South Dakota pheasant hunting guides

anyone recommend a good guide for gust a couple guys, retired and would like to pheasant hunt again before the knee”s give out

Check out Uguide if you have dogs. What are you looking for in a hunt? Group hunt with big drives? Birds are down now so a lot of the big outfits are using released birds.

Just a guided hunt. Don’t care if released birds I quest. Just haven’t done it for 15 years and kind of a bucket list thing before to old

I have my own dogs and do my own thing out there so I can’t really help with guides, I’m sure someone else will have some suggestions. Good luck, it is a great place to be out there.

onestout wrote:

Birds are down now so a lot of the big outfits are using released birds.

You shouldn’t need a guide with pen raised birds. Those things are dumber than a chicken. A guide would be a waste of money.

On site lodging and nice/knowledgeable guys.

http://forestcityoutdoors.com/

No personal experience but heard good things about South Dakota Wild https://www.southdakotawild.com/

Very few guides out there unless you stay at an all inclusive club. Most setups will have you pay a trespass fee to hunt on someone’s land. You could always hunt public land and or road ditches. Typical trespass fee is $150-200 per gun per day so its not cheap. Birds are better this year than last.
If your retired and have the time I would just hunt public land or ditchlines.

Garry Allen at Allens Hillside motel in Chamberlain.. Fish in the morning, hunt in the afternoon.

gim wrote:

You shouldn’t need a guide with pen raised birds. Those things are dumber than a chicken. A guide would be a waste of money.

You’re always such a ray of sunshine! I don’t think you’ve had a positive post in months. I hope you get out fishing soon or something to brighten your day. Let me know if you need to get out I can point you in the right direction at least. Take care.

My cousin drives delivery truck for a large pheasant farm. The amount of lodges that buy birds before the season starts then advertise “100% wild birds” is hilarious.

That being said, numbers are decent here in SD, with a good dog or two and some planning there’s plenty of wild birds to be shot on public. I shot 29 birds last fall, mostly while scouting ducks. It’s not that tough.

tornadochaser wrote:

My cousin drives delivery truck for a large pheasant farm. The amount of lodges that buy birds before the season starts then advertise “100% wild birds” is hilarious.

That being said, numbers are decent here in SD, with a good dog or two and some planning there’s plenty of wild birds to be shot on public. I shot 29 birds last fall, mostly while scouting ducks. It’s not that tough.

So true. Put some wind shield time in, ask for permission, or find less pressured public spots, and hunt them during the week. Pen raised birds are good for dog training but there is no challenge in “hunting” them. Plus SD is no longer even doing their road side counts anymore because they think too many hunters see the falling numbers and don’t come.

I know a few people who get to common public hunting spots on a Saturday morning and there’s already 6 trucks parked there. And by the third weekend they wonder why the birds are so smart already.

We stayed at the parents of an ido friend years ago in Nodak and he reared birds for a local hunting lodge. We helped them capture, box and deliver dozens and dozens of birds using landing nets in a pen with over a hundred roosters. It was sureal.

Best place I’ve been and includes guide/dogs… not pen birds, you still need to hunt them but that’s the fun! Great-Great hosts at HHL:

https://www.hiddenhilllodge.com/pheasant

Get ahold of Karl at https://www.sodakmuskies.com/ he is a great guy!