Duck hunting season begins on Saturday, October 7 for the Low Plains Early Zone, which includes Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area. Cheyenne Bottoms offers premier waterfowl hunting opportunities and the strong traditions that go with those hunts. The season also welcomes many out of town hunters into the local communities.

For the fifth year, duck hunters and friends are invited to stop by the Kansas Wetlands Education Center (located at the southeast corner of Cheyenne Bottoms along K-156 Highway) after their hunt from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. for a free Hunter Appreciation Breakfast. Biscuits and gravy, coffee, and juice will be served.

“Hunters and hunting is such an important part of the past, present, and future of Cheyenne Bottoms,” stated Curtis Wolf, KWEC director. “It is an honor to celebrate this tradition.”

The free breakfast is sponsored by the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the event is organized by the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism, and Ducks Unlimited.

After filling up on a warm breakfast, hunters can explore Cheyenne Bottoms’s history through exhibits and displays at the education center, practice your marksmanship on the KDWPT Laser Shot game, as well as share your hunting stories with fellow hunters and KDWPT staff.

New at this year’s event will be a free dog retriever demo with a hunt test training scenario for all trainers and dogs to try.

For more information about the breakfast, call the KWEC at 877-243-9268.