Family Hunt not Guided

M

mkelley4

New member
4 of us are headed out to South Dakota Sioux falls area for the first week pf Pheasant season. We are coming from Michigan and have only done a little Pheasant hunting. We are not going guided or with a dog.

Just looking from some tips and tricks, i know its best to go slow and stop once in awhile. I also heard sticking to some small lots is good as well.

How crowded does it get there?
Do we have a chance to get a few birds?

Thanks
 
get a public lands map book, or look at it online. I suggest finding CREP land...within 40 miles of SF...you can't hunt til noon, leave early and scout, and get your piece locked down by about ten am...go to an area that has many pieces within 10-20 miles...if it were me, I would wait a few weeks, as the crops will be out and the crowds may be less and you can hunt at ten am...
 
Where is a good place to get paper maps? I am having a hard time finding some that show the different public lands for pheasant. Thanks
 
https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/ColorAltas2018.pdf
Most places that sell licenses/gear will have these in paper version for no charge.
Get yourself at least 45 minutes from Sioux Falls. Northwest & west. Do what B-B says above. And hunt edges of cover, preferably next to picked crops (see B-B's suggestion to possibly wait a couple weeks). And you could split up & hunt ditches (know the laws).
https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/2018HuntingHandbook.pdf (paper also available where you buy a license)
Try to hunt an area different than you think most other people probably hunted it. Example: Park somewhere else & hunt TOWARD the normal parking area. In this part of the state & w/ no dog, don't expect to see what you see on TV & Youtube. But you should have some opportunity. On public land, one good dog would increase your bag at least 5x.
 
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Look for a guide in the area...hunting without a dog is going to be very rough, you could have roosters running in front of you and never know it. Paying for at least one day of guided hunting will make the trip worth it.
 
Yes, for a group who's "only done a little pheasant hunting", I'll be optimistic & say WHEN you knock a bird down, the closest person is going to have to be on that spot immediately, even if it appeared to get hit real hard. At least one person has to stand put & not take eyes off the drop area. Focus on a particularly tall weed, or something that identifies the exact spot you think that bird fell. And then when the first person gets to that exact spot, hang an orange hat on a weed, cattail, or something so you know where the search began. And as hard as it may be to hold back, if you don't have a dog & are lucky enough to flush multiple birds at once......only shoot one. A bird in the bag is worth more than 2 cripples in the weeds. As a VERY experienced pheasant hunter, before I had a dog, I lost "dead" birds in areas you'd SWEAR would be impossible to lose them. Their will to escape & survive is unbelievable & it only takes them about 2 breaths of air & 1 unbroken bone to make themselves invisible. I've had a couple guys act offended by my "deader is better" signature. But I stand by it. A rooster can't be too dead.
 
Dont wear your self out hunting the mornings. Save some energy for 3:30 pm to sunset.. Scout from sunset till dark for an indication of whats there.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Yes, for a group who's "only done a little pheasant hunting", I'll be optimistic & say WHEN you knock a bird down, the closest person is going to have to be on that spot immediately, even if it appeared to get hit real hard. At least one person has to stand put & not take eyes off the drop area. Focus on a particularly tall weed, or something that identifies the exact spot you think that bird fell. And then when the first person gets to that exact spot, hang an orange hat on a weed, cattail, or something so you know where the search began. And as hard as it may be to hold back, if you don't have a dog & are lucky enough to flush multiple birds at once......only shoot one. A bird in the bag is worth more than 2 cripples in the weeds. As a VERY experienced pheasant hunter, before I had a dog, I lost "dead" birds in areas you'd SWEAR would be impossible to lose them. Their will to escape & survive is unbelievable & it only takes them about 2 breaths of air & 1 unbroken bone to make themselves invisible. I've had a couple guys act offended by my "deader is better" signature. But I stand by it. A rooster can't be too dead.
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also, from where you THINK you marked the bird down. it is almost always 5-10 steps further......as said, hang a hat and start walking in every widening circles in your search.

my favorite saying......."you have to hate yourself to hunt without a dog".
 
I can't agree more with what everyone has said. I think you can have success hunting without a dog, but your success with a dog goes up by 1000%. I also think that hiring a guide for at least one day would make your trip well worth it. I have paid $150-200/gun/day and have felt that it was well worth it.
 
