REAL South Dakota 2021 review.
- Thread starter bang bang bang....F&$K!
- Start date
I am from SC too. I go hunting with 4 other people every year on public land since 1999. Whats your point?
Miforester
Well-known member
Dont worry Goosemusher, they all drink pbr, ride in a beat up pickup with their dogs in the cabs, dress like they have no money and act mentally challenged when asking permission to hunt pvt lands......
sjohn
Active member
Report on my groups hunt on Wednesday and Thursday. Down to 6 guys now. Any Comments from the peanut gallery on numbers in the hunt party? I am not there, stuck in SC with a back injury, so just reporting on their success.
Wednesday they hunted one of our best private spots. Shot 9 and did not block very well. Supposedly lots got away.
Thursday they hunted a Hutterite Colony and only shot 3.
I asked the question about numbers of hens and they said they are jumping good numbers of hens. That is great to hear.
They are hunting another great private spot today and returning to the farm where they shot 9 on Wednesday.
Good luck to all who are there now and still plan to get out!
Wednesday they hunted one of our best private spots. Shot 9 and did not block very well. Supposedly lots got away.
Thursday they hunted a Hutterite Colony and only shot 3.
I asked the question about numbers of hens and they said they are jumping good numbers of hens. That is great to hear.
They are hunting another great private spot today and returning to the farm where they shot 9 on Wednesday.
Good luck to all who are there now and still plan to get out!
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Thx for the report, get better soon! Back out on wed, will report at that time….
Munster927
Well-known member
7 guys is fairly common for a group to travel a long distance to hunt. In all honesty, when I go out of state, I prefer it to be with a group instead of solo.
Now in the field I prefer to be with a small group, 2 or 3 people. But going as a big group I don't see the issue Goose has haha
Now in the field I prefer to be with a small group, 2 or 3 people. But going as a big group I don't see the issue Goose has haha
5 stand
Well-known member
My Thanksgiving hunt ( review)
Day one, Friday the 26th. I duck Hunted in the morning with a friend of mine in Sioux falls. By the time we got the decoys picked up and back to the truck it was 1:30 ish. Left Sioux falls and headed Northwest. Finally about 3:30 I decided I would Hunt a small WPA because I hadn't found anything that looked better, and time was running short. It was mostly water with road on two sides and cattails and grass on the other two. Cut corn surrounding that. One side produce nothing, the other side Moe my setter found two roosters. A 3rd rooster flushed right at the dead bird of the second retrieve. It surprised me and flew out over the ice and I didn't shoot at it. So the first day we saw three roosters killed two.
Second day Saturday. The 27th.
Started out with Trigger my lab, in a walk in area. It was a small piece of property also with beans surrounding a cattail Slough. It produced one (dead) rooster. We moved on to another walk in. It was fairly good-sized, with a nice meandering draw all the way down it surrounded by cut corn (it looked good). But produced nothing. Moved on to another walk in. Fairly good-sized surrounded by beans on two sides. Water and c r p on the other two sides. Trigger found two roosters in the grass/cattails on the bean side. Killed them both. Saw two hens and another rooster. Scouted the rest of the day. So the second day we saw two hens and 4 roosters while hunting. Three more while scouting. Total 7.
Sunday, started out with Moe in a WPA. It had a small patch of cut corn then a little grassy fence line. Then a real thin grassed area and a little grassy fence line and corn again. The best way to describe it is kind of a u-shaped with cut corn on each side. Right before we get to the first grassy fence line, Moe winds some birds but doesn't go on point just made a big circle out in the grass behind.I was surprised but I wasn't going to let them run off. So briskly headed over to the fence line, and jump two roosters and a hen. Killed both roosters. Rounded them up and moved on. When we got to the other side of the thin (and I mean thin) grass, downwind of the grassy fence line. Moe winds some birds and goes on point, and I thought okay here we go. Just after that thought he breaks and runs right through the middle of five hens. Which made it real easy to turn this into a teachable moment. We had a little come-to-jesus meeting and made a beeline back to the truck. He heard about how bad a boy he was all the way back to the truck. Two roosters and a hen got up for no reason about a 120 yards from us in some cattails on the way to the truck.We left and headed to another walk in that I had found the day before. Triggers turn, Moe was in the dog house. Cut corn surrounding a cattail Slough. The cattail Slough came to a point, and we approach from that end. As soon as we got to the point it erupted with hens, one rooster finally got up at long distance. Preceded on and finally got up a rooster within range and connected. Guessing 11 hens and three roosters, seen on that piece of property. Total 25 birds.
