A shot of hope in 2015: Outlook for the hunting season

DEER

Missouri

▪ DATES: Firearms: Regular: Nov. 14-24. Youth: Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and Jan. 2-3. Antlerless: Nov. 25-Dec. 6. Alternative methods: Dec. 19-29. Archery: Sept. 15-Nov. 13 and Nov. 25-Jan. 15.

▪ OUTLOOK: Don’t look for a recovery overnight.

Missouri deer hunting took a tumble in 2012 and 2013 when the effects of an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease, combined with years of liberal hunting regulations in northern Missouri, led to a sharp decline in the deer population.

That also led to several years of sub-par hunting in some parts of the state. The deer are making a comeback, albeit a slow one. And so is the hunting. Hunters took 256,753 deer last season, a two percent increase from the 2013-2014 season. But that was still the second lowest statewide harvest since 2000.

With tighter hunting regulations, the deer should continue their comeback, wildlife biologists say. But populations in northern, western and central parts of the state remain below desired levels.

There will be more deer in the woods this fall, but whether it will have much effect on harvest remains to be seen. Look for another increase in the number of deer taken, but don’t expect anything dramatic.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Regular firearms: Dec. 2-13. Archery: Sept. 14-Dec. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: The 2014-2015 Kansas deer season gave hunters hope that their fate is on the comeback trail.

Hunters shot 96,059 deer last season, a hefty increase from the 89,665 they took the year before. Much of that can be attributed to the rapid rise in popularity of bow hunting.

Bow hunters took 34.4 percent of the deer harvest in 2014-2015, and their success rate was one of the highest in the region.

Lloyd Fox, deer biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, is confident there are still plenty of deer — and some big ones too — out there. He already has seen reports of trophy bucks taken by archers.

But that confidence was shaken a bit by a recent spotlight survey he conducted in western Kansas. Whitetail populations were down sharply, something he wasn’t expecting.

He has yet to conduct population surveys in other parts of the state, but he has received positive feedback from landowners in many regions.

As usual, a feature of Kansas deer hunting is that the whitetail population is spread out across the state, not just in one region. Fox looks for a hunting season similar to last year’s.

PHEASANTS

Missouri

▪ DATES: Youth: Oct. 24-25. Regular season: Nov. 1-Jan. 15.

▪ OUTLOOK: The good news for Missouri pheasant hunters is that the Department of Conservation has opened the entire state to pheasant hunting, instead of restricting it to the northern and southeast parts of the state.

The bad news is that there might not be many birds to hunt.

After a period of healthy populations and good hunting in the 1980s and 1990s, pheasants have been on a steady spiral downward. It’s a puzzle to even wildlife biologists. They think the declines are associated with habitat loss. But even in areas with good habitat, there are few pheasants. Hunter numbers and harvest are both at historic lows.

But enough of the bad news. There is one ray of hope. For the first time in recent years, summer roadside counts showed an increase —a modest increase, but an improvement nonetheless.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Youth season: Nov. 7-8. Regular: Nov. 14-Jan. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: This should be a better year for Kansas pheasant hunters.

But then again, things couldn’t get much worse than they were in the last three years. In the midst of a crippling drought, pheasant populations plummeted.

Hunters took only 269,476 pheasants last season, but that was still better than the harvest totals of 233,981 in 2012 and 190,285 in 2013. That’s a huge drop from the 1980s, when hunters shot more than 1 million pheasants annually.

The rain this year has brought renewed hope for hunters. With lush nesting cover and reinvigorated stands of vegetation in the Conservation Reserve Program (which compensates farmers for idling mrginal land), the picture is much brighter.

Pheasant densities are improved from last year; surveys showed a 50 percent increase from 2014. In fact, all six of the Kansas pheasant regions showed increases.

The northwest region and the Smoky Hills should provide the best hunting. But hunters across the state’s pheasant range should notice improvement.

QUAIL

Missouri

▪ DATES: Youth season: Oct. 24-25. Regular: Nov. 1-Jan. 15.

▪ OUTLOOK: Finally, there is good news for Missouri quail hunters.

After a string of years in which hunter numbers, bird populations and harvests all steadily dropped, there are signs that this year will bring better things.

Wet conditions hampered nesting in the spring and early summer, but populations were boosted when the quail had a strong re-nesting season in the new cover. Because some farmers were unable to get crops in this year, fields grew up in weeds, which provided add nesting cover and insects for the chicks.