I would never go without a dog.... never. It's just not fair to the game or to yourself. One year I was without a dog and considered not going. That was hard to swallow so I asked by best friend to take his bird dog. This dog grew up with me and had been to SD pheasant hunting with us before, so she knew the game and she was obedient to me. First, I don't know if I could ever let anyone take my dog to SD pheasant hunting. It is tuff on a dog, I have never came away from a week in SD where my dog was not laid open from a wire, impalled with a stick or skinned by a fence, or sprayed by a skunk. Not to mention by the end of day three, the areas around their eyes and nose are a complete bloody mess. You have to be prepared. I would almost go as far to say I don't even like hunting without my dog or another dog i am handling working in front of me. Unless you are a blocker, the chances of a bird getting up in front of you without a dog working in front of you is very very slim. If I am hunting without a dog and I'm a walker, I am as close to the working dog as possible. Just as in TOP GUN, Don't ever ever leave your wing man. In SD, don't ever ever leave your dog. And don't every stop hunting until your dog is in the kennel.

It is unfair to you and to the game to go without a dog.

First to the game: If you happen to jump one and knock it down, good luck finding it unless you outright killed it and it happened to land on the road. Even with a dog, unless you are an experience hunter and your dog is experienced at finding dead or wounded birds, it is sometimes extremely difficult to find a downed bird. I would say your chances on finding a downed bird without a dog is 10% or less! Don't do it.

Second to you: It's not fair to you to drive and spend all that money to go and shoot birds you have very little probability of finding. It hurts bad to lose a bird. If you are a turkey hunter, then you know how it feels. My only goal for turkey season every spring is to NOT shoot and miss a turkey. Or worse yet wound a turkey. Likewise for my annual pheasant hunt. These are my goals pheasant hunting. In this order. 1. Come home safe. 2. Bring my dog home safe. 3. Don't loose and downed birds. That's it. Me and my dogs have always made it home safe, but I have never returned home without losing a bird. We have at least two seasoned, well trained dogs every year. It is amazing some of the finds they make and how few birds we would have without the dogs.

Bottom line in my opinion. Go and pay for a guide with a dog for as long as you can afford it. On the last day before you leave, take that last afternoon or morning and go to the best piece of ground you saw all week and go hunt it without a dog. Report back on your experience. Guaranteed you will never go without a dog or without enough money in your pocket to hire a guide with a dog.

Good luck, John
 
+1, agree 1000% percent.
sjohn said:
I would never go without a dog.... never. It's just not fair to the game or to yourself. One year I was without a dog and considered not going. That was hard to swallow so I asked by best friend to take his bird dog. This dog grew up with me and had been to SD pheasant hunting with us before, so she knew the game and she was obedient to me. First, I don't know if I could ever let anyone take my dog to SD pheasant hunting. It is tuff on a dog, I have never came away from a week in SD where my dog was not laid open from a wire, impalled with a stick or skinned by a fence, or sprayed by a skunk. Not to mention by the end of day three, the areas around their eyes and nose are a complete bloody mess. You have to be prepared. I would almost go as far to say I don't even like hunting without my dog or another dog i am handling working in front of me. Unless you are a blocker, the chances of a bird getting up in front of you without a dog working in front of you is very very slim. If I am hunting without a dog and I'm a walker, I am as close to the working dog as possible. Just as in TOP GUN, Don't ever ever leave your wing man. In SD, don't ever ever leave your dog. And don't every stop hunting until your dog is in the kennel.

It is unfair to you and to the game to go without a dog.

First to the game: If you happen to jump one and knock it down, good luck finding it unless you outright killed it and it happened to land on the road. Even with a dog, unless you are an experience hunter and your dog is experienced at finding dead or wounded birds, it is sometimes extremely difficult to find a downed bird. I would say your chances on finding a downed bird without a dog is 10% or less! Don't do it.

Second to you: It's not fair to you to drive and spend all that money to go and shoot birds you have very little probability of finding. It hurts bad to lose a bird. If you are a turkey hunter, then you know how it feels. My only goal for turkey season every spring is to NOT shoot and miss a turkey. Or worse yet wound a turkey. Likewise for my annual pheasant hunt. These are my goals pheasant hunting. In this order. 1. Come home safe. 2. Bring my dog home safe. 3. Don't loose and downed birds. That's it. Me and my dogs have always made it home safe, but I have never returned home without losing a bird. We have at least two seasoned, well trained dogs every year. It is amazing some of the finds they make and how few birds we would have without the dogs.

Bottom line in my opinion. Go and pay for a guide with a dog for as long as you can afford it. On the last day before you leave, take that last afternoon or morning and go to the best piece of ground you saw all week and go hunt it without a dog. Report back on your experience. Guaranteed you will never go without a dog or without enough money in your pocket to hire a guide with a dog.