Monday.
Decided to hunt a WPA that I've hunted for years. It's a big piece of property surrounded by beans this year. Wanted to give Moe a chance to redeem himself, so he got the start. Hunted quite a while and had smelled nothing but he finally found a rooster on the edge of some willows. Great point and hold everything was perfect. I flushed the rooster shot him and he rolled up fine in some cattails. Moe goes to retrieve him, and a decent Buck runs out of The cattails we had a few seconds of deer chasing (he loves to chase deer) I got him back to hunting dead and we never found this bird, he must have run. Good dog bad shooter my goodness how the rolls can change! We proceeded on. This piece of property has water that we use kind of as a blocker. Moe goes on point again by some willows, this time I'm on the wrong side of the willows and the rooster flies off the way we are going(I think we find him again). The next set of cattails Moe points a rooster and I kill him, Finally a dead rooster. He points a hen, then finds another rooster in some willows it slips out from us but flies up to another thicket, he doesn't escape this time. We're at the far end of the property so we head back the truck through some grass and Moe finds a rooster and a hen in the grass it's pretty thin we point and stock a couple times before we get too close and the rooster and hen get up and I kill him. Moe and I learned a lot this day, best day of the trip. I think we saw 10 birds total.
Tuesday, our last day.
I was getting pretty tired, and wanted to get on the road by noon ish. We started the day on a WPA. Water cattails and cut corn, surrounded three sides beans on the other. Trigger and I got to the first set of willows, and I was on the wrong side as always (at least this trip). Flushed two roosters and two hens, no shots fired. Proceeded on and Trigger was birdie so I think we were pushing one that decided to run, finally got it up and it was a rooster and killed him. Time was running short and we had to go back by the truck to hunt the rest of the property. So I decided to let Moe hunt the last hour. We found our last rooster and a hen at the back of the property. Moe had a good point and I made a good shot and we headed back to the truck. Total that day 7 birds.
Total on the trip I think we laid eyes on 59 birds total (not sure my math above works out we saw a few while driving around). I think bird numbers are down a little bit in the area I was hunting. Overall I had a really good time, the South Dakota people sure are friendly. I do appreciate the opportunity to go to South Dakota and Chase these wild roosters. I hope this isn't too long, if it is sorry.
Day one, Friday the 26th. I duck Hunted in the morning with a friend of mine in Sioux falls. By the time we got the decoys picked up and back to the truck it was 1:30 ish. Left Sioux falls and headed Northwest. Finally about 3:30 I decided I would Hunt a small WPA because I hadn't found anything that looked better, and time was running short. It was mostly water with road on two sides and cattails and grass on the other two. Cut corn surrounding that. One side produce nothing, the other side Moe my setter found two roosters. A 3rd rooster flushed right at the dead bird of the second retrieve. It surprised me and flew out over the ice and I didn't shoot at it. So the first day we saw three roosters killed two.
Second day Saturday. The 27th.
Started out with Trigger my lab, in a walk in area. It was a small piece of property also with beans surrounding a cattail Slough. It produced one (dead) rooster. We moved on to another walk in. It was fairly good-sized, with a nice meandering draw all the way down it surrounded by cut corn (it looked good). But produced nothing. Moved on to another walk in. Fairly good-sized surrounded by beans on two sides. Water and c r p on the other two sides. Trigger found two roosters in the grass/cattails on the bean side. Killed them both. Saw two hens and another rooster. Scouted the rest of the day. So the second day we saw two hens and 4 roosters while hunting. Three more while scouting. Total 7.
