Kansas grab bag yields variety of game

Do you remember the old merchant’s trick of the grab bag where you could get a $5 value for only 50 cents? To me that’s what October and November is in Kansas, a gigantic GRAB BAG!
Last Saturday, I got to open the duck season with Rich Sanders and Paul Bryant on a pond in Pratt County. This winter, Rich had constructed two blinds, one at the north end and one at the south end. As our grab bag opened, we got to hunt one on Saturday and the other on Sunday — two perfect mornings with strong winds first from the south and then the next morning from the north.

Both days we had small ducks early, before sun-up. Then as time wore on, larger ducks came in small flocks, singles and pairs. The wind directions gave us the chance to find out where and how to set our decoys when using both blinds, a chance normally not offered on two succeeding hunts.

We found that early in the morning we could stand exposed as our shapes blended into the background, but closer to sun up the blind’s top had to be first half closed then all the way if we were to have any close-in ducks.

Our second grab bag opened up when we started shooting. Both mornings we took six ducks, not an impressive number except for the range of species — mallards, pintails, widgeon, Gadwalls, green wing teal and shoveler — six different species of ducks, as mixed of a grab bag as you’ll ever find on a duck hunt.  

That was a good thing as our third grab bag started out wet and got wetter.  After lunch and a short nap — got to love these days without a fixed plan — we strapped on chaps and hit the brush lined and filled ponds in Barber County. We spent about three hours “fishing” with most of the time really spent crawling through and untangling lines from cedar trees both in the water and bankside. It was my first experience fishing that way, and even though I’d taken a shower before bed I could still smell cedar as I tried to sleep.

Tried to sleep.

Hard to sleep when pictures of bass coming up through clear water, smashing your lure then jumping over logs and diving to snag the lure in a limb were so vividly flashing again and again in my mind. In Barber County pond fishing you’re not going to lose a lure on every fish but it’s best to plan as if you were. Casts were made not in yards but in feet, and because the water was so clear, you fished as if you were hunting.

Nobody actually said it, but I guess we had it in mind that no one would keep a fish smaller than our host caught so of course we opened up the grab bag and pulled out the first fish Rich caught  — a 4-pound bass. While Paul and I caught a bunch of nice bass none were over that 4-pound mark. Tough as it was, Rich was the only one who had to clean a fish that night.

 The total Kansas Grab Bag starts  in November  with the opening of pheasant then quail seasons. Where else but Kansas can you hunt ducks with a good chance of bagging a limit with each duck being a different species. Pheasants, quail, rabbits, squirrel and prairie chickens, then fish during the midday and end up with a deer stand towards evening?

Not a typical hunter? Then try predator calling. When we were fishing in Barber County towards sunset I found myself in the brush with coyotes singing on three sides and wishing for much taller and faster legs.

Tomorrow pheasant hunters are going to find a lot of ducks, but just switching to steel shot will not keep you legal. You must not have lead and steel shot on your person — one or the other but not both — to keep you out of trouble.

Pheasant hunters should also plan their hunts to take advantage of the extra water we have this year. Use the water as an extra blocker as pheasants can’t swim but are not afraid to get their feet wet so hunt until yours are.

Wear a bright colored hat or vest, make sure of your target before taking the safety off and remember this is not a contest but a bonding activity for your daughter or son. Let the youngsters in your group shoot even if it means passing up a shot yourself.

“A sportsman should be remembered more by what they didn’t shoot than by what they did“ JKPhillips.