Western Kansas

Cap'n Pablo

My Buddies

A tough year bird hunting held its course for me this past week. I loaded three Boykins and three English Setters in the Hell Wagon plus trailer and fled Arkansas. All possible companions were scared off by illness,to freakin many dogs or the much publicized drought and lack of target rich environments. So me and the canine companions landed in the west central part of Kansas Thursday night. We fiddled around there for a couple of days in light snow and howling winds, finding very few pheasants and one covey of quail. Rumours of great cover and a decent hatch sent me scurrying almost to the Nebraska border. My pals and I fought six inches of hard snow and really smart birds for two more days before running out of beer and moving to the southern border close to the Oklahoma line. I met some buddies at Billy's Bar in Liberal (I really love that name) had a toast to the dearly departed quail and pheasant of Southwestern Kansas and tucked tail and beat a path to Little Rock. Even with few birds I had a great time. My dogs plus William and Anna's dogs ran for five days and they could care less if the birds pointed or flushed were a hen or rooster. My dog string is pretty young so all contacts are good. Also I added a beer I really liked. Tall Grass Halcyon Wheat form Manhattan Kansas. Its the first beer I've have seen where the thank the farmer that grew the wheat for their beer. The rain that has fallen so far this winter on the southern great  plains is a much better start than last season so lets hope for a better hatch next year.

Ferruginous Hawk