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You keep calling it Public ground but it's Government ground and they are for sale to the highest bidder. That's not you Mr. Seasonal Hunter so you will always get the short end of the stick. You know what will never get mowed before hunting season- private preserves. I sure wish I had back my...

Nope, not CRP. It's brooding cover, predator removal and winter cover as far as bird number are concerned. Low grasses with lots of forbs is the consensus- First or second year growth of ten year CRP lease might qualify as good breeding habitat. A lot of the walk-ins are 10 acres or less are...

Wildlife doesn't suffer- they live in the shelterbelts and sloughs in the tough times. CRP is just where you find them during the day when you are out walking your dog. You can't see much of any public ground from 281 but you can see a lot of prime hay and alfalfa ground so it's not what I would...

I know that campgrounds in SD prime areas get booked up well into the season. In those cases, I recommend trying the local bar in the small towns near where you hunt and ask for a spot to park for a couple days in their back lot. You can often get access to a power outlet and use the bathrooms...

I'll do that after opener when I find out where they are again in large numbers this year. I do that every year if you look at my past posts. Exception is 2021 when I was out sick- avg non-resident bag success was down 13%- coincidence? I don't think so. Every area holds some birds year after...

Funny to me that you landed on those two spots. I scout and hunt exclusively so I get around to a lot of the east river. I turn around and head back north at about Wessington Springs to stay on the best grounds so Plankinton would be at the edge of what I would recommend. We often road hunt home...

You've got to find reliable sources on the ground for what areas had good survival rates and then accept you may need to travel when you get there to the public ground in that area. Far more important that what type of public ground you chose. Bird numbers vary greatly within 20mi due to hail...

You rang? I think this is the first day I opened up the site since covid laid me down hard and cancelled my trip last opener. What's the first thing I find but a thread that appears to be extolling my legendary reputation. And here I thought I was going to finally get the recognition I deserve...

However if you get into hilly land and big cattle operations they will have multiple sections in a single pasture and they are grazed flat for miles in every direction with a single mowed fence around them. That kind of country can stretch for many miles and that is a pheasant desert until you...

There's another good thread in this forum for a retiree that chose Chamberlain over Pierre. Housing was way higher in Pierre and you'd couldn't get anything reasonably priced anywhere near the river. Even in drought years there are always good bird numbers right up against the river. You'll find...

I may have heard of old-school, conscientious objectors to non-tox rules who used reloads in steel shot hulls.

Cattails are the premier winter shelter and the best factor for survival for any harsh winters. If the cattails are mature and tight, the birds are about the largest animal that can fit through. The snow lays on top like a teepee structure and insulates it. It can be nearly 40 degrees inside...

CREP is 10-15 year contracts so you would think those are immune to market and weather ups and downs and will get re-enrolled. Some are available to haying per contract terms at all times so it should be the same as any dry year for how they are managed. A lot of corn taken for silage is due to...

I've only ever seen 1-2 actually closed down and taken out that I can remember so that is a rare thing. Sure, it can be a judgement call at times but that really doesn't matter- I think it's a self-answering question since a good hunting road is an obvious public section line for the reasons...

I've started watching a lot of Youtube channels of midwest farmers to augment the edumacation I get during pheasant season. Watching Sonne Frames in Mt. Vernon (near Mitchell along I-90), they had carry over hay from last year. Conditions were so wet last year they put up excess hay/alfalfa in...

Some Cabelas/BassProShops advice- look in the racks off to the side of ammo where they have carboard boxes. I found full cases last year where there were none in single boxes on the shelves for many loads. Ask the floor staff (sometimes even harder to find than shells) if they will split the...

As for cover in short supply, right-of-ways (isn't that a more dignified term than ditches?) can be even better in dry, mowed years. The fence rows are still there for huntable cover but you don't have as hard a time in the really heavy jungle down in the ditch bottom to see, track and flush...

"I don't give a damn about my bad reputation." I'm a rebel in a muddy depression doing a dirty deed on a ditch parrot. I'm an upland cowboy in a free grain elevator ballcap, riding my steal horse, striking out for the backroads nobody goes down. At sunset, I run and gun until the I see the fire...

I've just looked over my google map and I've got 70 honey holes over a 100 square miles of east central SD, all of them publicly accessible for free and none of them a WPA/WIA/CREP/ETC. I've been posting towns, crossroads, gps waypoints, routes and general areas after filling out opening weekend...

Just west of Watertown used to be really good hunting but frequent flooding and more grazing vs crops seems to have reduced the bird numbers permanently since the early 2000s. I still give it a try most years and make a swing through Conde/Doland/Clark but then head back west after reminiscing...