Miforester
Well-known member
Just returned from my second trip to SD, this one was with my son and his buddy. We hunted 12/16-12/20, our base of operations is in Redfield at an Airbnb that is dog friendly and a great place to stay, then we hunt a 2 hr radius. We had a successful trip bagging 32 birds, this includes 5 winged but not found, dog work was very good and weather was well South Dakota in December.
Day One (12/16)
We got off to a late start as after we got into our house we stayed up until 1am watching our hunting videos from the prior year. Temps were relatively mild, but the winds were rocking. We started at a WMA, dogs were working the grass well and Remi snapped to a point and a rooster flushed back towards us and flew right over my head, think high house station 8 skeet shot, I missed and my sons buddy missed too, not a good start. We separated a bit and my son winged a bird in the cattails and after a long search we were not able to recover the bird, they also missed another rooster. Our next site started by walking a good ditch to the WPA, several birds flush ahead out of the ditch. We got into the WPA and worked the Tree lines and sawgrass, birds were very skittish and flushing out of gun range. Hunted a very nice shelterbelt and roughly 30 birds were in there. Thought we would get a couple but the birds were smarter then us. We did manage to kill 2 and the dogs made nice finds and points. We missed alot of birds on this property and could have limited if our shooting was better. On our walk back to the truck along the ditch, Remi went on point and my sons buddy was able bag that bird.
Day Two (12/17)
We started at a WPA that historically has been productive but during the year it was hayed and grazed, we hunted what we could then walked the ditch back. Bella went on point and we missed the rooster and a few minutes later Remi went on point and my son was able to connect. We next hunted a CREP and my son was able to connect off a Remi point and Bella made a nice find on the winged bird. We really struggled to find birds on the second day and only managed 2 birds and had one lost bird.
Day Three (12/18)
We decided to give the dogs a little break and primarily hunt road ditches. We started at what we call the "Limiter" we also split up taking different ditches. My son and his buddy bagged a rooster and missed one over Remi points and I missed one over Bella. We went to another productive ditch and my son and I were able to down 2 roosters that flushed off a point by Bella and a backing by Remi, the pups also made a good find on one of the roosters that was winged. We hunted a small cattail CREP and my son killed 2 roosters that the dogs put up in front of him and his buddy and I walked the ditch and Remi put a rooster up that his buddy was able to nail. We hunted another small CREP with cattails and my son followed some tracks that lead to a rooster which he bagged. The final bird came off a ditch the boys heard the bird cackling as they were walking. No dogs were hunting with them, the bird flushed and my son knocked it down and then the bird took off running down the picked corn rows. I drove up quickly and got the dogs out to try and retrieve, glad to say Bella was able to track the bird down in the picked corn, i'm guessing she chased it for close to a half mile to the fence line. We ended the day with 8 birds.
Day Four (12/19)
This day was predicted to be high winds and it didn't disappoint. Wind's were sustained 35 with gust to 45/50. High temp was at 8am falling all day. We wimped out and watch our hunting videos until about 230. We ended up walking a very nice ditch and did manage to harvest 3 roosters off the ditch over a 3 mile stretch. It was wicked cold and the dogs did a nice job.
