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Sidelock
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I've killed piles of them over pointing dogs.
All the way to the end of the Kansas season. Alll over the Flint and Smokey hills. All over the Cimarron, Gove, Logan, Barber counties
Even after the big flocks form.

They sit just below the peak of "hills" out of the wind.
They dig right into the grass on the short grass prairie.
Because of the wind, dogs can find them more than 50 yards away. A flock as far as 100.

The shots are long, but they are easy to kill. An oz of 5's will stone them at 50 yards.

I typically use an Ithaca Flues model with very light 32" barrels, Full and Full.

Pass shooting is the typical social way to shoot them, but there are plenty to be had walking them up.

If you are pass shooting, don't move. They'll land right around you. If you move too quick, they flare.


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You'll find Lesser Prairie Chickens in the Cimarron. Kansas is the only part of the range where Lessers are increasing in numbers. They are in decline in Oklahoma, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and southeast Colorado. The Greater Prairie Chicken seems stable in the Flint Hills. I've photographed Lessers in southwest Kansas on the lek in the spring. I will photograph Greaters this coming spring in eastern Kansas.

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Yep.
I hunted Comanche county, along the OK border and did well also.

People will think you're nuts.

Walking around out there in all that grass, bumbling around in fallow pastures. Side hilling channels cattle can't go into.

Remember, they are always within .5 miles of the lek, and they nest and roost in last years grass.

Meat so purple you'd think all they ate were grapes.


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Even the greaters have a relatively limited range, compared to other popular game birds. From KS up to central SD is pretty much it. Sand Hills of NE and the grasslands of SD are also very popular places to hunt them. From NE on north as far as you can find chickens, their range overlaps that of sharptail grouse.

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Notice the tight, light colored bands on the flanks. It's really obvious when they flush what you are shooting at. They look buff, or drab, when they flush. That, and lessers are much smaller, more pigeon size than pheasant sized.

Greaters, look more golden, more shiny, and have that distinct shape to their tail.

One year we set blinds at the base of a hill, divided by a ravine. Every evening, until frost killed the hoppers, a large flock of about 200 would glide on down out of the hills across the "butts".
They repeated it every morning, just at daybreak.

Closest thing to red grouse shooting the US has.

Last edited by ClapperZapper; 11/01/16 10:41 AM.

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I've never seen a prairie chicken but I met a guy while hunting ducks in Saskatchewan who's real day job is for the Nature Conservancy and who runs a prairie chicken sanctuary in Minnesota of all places.

We were both free-lancing and had spotted the same flock of ducks. We arrived at the field owner's house for permission at the same time and agreed to join forces and hunt them together...Geo

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Prairie chickens fed the settlers Geo.
Until we broke the sod.
A favorite print.


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Thanks all...I have 5 flocks I am watching and they seem to be routinized to the same feed areas ..So We'll attack them there. They are also hanging out in a short grass pasture of about 900 acres..Too much walking for 81 year old legs! Pics later

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Originally Posted By: ClapperZapper
Yep.
I hunted Comanche county, along the OK border and did well also.

People will think you're nuts.

Walking around out there in all that grass, bumbling around in fallow pastures. Side hilling channels cattle can't go into.

Remember, they are always within .5 miles of the lek, and they nest and roost in last years grass.

Meat so purple you'd think all they ate were grapes.


Concur on the meat it is not the greatest (a Chinese beef with peppers recipe is good for them).

On them always being within 1/2 mile of the leek, yes and no, depends on cover, weather, and pressure.

I have seen chickens fly out beyond the horizon and populations corridors for chickens can easily go more than ten miles long.

I am afraid to talk too much about chickens as I like hunting them and not seeing people out there much doing the same.


Michael Dittamo
Topeka, KS
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