My wife and I just got back from a great trip to SD to hunt pheasants. We arrived in the afternoon of the 30th, we checked in to our hotel in Aberdeen and headed to the field for a quick evening hunt. This was our first trip to SD in 30 years. The last time we were there we did some pheasant hunting but only a day or two. We brought along out 2 female black labs, Gracie (8yo) and Ruby (Just 2 yo). Gracie is a flusher and Ruby is a pointing lab, my wife has worked with her with the pointing some. Both will sit to flush and deliver to hand. We have hunted some pen raised birds in Ohio, but nothing on this scale. As you can imagine we were pretty excided to hunt some wild birds.
We were headed to some public areas SW of Aberdeen when we happened upon many pheasants in the ditches along the dirt roads. We decided to give the birds a go. We parked and started working our way along the right-away. We decided to only use one of the dogs, along the ditch in order to keep things more controlled. My wife was going to be a non-shooter and just work the dog along the dich. We didn't know what to expect as in the number of pheasants we would see while we were out there hunting. We had hardly gotten started when some pheasants flushed well with in range in front of us. I'm not sure of the exact number, but there were quit a few. They started flushing all along the ditch in front of us. I was so shocked I didn't shoot at the first couple of roosters at first. The hens flushed first (about 6 or 7) then the roosters, about 6 or 8 I think. I emptied my gun and didn't cut a feather, we watched as the birds flew out of range. My wife and I looked at each other and were just like "WOW" Then I got snapped back to reality when she said, " Why the h--- didn't you hit something." We laughed and continued on down the ditch line. We didn't flush any more on that section, but I did manage to scratch one out as it flew from the corn field on one side of the road to the thicket on the other. We hunted another section of ditch line before sunset, but neither of us were able to connect on the wilely roosters.
Day 2
We had some private that a friend of ours owned just West of Aberdeen, that's where we headed day 2. There were birds there but our shooting was less than spactacular to say the least. He had corn fields set up for pheasant hunting, but with only 2 people it made it kind of hard to push it. I tried to push it and pheasants did come out, but with just one of us to block them many made their escape. We were starting to think there wasn't any shot in out shells, until my wife connected on a nice rooster. We flushed a several hens and 7 or 8 roosters, unfortunately we only connected on the one my wife got. The first day was quite windy and about 40 degrees. Today it was less windy and the temp was a little warmer. We tried to keep the dogs hydrated, but they were eating a lot of snow.
Day 3
Today we stayed in the local area and public land, we found some nice areas NW. I put into practice what I picked up off of this forum about birds hanging out in the corn, and working back into the cover. So we looked for public areas with corn field near and good cover around. Some times we would hit the trifecta with a good water source in the area also. Most birds flushed when we stepped into the field, no matter how quite we were before we entered. We would always find some that didn't get the message and hung around a little too long. We were hardly in the field, when a mature rooster jumped up. lucky for me i don't miss many chip shots, one in the bag. We walked through the fields with not much to show until we got to the back of it. Then the dogs got birdy and started tracking. About that time the field exploded with pheasants, tons of hens and 6 or 7 roosters. My wife was a little back so she didn't get to shoot, but I did. Not that it did me any good. I knocked one down pretty hard, or at least I thought I did. We worked and worked the dogs around in the area of the fall, but no luck. we flushed other birds but no many with in range. We ended up with 1 for the day. Unfortunately our shooting was still not up to par. I'm going to blame it on jet lag, even though we drove out. LOL
Day 4
Today we needed a break, so we decided to drive to Pierre. We took the dogs and the guns just incase. It was a great drive out, we saw many hawks along the road that we stopped and my wife took pictures of. She is making a calendar with pictures of as many hawks as she can get. She has quite the professional camera set up. On the way to Pierre we found a great WIA with everything a pheasant loves. Food, shelter, and water. We continued driving, with thoughts of stopping by on our way back. The river was quite the site to see, no wind and blue skies, with lots of wild life to see. On the way back we stopped at the WIA, we sat and waited til the birds started leaving the corn. We watched where they flew to and then we headed out. We had an hour until sunset. The pheasants were thick, tons of them flying ever which way, mostly out of range. We managed to do a little better today, we ended up with 4 and we lost 1 runner. We worked the dogs over and over the area with no luck. Time finally ran out as the sun dropped over the edge of the horizon.
