Kansas Deer 2018

[Mudranger1]

Looks like I'll be headed to Kansas to try out there public land deer hunting this season. Muzzleloader tag accepted. Should be fun hearing all the guys at the range tell me I can't use a scope on my gun while I'm getting it all sighted back in... Good times lie ahead maybe I'll keep this thread updated with some scouting

 

[JLDemo]

Good luck! I'll be there next year for deer. Went two years ago and had a blast, there's some very underated public ground in Kansas, plus there is good fishing to be found in the fall as well! I'll be there for bird season though!

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Congrats on drawing. I drew a unit 15 archery tag. I can’t wait!

 

[michsteelguy]

Good luck to you guys! Just curious, are pref/bonus points needed for NR to draw a general tag in Kansas??? I have 2 already but heard that they are not really needed. Is this true?

 

[rmauch20]

Congratulations on the tag. What area are you looking at? Are you going after Whitetail and mule deer? Hopefully it’s a little bit cooler this year during muzzleloader. The last couple have been so damn hot.

 

[Aaron KS197]

What area of Kansas are you looking to hunt? the last couple of years I have seen a lot more deer. I have only hunted the western part of the state

 

[Aaron KS197]

The bird population has been growing well the last couple years in the southwest.

 

[Mudranger1]

I'll be in the northwest corner ... just whitetail I saw a couple nice muleys last year when I was bumming around but that price tag is a little steep.

 

[PrairieHunter]

I will be out in KS for muzzleloader season as well, and if things don't work out for rifle also. Been about 5 years since I have been there hunting and am sure excited to go back.

 

[BOHNTR]

Wife and I drew archery tags........come on November!

 

[Tony Trietch]

That is a hunt I will never miss. Been hunting Dorothy's state every year for a long time. The last two years I have drawn the Mule Deer stamp, now they just need rain.

 

[Chad Gus]

Me and the brother in law drew unit 2 rifle.

 

[PrairieHunter]

Well I received a letter from the state of Kansas. I eagerly opened expecting to see tags and instead see a check.

Apparently the e-mail receipt I received a while back was not confirmation of a successful draw. I just assumed it meant I was not getting a refund on my CC and didn't bother checking at the time.

The crazy thing is I applied for a unit that I should have been able to draw.
http://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Applications-and-Fees/Deer/Quotas-and-Draw-Stats
Unit 2
Whitetail
Either
total tags = 466
total 1st choice apps =375
Firearms 183
Sex
Archery 216
Muzzl 67

The worst part is this hunt was planned as part of a family vacation and I can't even salvage the situation with a doe tag as Kansas does not issue doe tags to people without buck tags until January. And I'm out the $100+ hunting licence that had to be purchased to apply.

Now I know how people in Missouri feel about Kansas. LOL. Hopefully the Wyoming draw will go better next week as I must have been one of only a few people who didn't' draw that tag this year out of nearly 500 people who did.

 

[kansasdad]

PrairieHunter, sorry that you drew the short straw on the draw. Just because you didn't draw a deer tag, it doesn't have to mean that you can't hunt when you do your family vacay in Kansas. Your license will allow you to hunt all the small game (pretty much everything is in season during deer rifle season), fall turkey hunting is also available, and don't forget that there can be fantastic waterfowl action as well.

PS: if hunting prairie chickens, don't fail to get the $2.50 permit. They will contact a certain number of permit holders after the season to help the biologists with harvest stats.

 

[PrairieHunter]

PrairieHunter, sorry that you drew the short straw on the draw. Just because you didn't draw a deer tag, it doesn't have to mean that you can't hunt when you do your family vacay in Kansas. Your license will allow you to hunt all the small game (pretty much everything is in season during deer rifle season), fall turkey hunting is also available, and don't forget that there can be fantastic waterfowl action as well.

PS: if hunting prairie chickens, don't fail to get the $2.50 permit. They will contact a certain number of permit holders after the season to help the biologists with harvest stats.

I had planned to hunt dove as there are usually quite a few around when I have been there in the past and a great way to pass the time in the middle of the day as the deer movement is limited that time of year during muzzleloader season. The plan was to hang out and hunt for a few days while my wife and daughter went to Oklahoma to see her family. But now I'm just going to drop them off in Denver to fly home as I'll find something to hunt in Wyoming instead.

I'm really curious to see the 2018 stats as I am still just puzzled by the whole thing. According to the charts they still issued the same 466 tags in that unit for 2018 so somehow first choice NR applications must have jumped from 375 to at least 467 in one year. Knowing my luck it will be 467 and I will be the only one who didn't' draw, LOL.

That being said you are correct that there is plenty of hunting to be done in KS during September and even more in December. I was not aware of the prairie chicken permits. Kansas has a few odd thing that many are not aware of such as dedicated youth deer season in September as well as allowing unused muzzleloader permits to be used during rifle season. Can be a lot of fun, especially for those who live to the South and East as Kansas has some of the best public land hunting that there is because of the walk in program, chance to hunt mule deer, and is a short drive for many.

 

[Chad Gus]

There are some leftover tags for units 16,17 and 18 that go onsale in early July on a first come first served basis

 

[PrairieHunter]

I have run across several other hunters on other forums who also did not draw tags that were 100% draw last year in other units in Kansas and are wondering why Kansas is waiting so long to post the draw numbers as they have already posted leftover tags so they certainly know and in the past this has been posted shortly after the draw.

Also found a guy who called and said this.
I just called the Pratt office and he said the phones are blowing up. Not sure yet if there was an error, but there are many folks calling in thinking there was. He said they are trying to contact the third party that does their draw system, and see if something went wrong.

Also hearing that last year the company who did the draw in Kansas screwed up and issued 3,200 extra tags to NR's.

Anyone not draw Kansas this year?

 

[ashersdad]

I put myself and my 2 boys in for what I thought was a sure thing. I drew and one of my sons did but my youngest didn’t. I’m like you, wondering what happened.

 

[PrairieHunter]

I put myself and my 2 boys in for what I thought was a sure thing. I drew and one of my sons did but my youngest didn’t. I’m like you, wondering what happened.

Interesting. It appears that there are quite a few people in this same boat trying to figure out what happened. Hopefully they will give everyone an explanation soon as it has been 2 months since the draw so they have had time.

 

[Chad Gus]

I know of a couple different groups that didn't draw.