Reports from opening day in SD?

I hunted private land between Groton and Webster in NE South Dakota. Not prime pheasant country. There were 10 hunters and 5 dogs, although 3 of the dogs (2 Labs and a GSP) were quite worthless so my 2 Brittanys had to shoulder the bulk of the work. We hunted for about 4 hours, walking corn strips and weedy bottoms. We ended up with 12 birds. Without my shooting and my dogs it would have been a lot less. Suffice to say, I got my limit. That little Sweet Sixteen I bought a few months ago is turning out to be one fine "shootin' iron". I even dropped one rooster that had to be 50-60 yds. and that's with #6 shot through an IC choke. Granted I only winged it and my dogs had to run it down, but he ended up in the bag!
 
Would you say the bird numbers are down considerably? Is it too early to give that observation with crops still being harvested?
 
I think you will find that the numbers are down considerably in many parts of South Dakota, especially the NE part of the state. We just came through one of the worst winters on record so it's only stands to reason the birds are down. What they are saying is that the number are down to 2002 levels. We've been spoiled the past several years with record numbers of birds.
 
I'm coming to SD in early December to the Redfield area. Will I expect to see much lower Pheasant numbers? Thanks.
 
I was with a group of 17 and we took about 3 hours to come up 46 roosters, with better shooting we could have limited easily but we didn't want to burn another field for 5 birds. Last year we limited in an hour and half. A friends group of 20 limited on the first field they walked. These are both farms with no pen raised birds. Tripp county is still strong.
 
irishdog said:
I'm coming to SD in early December to the Redfield area. Will I expect to see much lower Pheasant numbers? Thanks.
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I think it would be fair to say that the numbers in the Redfield area are probably down from the past few years. Still should be decent hunting but not like last year.
 
Wirehairs said:
I was with a group of 17 and we took about 3 hours to come up 46 roosters, with better shooting we could have limited easily but we didn't want to burn another field for 5 birds. Last year we limited in an hour and half. A friends group of 20 limited on the first field they walked. These are both farms with no pen raised birds. Tripp county is still strong.
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That sounds scary being around that many hunters!
 
jonnyB said:
Zeb: Your 16ga. it hard to find shells? and is this the Browning Auto?

Just curious.

Jon
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That would be a 1961 Belgium A5 Sweet Sixteen. I have no problem finding shells. I've shot Federal, a few Remington and now some of the B&P that I ordered. For non-tox I'm using the Kent Tungsten-Matrix.

SweetSixteen.jpg
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And what do you think about the "new A5?" I like the magazine trap which I have on my very old A5 (circa 1942) and it appears the shell loading is easier.

Your gun: looks brand new!

Jon
 
I've got the exact same gun Zeb and I love it!.......very nice piece......the only down side is the weight........after a long day in the field I can feel my knuckes dragging on the ground and some aches in the arms!!!
 
This is starting to turn into a Sweet Sixteen thread. Sorry! My Sweet looks better in the photo than actual but it is in very nice condition. It has been used but not abused. Bluing is 95%+ and the wood has no cracks or serious scratches. All original except the stock was shortened and the recoil pad added. I took off the recoil pad in the photo and installed a black one from Browning with the Browning name on it. Looks very nice and better than the old brown whilte line pad. My Sweet has a 26" barrel and probably weights about 7 lbs. or maybe a tad over. Very well balanced so it doesn't feel that heavy. As I've gotten older the weight of a gun in the field has become more of a concern but this Sweet carries nice. Get a gun too light and then recoil becomes an issue. I put new friction rings and a recoil spring in mine when I got it.
 
I really fell into mine by accident about 10 years ago. There was an older gentleman in my neighborhood who had cancer and i would go to his house a few times a week and do some yard work or small projects aroung the house for him. We always taked hunting every time I was there. He was on his last leg and one day he put the gun on the table and said that his kids weren't into hunting and asked if I was interested in the gun. I almost fell off my chair.....I asked how much he wanted and he said "make me an offer"....I had no idea of the value so I offered $800.00......he said that since I did all the work around his house for "free" that I could have the gun for $200.00.......I think I drove 80 mph to the ATM for cash.......it's my "silver lining" story......he passed away 2 weeks after I bought the gun and I never had a chance to even fire it and tell him how much I appreciated owning the piece.
 
Terry:

What a great story! What goes around does come around. God certainly has surprises for us...

Jon
 
I couldn't agree more Jon........I'm waiting for my chance to "pay it Forward".......I still keep in contact with with his 2 sons. Each one of the boy's has one son of their own. They've both said that the kids are getting interested in the sport so I think next year I'm going to take them on a youth hunt and if they enjoy the sport I'll give them the Grandfathers gun back for the kids to use
 
What a great idea! I like the pay it forward idea. I guess in this world we really don't "own" anything - just using it for a while while we're here.
 
Terry B,
What a great story on your "Sweet Sixteen"!!
Good for you on the "pay it forward" idea.
If you get to give that gun to one of this man's grandsons...it will prove that he sold the gun to the right guy for the right price...and you got to enjoy it for a time!
God bless,
 
I'm a little torn because I have 2 children myself ages 9 and 5 who already like to come hunting with me and I know they would both appreciate a gun like that as well.......I also believe that when I do get the chance to give the gun to his grandkids that my OWN children are probably going to kick me right in the nuggets.......It'll be worth it!!!!!!!!
 
Hunted some public land in SE corner of state. Corn still in around the public land. Saw 6 roosters & 7 hens. 1 bird bagged was a real young rooster. Some guys are saying that they are having a hard time telling difference between hens & roosters, but we could easily verify each. A better observation will be done when corn is out, but it seems numbers are down this year in this area.
 
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