White bass and channel catfish at Clark State Fishing Lake
Species
General Size
Trophy Potential
Mule Deer
140"-160"
160"+
Whitetail Deer
140"-160"
160"+
On The Ground
Terrain
Vegetation
Access
Camping and Lodging
Historical Temperatures
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Low
Moon Phases
November 2024
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Bordering Oklahoma in the western half of Kansas, this unit has excellent whitetail hunting, particularly on private properties with timber, as well as fair mule deer hunting in the western half.
There are a few thousand acres of public land available in this unit, and the state leases some private properties for public hunting.
Most land is flat to hilly with a few steep edges where prairie land drops into river bottoms. This unit is on the Oklahoma border about halfway across the state. All of Barber and Comanche counties and most of Harper, Kiowa and Clark counties are in the unit along with parts of Ford, Edwards, Stafford, Pratt and Kingman counties. Chief waterways are the Cimarron River in the south, Elk Creek and Medicine Lodge River in the center, and Rattlesnake Creek and the Arkansas River in the north. Lakes include Lake Coldwater and Clark County State Lake. Water is limited in the high plains grasslands, so stand hunting over water can be productive.
The northern third of the unit is mainly composed of circular, irrigated farm fields planted in corn, hay and grains while the southern two-thirds is prairie grassland and dry farms planted in mostly grains. Cottonwoods, oaks, cedars, walnuts and many other broadleaf trees grow along rivers, creeks and their tributaries, which also have a good understory of brush and forbs. There are many brushy thickets where the ground is too rugged or rocky for farming. Deer often bed in brush, sumac and among yuccas.
There are no state parks in this unit, but primitive camping is allowed at Clark State Fishing Lake. There’s also a campground at Pratt County Veterans Memorial Fishing Lake. Seidels RV Park is a private facility in Pratt. In the northwestern part of the unit is 4 Aces RV Park in Kinsley. Lodging options include Cobblestone Inn & Suites in Anthony, Lodge Inn (phone: 620-886-3080) in Medicine Lodge and hunter-friendly Evergreen Inn (620-672-6431) in Pratt.
Most land is private with many properties leased to outfitters and hunting clubs, but there is also some good public land and several thousand acres of private walk-in areas that are open to the public. Around Clark State Fishing Lake, there are about 900 acres of public hunting land. Most of the 5,715-acre Pratt Sandhills State Wildlife Management Area is open to hunting --one square mile is reserved for handicapped hunters. Public hunters may hunt at no fee on several private parcels listed in the Fall Hunting Atlas. State and federal hunting areas are also listed, including several thousand acres of newly acquired federal land in Clark County. Some controlled shooting areas (state-licensed private fee hunting areas, listed on the KS Outdoors website) may also allow deer hunting.