Conditions

I am headed to the Eureka area first week of November. I know they are extremely dry. Anyone know how much rain they received?
 
I just returned from fishing in SD.

The weather has been hot and dry but some of the corn is 2 feet high and the sunflowers have a good start.

Some of the wheat wasn't making grain so they cut and baled it for hay. Other wheat has headed out and will make a crop.

We saw lots of pheasant everywhere we drove. I even saw a couple large broods of chicks I'd say over 10 which is super.

Saw several vehicle hit pheasants which is too bad but it indicated there are lots of birds in the area.
 
Duk--what part of South Dakota were you in? I've flyfished several times in the Black Hills area; good trout fishing there if weather cooperates
 
Good to know they have some birds. There is decent walleye fishing just south of Fort Thompson on the Missouri.
 
i would guess emergency haying will be allowed over all of ND and SD this summer,
going to be little left for the birds, except a few ditches that don't get cut.
forecast shows little or no rain next 10 plus hot!
 
Looked like good rains hit most of the southern and eastern parts of SD yesterday. Any ground truthers out there to confirm rain did hit the ditches?
 
It's been really spotty. One farm might get 1-2 inches and a few miles down the road they don't get a drop. Looked like we were going to get a nice rain yesterday here in Watertown and we ended up with .08". I was in southwestern Minnesota yesterday and it's been the same over there. Just can't get a good rain that covers a broad area.
 
Talked to our Farmer in NC SD and asked if they have been seeing any chicks. This farm is a working farm and 100% wild birds. It also has some of the best pheasant habitat for miles. His exact quote was “we have seen very very few chicks and we are quite concerned.“
 
Had a call last night from a farmer in NC part of the state. Has been seeing some chicks out of n the gravel in the mornings. Actually said more than he would have expected to see. He cut some wheat to make hay off of a couple weeks ago and was flushing some young ones while doing that also. My gut says it is gonna be spotty out there as some areas seemed to have had some successful nesting and other areas will be mainly older birds. Either way I will be there and it will be fun!
 
No body can write a report that will keep me from going. It could be 100% doom and gloom and I am still going. I have hunted the best years and the worst years over the last 20 years and always do just fine. Can't say that for the rest of my group. If you don't know what you are doing, don't take directions well, carry your gun like it's your lunch box, quit hunting 1/2 the way through the push or leave your post early, you probably aren't going to do well. But if you do what the guys are doing that walk out of the field with a few birds on most days, you have a chance. Dang, it's almost August so I won't be long before the excitement starts to really build.
 
The state is really playing it up that 2021 will be a fantastic pheasant season. I'm assuming this is just an attempt to keep SD as the pheasant capital and sell more licenses. Here's a link to a document they put out. https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/2021_ringneck_outlook_june_update.pdf

While I think we will have a decent season, probably similar to last year I don't see it as fantastic. We have had a lot of hot and very dry weather during the hatch and that is never good. Probably going to be spotty like our rain has been. I guess time will tell and we will move into the fall without a road survey in August.
 
i quit listening to the SDGF a while ago. a hot dry summer is not good at all. no roadside count sucks, come on Christy quit acting like a pol.
lack of insects for chick survival is critical.
most all of the CRP and ditches will be mowed and bailed long before the opener.
just going to be damn tough.
 
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