Hunting Report for the week of Nov 5th

[Brimar1991]

Got back on Saturday after a week of pheasant hunting north of Miller, south of Redfield and north of Huron on either WIA, GPA, or CREP.

Hunting by myself and 2 brittany's...we were able to point about 10 to 18 birds per day. Unfortunately, only 7 of those birds were roosters. We were able to get 4 of the 7.

I was amazed on the lack of roosters. Only about 12% of the birds that we saw were roosters. Don't know if all the roosters have been harvested or the smart ones have figured out to vacate the area until after sunset? It was a strange week. I have been out to SD and not seen a bird all day. But, to flush that many birds and have that low of rooster to hen ratio is a new one for me.

On the bright side, we have very good dog work; my new pup pointed and retrieved his first wild pheasant; no trips to the vet; and did not see one skunk in the field. I was very pleased with the dog work.

Anybody else had similar experience this year?

 

[Deacon]

Exactly the same about 30 miles NW of you.

1 rooster per 10 hens. Birds numbers appear low - shame on G&F. Plus with early harvest appears most roosters have been shot.

Hard to find a CRP field. Appears the good ole days are over.

 

[hunter94]

although we hunted the last week of October, we saw mostly roosters, 4 out of the 6 days (when the 2 of us limited) we saw 30-40 birds each day, on average. just in a good area i guess, by the sounds of things.

 

[Dakotazeb]

I know the birds counts seem kind of strange but it seems to be the norm this year. Not sure what the GFP was counting in their roadside surveys but it hasn't corresponded to birds in the field.

I guided 2 days last week for U-Guide out of his Roscoe-Hosmer camp. The landowner had lots of land but we walked a fair number of places that only produced 1 or 2 birds. We had 10 hunters and bagged 20 roosters the first day and 19 the second. We probably lost a couple each day and there were plenty of misses. So full limits could have been gotten with better shooting. But we pounded it hard those 2 days. Each day we had boots on the ground from 10:00 AM until sundown without even a break for lunch. My Brittany was totally exhausted and beat up. Took her almost 3 days to re-coop.

 

[hunter94]

I know the birds counts seem kind of strange but it seems to be the norm this year. Not sure what the GFP was counting in their roadside surveys but it hasn't corresponded to birds in the field.

I guided 2 days last week for U-Guide out of his Roscoe-Hosmer camp. The landowner had lots of land but we walked a fair number of places that only produced 1 or 2 birds. We had 10 hunters and bagged 20 roosters the first day and 19 the second. We probably lost a couple each day and there were plenty of misses. So full limits could have been gotten with better shooting. But we pounded it hard those 2 days. Each day we had boots on the ground from 10:00 AM until sundown without even a break for lunch. My Brittany was totally exhausted and beat up. Took her almost 3 days to re-coop.

well, for this season, those are actually pretty good results......let me know next time and i can supply some PP power!

 

[BrdHntr]

Been coming out to SD 2 times a year for the past 11-12 years. We hunt the Huron area and hunted 1st wk of Nov. Bird flushes definitely down over last year, and we definitely saw the big number drop reported last year. Our experience was less birds this year. We did have success, and really enjoyed having two
15 week old lab pups see some flushes and watch their mom retrieve some birds. The tough part was seeing most of our best places hay cut, another WIA gone, and lots of cattails plowed under and huge areas being burned off. We have many farmer friends so we understand what they have to do, but seeing all this habitat coming out was depressing. We saw this in central Iowa several years ago, and it took 3 years of declining bird numbers to force our move to SD. We really enjoy our trips to S.D. Read the posts about non res lic going up $10.00
Would gladly pay 50.00 more if F&G could get some of the quality WIA's that have disappeared the past 5 years. Really hoping for a mild winter and something that will reverse the major habitat losses.

 

[jgb]

Aberdeen Area last week

While hunting in Aberdeen Area from 11-4 to 11-8 we saw a lot of roosters actually but we had blockers posted which did not allow birds to run out of the cover areas ahead of hunters and dogs. The birds that held tight were hens most frequently. We were suprised at the numbers of roosters we were seeing. Once the birds realized the end of the cattails our reed patches were blocked they would try to fly out early before they could be reached by the blockers or the guys pushing. So maybe there were more roosters than you think where you were hunting and they are starting to get really smart. All of the birds we found are in the heaviest cover you can find and bunched up.

