public land Kansas rio

[backforty]

A buddy and I are planning are first trip to attempt to take a rio. Was wondering if anybody would be willing to give me a little help on picking an area? I have done some looking and it looks like units one and two are where we would find the rio's.  Looking for recommendations on what public areas to try and what ones to avoid due to high hunting pressure. Any help would be appreciated.

[Bolandstrutters]

I would just plan on going and being mobile.  Hit as many walk ins as you can.  Kansas public is going to have a decent amount of pressure for the most part.

[BowBendr]

Looking for recommendations on what public areas to try and what ones to avoid due to high hunting pressure. Any help would be appreciated.

Road conditions will dictate how many spots you can actually get to if it's been raining any at all.
Hit as many as you can, pressure is high. Didn't kill my first gobbler last year til we got to the 12th spot we tried. Good optics and gasoline.....

[turkeyfoot]

All I can say is good luck Ks is pretty tough hunting these days last year we probably hit 30 areas most all were void of birds and some had few jakes the pressure is unreal these days. And I'll second the roads if you've never been and the roads get wet don't try drive till they dry unless it a hard packed road even in 4-wheel drive you'll be stuck looking for farmer to pull you out

[busta biggun]

I used to plan a trip out to Kansas every year and always had plenty of land to hunt and lots of birds. Two years ago we went out and the bird population has plummeted. They claim it was the horrible heat and drought they had, but whatever it was, they were gone. We went to SEVERAL of our old hunting areas, separated by 100's of miles, hoping it was jst a regional problem. Unfortunately, the numbers were bad everywhere we went. If you do find an area with birds, you usually find more hunters than turkeys and they will intercept birds, drive right past your truck and walk in the middle of your setup, etc. We vowed to stay away for several years, hoping the population improves and the pressure subsides. There are some areas you can find to hunt, but it ain't what it used to be! Good luck.

[BowBendr]

I used to plan a trip out to Kansas every year and always had plenty of land to hunt and lots of birds. Two years ago we went out and the bird population has plummeted. They claim it was the horrible heat and drought they had, but whatever it was, they were gone. We went to SEVERAL of our old hunting areas, separated by 100's of miles, hoping it was jst a regional problem. Unfortunately, the numbers were bad everywhere we went. If you do find an area with birds, you usually find more hunters than turkeys and they will intercept birds, drive right past your truck and walk in the middle of your setup, etc. We vowed to stay away for several years, hoping the population improves and the pressure subsides. There are some areas you can find to hunt, but it ain't what it used to be! Good luck.

Amen. We planned for one solid year for our trip out there last year. We had at least 30 spots lined up that we wanted to hit right off the bat. We struggled severely. I was shocked at the lack of birds. I made the comment last year that I thought the angel of death had swept thru there. We finally did ok but we worked extremely hard and smart for it. Still was a great time with friends.

[dirtnap]

A buddy and I are planning are first trip to attempt to take a rio. Was wondering if anybody would be willing to give me a little help on picking an area? I have done some looking and it looks like units one and two are where we would find the rio's.  Looking for recommendations on what public areas to try and what ones to avoid due to high hunting pressure. Any help would be appreciated.

I doubt you will get much help.  Why would someone who has spent the time and money to locate birds and areas that have/do not have birds hand that information over to someone they don't even know?

I would suggest going out there and doing the legwork yourself. 

[backforty]

It never hurts to ask or to hear how others have done in the past.  If I had the time to go out and do the "leg work" prior to season I would.  I was not asking for grid coordinates just an idea of where to start.  I would have no problem helping somebody out if they were asking about my area of Missouri, so I don't see a problem asking someone else. Thanks for your two cents though.

[spaightlabs]

The KDWP is more of a marketing/tourism outfit anymore than it is a wildlife outfit.  They seem to spend a ton of time and effort making sure that every publication and TV show in the world comes to KS and extolls the KS experience as the be all and end all.

While KS does have great resources, they are more and more used and depleted every year, and Gov.Brownback's grand experiment regarding taxation is not resulting in more money going to wildlife resources.

I have been on hunts in years past in KS with a friend who is an outfitter where we have thought about setting up on public because we were seeing so many birds on WIHA ground.  That really started to change about 4 or 5 years ago as the WIHA ground got hit harder and harder.

We did notice too that the bird numbers dropped dramatically about 2 or 3 years ago.  We had been hunting the same properties for years and 2 years ago the numbers crashed and we saw virtually no Jakes that year.  The numbers seem to have ticked up a bit last year from what I heard from friends back that way, but still no where near what they were 5 years ago.

Your milage may vary.  Best way to find out for yourself is to get boots on the ground.  As an alternative, you can do a search here and see what the general consensus was among the guys who made the trip last year.

[snapper1982]

Threads like these asking for spots and then people actually giving spots cause those spots to get pressured harder than they already do.

[spaightlabs]

Kansas is a pretty big/general spot.

[Britton40]

Hunted Kansas last year. Secrets out. It gets pounded. I would look  elsewhere

[cutt down]

The KDWP is more of a marketing/tourism outfit anymore than it is a wildlife outfit.  They seem to spend a ton of time and effort making sure that every publication and TV show in the world comes to KS and extolls the KS experience as the be all and end all.

While KS does have great resources, they are more and more used and depleted every year, and Gov.Brownback's grand experiment regarding taxation is not resulting in more money going to wildlife resources.

I have been on hunts in years past in KS with a friend who is an outfitter where we have thought about setting up on public because we were seeing so many birds on WIHA ground.  That really started to change about 4 or 5 years ago as the WIHA ground got hit harder and harder.

We did notice too that the bird numbers dropped dramatically about 2 or 3 years ago.  We had been hunting the same properties for years and 2 years ago the numbers crashed and we saw virtually no Jakes that year.  The numbers seem to have ticked up a bit last year from what I heard from friends back that way, but still no where near what they were 5 years ago.

Your milage may vary.  Best way to find out for yourself is to get boots on the ground.  As an alternative, you can do a search here and see what the general consensus was among the guys who made the trip last year.

Spot on!

[BowBendr]

Don't forget.......past couple of years they've been holding large turkey hunting contest that allow hunting on public ground. Saw some local contest too that focused on early archery season hunting on the WIHA's.
That place is getting pounded hard...

https://nationalturkeyhuntingchampionship.bombplates.com/p/2016-rules

[Hooksfan]

You are about 10 years too late to the party, IMO.
I have hunted every section of Kansas over the past 16 years except the southwest corner.
I am fortunate to have been granted permission on a small piece of private ground. It used to be my back up spot after hunting nearby public land. Now, it is my go to spot....and it's not as good as it used to be. This will be my son's last year to be eligible for the youth hunt and it may be my last year hunting Kansas for a while.
Granted,  I wouldn't give out good information online if it were still good, but I would look elsewhere these days, especially if you were looking for Rios.