First-year football coach Jason Grider and his Halstead Dragons are heading to the 3A football semifinals on Saturday 11/22. The Halstead (10-2) will play host to Scott City (12-0) at 2:30 p.m.
This is the 1st time since 1980 that Hallstead has been to the state-semifinals. Scott City has been to the its second title in three seasons and is playing in its third straight 3A semifinals.
photo credit- Gene Winhorst
We’re experiencing “yo-yo” weather here in the Flint Hills this week. Temps have ranged from 8 above zero to a predicted high in the 60s tomorrow. The ponds are frozen over except around the edges where it’s thawed. Today it’s drizzling, but no runoff we could really use for the ponds and watersheds.
A few days it wuz just too cold to go hunting, but yesterday it warmed up enuf that ol’ Rollin Birdz and I went out and worked the dogs on a few of our quail. It wuz good fun and will surely provide some savory eating in a few days.
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The coyotes have discovered my chicken flock again and they harvested at least one of my hens. Seems they never catch a rooster which would not be much of a loss. I’m keeping a sharp eye out for them and one of these cold mornings the wily culprit will make a fatal mistake.
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I found out last week that the harvest of this year’s natural abundance was not over. My neighbor, ol’ C. Faren Wyde, Jr., has a bunch of persimmon trees in his sheep pasture that are loaded with ripe, scrumptious fruit. I picked a bunch for myself and we Old Boar’s ate a bunch to top off our breakfast this week at the Saffordville School.
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Ol’ Canby Handy, my Missouri buddy, tells a funny true story about his 3 1/2 year old grandson. The kid accompanied his dad to a sheep farm last week to pick up a new ram for the flock.
Dad and son had scarcely unloaded the ram until the new arrival ran to a receptive ewe and went through the process of creating a new lamb.
The excited youngster eagerly said, “Look, daddy, the sheep are playing piggyback.”
Leave it to a youngster to cut to the chase.
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I’ve got a neighbor, ol’ Savin Ashes, who is a volunteer rural firefighter in our community.
I wuz visiting with him the other day and the conversation turned to a majestic old wooden barn, held together by wooden pegs, that burned down years before I moved to the Flint Hills.
Savin said that by the time the rural firefighters arrived on the scene of the burning barn, it wuz much too late to save the structure, so the fire crew just stayed on the scene to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings at the farmstead.
When the fire burned down and the crew prepared to leave, one elder volunteer nudged Savin in the ribs and said, “Well, our record is still intact. We’ve never lost a foundation.”
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I told you last week about the unfortunate recent happenings to my friend, ol’ R. R. Mann. Well, this week I found out about another bad deal that happened to R. R. some months back.
It involved a family dog that is petrified of electrical storms. Well, during the last big thunderstorm (it seems eons ago), that poor dog had a conniption fit and tried to run through the front screen door — and ruined the screen.
But, worse, when the door escape didn’t work, the fluffy family friend tried to escape through a window screen. That didn’t work either, but it did ruin the window screen, too.
Maybe R. R. better consider plywood on his windows and doors during any future thunderstorms.
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Here’s a cute story. A farmer in his 30s brings his best friend home, unannounced, for supper at 6:30 pm.
His wife screams her head off while his friend sits open mouthed and listens to the tirade … “My bloody hair and makeup are not done. The house is a mess because I’ve been canning. Two day’s of dishes are stacked in the kitchen sink. I’m wearing my sweats with the big holes in them. I can’t be bothered with cooking tonight! Why did you bring him home unannounced, you stupid idiot?”
Her long-suffering hubby replies smoothly, “Because he’s thinking of getting married.”
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Folks, the news this week convinced me that I’m in the wrong bizness. I write for a mere pittance, but if I’d only been fortunate enuf to be a government consultant, I could have raked in more than $5-million like MIT’s Prof. Gruber did for conjuring up a government-run health care system for us “stupid” voters.
Heck, just to be patriotic and save on the national debt, I’d consult with the government on better ways to run its agricultural programs for a mere $1-million — and my suggestions wouldn’t have to be very good to be better than Mr. Gruber’s (I pronounce his name Grubber, by the way — as in money.).
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Might as well sign-off this week with some wise words about consulting Arnold H. Glasow said, “A consultant is someone who saves his client almost enough to pay his fee.” If only that were true of consultants for the government. Have a good ‘un.
at http://ksfishing.blogspot.com.
photo credit – Kim Schuster
| SPECIES | RATING | SIZE | BAITS, LOCATION, METHODS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishing Newsletter | All KDWPT fisheries districts are offering a fishing newsletter that can be sent out to all that want it. The newsletters are aimed at keeping anglers informed about fishing opportunities and information in their areas of interest. The first few editions of the Cheney Fisheries District have been completed and are ready for distribution. | ||
| Zebra Mussels | Zebra mussels can be found attached to rocks lakewide. Zebra mussel veligers are too small to be seen with the unaided eye and they can be found in boat livewells, minnow buckets, boat bilges, water toys, and anything else that is capable of holding even a small amount of water. Be sure to drain all equipment before leaving the lake to avoid moving veligers to other waters. THIS INCLUDES MINNOW BUCKETS, BOAT LIVEWELLS, AND BILGES!!!