Sunday, started out with Moe in a WPA. It had a small patch of cut corn then a little grassy fence line. Then a real thin grassed area and a little grassy fence line and corn again. The best way to describe it is kind of a u-shaped with cut corn on each side. Right before we get to the first grassy fence line, Moe winds some birds but doesn't go on point just made a big circle out in the grass behind.I was surprised but I wasn't going to let them run off. So briskly headed over to the fence line, and jump two roosters and a hen. Killed both roosters. Rounded them up and moved on. When we got to the other side of the thin (and I mean thin) grass, downwind of the grassy fence line. Moe winds some birds and goes on point, and I thought okay here we go. Just after that thought he breaks and runs right through the middle of five hens. Which made it real easy to turn this into a teachable moment. We had a little come-to-jesus meeting and made a beeline back to the truck. He heard about how bad a boy he was all the way back to the truck. Two roosters and a hen got up for no reason about a 120 yards from us in some cattails on the way to the truck.We left and headed to another walk in that I had found the day before. Triggers turn, Moe was in the dog house. Cut corn surrounding a cattail Slough. The cattail Slough came to a point, and we approach from that end. As soon as we got to the point it erupted with hens, one rooster finally got up at long distance. Preceded on and finally got up a rooster within range and connected. Guessing 11 hens and three roosters, seen on that piece of property. Total 25 birds.
Monday.
Decided to hunt a WPA that I've hunted for years. It's a big piece of property surrounded by beans this year. Wanted to give Moe a chance to redeem himself, so he got the start. Hunted quite a while and had smelled nothing but he finally found a rooster on the edge of some willows. Great point and hold everything was perfect. I flushed the rooster shot him and he rolled up fine in some cattails. Moe goes to retrieve him, and a decent Buck runs out of The cattails we had a few seconds of deer chasing (he loves to chase deer) I got him back to hunting dead and we never found this bird, he must have run. Good dog bad shooter my goodness how the rolls can change! We proceeded on. This piece of property has water that we use kind of as a blocker. Moe goes on point again by some willows, this time I'm on the wrong side of the willows and the rooster flies off the way we are going(I think we find him again). The next set of cattails Moe points a rooster and I kill him, Finally a dead rooster. He points a hen, then finds another rooster in some willows it slips out from us but flies up to another thicket, he doesn't escape this time. We're at the far end of the property so we head back the truck through some grass and Moe finds a rooster and a hen in the grass it's pretty thin we point and stock a couple times before we get too close and the rooster and hen get up and I kill him. Moe and I learned a lot this day, best day of the trip. I think we saw 10 birds total.
Tuesday, our last day.
I was getting pretty tired, and wanted to get on the road by noon ish. We started the day on a WPA. Water cattails and cut corn, surrounded three sides beans on the other. Trigger and I got to the first set of willows, and I was on the wrong side as always (at least this trip). Flushed two roosters and two hens, no shots fired. Proceeded on and Trigger was birdie so I think we were pushing one that decided to run, finally got it up and it was a rooster and killed him. Time was running short and we had to go back by the truck to hunt the rest of the property. So I decided to let Moe hunt the last hour. We found our last rooster and a hen at the back of the property. Moe had a good point and I made a good shot and we headed back to the truck. Total that day 7 birds.
Total on the trip I think we laid eyes on 59 birds total (not sure my math above works out we saw a few while driving around). I think bird numbers are down a little bit in the area I was hunting. Overall I had a really good time, the South Dakota people sure are friendly. I do appreciate the opportunity to go to South Dakota and Chase these wild roosters. I hope this isn't too long, if it is sorry.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Awesome!!! 
5 stand
Well-known member
Thank you very much. I'm pretty self-conscious about my writing skills (or lack thereof). I'm a Hunter not a writer. This cell phone is a neat tool. It lets me interact with you guys.Awesome!!!