Good luck, John
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I 100% Disagree with the comment you need a dog. I have a good time hunting with or without a dog. Yes I would prefer to have a dog when hunting, but I would NEVER tell someone to not hunt because they don't have access to or own a dog! You Just need to hunt differently. Hunt smaller areas of Cover. Try to find strips of cover that aren't too wide. Stop more frequently while hunting.
 
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I can see your point, especially living in central ND like you do. However, I drive 1300 miles to get to SD to hunt pheasant. Well, I drive 1300 miles to work my dog on pheasant in the most beautiful land there is. Pretty much it is all about the dog work anymore. So, no I won't ever go without a dog to work.

You bring up good points about hunting small spots and strips etc. If you are forced to hunt public. Good luck with that. The small strips, plots, etc are never small and if they are, everyone hunts them for that reason. I have had more success hunting much bigger public areas compared to these never really small... smaller areas. You are left hunting road ditches. Which is not a bad strategy. But I wouldn't drive even from Michigan just to hunt road ditches.

If I were to go without a dog and had limited experience, I would try to get permission on private land very close around a farm house or complex. Explain to the farmer you don't have any dogs and limited experience so you were looking for some very small spots to hunt. They may just let you hit their 1/4 ac spot behind the barn. You need to be looking for uneducated birds. Birds living near and around farms that don't get bothered. They are the birds that won't run when you slow down to make sure the public land you wanted to hunt is still 1 mile ahead of you on the right. They are the birds that just may hold and flush opportunistically. But to say you have an honest chance at educated birds on public land with limited experience is IMO very dishonest. Those with a lot of experience, in the right spot have a fairly good chance of getting shots.

On a much less controversial note, I am super excited from all the great reports I am getting from the local folks. However, they did send a bunch of photos a flooded fields a week ago or so.
 
I never said "YOU" should Hunt without a dog! I actually prefer hunting with one myself.

I just said "I would NEVER tell someone to not hunt because they don't have access to or own a dog". and really make me upset when hunters say "It is unfair (or unethical) to you and to the game to go without a dog." If this were true (IMO) the DNR wouldn't let you hunt unless you had a dog.

But everyone is entitled to there opinion, We just have different ones on this topic. I feel everyone should hunt weather they have a dog or not.

I grew up hunting without a dog. I never would of went hunting growing up had one of the requirements been to have a dog.

I live in Pewaukee WI and I drive 12 hours to, central ND, to hunt twice a year.

Jim


I know this is SD, but around my area in ND, birds have had a nice rebound from the farmers I have talked to. here is hoping you guys have a great and safe year in SD hunting, and hopefully you are hearing similar results around where u hunt.
 
In a previous version of this site my handle was 2LeggedBirddog as that was essentially my job as we where hunting 2-3 in a group without a dog. I was youngest and carried an O/U. I would either hit on my first shot or cleanup on someone else but then I was setting down my gun and marking birds down as I booked it into the field. The faster I got out there, the better so I headed to the first downed bird. You can see movement in the grass, see wads, feathers and sometimes blood to tell exactly where they went down. We did stay out of large fields or shooting in front of them when we had the choice but I would often get 20 corn rows deep and just run up and down the rows, back and forth 25 yards until I picked them up. I'd say we went from losing 1 in 5 birds in heavy cover to 1 in 10 birds with an average dog.

Ditches are no problem for 4 guys. Put one down in the ditch, one 5 yards ahead along the fence and one 10 yards ahead on the roadside. That way you keep birds from running ahead of the flusher and have clear lines to shoot. Have the last guy drive the truck down to a field approach or corner and have him block while you walk towards him. There may be some old wiley birds that sneak into the field 40 yards ahead that you miss but most birds will stay put in the bottom of the ditch, but will flush once you walk up on them. You won't find yourself walking around them like you do in a field, it's just too close quarters for them to do that.

Your scouting must include local bars, restaurants and gas stations- the smaller town and establishments, the better. Wherever you stop ask them "We're from out of town and looking to walk some ditches. What areas have birds this year?" You're not asking for the location of walk-ins as they more than likely don't know or don't want the extra pressure on them. You're not asking for access to land so they don't feel like they are sending extra door knockers to their neighbors. You're unlikely to end up in their favorite honey hole. Drought, hail, mowing and habitat are huge factors so its different every year and very local to 20mi square areas. You can come up zero all afternoon in one area and move 5 miles and be on top of birds all over so it's essential you find the general area near where you are that had a good hatch of birds, not what spots "should be great habitat". Also ask if anyone local is looking for someone to hunt with. You might often find someone younger with maybe a dog but doesn't have a truck or even money for shells. They can know right where birds are at and sometimes even get permission to walk a field.
 
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