Zebra mussel numbers have decreased at Cheney; however, anglers and boaters should still use caution to avoid moving adults and veligers from the lake. Click HERE to learn how to prevent the spread of zebra mussels. |
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| White Bass and Wiper | Good | Various | Good fall and winter spots for white bass are off of deep dropoffs near M&M point and the west toadstool shelters. Anglers also do well in the upper end in the river channel.
Fall netting results indicate excellent white bass and wiper populations. There are high densities of temperate bass and lots of quality fish. Fishing should be as good for temperate bass in 2015 as it has been in recent years. |
| Walleye | Fair | Up to 28″ | Walleyes are tough to find in the cold water; however, fish hold on deep structure and are likely feeding on 4-6″ gizzard shad. Match your bait to the forage.
Gill net samples were encouraging for walleyes. Although numbers will be down slightly in 2015, there are still plenty of sublegal and legal-sized fish in the population. Decent numbers of of fish from the 2014 stocking were captured, which is a good sign for the future. |
| Crappie | Fair | Up to 15″ | Fall and winter can be the best times to focus on crappie. Look for them on sharp drops in deep water. |
| Channel Catfish | Good | Up to 10 lb | Channel and blue catfish can provide fun winter angling. Focus on structure and channel borders. |
| White Perch | Netting results this fall indicate that white perch numbers increased this year; however, there are many catchable-size white perch (10+”) in the lake.
White perch cannot be used as live bait, but they do make good cut bait. For tips on identifying a white perch from a white bass, wiper or striped bass click HERE. All white perch in your possession must be dead. It is illegal to posses live white perch. |
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| COMMENTS | |||
| This is a general winter fishing report. If a good bite is reported, it will be posted. Otherwise, weekly fishing reports will resume in March. | |||
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas ranks around 20th in the number of turkeys raised compared to other states. That doesn’t seem too bad until you realize that 20th is still far less than 1 percent of all the 235 million turkeys grown in the United States each year. The leading states are Minnesota, North Carolina and Arkansas, according to data from the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At one time, Kansas was considered by many in the poultry industry to be second in total poultry production, said Kansas State University animal scientist, Scott Beyer, In the 1930s about 10 percent of all Kansas farms raised turkeys. In the 1940s, live and dressed turkey competitions were held in Wichita.
Many of the birds were hatched in the state and grown in fields with protection by pole barns, said Beyer, who is a poultry specialist with K-State Research and Extension. If Kansans wanted a turkey grown in the state, in the early 1960s that was about the best time to find one.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, big changes came to the state and national turkey industries. Turkey growers became larger and fewer, Beyer said. Many people saw similar changes in livestock production so to protect small farms, legislation was passed to slow the change to marketing alliances where turkey growers produced birds under contract.
As the turkey industry grew enormously in other states, he said, Kansas turkey growers lost the competitive edge they had as the industry modernized into integrated production models.
“Ironically, the model for integrated turkey production used today has saved many family farms by growing turkeys on contract – but in other states, not Kansas,” Beyer said. “Farms, feed mills, hatcheries, and processing plants once in Kansas were all closed and built in other states. And the jobs and farm diversification went with them.”
Other factors like market proximity and transportation over sparse farm roads were no doubt contributing factors, but the very regulations meant to save the farm actually closed many of the turkey farms in Kansas.
By the early 1980s, virtually no turkeys were grown in Kansas, Beyer added. Even the Central Kansas Hatchery, which at one time hatched 2 million to 3 million day-old-poults a year, shipped their turkeys to neighboring states. But the cost of moving all of those turkeys to other states for feeding and processing became too much and that hatchery closed as well.
In the late 1980s, a few commercial turkey farms, built to grow turkeys under contract with a large integrated turkey producer, opened in Cherokee County in southeast Kansas. Other large farms soon followed in the same area and a feed mill was constructed. The turkeys grown in that area today are processed across the state line in Missouri.
“Kansas remains a potential state for significant turkey production,” Beyer said. “There are a small number of growers in Kansas that produce heritage breed turkeys and some are marketed nationally. With good roads, a strong agricultural base, and feed resources, the turkey industry could one day look to Kansas to grow birds again.”
Because the industry has become ensconced in other states, Beyer said, it would take a sustained and concerted effort by local farm groups, cites, counties and the state to show that Kansas should be considered when new growth occurs in the turkey industry.
“Perhaps rural areas in need of new jobs and business would see turkey production as a way to diversity farming and brings new jobs to Kansas,” he said.
By: Mary Lou Peter
© Rural Messenger
