Riverman
Member
Just got back from my first trip of the season and we had excellent hunting north of Pierre. We had to drive 14 hours on snow and ice-packed roads through Wyoming to get there, but it was worth it. Rain on the first day made the birds hard to find. We thought they were spending their time in standing corn. After that the rain stopped and the hunting improved. By the last day we were seeing hundreds of birds lounging in the grass on the edge of crops. We had three days of absolutely beautiful weather that makes the wait worthwhile. The central plains in the fall can be a magical place. We found the best hunting at the edge of cut wheat fields and standing sunflowers. Standing corn was the worst hunting and the dogs just spent their time running birds in circles and flushing out of range. It was only three of us hunting, and we don't do the typical pushing and blocking, so birds in corn are just a distraction for us.
Most crops were still standing and, based on the amount of water we saw, I doubt that there is going to be a record harvest this year. I wouldn't be surprised if many crops never get harvested this year at all. There was standing water everywhere and many fields we have hunted in the past were a foot deep in water.
One thing we saw that was different was the diversity of crops is much different (improved??) over past years. There is a lot more sunflowers, winter wheat, millet, sourghum, and soy beans that in years past, and in fact we killed a lot more birds in those areas than in areas with corn. I think that diversity is a good thing for the birds. Many of the birds we killed had grains other than corn in their crop.
As a side note, I took my 15 yr old lab thinking this might be her last hunt. She made several trips hunting grouse in the mountains this year but they weren't long walks and she mostly just trailed behind. I thought the same thing last year when she was 14, but she did fine for 3 trips on pheasants. I only hunted her 2-3 miles each day this trip and she certainly doesn't burn up the country like she used to. She didn't make any retrieves this year since my 2-yr old beats her to it every time, and being deaf she often doesn't even know if I shoot, but she still flushed several birds and I killed several off of her flushes. I got worried a couple times when she would wander into the corn and not return right away, but her nose still works like she was 4 yrs old and she always finds me. Am now debating whether to take her back for the second hunt before Thanksgiving. It sure is hard to leave her when she has such desire. I can't even imagine that she would still be going at 16. My 15 yr old son is going with me on the next trip so it would be nice if he could kill the last birds off of her before she moves to the great pheasant field in the beyond.
Good luck to all of you and enjoy the warm conditions of early fall--only too soon and we will have to drag out the winter clothes.
Most crops were still standing and, based on the amount of water we saw, I doubt that there is going to be a record harvest this year. I wouldn't be surprised if many crops never get harvested this year at all. There was standing water everywhere and many fields we have hunted in the past were a foot deep in water.
One thing we saw that was different was the diversity of crops is much different (improved??) over past years. There is a lot more sunflowers, winter wheat, millet, sourghum, and soy beans that in years past, and in fact we killed a lot more birds in those areas than in areas with corn. I think that diversity is a good thing for the birds. Many of the birds we killed had grains other than corn in their crop.
As a side note, I took my 15 yr old lab thinking this might be her last hunt. She made several trips hunting grouse in the mountains this year but they weren't long walks and she mostly just trailed behind. I thought the same thing last year when she was 14, but she did fine for 3 trips on pheasants. I only hunted her 2-3 miles each day this trip and she certainly doesn't burn up the country like she used to. She didn't make any retrieves this year since my 2-yr old beats her to it every time, and being deaf she often doesn't even know if I shoot, but she still flushed several birds and I killed several off of her flushes. I got worried a couple times when she would wander into the corn and not return right away, but her nose still works like she was 4 yrs old and she always finds me. Am now debating whether to take her back for the second hunt before Thanksgiving. It sure is hard to leave her when she has such desire. I can't even imagine that she would still be going at 16. My 15 yr old son is going with me on the next trip so it would be nice if he could kill the last birds off of her before she moves to the great pheasant field in the beyond.
Good luck to all of you and enjoy the warm conditions of early fall--only too soon and we will have to drag out the winter clothes.
