Riverman
Member
Background: Have hunted SD in the same area for the last 15 years. Have always hunted a mix of public, WPAs, walk-in, private, ditches, etc. We always hunt an area 60 miles north to south, 40 miles east to west that is north of Pierre and east of the MO river. Basically Gettysburg is the center of wher we hunt, and that is all I will give you. We have never paid to play--we are not against it, we just don't need to do it since we know what we are doing. If I had not hunted pheasansts much, did not have good dogs, had ~$100/day, and wanted to have a good hunt (hunting with kids, parent, etc.) I would pay to hunt.
We usually make three trips every year, one early (late October), one mid season (thanksgiving), and one after Christmas. Those are VERY differrent hunts and VERY different conditions--that is why we do it like that--we like it and we like hunting with different conditions!!! There is always 3-6 of us, no more, no less. I have hunted big groups (> 10) and have no desire to do that. It is A LOT easier to find birds for 3-6 than it is to find birds for 20. We have also hunted WY, NE, CO, and UT for the last 30 years. and we know what that is like. As a footnote I hunted NE for ~15-30 days every year for 15 years and I consistently killed a limit of pheasants and usually a few grouse and quail. I usually kill over 60 birds (pheasants) per year and have done it for the last 25 years. All of us have good dogs. Some are the best dogs you will ever hunt with, and others are average. The point is that we ALL have dogs, and that does make a difference, especially when you hit a bird and it is running away wounded. No way you will find a crippled bird without a dog on a CONSISTENT basis.
I personally have always killed a limit each day, other than last year, in SD. Most years I am donw within a few hours, and some days it is within a few minutes. Personally I think the numbers were down A LOT more last year (2012) than what the G&F said. I think it was due to sightability issues--when you mow/hay the majority of the ditches and CRP, like what was done last year, you will see more birds because the cover is gone and the birds are more visible--and thus estimate that numbers are up, like what they projected last year, IMHO.
Here is the report: Three of us killed a limit each day for the last 3 days, and we have two more to go. I think there are A LOT more birds than last year.
I realize some other folks are reporting not many birds, and one person even said "never again" would they come back. All I can say is--I think the birds are here and some people are saying "never again" just to keep folks away. We have seen as many roosters as we normally see given the conditions that we have.
Now on to our hunting conditions:
We have had nice weather and moist (i.e. good scent) conditions. Most of the crops are still in the field, although they are fevershly harvesting ALL crops right now (10/25). A storm is coming on Monday so that will delay the harvest. I predict that when we come back in a month it will be much better. We are primarily killing birds at the edge of standing and cut crops (sunflowers and corn).
Most of the ditches are in good shape and have grown back since last year, which is not what I would have predicted. Most of the CRP and ditches were harvested last year and most of them have grown back this year.
90% of the birds we have killed are YOY (young of year) and many are pretty small. Based on what we have seen I would say that the hatch was late, or that most surviving birds were hatched late in the year. Most of the birds have held very tight and the dogs have flushed them right off of their noses. The point with this is---without a dog these birds would not have flushed. The birds are holding and running when given a chance.
I will update my post after we are done with this hunt. My summary is that bird numbers are UP from last year. Another thing I will say is this--after hunting pheasants in CO, WY, NE, and UT for the last 25 years I will say that the PHEASANT hunting in SD is still the best of anyplace. If you want to have the opportunity to kill chickens, pheasants, grouse, and quail you are better off in KS or NE, but the pheasant numbers are not as high. Even in a good year in NE, as an example, you could kill a limit of pheasants on consistent basis, but you would have to hunt 6-8 hours and walk 10 miles to do it. I have rarely walked 10 miles in SD without killing 3 pheasants, and most years/trips we only walk 2-5 miles to kill our birds. In the last three days we have only walked 1 mile/bird for the three of us. And we have seen a lot more pheasants than that. If pheasants are what you are after then SD is where you want to be. Personally, IMHO, I think pheasants are the king of game birds (table fare, flushing, size, etc.) so I am willing to travel 14 hours to SD three times every year to hunt 5 days each time.
Don't delay your trip waiting for a better year, it may not get any better than this year.
We usually make three trips every year, one early (late October), one mid season (thanksgiving), and one after Christmas. Those are VERY differrent hunts and VERY different conditions--that is why we do it like that--we like it and we like hunting with different conditions!!! There is always 3-6 of us, no more, no less. I have hunted big groups (> 10) and have no desire to do that. It is A LOT easier to find birds for 3-6 than it is to find birds for 20. We have also hunted WY, NE, CO, and UT for the last 30 years. and we know what that is like. As a footnote I hunted NE for ~15-30 days every year for 15 years and I consistently killed a limit of pheasants and usually a few grouse and quail. I usually kill over 60 birds (pheasants) per year and have done it for the last 25 years. All of us have good dogs. Some are the best dogs you will ever hunt with, and others are average. The point is that we ALL have dogs, and that does make a difference, especially when you hit a bird and it is running away wounded. No way you will find a crippled bird without a dog on a CONSISTENT basis.
I personally have always killed a limit each day, other than last year, in SD. Most years I am donw within a few hours, and some days it is within a few minutes. Personally I think the numbers were down A LOT more last year (2012) than what the G&F said. I think it was due to sightability issues--when you mow/hay the majority of the ditches and CRP, like what was done last year, you will see more birds because the cover is gone and the birds are more visible--and thus estimate that numbers are up, like what they projected last year, IMHO.
Here is the report: Three of us killed a limit each day for the last 3 days, and we have two more to go. I think there are A LOT more birds than last year.
I realize some other folks are reporting not many birds, and one person even said "never again" would they come back. All I can say is--I think the birds are here and some people are saying "never again" just to keep folks away. We have seen as many roosters as we normally see given the conditions that we have.
Now on to our hunting conditions:
We have had nice weather and moist (i.e. good scent) conditions. Most of the crops are still in the field, although they are fevershly harvesting ALL crops right now (10/25). A storm is coming on Monday so that will delay the harvest. I predict that when we come back in a month it will be much better. We are primarily killing birds at the edge of standing and cut crops (sunflowers and corn).
Most of the ditches are in good shape and have grown back since last year, which is not what I would have predicted. Most of the CRP and ditches were harvested last year and most of them have grown back this year.
90% of the birds we have killed are YOY (young of year) and many are pretty small. Based on what we have seen I would say that the hatch was late, or that most surviving birds were hatched late in the year. Most of the birds have held very tight and the dogs have flushed them right off of their noses. The point with this is---without a dog these birds would not have flushed. The birds are holding and running when given a chance.
I will update my post after we are done with this hunt. My summary is that bird numbers are UP from last year. Another thing I will say is this--after hunting pheasants in CO, WY, NE, and UT for the last 25 years I will say that the PHEASANT hunting in SD is still the best of anyplace. If you want to have the opportunity to kill chickens, pheasants, grouse, and quail you are better off in KS or NE, but the pheasant numbers are not as high. Even in a good year in NE, as an example, you could kill a limit of pheasants on consistent basis, but you would have to hunt 6-8 hours and walk 10 miles to do it. I have rarely walked 10 miles in SD without killing 3 pheasants, and most years/trips we only walk 2-5 miles to kill our birds. In the last three days we have only walked 1 mile/bird for the three of us. And we have seen a lot more pheasants than that. If pheasants are what you are after then SD is where you want to be. Personally, IMHO, I think pheasants are the king of game birds (table fare, flushing, size, etc.) so I am willing to travel 14 hours to SD three times every year to hunt 5 days each time.
Don't delay your trip waiting for a better year, it may not get any better than this year.
