Hunting Redfield area

Harehound

Member
A group of hunters I know hunted the Redfield area. Actually two groups. They did very well with many limits. The consensus was hunting milo strips proved to be killer.
 
A group of hunters I know hunted the Redfield area. Actually two groups. They did very well with many limits. The consensus was hunting milo strips proved to be killer.

In general, it seems like reports have not been as bad as lots of people expected, and they seem to be improving now that harvest is about done. No surprise there. Goes to show that prime habitat helps pheasants weather the weather, whether ;) that's blizzard, hail, drought, or whatever.
 
Has to be private and/or preserve ground, as I can't remember ever seeing an unharvested milo strip on public.
 
a public piece I have hunted a lot this year had a strip of either milo or sorghum...not sure...has held lots of birds. still does, even after a herd of cattle got into this GPA and chowed on the food plot for a few days...i called the warden...
 
I hunted a GPA two years ago that had an unharvested milo food plot. Had birds in it every time I was there.
Haven't seen one the past two years though, just standing corn plots. The corn is ok too, but I sure wish they would put milo food plots on all the GPA's instead of corn.
 
Private land. Cattle farm that plants plotts and cover for birds. Has 2 half mile sections planted in grass. People out of state own it. Owners only hunt it first two weeks. Then it's open to people that have permission from cattle rancher
 
I'm going to attempt to provide some boots on the ground objective information for those wondering.

Our annual four man group recently returned from a hunt in the area being discussed, give or take an hour in any direction on a given day. We've hunted there for years, have seasoned dogs (5-6 years old each that hunt pheasant / quail multiple times a year), and hunted 80-90% private ground. We're all in our 30's and cover quite a bit of ground, push cattail sloughs (to our dismay every year!) and feel like we give it a solid effort...we are typically hunting at 10, eat lunch/snacks between fields, and are feeding dogs by the trucks at dusk (unless we limit earlier in the day).

We did not do as well this year in terms of sheer numbers, our groups consensus was birds were roughly 50% or so down this year. We were only able to produce a 4 man limit 1 day of the trip and the last bird went down right at legal shooting. We brought 38 birds home total, last year 60 (our 4 man possession limit). Roosters bagged were largely either older or really young which aligns to a lot of comments regarding the drought impacts to this year's hatch.

All that to say, we hunted for pheasant in SD, bagged roosters, made good memories, spent time with old friends, saw great dog work, learned a few more things about upland hunting, and we weren't working...I consider it a 100% successful trip. We are heading back to SD in a couple weeks because for all those same reasons.

Good luck through the remainder of the season!!!
 
I'm going to attempt to provide some boots on the ground objective information for those wondering.

Our annual four man group recently returned from a hunt in the area being discussed, give or take an hour in any direction on a given day. We've hunted there for years, have seasoned dogs (5-6 years old each that hunt pheasant / quail multiple times a year), and hunted 80-90% private ground. We're all in our 30's and cover quite a bit of ground, push cattail sloughs (to our dismay every year!) and feel like we give it a solid effort...we are typically hunting at 10, eat lunch/snacks between fields, and are feeding dogs by the trucks at dusk (unless we limit earlier in the day).

We did not do as well this year in terms of sheer numbers, our groups consensus was birds were roughly 50% or so down this year. We were only able to produce a 4 man limit 1 day of the trip and the last bird went down right at legal shooting. We brought 38 birds home total, last year 60 (our 4 man possession limit). Roosters bagged were largely either older or really young which aligns to a lot of comments regarding the drought impacts to this year's hatch.

All that to say, we hunted for pheasant in SD, bagged roosters, made good memories, spent time with old friends, saw great dog work, learned a few more things about upland hunting, and we weren't working...I consider it a 100% successful trip. We are heading back to SD in a couple weeks because for all those same reasons.

Good luck through the remainder of the season!!!

Excellent report!! Glad you had a great time!
 
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