Home Land Use and Water Improvements Dunne Valley Ranch Ranch History Wildlife & Hunting Miscellaneous

A view of storm clouds rolling across the horizon, as seen from headquarters.


Wildlife & Hunting

Chris Catlin, a friend of the Dunne family and an experienced hunter, provided the following description of hunting and wildlife at the Dunne Valley Ranch:

The Dunne Valley Ranch near Ashland in southwestern Kansas is in the heart of prime trophy whitetail, upland and waterfowl hunting. With over 21,000 contiguous acres of beautiful Cimarron River riparian bottoms, dense sand hills, prairie grasslands, tree belts and lush cropland, the ranch has long been managed for prolific wildlife abundance.

Since the early 1940's, the Dunne Valley Ranch has seen little or no hunting. The explosion of the Kansas deer herds from the 1970’s through the 1990’s brought increased herd size to this ranch with exceptional bucks reaching true trophy class maturity. The Rio Grande Turkey, bobwhite quail and pheasant populations increased as well.

Due to the owner’s wishes and dedication to wildlife preservation, only a very few family members or employees enjoyed the hunting bounty. When limited hunting was opened on the ranch, the trophy class of the whitetail deer was staggering, with many animals meeting and exceeding the trophy standards of the Boone & Crockett, and Pope & Young measurement systems.

Beginning in 2003 the ranch was placed under a recreational lease with a local outfitting business, which continued trophy quality management and very restricted hunting. Highly respected professional hunters experienced the ranch's hunting opportunities and many video productions were recorded on the ranch. Today the ranch boasts the highest deer and turkey populations of modern times, with buck-to-doe ratios of 1:2 or better. The trophy class of the bucks remains extremely high with many 5 to 8 year old age class bucks carrying over from year to year.

Turkey hunting remains incredible with birds present in most areas of the ranch depending on the season. Both spring and fall hunting is excellent. Pheasant and bobwhite quail populations ebb and flow with the annual hatch, but rarely dip below good to fantastic years. Waterfowl hunting is always excellent on the many prairie lakes, small waterways and several miles of the Cimarron River on the property. Unusual and common species such as prairie chickens, mule deer, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, armadillos and feral hogs also inhabit this property.

- Chris Catlin