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Great account!!!! Keep doing exactly as you have been! 
sjohn
Active member
Final report from my South Carolina crew. Last day they went to a great cattail creek bottom but only jumped two roosters and they both got away. Then they returned to one of our favorite shelter belts they previously hunted on Wednesday. Not what I would have done but I wasn't there. The birds were not in the shelter belt but were just out into the field in a smallish grass/cattail slew. One of the blockers managed to get to it before the last birds got out and made all 4 shots his gun held count. We party hunt. That was the only birds they got on Friday. Since I wasn't there and they were limited on dog power and dog experience for most of the week, they did ok. Their interpretation was the birds were more scattered and out in the fields because of the warm weather and not concentrated in the thicker cover. We hunt more cattail slews and thicker cover compared to grass fields, mainly because its usually colder by the first week of December. Not this year. So a combination of limited dog power and experience coupled with warm weather impacted the number of birds harvested.
Best of luck to all still hunting. john
Best of luck to all still hunting. john
Zew
Member
Just got back from my first trip, 3 days in the NE region. I hunted solo with 2 Brittany's. First day saw limited success finding birds. Second day made up for it. One switch grass field held around 40 birds. Lots of hens. Plenty of birds in the other 2 places I hunted also. 3rd day first spot was a dud. 2 hens. Second spot crep/cattails held a pile of birds. Third spot was very similar and held a pile of birds as well.
As far as cover and birds numbers go, there was plenty if places with great cover. The bird numbers are down but not enough to make it tough hunting. You might have to walk in a 1/2 mile to get to that good cover at times. I guess that scares a lot of people away.
As far as cover and birds numbers go, there was plenty if places with great cover. The bird numbers are down but not enough to make it tough hunting. You might have to walk in a 1/2 mile to get to that good cover at times. I guess that scares a lot of people away.
Golden Hour
Well-known member
I hunted a WPA on Saturday that, from the road, looked barren as it was hayed this summer. The back edge, however, was not and showed Sage and I really good time. Sometimes a person has to get out and explore.
sjohn
Active member
Like others have said. "You have to get out and walk it"! I have found glory holes on public land that are not visible from the road. And finding that uncut strip at the very back right next to the cut beans or corn, or that hidden slew in the middle of a half section can make your day... or at least make your dogs day!
Correct me if I am wrong, but I can't recall a single poster on this site that said the conditions were such that it wasn't worth going. Or asked for their money back because they felt like there wasn't enough opportunities to run your dogs and use the smoke stick.
The NFL analogy was fine, but this exact scenario is indeed happening at the college level. When the players opt out of the bowl game for fear of getting hurt, this just ruins the game for all. However, I don't feel like haying is the same, and in fact the practice has to concentrate the birds in the areas where cover remains. You may have to knock on a door if the only cover remaining is now private.
The resourceful hunter will prevail. Cheers.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I can't recall a single poster on this site that said the conditions were such that it wasn't worth going. Or asked for their money back because they felt like there wasn't enough opportunities to run your dogs and use the smoke stick.
The NFL analogy was fine, but this exact scenario is indeed happening at the college level. When the players opt out of the bowl game for fear of getting hurt, this just ruins the game for all. However, I don't feel like haying is the same, and in fact the practice has to concentrate the birds in the areas where cover remains. You may have to knock on a door if the only cover remaining is now private.
The resourceful hunter will prevail. Cheers.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
ArmchairBiologist
New member
Well guys....I think it's pretty much over in the areas I hunt. I went out this weekend with the fresh snow thinking it was going to be really good. I hunted my best public spots Saturday with my girlfriend all day and did not get many opportunities. I think we flushed around 45 pheasants out of 4 large areas, however, all but 5 of them were in two large areas in 2 groups.
These are spots that I've found over the last two years that have phenomenal winter cover, in areas with large bird numbers, and not a ton of pressure for public land. The birds were super jumpy, even with the fresh snow. I don't slam doors, and never talk in the field. I only use hand signals for my dog so I don't need to give him verbal commands. You literally can't be any more sneaky and quite and they were hard to get close to. We got three opportunities all day and I got them all.
Sunday I hunted around my house in an area with more pressure and less birds. I did not find a single spot that hadn't been hunted at least once (if not twice) on Saturday. I flushed 8 birds for the day and didn't get a single opportunity. I only saw 1 rooster and it flushed wild. I saw more hunters this weekend then I saw on opening weekend. I had two different times when I was hunting a field to have another group come and hunt another part of the same public land I was already on.