Day 5
Today we headed back to the same area we had hit two days earlier. This time we tried another field with corn next to it. The temps were starting to get a little warm, so we had to keep an eye on the dogs to make sure they didn't over heat. We took lots of breaks and gave them all the water they wanted. The farmers in the area were picking corn at a break neck pace. We took advantage of it to get some birds. It was slow and steady pick, we ended up with 4 birds today.
Day 6
We started by going to a new area, and fond some dich lines that had many birds in them. We got 2 right away, then we ran into a group of 5 old guys running pheasants. I asked them if they wanted to help us run the corn fields we had run days earlier when it was just the 2 of us. They said they would. Well we ran the corn fields and some of the other cover there and we ended up with 3 bird for our trouble. 2 of which I managed to bag. We went and hunted some land they had permission for after that. They were very nice and we got along great. Like hunting with your dad. After we hunted with them for a while we each headed our own ways. We thanked them for sharing their day and property with us. We went back to the area we first met them, they were cutting corn when we had left the area earlier. the birds were funneling out of the corn into the ditch line. The dogs made quick work of the birds that stuck around. We ended up with 5 for the day.
Day 7
We went back the same fields as the day before. They had not finished the corn when we had left and we were sure there would be more in the ditch line. we had to take it real slow due to the temperatures. It didn't take long to get into them, with in a hundred yards we had three nice roosters. We then started working the edges of the cattails, in another 30 min, we had 1 more. The dogs were getting worn out due to the heat. So we decided to do some ditch hunting instead. We found some birds along a nice section of cover, my wife did the honors, while I stayed with the truck. It didn't take her long to connect with the help of our older dog. The bird landed in the water of the pothole. Our dog made quick work of the retrieve. That gave us 5 for the day, and we were heading out bright and early the next morning, so we called it a day.
We had a great trip, saw tons of birds and ended up with 21. We saw thousands of snow geese and a few thousand ducks. Some really nice whitetail bucks and muledeer. We can't wait to go out again. Thanks SD for an enjoyable trip.
We were headed to some public areas SW of Aberdeen when we happened upon many pheasants in the ditches along the dirt roads. We decided to give the birds a go. We parked and started working our way along the right-away. We decided to only use one of the dogs, along the ditch in order to keep things more controlled. My wife was going to be a non-shooter and just work the dog along the dich. We didn't know what to expect as in the number of pheasants we would see while we were out there hunting. We had hardly gotten started when some pheasants flushed well with in range in front of us. I'm not sure of the exact number, but there were quit a few. They started flushing all along the ditch in front of us. I was so shocked I didn't shoot at the first couple of roosters at first. The hens flushed first (about 6 or 7) then the roosters, about 6 or 8 I think. I emptied my gun and didn't cut a feather, we watched as the birds flew out of range. My wife and I looked at each other and were just like "WOW" Then I got snapped back to reality when she said, " Why the h--- didn't you hit something." We laughed and continued on down the ditch line. We didn't flush any more on that section, but I did manage to scratch one out as it flew from the corn field on one side of the road to the thicket on the other. We hunted another section of ditch line before sunset, but neither of us were able to connect on the wilely roosters.
Day 2
We had some private that a friend of ours owned just West of Aberdeen, that's where we headed day 2. There were birds there but our shooting was less than spactacular to say the least. He had corn fields set up for pheasant hunting, but with only 2 people it made it kind of hard to push it. I tried to push it and pheasants did come out, but with just one of us to block them many made their escape. We were starting to think there wasn't any shot in out shells, until my wife connected on a nice rooster. We flushed a several hens and 7 or 8 roosters, unfortunately we only connected on the one my wife got. The first day was quite windy and about 40 degrees. Today it was less windy and the temp was a little warmer. We tried to keep the dogs hydrated, but they were eating a lot of snow.
