First trip to SoDak

I wonder if the birds hatch and then gravitate to corn 🌽 fields in the fall. I would think a bird would be just as happy with soybeans, but corn seems to be a little better.
 
Tomahawker said:
Went cold rolling public. Key to finding birds…corn. Had a great time. Shot some birds, missed some birds. Definitely return.
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Glad you had a good trip. Experience would say that each year you learn a little more and the pieces start to come together more and more. Congrats!!
 
And don't forget about milo. I have always found milo to be king with holding birds.
 
LC Smith said:
And don't forget about milo. I have always found milo to be king with holding birds.
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I agree, but I've never run into any normal milo or sorghum fields where I hunt in iowa Minnesota or South Dakota. Milo only as food plots is what I've seen. Hopefully one day I'll run into a real milo field out in the wild.
 
Enjoyed dirty milo for years in Kansas, always held phez and quail. Unfortunately the milo went out in favor of soybeans and bird populations took a downhill slide. Was hard to find milofields again, let alone dirty Milo. Dirty milo was standing milo turned over to CRP. Absolute best.
Once the milo was gone on that property, it became a normal CRP field, good but not golden anymore.
 
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Bob Peters said:
I agree, but I've never run into any normal milo or sorghum fields where I hunt in iowa Minnesota or South Dakota. Milo only as food plots is what I've seen. Hopefully one day I'll run into a real milo field out in the wild.
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In good times milo was king in parts of Kansas especially adjacent to some grass. Both Quail and pheasants love it. You don’t see much north of Nebraska. You don’t see 1/4 of what you used to see in Kansas
 
There was a thread (on this site, I think) that discussed that pheasants actually lose weight when eating a diet heavy in soybeans and fatten up when eating corn. Makes sense when you think of the protein versus carb scenario.
 
Hit several beautiful public crep/crp, with shelter belts and the works…zero birds. Corn had to close by or wouldn’t bother. Did chase chickens sw of Ft Pierre one morning. Saw well over 50. But they seen us and flushed way wild. Had a great time watching my dog in her first prairie dog town. It was like watching a cartoon! Gave up and scooted back east. Ended up keying on cattails near corn for the win.
 

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Tomahawker said:
Had a great time watching my dog in her first prairie dog town. It was like watching a cartoon!
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A word of caution regarding dogs and prairie dog towns. Rattlesnakes like p-dog towns as well. They den in them, and it's a very reliable food source. I avoid p-dog towns like the plague when it's warm at all. I've seen way too many rattlers while crossing a town in order to get to one of my pheasant haunts. No more.
 
MTbirddogs said:
A word of caution regarding dogs and prairie dog towns. Rattlesnakes like p-dog towns as well. They den in them, and it's a very reliable food source. I avoid p-dog towns like the plague when it's warm at all. I've seen way too many rattlers while crossing a town in order to get to one of my pheasant haunts. No more.
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The plague literally is in prarie dog towns.
 
Tomahawker said:
Sheeeeesh, had no idea about all this. I thought it was neat being in what I now regard as hell on earth.
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Prairie dog towns are actually really cool places. I did a lot of wildlife research in p.d. towns, including live trapping p-dogs to check for sylvatic plague, black-footed ferret trapping and releases, burrowing owls, to name a few. I've handled well over a thousand live prairie dogs, and you can do it safely with a few minor precautions. We even anesthetized p-dogs and removed the fleas to check for plague, as part of a M.S. research project. Their towns are pretty amazing for the number of other species that use their habitat. I love those places; I just remain cautious with my hunting dog.
 
MTbirddogs said:
Prairie dog towns are actually really cool places. I did a lot of wildlife research in p.d. towns, including live trapping p-dogs to check for sylvatic plague, black-footed ferret trapping and releases, burrowing owls, to name a few. I've handled well over a thousand live prairie dogs, and you can do it safely with a few minor precautions. We even anesthetized p-dogs and removed the fleas to check for plague, as part of a M.S. research project. Their towns are pretty amazing for the number of other species that use their habitat. I love those places; I just remain cautious with my hunting dog.
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Aren't the towns in areas where naturally occurring Anthrax can be found also?😉
 
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