Roadside counts were up from last year, when only two birds per 30-mile route were found. Surveyors found three birds per route this year. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s been since 2007 that count totals were that high.

Last year, 12,335 hunters took 109,904 quail in Missouri. That was an increase from the 2012-2013 season, when 15,078 hunters shot 100,894 quail. Look for those numbers to climb this year.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Youth season: Nov. 7-8. Regular: Nov. 14-Jan. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: Bird dogs will like the smell of the 2015-2016 Kansas quail season.

There’s little doubt that bird numbers are up substantially. Roadside counts were up by 48 percent compared to last year, and landowners report seeing and hearing many more birds than in recent years.

Why the increase? The drought was finally broken. Mild conditions in the winter led to an increase in the breeding population, then timely rains produced good nesting conditions. Where the rain was too heavy to promote spring nesting, the quail re-nested with success later in the summer once the precipitation dropped off.

Hunters shot 253,869 quail last year, a bit low by Kansas standards. As recently as 2000, hunters shot more than 1 million birds. But the 2014 harvest totals still represented a rise from 2013, when 174,970 quail were taken, and 2012, when 189,661 birds were harvested. Look for an accelerated comeback in 2015.

DUCKS

Missouri

▪ DATES: North Zone: Youth: Oct. 24-25. Regular: Oct. 31-Dec. 29. Middle Zone: Youth: Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Regular: Nov. 7-Jan. 5. South Zone: Youth: Nov. 21-22. Regular: Nov. 26-Jan 24.

▪ OUTLOOK: With a near-record number of ducks projected to fly south this fall and plenty of water in Missouri managed marshes to greet them, you would think waterfowl biologists would be gushing with enthusiasm over the prospects for the 2015 Missouri duck season.

But they’re taking a cautious approach. Yes, there is great potential. But there is no guarantee of an outstanding season.

“Hunters should be cautioned there are three factors equally or more important than overall population numbers (for Missouri),” said Andy Raedeke, waterfowl biologist fore the Department of Conservation. “These include local habitat conditions, weather and the timing of migration events.

“Two of these factors —habitat and weather —are less than ideal.”

Spring and summer flooding affected moist-soil food and row crops at some of the managed waterfowl areas. And long-range weather forecasts predict an El Nino effect, producing milder-than-normal conditions.

But some of Missouri’s best-known waterfowl rest stops, including the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge and the Grand Pass and Bob Brown conservation areas, have good water, food and habitat conditions. If timely fronts move through, look for those areas to attract big numbers of migrating waterfowl.

Kansas

▪ DATES: High Plains Zone: Youth: Oct. 3-4. Regular: Oct. 10-Jan. 4 and Jan. 23-31. Low Plains Early: Youth: Oct. 3-4. Regular: Oct. 10-Dec. 6 and Dec. 19-Jan. 3. Low Plains Late: Youth: Oct. 24-25. Regular: Oct. 31-Jan. 3 and Jan. 23-31. Southeast: Youth: Nov. 7-8. Regular: Nov. 14-Jan. 3 and Jan. 9-31.

▪ OUTLOOK: Just add water and a few timely fronts.

Those are the only missing ingredients in the outlook for the Kansas duck season.

Waterfowl biologists know that there will be plenty of ducks and geese winging south this fall. They would just like to see the Sunflower State look a little more inviting to those migrants.

“The ample spring and summer rains are now a distant memory,” said Tom Bidrowski of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “Many of Kansas marshes are in need of water.”

Marais des Cygnes, Neosho, Perry, Cheyenne Bottoms and the McPherson Valley are among the managed areas that are in need of moisture. But even in less-than-ideal conditions, some of the wetlands already are producing good early-season hunting.

At Cheyenne Bottoms, for example, hunters averaged more than three ducks per person daily from Oct. 19-22. And at McPherson Wetlands, 215 hunters took 366 ducks in the first 10 days of the season.

One other bright spot: Some of the reservoirs benefited from spring flooding because it scoured river beds, producing better waterfowl habitat.

CANADA GEESE

Missouri

▪ DATES: Oct. 3-11 and Nov. 26-Jan. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: These are good times for Missouri goose hunters.

The seasons are as long as they have ever been, and geese are migrating in large numbers and staying here when conditions are right.