 

[SC_Boykin]

Mitchell Area

Hunted around Mitchell, SD from 11/4 – 11/8. Bird numbers were really bad. With four guys and three dogs, we only saw maybe 30 birds total and shot only 9 roosters the entire week. Last year on the same ground we shot 48 birds. There was even great cover; thick weeds along the James River, shelter belts, weed fields in between cut corn fields and cat-tail sloughs. We looked everywhere, but couldn't find the birds. Didn't even see birds along the roads in the mornings and evenings.

 

[safari]

Saw all of this coming back in the early to mid 2000's. Got out of SD after a great run that ended in 2007. Could not bear to watch what all of you are witnessing now.

 

[Dakotazeb]

I've said before on this site that in all likelyhood we have seen the peak of pheasants unless something changes in the farm program. And with the national deficit we face I would guess the farm program will get cut also. With commodity prices wehre they are farmers are tilling up every square inch of land to put into production. CRP acres continue to come out and put into production and now that the potholes & sloughs have dried up I see many of them that have been burned off and will be planted to crops in the spring. Pretty simple: No habitat, no birds!

 

[couger71]

Saw all of this coming back in the early to mid 2000's. Got out of SD after a great run that ended in 2007. Could not bear to watch what all of you are witnessing now.

I agree that is not that great this year but have we have been spoiled? It is still pretty good is some areas. Great run that ended in 2007??? Didn't South Dakota have its highest bird population in 50 years in 2009? I know that year was unreal in our area and the best I have ever seen. I know this year is still way better than the 80's and early 90's. How soon we forget. I enjoy every day in the field...... some are just better than others!!!!

 

[Dakotazeb]

I agree that is not that great this year but have we have been spoiled? It is still pretty good is some areas. Great run that ended in 2007??? Didn't South Dakota have its highest bird population in 50 years in 2009? I know that year was unreal in our area and the best I have ever seen. I know this year is still way better than the 80's and early 90's. How soon we forget. I enjoy every day in the field...... some are just better than others!!!!

I agree. We have become spoiled in the past years with the number of birds. Hunting the Aberdeen, SD area in the late 70's and the 80's was tough. But we still found some birds and had a blast doing it. Yes, the numbers are down but still darn good compared to 20-30 years ago. Went out yesterday and hunted a rather large WIA. Spent 2 hours on the ground with my two Brittanys and saw 3 birds. One hen point and one rooster point which I put in the bag. The other bird was a wild flush out of range. Dogs and I had a great time.

 

[safari]

I agree that is not that great this year but have we have been spoiled? It is still pretty good is some areas. Great run that ended in 2007??? Didn't South Dakota have its highest bird population in 50 years in 2009? I know that year was unreal in our area and the best I have ever seen. I know this year is still way better than the 80's and early 90's. How soon we forget. I enjoy every day in the field...... some are just better than others!!!!

NO...It has been all downhill since 07' in terms of bird numbers and more importantly HABITAT LOSS. I flew over the Prairie Pothole Region flying from Bismarck to the Cities in Oct. and was stunned by the amount of CRP and sloughs on fire.

Personally I think you can kiss the Eastern Half of SD goodbye with the eastern 1/3 having been "gone" for about 3 years now. IF there is a future for SD pheasant hunting I believe it is in West River.

 

[roycefromrc]

NO...It has been all downhill since 07' in terms of bird numbers and more importantly HABITAT LOSS. I flew over the Prairie Pothole Region flying from Bismarck to the Cities in Oct. and was stunned by the amount of CRP and sloughs on fire.

Personally I think you can kiss the Eastern Half of SD goodbye with the eastern 1/3 having been "gone" for about 3 years now. IF there is a future for SD pheasant hunting I believe it is in West River.

West river? Have you ever been west river? Maybe shoot a few roosters in the badlands, or off Harney peak.

 

[Dakotazeb]

NO...It has been all downhill since 07' in terms of bird numbers and more importantly HABITAT LOSS. I flew over the Prairie Pothole Region flying from Bismarck to the Cities in Oct. and was stunned by the amount of CRP and sloughs on fire.

Personally I think you can kiss the Eastern Half of SD goodbye with the eastern 1/3 having been "gone" for about 3 years now. IF there is a future for SD pheasant hunting I believe it is in West River.

Obviously never been west river in SD. If we have to rely on west river to provide our future pheasant hunting we are in trouble. While there are some pockets of decent numbers west river it never has been he main pheasant area.

 

[safari]

Obviously never been west river in SD. If we have to rely on west river to provide our future pheasant hunting we are in trouble. While there are some pockets of decent numbers west river it never has been he main pheasant area.

Right on the money..."If we have to rely on West River to provide our future pheasant hunting we are in trouble".

Lyman and Tripp Counties probably hold the best future (and present) potenital as everything east becomes an extension of Iowa.