I've been doing really well the last month hunting out of the way spots and areas people have ignored. I fear my experience this last weekend is the proverbial "cliff" that I have experienced in the past. The snow should have helped the public land hunting and it did not help at all. The "cliff" is when the public land has gotten so much pressure the birds just stop using it all together. When I started noticing this trend last year it became very difficult to shoot anything. I think I got 6 birds in January in 10 days of hunting. I'd be very surprised if I shot 20 more birds the rest of the year and I'll put in another 12-15 days before the season is over. For perspective, I've been averaging 2.7 birds a day before this weekend.
If you're thinking about doing a South Dakota trip this year and hunting strictly public, I would temper your expectations. You could easily get 1 opportunity in a couple days of hard hunting. I live here and know which areas and corners get less pressure, you won't have that knowledge and luxury. A friend of mine, and my uncle, were supposed to come out hunting at the end of the month. I've contacted them both and told them not to come.
If you do go I would recommend you go to an area of the state that has allot of public land, and is not within an hour of any mid-size town. Any area where you think the public hasn't been hunted 4-5 times a weekend for the whole season.
The pressure continues to be high. In fact, the old adage that late season has less pressure doesn't seem to be true anymore. When I started pheasant hunting in the 90's I barely ever saw another pheasant hunter in December. The last 7-8 years it almost seems like I see more hunters in December then in October. The "secret" is out. Late season public land pheasant hunting is harder and busier then it used to be.
These are spots that I've found over the last two years that have phenomenal winter cover, in areas with large bird numbers, and not a ton of pressure for public land. The birds were super jumpy, even with the fresh snow. I don't slam doors, and never talk in the field. I only use hand signals for my dog so I don't need to give him verbal commands. You literally can't be any more sneaky and quite and they were hard to get close to. We got three opportunities all day and I got them all.
Sunday I hunted around my house in an area with more pressure and less birds. I did not find a single spot that hadn't been hunted at least once (if not twice) on Saturday. I flushed 8 birds for the day and didn't get a single opportunity. I only saw 1 rooster and it flushed wild. I saw more hunters this weekend then I saw on opening weekend. I had two different times when I was hunting a field to have another group come and hunt another part of the same public land I was already on.
I've been doing really well the last month hunting out of the way spots and areas people have ignored. I fear my experience this last weekend is the proverbial "cliff" that I have experienced in the past. The snow should have helped the public land hunting and it did not help at all. The "cliff" is when the public land has gotten so much pressure the birds just stop using it all together. When I started noticing this trend last year it became very difficult to shoot anything. I think I got 6 birds in January in 10 days of hunting. I'd be very surprised if I shot 20 more birds the rest of the year and I'll put in another 12-15 days before the season is over. For perspective, I've been averaging 2.7 birds a day before this weekend.
If you're thinking about doing a South Dakota trip this year and hunting strictly public, I would temper your expectations. You could easily get 1 opportunity in a couple days of hard hunting. I live here and know which areas and corners get less pressure, you won't have that knowledge and luxury. A friend of mine, and my uncle, were supposed to come out hunting at the end of the month. I've contacted them both and told them not to come.
If you do go I would recommend you go to an area of the state that has allot of public land, and is not within an hour of any mid-size town. Any area where you think the public hasn't been hunted 4-5 times a weekend for the whole season.
The pressure continues to be high. In fact, the old adage that late season has less pressure doesn't seem to be true anymore. When I started pheasant hunting in the 90's I barely ever saw another pheasant hunter in December. The last 7-8 years it almost seems like I see more hunters in December then in October. The "secret" is out. Late season public land pheasant hunting is harder and busier then it used to be.
Golden Hour
Well-known member
What do you suppose the reason for that is? License sales are way down, so statistically, there are fewer pheasant hunters in South Dakota. Not trying to discredit you, as I've seen more pressure in the areas I hunt this year, but haven't seen a decline in hunting quality.