Unit 17

Farm crops cover most land and are mostly dry-farm grains. In the Garden City area many center-pivot-irrigated circular fields are planted in alfalfa, corn and other water-hungry crops. Most of the remaining natural cover is in a wide band of prairie hills along the Arkansas River. Sunflowers, teasels, cattails, some sagebrush, yuccas and tall and short grasses grow in uncultivated areas. Trees are uncommon except along running rivers and creeks and are mostly cottonwoods. Cedars and junipers grow in some places, many of them planted in windbreaks on the windswept plains.

Most hunting takes place on private land. At one time much of this unit was part of the more than 300,000-acre Kansas National Forest, which was an experiment to plant and grow trees on the prairie. More than a quarter million trees were planted, and almost all of them died. The land was then deeded to homesteaders and has become private range and farm land. Many private farm parcels are enrolled in the state’s walk-in hunting program, which allows the public to hunt at no fee.

There is limited public camping in this unit. Ulysses City provides campsites at Fraser Lake, which is a wildlife refuge where no hunting is allowed. Ford County State Fishing Lake has limited camping. Horse Thief Reservoir has a rustic rental cabin and 42 campsites near Dodge City. Private RV parks and campgrounds include RJ’s RV Park (phone: 620-276-8741) in Kansas City, Deerfield Beach Campground (620-426-8321) in Deerfield, Pine Tree RV Park in Scott City, Ulysses RV and Camper Park (phone: 620-356-3675) in Ulysses and Gunsmoke RV Park in Dodge City. Motels are in the larger towns, and there are a few bed and breakfasts, including Boot Hill Bed & Breakfast in Dodge City and Fort’s Cedar View on the outskirts of Ulysses. Dodge City has at least 10 motels, many affiliated with national brands. A unique motel is the Thunderbird (phone: 620-225-4143), which gets better-than-average ratings.