Day Five (12/20)
Day started off cold single digits but virtually no wind. We decided to go back the WPA we hunted on Monday and we split up I took Remi and the boys had Bella. I worked the north half along picked corn. Didn't take long for birds to start flushing wild way out of range, I thought we would have tight holding birds with the cold temps, seeing these flushing birds made me question that hope. Progressed down the field and Remi started getting birdy and moved across a small drainage ditch and as she came out the other side a rooster flushed, after my missed shot another rooster flushed with a crossing shot and I connected. Remi made a nice find still not retrieving. We as I was ringing the next about a half dozen birds flushed just ahead of us. We continued and worked a dry lakebed, not sure of the grass, but it the blade is like a cattail blade but shorter and folds over for nice cover. Remi went on point and as I got close she broke searching for the bird, the rooster flushed and I connected with him, she again mad a nice find. I texted the boys I had two as we were party hunting. We continued east and again Remi became birdy and was tracking back towards me a rooster came out of the fence line, I dumped him and then had to follow up with another shot as he was running in the corn and I connected. I updated my text to 3, Remi and I reached the boundary and we turned and started hunting back to the west focusing on the saw/switchgrass. It wasn't long and Remi became birdy, she was tracking when another rooster flushed cackling at me, I silenced him pretty quickly. I updated the boys I had for and I started to work more towards them. I meet up with them and they had 2 off points by Bella. We hunted back to the truck to drop off birds. We made a game plan to hunt the drainage then bisected this property. I will keep it short, we managed to get our three birds in about 40 minutes, both Bella and Remi were responsible for the birds flushing and they made two good finds on winged birds. My son buddy was struggling with hitting birds, only second year pheasant hunting, but he bagged two of our final 3 birds. We had our limit in just over 2 hours of hunting this area. Our shooting was great as we only missed one rooster, no lost birds and the dogs did a outstanding job to the point that Bella found us a bonus winged bird on our way back to the truck. Not sure if it was legal or not but I put it in my vest and we ended with 10 birds for the day.
We ended our hunt on such a high note we bought some adult beverages to celebrate and were able to pack the truck in the daylight. The past two years we have needed our hunt with a 3 man limit, however, never in such a short amount of time. We had all 9 birds on video, both my son and I were wearing gopros and this year I bought two Anker charging packs to use instead of camera batteries and that worked extremely well. I put the pack in my game bag and ran the cord up the backside of my strap vest. I did have to drill a hole in the plastic camera case. The best part is once we started to hunt I just turned the camera on and I never touched the camera until we were done hunting, when it hit the time limit 12 or 17 minutes it stopped then started right up. I would highly recommend this system for anyone running cameras especially in cold weather. I charged the pack before we left home and the cameras only used a quarter of the battery capacity. Working on editing the videos will try and post some when I get them done.
Wishing all you pheasant hunting junkies a joyous and safe holiday season!
Miforester
Day One (12/16)
We got off to a late start as after we got into our house we stayed up until 1am watching our hunting videos from the prior year. Temps were relatively mild, but the winds were rocking. We started at a WMA, dogs were working the grass well and Remi snapped to a point and a rooster flushed back towards us and flew right over my head, think high house station 8 skeet shot, I missed and my sons buddy missed too, not a good start. We separated a bit and my son winged a bird in the cattails and after a long search we were not able to recover the bird, they also missed another rooster. Our next site started by walking a good ditch to the WPA, several birds flush ahead out of the ditch. We got into the WPA and worked the Tree lines and sawgrass, birds were very skittish and flushing out of gun range. Hunted a very nice shelterbelt and roughly 30 birds were in there. Thought we would get a couple but the birds were smarter then us. We did manage to kill 2 and the dogs made nice finds and points. We missed alot of birds on this property and could have limited if our shooting was better. On our walk back to the truck along the ditch, Remi went on point and my sons buddy was able bag that bird.
Day Two (12/17)
We started at a WPA that historically has been productive but during the year it was hayed and grazed, we hunted what we could then walked the ditch back. Bella went on point and we missed the rooster and a few minutes later Remi went on point and my son was able to connect. We next hunted a CREP and my son was able to connect off a Remi point and Bella made a nice find on the winged bird. We really struggled to find birds on the second day and only managed 2 birds and had one lost bird.
