This month's Feature Destination:
Barrel Springs Hunt Club

January 2006

When one door closes, another one opens.

The old railroad through Horace, Kansas (2 miles west of Tribune) used to have a switching station there, where crews on the trains would switch at the end of a shift. The rules were that there had to be a place for the men to eat and sleep, so in Horace, a dormitory building was in place with 24 small bedrooms, each with its own shower, bathroom, and separate thermostat. The building also had a large commons area for meals and relaxation, and a good kitchen.

Eventually, the railroad was short lined, and the building was closed. That door was soon to be opened, however, by David and Shari Woelk with the establishment of the Barrel Springs Hunt Club of Tribune, Kansas.

“We took possession of the building in May 1999,” said Shari Woelk. “My brother Alan was buying day old pheasant chicks and raising birds for controlled shooting areas, and he kept telling us there was room in this business for more people. We had land- what’s now over 6,000 acres of hunting property-so we decided it could work.”

“This building offers a couple of important things,” she said. “Folks can’t just come to this part of Kansas to hunt in the morning and go back home in the afternoon; they need a place to stay. There’s also pretty limited meal service in this area, so the three home-cooked meals a day are a very important part of our hunting package.”

The typical hunting group comes to Barrel Springs in the late afternoon, and they’ll have an impressive steak dinner, complete with potatoes, salad, and homemade desserts. After that, they’ll find their rooms, and then spend the evening in the common area visiting, playing cards or watching the big screen TV.

Breakfast is a big country breakfast with biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, and so forth, and then they go out to hunt. They come in for lunch, perhaps homemade beef and noodles, and then go back to hunt all afternoon. As the sun starts to fade, or folks get tired, they come in, and soon sit down for another grand meal prepared again by Shari and her mother, Joyce. The next day is usually breakfast and lunch, and the group typical checks out following the afternoon hunt.

In the controlled hunting areas, each hunter is guaranteed 6 shots a day. (“We can’t control how well they shoot, but they’ll get at least 6 shots at birds.) David is one of the guides. The guides don’t carry a gun, but are there to assist the guests, and to handle the dogs. Hunters can bring their own dogs, too, and the farm has kennels for 20 dogs. The Woelks will clean and package the game, and provide the local transportation. The hunters hunt all day, unless they ask to go back in. The whole package is $325 per hunter per day.

Not a “Pet and Punt” Hunting Experience

“The most important thing I can tell people about getting into the hunting business is that you need to find out what the hunter considers to be a successful hunting experience.” Shari offered.

“Even though 90% of them actually want a controlled shooting area experience, there are still some folks that insist they are looking for a natural place to hunt.”

“One fellow told me he didn’t want a ‘pet and punt’ experience--- where you reach down and pet the pheasant on the head, and then you have to punt him into the air to get a shot.”

Read more to see what advice Shari has for new people coming into the hunting business. Click here.

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America's Heartland on PBS!

If you haven't seen it yet, we'd like to call your attention to the new television show on Public Broadcasting, called "America's Heartland."

America’s Heartland is a new weekly public television series, hosted by Paul Ryan, which will celebrate our nation’s agriculture. Profiling the people, places, and processes of agriculture, the series will tap in to—and strengthen—the ties that bind us all together: the love of our land and the respect for the people who live on and from it, a national fascination with food, curiosity about unfamiliar places and ways of life, and the bedrock American values of family, hard work and the spirit of independence.

Beverly Hurley, the Kansas Travel and Tourism Media Representative, worked with a PBS TV crew that came to Kansas to produce five segments for a new nationwide show. This new series is now on the air.

The episodes for Kansas are:
Prairie Grass - Show #109
Kansas Bison - Show #110
Emu Farm - Show #113
Kansas Fair and 4H - Show #114
Top Ag Museums (includes Ag Hall) - Show #116

Click here for a listing of Kansas PBS stations that carry this program.

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