Duck huntin in Central Kansas?

CraigS

CraigS

Well-known member
Well I have given up the Prison life and am now going to be a Cowboy.

We are moving at the end of May to central Kansas (Abilene) and I was wondering if anyone on here lives in the area or has hunted in the area and what to expect? From what I have seen Kansas is kind of dry compared to Iowa.

Have always been a big diver hunter and well am kind of concerned that I won't be any more.
 
Craig from the time I have spent in Kansas hunting here and there you will not be disappointed in the least. Probably will be much better gunning than your current locale
 
I'v been out there several times ,to Marion county ,Lincolnville besides deer and quail hunting we did a lot of duck hunting and it was a great change of pace for a hunter from the salts of Long Island , we shot Woodies,Mallards ,Ring neck, Lesser Scaup , Canadians ,GE. We hunted the pot holes out on the praires and walked the timber creeks for mallards and woodies , we had Ring Necks in one pot hole last year so thick there was almost no water on a 6-8 acer pond we would stalk up and bust them up and then just tuck our selves in the brush and wait for em to come back, , with not one deke , as long as we found water we were in birds, last year was better than this year, but still exciting bird hunters paradise ducks, quai, pheasant, praire chicken were good if you found where they were feeding and pass shoot, man are they fast.
 
Craig,
welcome to the sunflower state! I moved here from MO a couple years ago to go back to school. I haven't had the time to spend scouting exhaustively, but there are enough ducks around to keep me interested. I've been doing more walk in hunting than I did in MO. Like anywhere, if you're willing to do a little more work than the other guys, you'll find the spot nobody else hunts and typically ducks will magically be there :).

I don't target divers, so I can't give you much info about hunting those around here but there are several large reservoirs in the area that I suspect hold decent numbers at the right times. The wildlife managers that I've talked to have been more than willing to share information about duck numbers and locations, so that's probably a good place to start.

Feel free to drop me a msg if you want some additional details.

Scott
 
Never got to hunt there, but spent 6 weeks at Fort Riley back in the late 80's. When in the field, we constantly heard quail calling and pheasants cackling. Sounded good to me!
 
Sad to see CBR's leaving the state.
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I will definitely miss the Mississippi Phil!

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Craig,
welcome to the sunflower state! I moved here from MO a couple years ago to go back to school. I haven't had the time to spend scouting exhaustively, but there are enough ducks around to keep me interested. I've been doing more walk in hunting than I did in MO. Like anywhere, if you're willing to do a little more work than the other guys, you'll find the spot nobody else hunts and typically ducks will magically be there :).

I don't target divers, so I can't give you much info about hunting those around here but there are several large reservoirs in the area that I suspect hold decent numbers at the right times. The wildlife managers that I've talked to have been more than willing to share information about duck numbers and locations, so that's probably a good place to start.

Feel free to drop me a msg if you want some additional details.

Scott
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If time permits we might have to get together, can you hunt on Tuttle creek res. or Milford res. ? Have boat and couple of decoys.

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My family has a farm in Abilene. Headed out next week to scout for turkeys. Not many ducks on the area. Ive scouted it for years hoping for some. You'll have to go Cheyenne bottoms or Quivera. Good luck.
 
Craig,
You can hunt both lakes, the marshes, and to some extent the rivers above the lakes.
I think you will be able to find some divers late season particularly on Milford.
welcome to the area.
Best,
William
 
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Craig,
w.gammill was gracious enough to show me around the area when I moved here. Great guy, and he knows the area much better than I do. There are ducks on both lakes at times. Not as many as some other areas in the state, but if you are looking for 1 day hunts those can be really long trips.

My boats aren't nearly big enough to go out on either lake though there are quite a few people that do hunt them. I've seen Tuttle get really snotty when the wind hits it right. I assume Milford is pretty much the same way. One of the biggest issues the last 2 years is that they are built for flood control and the Corps has held back a lot of water during the summer, killing the vegetation, then dropping the water levels in the late fall/winter, leaving very few places to hide and not much food for puddle ducks. Give me a shout when you make out here.

Scott
 
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