Any Pheasants in Mobridge area

T

tmoney

New member
We have a group of guys that are wanting to head to the Mobridge area to hunt pheasants near Thanksgiving. Anyone hunted this area lately? We typically hunt both the Reservation and Public, just trying to see if it is still worth the trip this year.
 
No tmoney, there was a report of 2 roosters near Mobridge but they were kilt on opening day.....just kidding as we're going to be trying it up that way in a couple weeks....I'm anxious to hear some serious replies:)
 
I have read all of the State's reports and read about the re-count that produced even lower numbers, I am interested in hearing from hunters!
 
i can tell you last year, this area was spotty at best...i limited out everyday i hunted SD, except the 2 days i hunted this area...and saw very few birds.
 
ok....I'm confused, after reading posts from last year and a few from this year and even talking to the Mobridge GFP office the birds are "spotty" at best. So why is last year's harvest report and this year's brood survey say that Walworth county is one of the better counties of the state.... I've heard it being spotty in other of the better counties also, but there have been a lot better reports from those areas vs's the Mobridge area.....doesn't that strike anyone else a little odd?
 
Tmoney--I was there last weekend. We shot 11 birds in 3.5 days with 5 guys. Comparing this to last year where we had limits in three hours or less. They are way behind on crops. Most were still on beans and we only saw one picked corn field. So it could be much better by Thanksgiving. We are returning in the middle of December. Good luck!
 
4 of us hunted all public land from I-90 up to Mobridge and bagged 39 birds in 5 days. There are birds around but u have to work for them. Day 1 - 7 roosters, day 2 - 4, day 3 - 12, day 4 - 10, day 5 - 6. Crops standing all over the place, we made our hay the hour before sunset when birds were coming out of the corn. Cover is excellent in all wia that we hunted. Unless u have crops to hunt during the middle of the day, I would suggest going into town grabbing a burger and saving your dogs legs for the mornings and late afternoon. About half of our roosters were very young.

Although we didn't get our limit, this was by far the most fun that I have had in sd. Dogs, gsp, were fantastic. Pointed 85%+ of the roosters we shot and pointed 3 or 4 hens to every rooster. Time spent with my brothers, dad and dogs in the fields of sd is priceless.

If u need a great steak after hunting u have to stop by Bob's on hw 212 near the river, u will be glad that u did.
 
Hunted with four experienced guys with good dogs this week. Very spotty at best. We got a few birds some days and no birds a few days. Great habitat, just very few birds at least on public lands.
 
Birds still in crops...

We just returned last week from a 4 day hunt just east of Mobridge and did quite well. 3 guys, 2 dogs, 32 birds. Would have limited out every day if we could shoot straight. The problem we noticed is that there are just too many escape routes into nearby fields with unharvested crop. Once the crop comes out, there will be birds aplenty.

On our last day, we harvested 6 birds in the first 30 minutes and I nailed my first ever triple to seal the deal about an hour after that... We were hunting next to a field that had just been harvested the day before (as we had noted to come back to when we saw that). In a low lying hole our two GSPs started getting quite birdy and after the first hen flushed so were we. Once they locked up as we were circling the hole, we knew that there were going to be more birds coming soon. Just as we told Chopper and Remington to "get 'em", up spooked two roosters, I was the closest one and was fortunate to be able to knock both of them down pretty hard. The third and fourth roosters got up as I was shooting the other two so they were getting out there a bit, I surprised myself when I realized I still had one shell left, so I picked the one on the right, and tried to lead him a little bit to make sure to get him and was able to knock him down too. However, I noticed that he didn't crumple like the other two but offered up his "Mayday, mayday, I'm going down..." tilting back and forth maneuver showing me that I had just winged him. I sprinted towards where he had landed as the dogs were busy with the other two roosters and as I arrived he tried to fly again, but couldn't so he chose to play cat and mouse in the deep stuff. He evaded us for a good thirty minutes in cover that was only about a 40 yards by 50 yards oval. The dogs were catching scent everywhere but couldn't track him down. This guy was good and was back tracking trails and running like crazy. We had basically given up and were walking back around towards our truck when Chopper started getting birdy yet again where we had entered the hole. As I approached and told him to "Get 'em" again, the wounded one tried to fly again, but couldn't and was soon within Chopper's grasp! Way to go Chop Chop!!!

Hunting with dogs is the best, we couldn't have done as well as we did without them... Compared to last year when a lot more crops were harvested, the birds appear to be down, but once everything is out, y'all will see plenty of birds!

Colorado Steve
 
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