Another first timer to SD Post

Bob Peters said:
If you can ever make it up to the hi-line near the north canadian(I think it's called), track down a guy named goosemaster. If he likes you he might show you some of the secrets he's learned about gunning John ringneck with lighter loads in a 28 gauge, and take you out with his new lab puppy, Mr. Jones.
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To be honest,I have not figured out the 28 guage. I love the weight and feel.
 
Goosemaster said:
You can buy magnums for 12 dollars a box. Enough said. High brass 1 1/4.
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I cannot find them for 12. Most of my 1 1/4 lead shells were $18-25 per box. 5-6-7.5 shot. i shoot mostly 6 and 7.5 for my PA flare nares but will use all 5s when in SD.
 
Chessie 67 said:
So get that chamber bored out to 3” and buy some $25-$30/box 28 gauge magnums and put some more pellets in the air . Winchester is making an 1 1/8 ounce load in # 5 that might do you good.
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I have been shooting 3 inch shells.28 guage os pretty light killing power.
 
Dang, is November ever gonna get here? Win 101 PG 20-ga, ounce of Fiocchi GP 5's.
I bought a flat of 1-1/4 oz GP 4's several years ago but have never felt the need for them.

 
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I would like to thank all who have advised me on my trip. I have always wanted to hunt SD especially after watching my first Sage video a few years back. TY Golden Hour and A5 for making videos that I actually like to watch.


Trip Report

Day 1: Wild birds kicked my Lab’s ass. Also, local hunters always wanted to move too fast. Driving birds to blockers and such. I shot poorly but got my limit. Most birds were more crossing shots and not flush away, so was not used to that. We started on a piece of public and only flushed a few birds. The private that we hunted next had a lot of birds. Flushed more than 100 birds. Total bagged was a 15 bird 5 man limit. One of the 15 was a released bird.

Day 2: Very warm. Was able to scratch out a rooster on public. I moved between a few different public. Thanks to the GFP officer who advised what public to hunt. Missed a bunch of roosters on private. I hunted mostly by myself and enjoyed it. My dog did not like the heat.

Day 3: Also very warm. Another day of missing. Seems like the dog was just starting to get the hang of these wild birds. But some were still laughing at us. Did not hunt the evening.

Day 4. Better weather but still a little warm. Hunted public and my dog was able to finally track down and flush a long running rooster. My dog was having a better time finding and tracking birds. She was especially good in the cattails.

Day 5. Awesome weather. Dog is exhausted but still very eager. I almost got a 3 bird 3 shot limit on public in the first hour. But each bird flushed after the second rooster was a hen. Moved to private where I was able to complete the limit after a few missed. Day 5 was awesome and made me fall in love with South Dakota. Hopefully, I will be able to go back again.


What I learned:

Wild birds flush faster, fly faster and are tougher to kill. Bird numbers on public were good but private was phenomenal. Hunting pressure on public was there but was manageable.

Kent Fasteel(3 in #4) performed very well. 5 out of 6. I think that if I was using steel on private I would have had limited every day.

My lead (Win 11/4 oz #5) performed poorly. I know when I shoot and I am off, but multiple times I was on and the bird did not fall. I did see feathers or a wavering bird on some of these shots. I was off a lot though. I did not pattern this load as I have never had issue with lead shells. I do not shoot #5 in PA. If I shot better, limits on private were within my reach every day.

If I come back, I would definitely use #4 lead but will probably buy bismuth. In PA (released birds) I shoot 7.5 (1st shot) and 6 shot (golden pheasant). Shots are usually closer and birds easier to drop. The 7.5 performance is amazing.

The cover that I hunted was much thicker than I had thought it would be. Some of the grass was DENSE and difficult for me and my dog. My dog definately preferred cattails then some of the grass. I did not get that from the GH and A5 videos.

Private was much better than public. Public can be great but does require scouting. I found one WPA adj to corn cutting. I could notice birds flying from the corn into WPA cover. A lot of cackling also. I could not get over to that section as the pond was a lot bigger than the maps had shown.

About half of my private birds were full of beans. Most of my private was planted in beans this year. There was some adjacent fresh cut corn at one private.

While the birds kicked my dogs ass at the beginning, by day 5 she became a much better pheasant dog. I should have no problem with my PA flare nares this year. Today was opening day, I was able to quickly get my 2 bird limit, and my dog then also caught 2 other cripples.
 
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robjak said:
Day 5 was awesome and made me fall in love with South Dakota. Hopefully, I will be able to go back again.
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Excellent report! Thanks! Sounds like you had a tiring trip, but more importantly fun!! & a learning experience! When you're somewhat successful on SD public land, even early in the season, you can be proud. Those are the smartest, toughest, wildest roosters on the planet. Truly wild, like 100 generations before them. They spend every waking hour of their lives, beginning the second they hatch, trying to not die. Then October comes, & those spots get hunted multiple times every single day for a few weeks. Great job. I love hearing stories like yours!
 
robjak said:
Day 3: Also very warm. Another day of missing. Seems like the dog was just starting to get the hang of these wild birds. But some were still laughing at us. Did not hunt the evening.
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One tip I'd give you for wild birds, is to always hunt the evening. Especially if it's warm. You're typically far more successful in that last hour of the day than you are hunting for 3 or 4 hours of a hot afternoon.

It was warm when I went out here in MN a couple weeks ago, I sat out the middle of the afternoon, and then hit it hard for the last 2-1.5 hours on a big piece of land and picked up my limit on that walk.

Not saying you can't shoot birds on a hot afternoon, I just find I'm more successful in that last hour to two hours of the day. I always say, if I can only Pheasant hunt one hour of the day, it would be the last hour.
 
I agree with Munster. The last hour or two is generally going to increase your odds of success and when its warm out, avoiding the hottest time of day would be a good idea too.

I hunt late season and generally speaking the temps are not an issue then but if I had a choice I'd still pick the time period before sunset to hunt.
 
Munster927 said:
One tip I'd give you for wild birds, is to always hunt the evening. Especially if it's warm. You're typically far more successful in that last hour of the day than you are hunting for 3 or 4 hours of a hot afternoon.
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Evenings, except for the opener, were not as good as 1100-1300. I hunted 4 evenings. I hunted 1000-1330 every day.
 
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