2021 RINGNECK OUTLOOK

I personally don't know how GFP does there accounting but we only hunt wild birds or we think we only hunt wild birds. I say this because we hunt mostly private land and one time we found out after the fact that another family member had put out birds for his hunters the week or two before we hunted the farm. We were told the other group didn't do so well meaning they didn't kill all the released birds. This only happened one time that we know of. Most of the private places we hunt only get hunted by our party. Not that we have a lease or anything like that, they just don't have people ask to hunt. In my opinion, there are so many places to hunt that never get hunted. It would be interesting to actually survey land owners to just see how much of the land actually gets hunted.
 
I am originally from PA now living in SC for over 30 years. Most if not all the areas I hunted pheasant in PA as a youngster are gone to development with the exception of the few Amish farms I used to hunt in Lancaster County. But many of the Amish are moving out too so I don't know anymore. I suspect SD looses huntable ground every year but no where even close to the rate of land lost on the east coast. In the 30 years I have lived in SC, some of the land I hunted when I first came to SC has been developed but by far most of the land I hunted is still huntable but I no longer have access because more and more land is being leased every year. I still rely on a good handshake, conversation, and offering a helping hand when needed.

I suspect this will be the trend in SD. Land not lost to development, but land lost because of leasing and exclusive rights. The times of making friends and being a good person was all you needed to hunt private land is slowly going by the wayside. However, there is still a lot of land out there where a handshake and a good conversation is all you need to get on a piece of private. Whether you are invited back or not is still up to you with how you treat the land and the people. Cheers!
 
Chessie 67 said:
Sometimes it takes a while for a novice to tell the difference between wild and pen raised roosters.
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The difference between a wild bird and a pen raised one is like night and day. You can walk up to a barn bird and kick it sometimes. Its like "hunting" domesticated chickens.
 
I'm no novice, and can tell the difference. I have hunted released birds in PA and in SC for reasons such as young kids and dog training, but don't go to SD to hunt them. I have been hunting birds for over 45 years including ruffed grouse, woodcock, dove, pheasant, ducks , geese, pigeon and quail. Nothing in the field gave me the impression they were released. We didn't walk up on any barn chickens and nothing in the field gave me the impression they were released. Just saying there was a chance some were released, a chance. They could have all been shot and or preyed upon. Who knows. I would suspect a barn chicken in the field for a while will start to get a little less chickeny. Never hunted a ranch where they support their hunting with released birds but I suspect by the pictures, they do acclimate to the wild somewhat. I also have never been surveyed by the GFP. If so, the average bird per hunter would definitely increase..... ha!
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Those stats the GF&P issue do NOT include birds released on preserves. The 250,000 or so pen-reared birds shot (of a 1/2 million or so released) are in ADDITION to those stats.
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Didn't know that. Knew that a half a million pen raised birds get imported to SoDak. So the GF&P numbers do not include any pay-to-play operations that are required to release one-for-one?
 
s.davis said:
Didn't know that. Knew that a half a million pen raised birds get imported to SoDak. So the GF&P numbers do not include any pay-to-play operations that are required to release one-for-one?
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No, they don't, although obviously some people are skeptics. But I got my info straight from Travis Runia, the head Upland Game Biologist. He & I chat once in awhile about various pheasant topics. He's got no reason to lie to me.
 
Been going since 2008. Always have a great time. Shoot more birds some years than others. Pretty sure they are wild pheasants but if they aren't I really don't care. I'm out there having a great time.
 
I saw seven chicks today, there might have been more but that is what I saw. We had a good dew this morning too.
 
Talked to a guy we hung on and he said he has seen some chicks. Fingers still crossed.
 
Here's what I saw as far as conditions go from a West to East trip across SD from the Black Hills area home to central MN.

Black Hills are very lush and green. The grasslands arent doing too bad. Get to Chamberlain and the crops look really good, grass is green. Get about to Plankinton and for about 80 miles, through Mitchell and Salem it looks like they need rain pretty bad. Once you get near the Sioux Falls area it greens up again pretty well. Took some back roads and looks to be the same. Saw a couple roosters but no broods.

Pray for rains, no hail come on!!
 
Just called a rancher tonight in the Lyman county area . His property has always been good pheasant hunting in past years. He says they just hayed 30 acres and he hasnt seen any young birds. Normally in the past he reported seeing lots of young ones by july 4th. Does’nt look good at all!
 
Just returned home from 3 days in South Dakota prepping the house for fall as usual. Went out looking for birds mornings & evenings. Didn't see a large volume of pheasants in any areas I covered. But the corn is up and the birds I did see were using the corn for cover as usual. Bulk of what I seen were adult roosters and very few hens. Hopefully that means they are sitting on nests right now. Only seen one brood the last day and the hen had maybe 10 chicks and they were very small. Reminded me of quail chicks with how small they were. The southeast portion of SD is extremely dry. I think they are getting some much needed rain today.....
 
The NR horde will still arrive en masse. They will be entitled to their three roosters per day and will pound what little public ground remains with huntable cover. SD is not charging nearly enough for the NR license. Look what states like IA charge to hunt their marquis species…
 
labrador said:
Look what states like IA charge to hunt their marquis species…
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If I read their IA DNR site correctly, a non-res small game ANNUAL license including Habitat is $144.

I would gladly pay SD $144 for a full season license. I usually spend way more than that on multiple 10 day licenses.
 
Iowa marquis species = deer
Colorado marquis species = elk
South Dakota = pheasants
 
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