know you could hunt on a feeder...at least in my state you can't.
 
^ Every state is different regarding baiting. Every time I hunt, there's a 200 yd path of persimmon flavored corn scattered down my shooting lane. And they LOVE it.
 
As long as y'all are obeying the state hunting laws, which I'm sure that you are then no problems here.

In Alabama if you place bait down you must wait 10 days till you hunt over it and a feeder has to be 100yds away from you and out of your direct line of sight. Doesn't matter I suppose because the # of deer killed on opening day for rifle season at the processor I went to said he had 75 deer hanging.
 
In Kansas, it is legal to deer hunt over bait on private property. No hunting over bait on public property. I got that from the KS Dpt of Wildlife's legal counsel as I couldn't find an answer online. I agree it is best to follow the rules. The game wardens seem to be a pretty friendly bunch locally. There is a big public area close by, Marais Das Cygne, and a big commercial hunting area, Wicked Outfitters, also close. I'm guessing that is why I ran into 8 of them eating lunch close by.
 
75 on opening day probably isn't going to happen here. So far we have heard only five shots today. The weather is 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the prior three days so I'm guessing the deer are hunkered down for the moment. It is supposed to drop another 20 degrees tonight so I'm hoping they come out late today. We'd love to take one or two home for dinner. :)
 
Just tried till hunting the property. We probably went a little fast, an hour and fifteen to cover half a mile. Didn't even bump a deer. I'm not experienced but I didn't see any bedding sites. What we do have is food and water (a stream starts on our property) and I think topography pushes them through. What we did see was lots of scrapes and track. I also found a pecan tree. I'm going to pay attention to for next year's crop.
 
I'm going to try making it over to a buddies cattle ranch an hour away (probably 100 acres with no cattle on it) this weekend. If I can't make it up there, there's a state lake about 5 miles away and I'll have to give some shotgun slugs a try.
 
Finally made it home. We didn't shoot a deer today. About 4:30, one doe came out from behind us. We were set up for a shot by the feeder and she just teased us by staying 70 yards from the feeder and wouldn't stop moving long enough for us to get a shot. Temps continued to fall during the day. A forecast of 45 and light wind turned into 30 degrees and 14 mph winds. We shivered and laughed and decided we will be back on Saturday for another try.
 
Two of us were out today on my farm in SE Kansas. Cold and windy and will be in teens and single digits through the next few days. Saw only 20 or so deer today (we're covered with deer, they were just staying in by the fire today) but I did see one very nice 10 pt. We'll hit it again this weekend and on and off through next week.

We got a few quail last weekend, and today there were turkeys and squirrels out in force. My favorite time of the year, cold or not.
 
The cold front will be good for making them move and eat. If you can get out early tomorrow, you'll probably see deer.
 
Cold and damp yesterday for the opener and BITTER cold, (but it's a "dry cold" :rolleyes:,) today. Saw nothing both mornings and the patch of woods is showing no fresh sign. Might wait till Saturday and see if they get stirred up by other hunters..?
Been seeing fewer deer this year in my part of NE Kansas though... not sure why ?:confused:
 
I haven't been seeing too many in Leavenworth county this year but I've seen a decent number in Jefferson county the few times I've been over there.
 
I've seen 2 deer this fall. Early spring they were all over the place. I dont know what happened to them. I'll go buy a land owner permit if I start seeing some.
 
Well, after 4 days in the cold, and I mean COLD, outdoors I have nothing to show for my efforts. The area where I hunt seems to be deer free this season. But then it does look like the land owner has been cutting firewood lately so that may have moved them away.
Wonder where they went? I'm guessing up the road on the "hippie" lady's place since it's no hunting and there's crop and alfalfa fields next door.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Well, after 4 days in the cold, and I mean COLD, outdoors I have nothing to show for my efforts. The area where I hunt seems to be deer free this season. But then it does look like the land owner has been cutting firewood lately so that may have moved them away.
Wonder where they went? I'm guessing up the road on the "hippie" lady's place since it's no hunting and there's crop and alfalfa fields next door.
Click to expand...
Don't feel too bad. I spent all day out in it that frigid cold yesterday and went back out this morning. Spent a few hours out there this morning. It was getting hard to see with the snow coming down, I was cold and wet, and just said it aint my day. The only deer I saw was a smallish 6 point buck yesterday evening. It started getting on the late side of shooting hours and I decided to go through a thick patch of evergreens on my way back to the truck. I spooked it and didn't see it until it was on a full sprint in an open field. I couldn't get my rifle up quick enough to take a shot. Too bad turkey is out of season. I saw a couple hundred of them yesterday morning, no exaggeration. All but a few were too far away to hit with any shotgun, I know where to go when they're back in season.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Appalachiannative
Last day of the season
Replies
9
Views
251
buck460XVR
buck460XVR
Captcurt
  • Locked
Looks like a repeat of last year.
Replies
22
Views
1K
jmorris
jmorris
B
  • Locked
Opening day in TX
Replies
18
Views
838
aguyindallas
A
Captcurt
  • Locked
66 and still learning.
Replies
6
Views
556
JeffG
JeffG
Olympus
  • Locked
Land Management Help Needed!
Replies
16
Views
1K
Johnny_B_Goode
J
Back
Top