The Hunted

Prairie Chicken

The Greater Kansas Prairie Chicken is a unique grouse species that have successfully been reestablished the last 30 years in their ancestral habitat of the native grasslands of North Central Kansas.

The birds typically move in flights from roost to feed at the same time and general over the same flight path daily.

To be successful the flights need to be scouted for proper placement of pass shooters at first light and at afternoon feeding.

The flights are deceptively fast and many a gunner has watched the birds pass unscathed after well placed shots where they "were", not where they "is."

Ringneck Ranch offers a unique “guaranteed shot” prairie chicken hunt that is typically most productive starting mid-December through the end of the season on January 31st. If we do our homework, we have been very successful in getting a “shot” for our guest. The “chickens” move high and fast and most have been shot behind. Plan to be in position at first light and the activity for pass shooting is only about an hour.

Prairie Chickens of Kansas

Kansas ranks first in terms of numbers of prairie chickens. Two species occupy the state – lesser and greater. Some states, where perhaps as few as one thousand lessers are found, have the lesser on their state threatened lists.

Greater prairie chickens are the more common species, found in the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas. Although nearly all good habitat is under private ownership, permission is often available.

Kansas currently has more lesser prairie chickens than any other state and had even seen expansion if the population in westcentral parts of the state.

Prairie chicken season in the southwestern quarter of the state has a one-bird daily bag limit and the season runs Dec. 1 to Jan. 31. In the rest of the state, the prairie chicken season runs the first Saturday in November through January with a bag limit of 2 per day.

Kansas also has an early prairie chicken season in roughly the eastern half of the state, spanning parts of September and October. Early prairie chickens hold tight and are hunted much like quail. Pass-shooting is the common hunting method of mid- to late-season, when chickens fly somewhat predictable routes and can be taken along fencelines as they fly into favored feeding sites.

Prairie chickens often travel several miles from grassy roosting sites to feed. Preferred feeding sites are soybeans and milo, but the birds also eat alfalfa and winter wheat. Normally, chickens fly out to feed for one to several hours at sunrise, returning to their grassy cover. A second feeding period takes place near sundown.

Some information is from KDWP's Kansas Outdoor Review.