Leaving for the annual South Dakota pheasant trip Saturday morning. Typically I get two trips a year out there but this year I will only do one. We will be hunting all public land between Roscoe and Mobridge. I understand the corn is coming down which should help our cause.
I’ll post a report when I get back the day before Thanksgiving.
Yup, that corning is finally coming down in the of the state now. Looking forward to your report/pics!!
I’ll be there tomorrow for 5 days. The locals are saying its going to be good
The hunting was very good in South Dakota. We arrived about 1:00 PM on Saturday and met up with some friends and hit a WPA first thing. It only took about 15 minutes before my dad dropped the first rooster. He could have used more shells though. He shoots an over and under and shot both shells on the first bird only to have two more roosters get up at his feet with no shells in the gun. We put up a bunch more hens in that field and then moved onto another field.
I should also mention that there was fresh snow and there were hundred of birds out eating in the picked corn and bean fields. It was quite the sight!
As we were driving to the next field we wanted to hunt we saw two roosters sail into the thick slough grass. We had planned on hunting this area anyway but the birds flying in there made it an easy decision. As soon as we got into the thick cover the birds were getting up out of range. It seemed only the hens would hold tight. After we got to the end of the field I dropped a rooster. I didn’t get a clean kill so it was running and my dog was trailing it. In the mean time my dad was about a 100 yards a way and I watched his dog flush one rooster and he proceeded to shoot it and then another one got up and he got that one two. It was a nice double. He had his limit in about 2 hours of hunting.
I finally found the cripple I was looking for up over a hill and down the next draw thanks to some good dog work. I also found 2 more birds holding tight in the thick cover. My dog trailed this birds for several minutes before they flushed. I could see the grass moving where the birds were running and it is amazing how many times the birds double back behind you. These birds each doubled back twice before they flushed. Once they flushed I had nice easy shots and retrieves and I also had my limit. We were done hunting for the day by 4:00 with our 6 birds.
The next day was frustrating. In all the years I’ve hunted South Dakota I probably saw the most birds this day. However, the problem was they were grouped up and never would get up in range. We did manage 2 birds and could have done a lot better if it wouldn’t have been for some road hunters driving back and forth in front of the field we were hunting in. We were pushing the birds to a corner right towards sunset and they decided to get out of their truck and spooked all the birds out before we were close enough to shoot. It was really frustrating seeing literally 1000s of pheasants and only being able to get 2 for the day. But the birds on public land are spooky.
Monday ended up being our last day and we shot 3 birds. We hunted a WPA and within 5 minutes of getting out of the truck we flushed 40 birds but most of them were out of range. I dropped one rooster only to see a bunch more getting up way ahead. We continued to walk some thick slough grass and shot 3 more birds. We flushed plenty of birds and I missed two relatively easy shots and my dad missed one longer shot. We should have had our limit again. Unfortunately, that was the end of our South Dakota hunt for this year.
I got a call from my wife only to find out that her cousin had been shot and killed in Montana. We headed back for home so I could catch a flight out to Montana with my wife for the funeral. Her 26 year old cousin was tragically shot by her ex boyfriend while leaving a bar in her hometown. Needless to say this put a damper on the hunting trip as well the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Good Hunting,
Mille Lacs Guy
You almost have to put guys on post for those that break out. We see 100’s break out way ahead but still have those that hold tight. Even with 10 dogs running a few still get by us. Heading back that way for the last week of season. Heard they have had a lot of snow and the cat tails are going to be tuff going.
Where do you hunt at?? My dad said it’s going to be very tough around his place at Xmas. Everything is full of snow. Sounds like I’ll just enjoy some coyote hunting instead.
Quote:
You almost have to put guys on post for those that break out. We see 100’s break out way ahead but still have those that hold tight. Even with 10 dogs running a few still get by us. Heading back that way for the last week of season. Heard they have had a lot of snow and the cat tails are going to be tuff going.
We usually just hunt with a couple of guys so posting is tough. We do a limit amount of posting when we have 4 guys but typically we just understand that a bunch are going to get up way ahead and we just go for the ones that sit tight. It sure is fun seeing the big groups of birds!
I got a call from my wife only to find out that her cousin had been shot and killed in Montana. We headed back for home so I could catch a flight out to Montana with my wife for the funeral. Her 26 year old cousin was tragically shot by her ex boyfriend while leaving a bar in her hometown. Needless to say this put a damper on the hunting trip as well the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Good Hunting,
Mille Lacs Guy
Sorry to hear about your wifes cousin. I am assuming your talking about the miles city incidendt. My wife walked down the aisle with the shooter as a bridesmaid/groomsmans at her best friends wedding about five years ago. Crazy world we live in, hope your holidays are getting better
Sorry to hear about your wifes cousin. I am assuming your talking about the miles city incidendt. My wife walked down the aisle with the shooter as a bridesmaid/groomsmans at her best friends wedding about five years ago. Crazy world we live in, hope your holidays are getting better
Small world…that’s the incident I was talking about. I hope Christmas goes better than Thanksgiving did. We are heading back to Montana on Christmas day.
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