Day Three (12/18)
We decided to give the dogs a little break and primarily hunt road ditches. We started at what we call the "Limiter" we also split up taking different ditches. My son and his buddy bagged a rooster and missed one over Remi points and I missed one over Bella. We went to another productive ditch and my son and I were able to down 2 roosters that flushed off a point by Bella and a backing by Remi, the pups also made a good find on one of the roosters that was winged. We hunted a small cattail CREP and my son killed 2 roosters that the dogs put up in front of him and his buddy and I walked the ditch and Remi put a rooster up that his buddy was able to nail. We hunted another small CREP with cattails and my son followed some tracks that lead to a rooster which he bagged. The final bird came off a ditch the boys heard the bird cackling as they were walking. No dogs were hunting with them, the bird flushed and my son knocked it down and then the bird took off running down the picked corn rows. I drove up quickly and got the dogs out to try and retrieve, glad to say Bella was able to track the bird down in the picked corn, i'm guessing she chased it for close to a half mile to the fence line. We ended the day with 8 birds.
Day Four (12/19)
This day was predicted to be high winds and it didn't disappoint. Wind's were sustained 35 with gust to 45/50. High temp was at 8am falling all day. We wimped out and watch our hunting videos until about 230. We ended up walking a very nice ditch and did manage to harvest 3 roosters off the ditch over a 3 mile stretch. It was wicked cold and the dogs did a nice job.
Day Five (12/20)
Day started off cold single digits but virtually no wind. We decided to go back the WPA we hunted on Monday and we split up I took Remi and the boys had Bella. I worked the north half along picked corn. Didn't take long for birds to start flushing wild way out of range, I thought we would have tight holding birds with the cold temps, seeing these flushing birds made me question that hope. Progressed down the field and Remi started getting birdy and moved across a small drainage ditch and as she came out the other side a rooster flushed, after my missed shot another rooster flushed with a crossing shot and I connected. Remi made a nice find still not retrieving. We as I was ringing the next about a half dozen birds flushed just ahead of us. We continued and worked a dry lakebed, not sure of the grass, but it the blade is like a cattail blade but shorter and folds over for nice cover. Remi went on point and as I got close she broke searching for the bird, the rooster flushed and I connected with him, she again mad a nice find. I texted the boys I had two as we were party hunting. We continued east and again Remi became birdy and was tracking back towards me a rooster came out of the fence line, I dumped him and then had to follow up with another shot as he was running in the corn and I connected. I updated my text to 3, Remi and I reached the boundary and we turned and started hunting back to the west focusing on the saw/switchgrass. It wasn't long and Remi became birdy, she was tracking when another rooster flushed cackling at me, I silenced him pretty quickly. I updated the boys I had for and I started to work more towards them. I meet up with them and they had 2 off points by Bella. We hunted back to the truck to drop off birds. We made a game plan to hunt the drainage then bisected this property. I will keep it short, we managed to get our three birds in about 40 minutes, both Bella and Remi were responsible for the birds flushing and they made two good finds on winged birds. My son buddy was struggling with hitting birds, only second year pheasant hunting, but he bagged two of our final 3 birds. We had our limit in just over 2 hours of hunting this area. Our shooting was great as we only missed one rooster, no lost birds and the dogs did a outstanding job to the point that Bella found us a bonus winged bird on our way back to the truck. Not sure if it was legal or not but I put it in my vest and we ended with 10 birds for the day.
We ended our hunt on such a high note we bought some adult beverages to celebrate and were able to pack the truck in the daylight. The past two years we have needed our hunt with a 3 man limit, however, never in such a short amount of time. We had all 9 birds on video, both my son and I were wearing gopros and this year I bought two Anker charging packs to use instead of camera batteries and that worked extremely well. I put the pack in my game bag and ran the cord up the backside of my strap vest. I did have to drill a hole in the plastic camera case. The best part is once we started to hunt I just turned the camera on and I never touched the camera until we were done hunting, when it hit the time limit 12 or 17 minutes it stopped then started right up. I would highly recommend this system for anyone running cameras especially in cold weather. I charged the pack before we left home and the cameras only used a quarter of the battery capacity. Working on editing the videos will try and post some when I get them done.
Wishing all you pheasant hunting junkies a joyous and safe holiday season!
Miforester