Kansas Upland Bird Forecast

Font Size: + -

2026 forecast coming this fall!

Explore pheasant, quail, and prairie chicken population and habitat updates before you head out for the season.

View Species Summaries

Pheasant

Prairie-Chicken

Quail

Explore Regional Summaries

Figure 1: Map of the seven small game management regions within Kansas. Areas in gray are closed to prairie chicken hunting.

Northern High Plains (northwest KS)

Smoky Hills (north-central KS)

Glaciated Plains (northeast KS)

Southern High Plains (southwest KS)

South-Central Prairies (south-central KS)

Flint Hills

Osage Cuestas (southeast KS)

Jump to Section

2025 Forecast Factors

Two important factors impact availability of upland game during the fall hunting season: number of breeding adults in the spring and the reproductive success of the breeding population. Reproductive success consists of both the number of hatched nests and chick survival. For pheasant and quail, annual survival is relatively low; therefore, the fall population is more dependent on summer reproduction than spring adult numbers. For prairie chickens, reproductive success is still the major population regulator, but higher adult survival helps maintain hunting opportunities during poor conditions. In this forecast, breeding population and reproductive success of pheasants, quail, and prairie chickens will be discussed. Breeding population data were gathered using spring calling surveys for pheasants, quail, and prairie chickens. Data for reproductive success were collected during late-summer roadside surveys for pheasants and quail, which quantify both adults and chicks observed. Reproductive success of prairie chickens cannot be easily assessed using the same methods because they do not associate with roads like pheasants and quail.

Kansas has a dramatic rainfall gradient from more than 50 inches of average annual rainfall in the far east to less than 16 inches in the far west. The amount and timing of rainfall plays a major role in reproduction for upland birds. In the west, wet years typically improve the available cover and increase insect availability for chicks. In the east, dry years are typically more optimal, as heavy rains during spring and summer can reduce survival of nesting birds and young chicks. Above average summer rainfall in 2023 across much of western Kansas greatly improved nesting cover going into spring of 2024. Adequate rainfall continued into mid-summer across much of the west providing good nesting and brooding cover. As a result, production was significantly better than we have seen in some time.