Last year wasn’t the greatest of seasons, due to the early freezeup on marshes and even some reservoirs. Hunters shot 67,584 geese, down more than 2,000 from the previous year. But the 2014-2015 harvest still exceeded the totals in 2012 and 2011. And there is hope that hunters can see a repeat of the 2010 season, when hunters took 92,236 geese.

One thing is certain: There will be plenty of birds heading south.

Missouri hunters depend on nesting geese from Manitoba, Minnesota and Iowa, and that flock of Canadas had a good nesting season. Biologists also estimated that 69,445 geese nested in the Show-Me State, one of the highest totals since the survey began in 1993.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and Nov. 4-Feb. 14.

▪ OUTLOOK: Kansas hunters would love to see a repeat of the 2014-2015 season.

Canada geese flocked to the state like seldom before, and the hunting was fantastic. Aided by a cold December that brought geese in and sent ducks out, hunters shot 166,812 Canadas, the highest harvest total in at least 15 years.

Consider that the long-term average for harvest of Canada geese in Kansas is 86,628. Also consider that the statewide take was 108,657 in 2013 and 72,204 in 2012. Then you see how impressive the 2014-2015 season was.

Can that happen again this year? Much of it is up to the weather.

Impressive numbers of Canadas should again fly into Kansas this fall after a good nesting season. Expect central Kansas, with Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira, to attract large flocks of Canadas this fall and winter. But don’t overlook the Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge in western Kansas and Glen Elder Lake in the north-central part of the state.

SNOW GEESE

Missouri

▪ DATES: Oct. 31-Jan. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: Missouri has earned national fame for its spring hunting during the Conservation Order.

Hundreds of thousands of snow geese pile into the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in the northwest part of the state, and the hunting can be spectacular.

The fall hunt? Not so much.

The autumn migration is far less predictable, and even when snow geese stop in large numbers at Squaw Creek, they usually don’t stay for long.

This fall hunters will face an added disadvantage. The snow geese nesting season was a bust, meaning that the migrating flock will be made up of older, harder-to-fool adults. Hunters in Canada are already discovering the challenges that can bring.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and Nov. 4-Feb. 14.

▪ OUTLOOK: Kansas is not typically known as a snow-goose state. Still, hunters shot 32,409 birds in the 2014-2015 season, the highest total in at least 15 years. In fact, that total was more than double any other annual harvest during that time.

Again, the weather had a lot to do with it. And the population of snow geese was much stronger than it is this year.

Still, opportunities exist. Large numbers of snow geese often stop at Glen Elder Reservoir in the north-central part of the state. Central Kansas also will occasionally draw big numbers.

Don’t overlook the private feed fields of northeast Kansas. Snow geese that stop at the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri will fly across the border to feed in crop fields. Hunters who get permission to hunt there can find outstanding shooting.

TURKEYS

Missouri

▪ DATES: Firearms: Oct. 1-31. Archery: Sept. 15-Nov. 13 and Nov. 25-Jan. 15.

▪ OUTLOOK: The heavy rain this spring put a damper on turkey nesting.

But the drop in the number of birds produced wasn’t as bad as wildlife biologists expected.

Though production in most regions was down, there still are plenty of birds in the woods thanks to a good nesting season in 2014. Even the survival of turkey poults this year was about average for the last five years and above the 10-year average.

For the third time in the last four years, the eastern Ozarks led the state in the bird counts. The northwest region was close behind. The lowest counts came in the western-prairie counties, the northeast and the Ozark border region.

Some hunters have reported success finding brood flocks already this October. And wildlife biologists are encouraged that there should be a good crop of two-year-old birds for the spring 2016 season.

Kansas

▪ DATES: Oct. 1-Dec. 1 and Dec. 14-Jan. 31.

▪ OUTLOOK: Fall turkey hunting can be a lonely pursuit in Kansas.

In contrast to the spring season, when hunters are pursuing gobbling, strutting toms, the fall season just doesn’t have much intrigue for many hunters.

That low hunting pressure is part of the reason the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has such a liberal fall season. That’s good news for those who do get out in the fall.

There are plenty of days on the hunting calendar, and plenty of turkeys to chase.

While the turkeys responded relatively well to the years of drought, they didn’t do as poorly as expected when the rains finally did arrive. The heavy precipitation, especially in the eastern one-third of the state, did affect nesting.

But surveys show that overall numbers are still similar to those of last year. The north-central region had the highest counts, with the northeast, southeast and south-central regions also posting relatively good densities of turkeys.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "A shot of hope in 2015: Outlook for the hunting season."