Kansas Lesser Prairie Chicken

[kansasdad]

Kansas is home to both Lesser and Greater Prairie Chickens. Habitat loss and the current drought has caused both species populations to drop. The far southwest area of Kansas (and a few birds over state lines into Colorado and Oklahoma) hold Lessers. South central Kansas Flint Hills up into the upper tiers of northern Kansas that have remained mostly pasture land instead of crop fields hold the Greater PC. Traditionally there is two bird limit in Greater areas, one for Lesser areas with significantly shorter season on Lessers.

http://www.kansas.com/2014/05/10/3449289/brownback-signs-bill-aimed-to.html

The link to the article tells the story of our legislature and Governor trying to preempt Federal intervention in applying Endangered Species Act status on Lesser PC populations. I think the fear is severe restrictions for rancher/farmer/energy/development sectors would harm economic growth.

I have never hunted Lessers and have on several occasions flushed up Greaters while pheasant hunting, mistaking them for hen pheasant until they were out of range. The flight pattern of a prairie chicken gives them away with the fast wing flap, glide, fast flap, glide motions.

My one and only Greater was taken after patterning a evening flight of birds into a cut corn field. It had the darkest breast meat if have ever seen on a bird, much darker red than any duck or goose I have ever dressed.

The Wichita Eagle outdoors writer Michael Pearce has documented his own and several folks attempts at a "Kansas slam". Pheasant, quail and prairie chicken, all taken in one day.

 

[Southwind]

My father and I used to hunt Prairie Chicken every year on a farm between Eldorado and Cassoday Kansas The Prairie Chicken capitol of the world sign in Cassoday fades like the population. We would have huge flocks of hundreds of birds fly into feed at first light from their prairie roost and it was truly a sight to behold.

I have completed a Kansas slam many a time as recent as a couple of years ago in NW Kansas and even in the same field. I still see flocks as large of a hundred birds at times there and they seem to be holding steady in number with some decrease like all game due to the drought.

The fight comes down to more of a states rights issues for management of the wildlife between the feds and the state. I personally believe our state Fish and Game department have a better handle on the issue than a random listing by the feds.

I do not believe either drought or habitat loss is the major contributing factors to the decrease in population. A contributing factor yes but the decline started a long time before the drought. There really has not been any significant habitat loss either but there are a whole lot of factors that combined together have hurt the chicken.

Farming and ranching practices, increase in type and number of predators, and disease have played the major roles.

 

[mtmiller]

The fight comes down to more of a states rights issues for management of the wildlife between the feds and the state. I personally believe our state Fish and Game department have a better handle on the issue than a random listing by the feds.

I do not believe either drought or habitat loss is the major contributing factors to the decrease in population. A contributing factor yes but the decline started a long time before the drought. There really has not been any significant habitat loss either but there are a whole lot of factors that combined together have hurt the chicken.

The KDWPT reported that recent declines are largely due to severe drought, which negatively impacted habitat quality, and not to significant habitat loss (Pitman 2013, p. 15).

Good info here.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-04-10/pdf/2014-07302.pdf

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

We drove through Cassoday just last week, and we wondered about that sign. I'm not a expert, but, we did see a few chickens and 3 or 4 coveys of quail while visiting. We did see some birds unlike anything we have here, they looked like Killdeer on steroids. . .not sure what they were.
I wondered if the burning of the fields messed up the birds nesting habits and or nest themselves. We use to have tons of quail here, but, the coyotes and feral cats have all but made them extinct. ( and the winters).

 

[Southwind]

Growing up in this country the primary field crop used to be milo which you seldom see any longer. Field crops through this region almost always are rotated between corn and soybeans. I believe they stay on pasture now relying on bugs and such rather than the milo which they thrived. It was the onset of this current rotation where I started noticing fewer and fewer chickens.

We also burn pasture much more extensively than in the past and feel burning on a rotation rather than yearly would benefit the prairie chicken.

The areas in NW Kansas where there are still good numbers still produce a lot of milo and this is where we normally find the birds. The practice of pasture burning in the NW is almost non-existent.

 

[1_pointer]

Thanks for the article. Local work is definitely a huge help in keeping critters from being listed and I will almost always be for proactive management.

Even though I'm far from an avid bird hunter, I have killed both Greater (SD) and Lesser (KS) prairie chickens. Very cool birds! The one trip I made for Lessers, we found them mostly in picked milo and they'd flush and usually land in an adjacent pasture. Interestingly enough, they always landed, if they had the option, in the pasture with the shorter grass.

My first Greater


Good day in SD


And another one!


Good couple of days in KS!


Neither of us got the KS Slam in a day, but we did get it on that trip! The day we ran into the quail we didn't come across any chickens.