Well, I'll probably catch some hell for this but here goes:
My son and I took our yearly trip out West from 11/6 to 11/12. First "stop"--Scheels in Iowa City. Looking for 20 gauge target ammo and man did they have it! Stacks of CASES of Remington 7/8 ounce #8's in 20 gauge. I'd been looking for it for weeks--went to pay The $89 for my one case and the gal at the cash register says "How'd you like to get that ammo for $5?? I said WHAT?! Bottom line---if you sign up for a Scheels credit card you get $85 OFF your first purchase...my total first purchase with tax was $90.09--I walked out with a case of shells for $5.09.....don't like credit cards and won"t use it but--I do like to save money.
Traveling further west we visited Bass Pro at Altoona, IA (no ammo to speak of), then Scheels West Des Moines (again, nothing we needed)and finally last Saturday evening we arrived in Buena Vista County.
The deal was, there were wild and pen raised birds (I couldn't tell the difference, and I've shot a lot of truly wild ones). We hunted alone, stayed in this fellow's remodeled house he uses for guests and cooked our own food. Off by ourselves, and we saw deer, coyotes, an eagle and various small game. Shot our 3 birds apiece for two days--he walked with us but carried no gun. My 2 year old Lab got some serious exposure to birds and did a fine job. Cost: $275/day per person for all.
From this spot, we traveled to Spencer, Iowa and while there, visited a local gun shop, where I found a Benelli SBE III 20 gauge. I'd been wanting one, and we struck a deal. I asked him, do you give a discount for cash? And he did-- $100 off retail.
We drove on to Sioux Falls and ate at a fine restaurant there---Minerva's at 301 Phillips street right downtown. After supper we drove to Fort Pierre and stayed at the Americinn on the river. This was our HQ for the 3 days we hunted. The temperature started to drop; Tuesday it was still high 50's but it drizzled most of the day Wednesday--we hunted at Broken Arrow Farms NW of Pierre. Again, a mix of wild and "preserve" birds, but they sneaked, flushed wild, ran on us and generally were just as gun shy as the "wild" ones would be this time in the season. Our dog was beginning to feel the strain by now so we rested him a portion of each day over the 3 days there. The fellow who walked with us had "dogs" but they didn't always hunt under control, adding to the skittishness of the birds. The wind increased, and as anyone who hunted in that general area of SD on last Thursday knows, the wind just screamed and howled! Peak wind gusts as reported by KELO in Sioux Falls for the Pierre area were an unbelievable 66 MPH! On Wednesday afternoon, we hunted some private acreage belonging to a friend--we had only about 2 hours to hunt that--and we moved 2 roosters and bagged one.
We ate supper at the Cattlemen's Club east of Pierre most nights, a great place, packed with hunters every evening but worth the wait. We checked for ammo at Runnings, Dakota Mart and Wal Mart---no dice. Seems everyone bought up the supply in the opening week and ensuing weeks.
In the five days we hunted, we bagged limits each day. My son, who has little time to shoot skeet, had an off day but managed eventually to bag his birds. We have a rule between us: each shoots his own birds.. Fortunately, I was satisfied with the way my shooting worked out.
I have no problem with the way others enjoy this sport; I firmly believe that, as long and the law is followed and courtesy, safety and ethics are observed, it's ok if guys hunt public land, private land, preserves, walk in areas or whatever--just enjoy the season and be safe. And I hope you all have as fine a time on your hunts as we had on this one.
We started home Friday morning in temperatures in the 30's and very strong wind and blowing snow which slowed us down, but we managed to arrive home safely.
My son and I took our yearly trip out West from 11/6 to 11/12. First "stop"--Scheels in Iowa City. Looking for 20 gauge target ammo and man did they have it! Stacks of CASES of Remington 7/8 ounce #8's in 20 gauge. I'd been looking for it for weeks--went to pay The $89 for my one case and the gal at the cash register says "How'd you like to get that ammo for $5?? I said WHAT?! Bottom line---if you sign up for a Scheels credit card you get $85 OFF your first purchase...my total first purchase with tax was $90.09--I walked out with a case of shells for $5.09.....don't like credit cards and won"t use it but--I do like to save money.
Traveling further west we visited Bass Pro at Altoona, IA (no ammo to speak of), then Scheels West Des Moines (again, nothing we needed)and finally last Saturday evening we arrived in Buena Vista County.
The deal was, there were wild and pen raised birds (I couldn't tell the difference, and I've shot a lot of truly wild ones). We hunted alone, stayed in this fellow's remodeled house he uses for guests and cooked our own food. Off by ourselves, and we saw deer, coyotes, an eagle and various small game. Shot our 3 birds apiece for two days--he walked with us but carried no gun. My 2 year old Lab got some serious exposure to birds and did a fine job. Cost: $275/day per person for all.
From this spot, we traveled to Spencer, Iowa and while there, visited a local gun shop, where I found a Benelli SBE III 20 gauge. I'd been wanting one, and we struck a deal. I asked him, do you give a discount for cash? And he did-- $100 off retail.
We drove on to Sioux Falls and ate at a fine restaurant there---Minerva's at 301 Phillips street right downtown. After supper we drove to Fort Pierre and stayed at the Americinn on the river. This was our HQ for the 3 days we hunted. The temperature started to drop; Tuesday it was still high 50's but it drizzled most of the day Wednesday--we hunted at Broken Arrow Farms NW of Pierre. Again, a mix of wild and "preserve" birds, but they sneaked, flushed wild, ran on us and generally were just as gun shy as the "wild" ones would be this time in the season. Our dog was beginning to feel the strain by now so we rested him a portion of each day over the 3 days there. The fellow who walked with us had "dogs" but they didn't always hunt under control, adding to the skittishness of the birds. The wind increased, and as anyone who hunted in that general area of SD on last Thursday knows, the wind just screamed and howled! Peak wind gusts as reported by KELO in Sioux Falls for the Pierre area were an unbelievable 66 MPH! On Wednesday afternoon, we hunted some private acreage belonging to a friend--we had only about 2 hours to hunt that--and we moved 2 roosters and bagged one.
We ate supper at the Cattlemen's Club east of Pierre most nights, a great place, packed with hunters every evening but worth the wait. We checked for ammo at Runnings, Dakota Mart and Wal Mart---no dice. Seems everyone bought up the supply in the opening week and ensuing weeks.
In the five days we hunted, we bagged limits each day. My son, who has little time to shoot skeet, had an off day but managed eventually to bag his birds. We have a rule between us: each shoots his own birds.. Fortunately, I was satisfied with the way my shooting worked out.
I have no problem with the way others enjoy this sport; I firmly believe that, as long and the law is followed and courtesy, safety and ethics are observed, it's ok if guys hunt public land, private land, preserves, walk in areas or whatever--just enjoy the season and be safe. And I hope you all have as fine a time on your hunts as we had on this one.
We started home Friday morning in temperatures in the 30's and very strong wind and blowing snow which slowed us down, but we managed to arrive home safely.
