Cris Collier, president of Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau said Tuesday that Barton County will certainly enjoy more hunters this year than in the past two.  Water at Cheyenne Bottoms is, of course, the main reason.  
“Our area is one of the few locations where hunters can enjoy both types of hunting — waterfowl and upland,” she said.   
Pockets of pheasant were able to find the refuge they needed this year.  According to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism,  allowing Conservation Reserve Program land to be utilized for emergency haying or grazing in all counties in the region for the third year in a row, didn’t help either.   But nesting conditions were somewhat better for pheasants than other game birds due to a later-than-average wheat harvest.
Pheasants utilize green wheat for nesting more than other game birds, and a later harvest provides more opportunity for nests to hatch and young to fledge.
However, when they were still in the critical four to six weeks of age phase, pheasant chicks were hit with 45 days of heat coupled with a lack of bugs and insufficient cover.  Hunters aren’t likely to see any significant increase in numbers, said  Brad Odle, KDWPT regional wildlife supervisor.
“For quail, pickings will be slim this year,” he said.  Fortunately, they are more resilient nesters he said.  Still, numbers have been low the past few years, “so any increase is going to feel slight.”  
Lesser prairie chickens suffered a steep decline last year, the agency reports, but this year, they are beginning to make a comeback.  Densities from spring lek counts in some counties were improved and the counties in the sand prairies south of the Arkansas River will offer the best hunting opportunities this year.
Unable to predict what next year’s weather will be, next spring and summer will determine when the numbers will ultimately begin to see major improvement, Odle said.  Luckily, rain has begun to fall again, and there is a possibility with the return of bugs to the marsh and around the county in August, some hens may have tried a second time to nest.  If so, these later broods will be smaller.
The combination of upland bird hunting, along with the opportunity to hunt waterfowl will bring hunters into our area,” Collier said.  “Many of these not only out of town hunters but also out of state hunters.”