2024 pheasant season

South Dakota is definitely the king for public land hunting for pheasants. No doubt about it. And generally speaking, there’s wild birds around because they have habitat too. I would argue they are literally the only state in the country that prioritizes something other than deer as their primary hunting market. I’m strictly talking naturally reproduced wild birds here, not flare nares at a game farm or a ranch that act more like domesticated poultry.

There’s also the fact that their season is much longer. A few years ago they extended their season all the way through January. It opens in late October and runs through January. That’s a heck of a long season.

The issue is they’re limiting days you can hunt. A guy should be able to hunt any of that open period if you buy a license. Not only for 5 days at a time.

Ill be hitting it this afternoon in Iowa. I dont have high expectations but Im taking my 13 old pointer. This should be interesting. She functioned well Grouse hunting 3 times this fall so Im giving it a try. Ill keep her out of the thick stuff.

suzuki wrote:

Ill be hitting it this afternoon in Iowa. I dont have high expectations but Im taking my 13 old pointer. This should be interesting. She functioned well Grouse hunting 3 times this fall so Im giving it a try. Ill keep her out of the thick stuff.

good luck bud…..i’m sure that pooch will love it!!!!

Got out again today. Only had one shot at one bird and got him.

I think we saw 4 roosters (3 wayyy out there) all day and about 40 hens. The hens played nicely and allowed for fun dog work.

All public land in western/wc.

Still finding them mostly in willows although we did finally find a few in cattails today. Oh and if you’re not within basically a shot of a food source, don’t bother.

I took a friend with for a few hours and did well. First hunt in measurable snow this season. The second spot had 44 pheasants.
I’m on pace for my best season since 2007. Hope to go two more times before the season ends.

gim wrote:

I took a friend with for a few hours and did well. First hunt in measurable snow this season. The second spot had 44 pheasants.
I’m on pace for my best season since 2007. Hope to go two more times before the season ends.

Nice!! That far left bird is a beauty.

Numbers have been great this year! I am looking forward to hearing how this season compares to the last several. After all the flooding concerns, they sure seemed to have a good hatch.

Charlie W wrote:

Nice!! That far left bird is a beauty.

Numbers have been great this year! I am looking forward to hearing how this season compares to the last several. After all the flooding concerns, they sure seemed to have a good hatch.

That bird was clearly bigger than the other three.

The tracks in the snow now was a telling sign of just how many birds are around, especially near a food source. The second spot was right near a picked corn field. Very few in the cattails.

Looks like some of it might be melting later this week though. There was about 2 inches on the ground where I hunt.

Nice haul.

I’m envious. Oldest dog has some stitches in him from a procedure Saturday so that kept me out of the field most of the weekend. I hit a new spot for an hour Friday and didn’t see anything. Only one set of tracks so not very promising. Will take the young pup solo out a few more times and try to get the old boy out for the New Years hunt if his wound heals. Definitely my best year yet. I really put the miles on though to get the pup experience and it’s paid off.

I tried the guys tip where he walks on a frozen lake to hunt the inside edge of the cattails. The dog did get a scent and flush a hen. Maybe if I find a thinner band of cattails it would work better.

We did get a pheasant. Sunday afternoon.

Picked up roosters today about an hour or so out of the metro. Maybe this heat wave had them confused. A bit damp. Spent more time driving today than walking, but I had two spots to hunt and did not feel like exploring. Back home and typing…

Hope to get out one or two more days … then time to get out on the ice.

I hunted for about 2 hours today to get these. They were acting pretty dumb and mostly holding tight like they haven’t ever been hunted. I think Brittman is right, the warmth and wet landscape had them confused. With everything soaking wet and the snow all gone it was easy for the dog to find scent and get within shotgun range without making any noise. I raised about 40 birds and 3 deer. I intend to go one more time on Wednesday. It felt more like early November out there today than late December.

I’ve been on a tough dry spell since Thanksgiving. Finally bagged 2 birds with only 1 shot fired (dogs picked one out of reeds themselves). The sun broke through the clouds just as I picked up the shot bird, like the lord was blessing the moment. It was a slog through a pure swamp WMA. Nothing but reeds and cattails but was finally rewarded for it. If my head will stop pounding from last night I’m going to try and get one last hunt I today for the dogs’ sake at least.

I went with a friend yesterday for the afternoon. Little windier than I would like, but tolerable. We each got one. And we each missed one. Raised about 20 in four spots. Its unfortunate that the season has to end on Jan 1. I’d keep hunting for another couple weeks if I could.

Tremendous season. Second best season I’ve had with this dog. She just finished her 13th year. I hope she can do it again next year.