> I was fortunate to make several trips to Kansas this year (2007-2008). The quail numbers were down but the dogs and I were still able to find a few good coveys. Our motto for Kansas hunting is: “Quail are for counting and pheasants are for killing!” I have 2 trip that will forever by in my memory. One was the night I was to drive to Garden City to hunt quail with Gary Ruppel and Casey Mader. I left Colorado on a Monday night at around 5 pm and planned to make the 4 and 1/2 trip to Casey’s house. I was heading east almost to Goodland, KS when I got stuck in the middle of a severe ice storm. I was stopped by a Kansas State Patrolman and told that the road south from Goodland was closed. I drove east another 90 minutes and ended up staying in Colby, Kansas…which BTW has the only Starbucks on I-70 this side of Kansas. The girls and I slept very well that night in a Best Western and woke up to a sea of ice outside. We hunted around Colby and moved a few nice coveys of quail and missed a few pheasant. It was a great day of hunting and the landscape was incredible…each blade of grass was enclosed by an ice sheath like I’ve never seen before. I hunted until about 3 p.m. and then I made an 8 hour white-knuckled drive home to good ol‘ Colorado.

The second hunt I’ll always remember was in January 2008 when my life long friend Matt Lucia came out for his very first Kansas hunt. We met Gary Ruppel and Casey Mader in Garden City, Kansas. What a trip (literally)! We moved 9 good coveys of Bobwhite quail the first day. The dogs did a great job finding and retrieving the birds. I’ve always said that if I could only chase one species of bird, it would be gentleman Bob! We saw tons of late season pheasants and really enjoyed the Kansas experience. I think Matt went home with a perpetual smile…