We just got back from our second annual pheasant hunting trip to East-Central South Dakota. Got there from Michigan on a Friday morning after driving all night. Did some scouting waiting for the 10 AM bell but parked ourselves at a CREP with picked corn around some cattails. We had an hour to wait and watched the birds pour into the cattails. Managed to scratch 1 bird outta there, and hunted the public spots hard the rest of the day but only scratched 3 birds.
Day 2 brought an unexpected 2 inches of snow, which was wonderful to hunt in. Hunted hard again all day and got 6, 3 shy of our 3 man limit. But man, were we seeing some birds in the cover and driving around!
Day 3 was more of the same, except we had sent some Facebook messages to area farmers hoping to get on some private land where we've been seeing tons of birds. Surprisingly, my messages were answered and we got permission on private land. Ended up with 5 birds in the public by around 4pm and a dog that couldn't go much further. Our last walk was on some private land and we watched over 100 birds land and fly and land again in the neighboring property. Long story short, we gained access to that private property as well from some of the kindest people we've ever met.
Day 4 all on the private land, we should've had our limit by noon (in a 45 minute walk) but lost a rooster and missed a couple others. Ended with 7 on that walk and finally got our 9 by about 3:30 that day.
The corn was down, the birds were plentiful and we'll surely be back!
Some YouTube action:
Day 2 brought an unexpected 2 inches of snow, which was wonderful to hunt in. Hunted hard again all day and got 6, 3 shy of our 3 man limit. But man, were we seeing some birds in the cover and driving around!
Day 3 was more of the same, except we had sent some Facebook messages to area farmers hoping to get on some private land where we've been seeing tons of birds. Surprisingly, my messages were answered and we got permission on private land. Ended up with 5 birds in the public by around 4pm and a dog that couldn't go much further. Our last walk was on some private land and we watched over 100 birds land and fly and land again in the neighboring property. Long story short, we gained access to that private property as well from some of the kindest people we've ever met.
Day 4 all on the private land, we should've had our limit by noon (in a 45 minute walk) but lost a rooster and missed a couple others. Ended with 7 on that walk and finally got our 9 by about 3:30 that day.
The corn was down, the birds were plentiful and we'll surely be back!
Some YouTube action:
