2017 South Dakota Resident Only Pheasant Opener Weekend

They do get a little thin around the eyes, and nose, from busting through that thick stuff......

Have to keep an eye on them, put ointment on if needed. Tough on paws also.......
 
All their hair is gone around their eyes and their nose gets beat up. Does the hair on labs help protect them better?

With mine it has a lot to do with coat and age. My four older dogs didn't lose much hair. The younger one (17 months) didn't really have a thick coat yet and she did lose a lot of hair under her eyes. She got a little scraped up and had minor skin scratches. She's a true hard worker so I'm going to do the vaseline trick this year on her.


 
Must be a Lab thing...my Golden loves the thickets esp cattails and doesn't have eye issues, except when "porky" strikes. Perhaps the longer hair makes a difference?
 
My group has been really lucky so far (taps on wooden forehead); no porky strikes as yet.

Can't say the same about skunks though.

As for the youngster, I think she just has had a light coat. Very thin hair when young, thickening up a bit now that she's 2 1/2 but not as thick as my other three. Maybe never will be. The other three sometimes get raw noses but this is my first dog that wore through the skin under the eyes.
 
Report from down under. First frost this morning with thin ice in fields. My young lab flushed 2 roosters out of a small swath of unmowed CRP and though they had half plumage they cackled like they owned life! gotta love it!
 
The term whiner's weekend is out of line & unnecessary.

We will be out to sample the Phez hunting this year & hopefully find a few. Enjoy the scenery & especially the folks out there We've met & come to know.
 
I'm pumped! My seven month old lab worked her heart out and finally flushed a rooster that was holding tight in some thick CRP. Yes I made a one shot harvest after 3 hours of just me and the pup hunting hard.!It was her first rooster and she went crazy but couldn't pick it up to retrieve since she is small and hadn't encountered this area yet.. Our Vet calls her the Runt...but her drive makes up for her small size. Can you tell she is a keeper! I'm keeping her puppy year fun and special. Special day for me. Hope it was for you too.
 
Tally..Hunted 3 hours and saw 7 pheasants total. Was exactly what I saw preseason in these small CRP strips. Day was 55 degrees and misting rain.
 
Saw about 30 birds had lots of good dog work even tho the older birds were very skitish. Two of us got 3 birds. I also was up all nite with bad leg cramps from walking the wet ground. Head cold too from being wet. Trying to recover for evening hunt.
 
Saw about 30 birds had lots of good dog work even tho the older birds were very skitish. Two of us got 3 birds. I also was up all nite with bad leg cramps from walking the wet ground. Head cold too from being wet. Trying to recover for evening hunt.

Drink a glass of tonic water cramps will go away in 5 min.I always being
Some with me
 
My little girl, little dog, & I hunted about the last 2.5 hours of the day today in east central SD. CREP next to vast oceans of unharvested corn. Flushed about 10 birds. Only one identifiable rooster in range that I capitalized on & Buzz made his typical great retrieve. 3 hunters/groups on nearby land also got a little shooting. I suspect most of the birds didn't leave the corn until after sunset. Gorgeous, fun late afternoon.
 
I understand residents liking a resident only season before the general opening. North Dakota does kind of the same thing. The problem is that it sets the stage for others to follow the same example. For instance, there are a lot of Elk hunters from the Dakota's who hunt Elk in Wyoming, which is right next door. I wonder how they would feel if they were told they couldn't hunt the first 5 days, even though they had a legal license they paid a ton of money for? Everyone knows the "opening" week is frequently considered the best chance at yet to be educated animals. I would love it if I didn't have to compete with non resident's for the first week of Elk season. Tell me how is this fair?
 
Last time I checked the regs on elk in Wyoming, they had a limit on how many non residents could hunt elk. Where as SD lets an unlimited number of non residents hunt pheasants. Thus making your comparing big game to small game fairly pointless. By all means if you want your own weekend for pheasants out there you should have it. Otherwise stop comparing two very different things.
 
BigRand,
It really isn't different at all. South Dakota's big draw is game birds. Wyoming's big draw is Deer, Elk and Antelope. I know many SD hunters come to Wyoming to hunt Elk because they can't get a license for Elk in South Dakota. Each state has it's own featured opportunities to offer. The trouble is, that once a person get's a license...be it limited quota or over the counter...if the best days for them to hunt are taken away and given only to resident's it's not really fair. Wyoming resident's would love it if they didn't have to compete with lot's of non resident hunters for the first few days. The point being that they do put up with them. Yet when the shoe is on the other foot Wyoming resident's are told they can't hunt the best days in South Dakota, yet South Dakotan's are given the same access to game they have a legal license to as any Wyoming resident. That is the part that doesn't seem fair. Saying that pheasant's don't compare to elk isn't the point because in both cases the hunter has a license. I promise you if you told S.D. hunters coming to Wyoming they couldn't hunt the first 5 days of the season they would be saying it isn't fair. The point is the resident only thing is a bad precedent to set and would hurt S.D. hunters if other states--like Wyoming--followed suit.
 
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For Wyoming to follow suit they would have to make the amount of licenses equal amongst all residents and non residents. You're already limiting having to compete with non residents by not allowing all of them in to hunt. I'll gladly trade my three days of pheasants in resident only and come hunt elk and deer with the same chance at a license as you do. So it being a limited draw vs over the counter does, and should, come into effect.
 
Look at it like this. A perk of living in Wyoming is that you get a better chance and odds at getting a limited draw license. Therefore you have a better chance of getting a deer or elk simply by living there and having better odds to get a tag. We don't have limited small game licenses in South Dakota. So our perk of living here is we get three days to hunt before non residents do. How would you feel if there was a lottery for hunting pheasants and no resident season. It would be disappointing to not get to go any year you wish. Just as it is for the Wyoming non residents that don't get to hunt deer or elk in the unit they want every year. Or even in the state for that matter.
 
BigRand,
I know we probably won't agree on this point and that's ok. The fact is that in many cases, non resident's have a better chance to draw certain big game tags in Wyoming than a resident does. Regardless, the entire reason that S.D. has a resident only season is because S.D. resident's want a time frame when they don't have to compete with a bunch of out of stater's. On the other hand, Wyoming resident's don't get a time frame when they don't have to compete with South Dakotan's--or other non resident's. Wyoming gives equal access to all who have a license. Now I understand if you don't hunt big game this wouldn't matter to you. But plenty of South Dakotan's do hunt big game in Wyoming. If Wyoming told S.D. hunters who have a Wyoming license that they can't hunt the first (and best) few days of the season they would say it isn't fair. They would say "I paid my money and I should have equal access." This has been a topic of discussion among the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. However, they've decided that it wouldn't be fair to penalize non resident hunters who have a license. Hence, I regard these "resident only" season's as unequal treatment that set's up a potential slippery slope. That was my point.
 
Each state controls their game as seen fit, if you do not like their rules hunt another state. I come from TX to hunt pheasants and have no problems with locals getting to hunt first. Their taxes assist in the cost of these public hunting lands as well as a hunting license. Stay in Wyoming and hnt pheasants if you do not like SD rules and regs, that simple.
 
BigRand,
I know we probably won't agree on this point and that's ok. The fact is that in many cases, non resident's have a better chance to draw certain big game tags in Wyoming than a resident does. Regardless, the entire reason that S.D. has a resident only season is because S.D. resident's want a time frame when they don't have to compete with a bunch of out of stater's. On the other hand, Wyoming resident's don't get a time frame when they don't have to compete with South Dakotan's--or other non resident's. Wyoming gives equal access to all who have a license. Now I understand if you don't hunt big game this wouldn't matter to you. But plenty of South Dakotan's do hunt big game in Wyoming. If Wyoming told S.D. hunters who have a Wyoming license that they can't hunt the first (and best) few days of the season they would say it isn't fair. They would say "I paid my money and I should have equal access." This has been a topic of discussion among the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. However, they've decided that it wouldn't be fair to penalize non resident hunters who have a license. Hence, I regard these "resident only" season's as unequal treatment that set's up a potential slippery slope. That was my point.

I find it ironic that someone from Wyoming is complaining about the South Dakota Resident weekend, The fact that Wyoming state law requires that non residents hire a Wyoming guide to hunt in Federal owned wilderness areas is downright criminal. So I pay 10 times the rate that a resident does for a liscence and then I have to hire guide to hunt public land.

That's my land as much as it's your's. It's Federally owned after all. Hell South Dakota actually prohibits guides from guiding on Federal or state owned land. I honestly don't know how Wyoming gets away with the BS regulation.
 
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