Day 3
Today we stayed in the local area and public land, we found some nice areas NW. I put into practice what I picked up off of this forum about birds hanging out in the corn, and working back into the cover. So we looked for public areas with corn field near and good cover around. Some times we would hit the trifecta with a good water source in the area also. Most birds flushed when we stepped into the field, no matter how quite we were before we entered. We would always find some that didn't get the message and hung around a little too long. We were hardly in the field, when a mature rooster jumped up. lucky for me i don't miss many chip shots, one in the bag. We walked through the fields with not much to show until we got to the back of it. Then the dogs got birdy and started tracking. About that time the field exploded with pheasants, tons of hens and 6 or 7 roosters. My wife was a little back so she didn't get to shoot, but I did. Not that it did me any good. I knocked one down pretty hard, or at least I thought I did. We worked and worked the dogs around in the area of the fall, but no luck. we flushed other birds but no many with in range. We ended up with 1 for the day. Unfortunately our shooting was still not up to par. I'm going to blame it on jet lag, even though we drove out. LOL
Day 4
Today we needed a break, so we decided to drive to Pierre. We took the dogs and the guns just incase. It was a great drive out, we saw many hawks along the road that we stopped and my wife took pictures of. She is making a calendar with pictures of as many hawks as she can get. She has quite the professional camera set up. On the way to Pierre we found a great WIA with everything a pheasant loves. Food, shelter, and water. We continued driving, with thoughts of stopping by on our way back. The river was quite the site to see, no wind and blue skies, with lots of wild life to see. On the way back we stopped at the WIA, we sat and waited til the birds started leaving the corn. We watched where they flew to and then we headed out. We had an hour until sunset. The pheasants were thick, tons of them flying ever which way, mostly out of range. We managed to do a little better today, we ended up with 4 and we lost 1 runner. We worked the dogs over and over the area with no luck. Time finally ran out as the sun dropped over the edge of the horizon.
Day 5
Today we headed back to the same area we had hit two days earlier. This time we tried another field with corn next to it. The temps were starting to get a little warm, so we had to keep an eye on the dogs to make sure they didn't over heat. We took lots of breaks and gave them all the water they wanted. The farmers in the area were picking corn at a break neck pace. We took advantage of it to get some birds. It was slow and steady pick, we ended up with 4 birds today.
Day 6
We started by going to a new area, and fond some dich lines that had many birds in them. We got 2 right away, then we ran into a group of 5 old guys running pheasants. I asked them if they wanted to help us run the corn fields we had run days earlier when it was just the 2 of us. They said they would. Well we ran the corn fields and some of the other cover there and we ended up with 3 bird for our trouble. 2 of which I managed to bag. We went and hunted some land they had permission for after that. They were very nice and we got along great. Like hunting with your dad. After we hunted with them for a while we each headed our own ways. We thanked them for sharing their day and property with us. We went back to the area we first met them, they were cutting corn when we had left the area earlier. the birds were funneling out of the corn into the ditch line. The dogs made quick work of the birds that stuck around. We ended up with 5 for the day.
Day 7
We went back the same fields as the day before. They had not finished the corn when we had left and we were sure there would be more in the ditch line. we had to take it real slow due to the temperatures. It didn't take long to get into them, with in a hundred yards we had three nice roosters. We then started working the edges of the cattails, in another 30 min, we had 1 more. The dogs were getting worn out due to the heat. So we decided to do some ditch hunting instead. We found some birds along a nice section of cover, my wife did the honors, while I stayed with the truck. It didn't take her long to connect with the help of our older dog. The bird landed in the water of the pothole. Our dog made quick work of the retrieve. That gave us 5 for the day, and we were heading out bright and early the next morning, so we called it a day.
We had a great trip, saw tons of birds and ended up with 21. We saw thousands of snow geese and a few thousand ducks. Some really nice whitetail bucks and muledeer. We can't wait to go out again. Thanks SD for an enjoyable trip.
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