Another side of the gun conversation: Inside Kansas hunting season

Every year, my family travels to western Kansas for the opening day of pheasant season. For the last few years, my father has asked me to go with him. It's a chance to spend quality time with him and take part in a tradition that my father has been practicing for over 40 years. It's also a chance to let time slow down, just for a few days, in a part of the country where the sky and the ground seem to blend together. The experience is worthwhile, so this year I photographed it.
 
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A group of pheasant hunters wait in line for an annual hunters' breakfast that was hosted by the local Lions Club in Hugoton, Kansas before daybreak.
 
 

Titan, a German Shorthaired Pointer, prowls through a cornfield near Hugoton, Kansas, in search of pheasants.
 
 

Bob Hook and Meegan Dunham keep watchful eyes on the field in the early morning of opening day of pheasant season near Hugoton, Kansas.
 
 

Bob Hook points out the field that the hunting party will go to next to David Munday, Monte Dunham, and Jerry Welch on opening day of pheasant season near Hugoton, Kansas.
 
 

Conagher Welch stops and poses for a photo for his dad on opening day of pheasant season near Hugoton, Kansas.
 
 

Monte Dunham cleans a pheasant at the end of opening day of pheasant season near Hugoton, Kansas.