Is South Dakota just hype?

A5 Sweet 16 said:
That "spike" (if you will) occurred basically from 1999-2012.
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That is when I started pheasant hunting (MN) and the peak of that spike occurred from 2005-2008, which closely follows the peak amount of land enrolled in CRP. 2006 and 2007 were seasons that I will never experience in my lifetime again.

If you also look at Iowa's historical data, you can see that they also had a rooster harvest of a million birds during this era. And then at one point, only 15 years later, their harvest was just over 150,000 birds. The loss of habitat there is astonishing.
 
birddude said:
I came away with the feeling that there was no way a wild population of birds could withstand the pressure that I saw.
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Yes, a wild population can withstand it. Most times, they simply aren't on the land when it's being hunted, or they make themselves nearly impossible to hunt. This is made easier on/near preserves, because wild pheasants know that by law, the owner has to release birds that are much, much easier to shoot & the clientele won't pass them up. You may SEE a ton of hunters sometimes in SD, but most of them aren't doing much other than educating pheasants & being laughed at by the ones who were educated previously.
 
Come on man....I'm gonna put this to rest right now. I hunt or have hunted SD, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.
South Dakota is the only place I've ever hunted that when you're out in the fields at sundown, you hear THOUSANDS OF roosters cackling IN EVERY DIRECTION. THOUSANDS. Doesn't matter what road I'm on. When we finish our day and are standing around telling stories....it's absolutely crazy how many birds are out there.
It's not all hype. There's no place like it.

Now, is it easy? NO. More birds means more eyes and more ears to see and here you coming. Also means more hunters which means birds getting educated real quick. I would say we shoot as many in other states because there aren't as many and they're easier to get close to? But there's no place like South Dakota
 
benelli-banger said:
Plenty of hype, plenty of good hunting as well. Like many other states. Habitat is where it’s at. Most birds I’ve seen the past few seasons were not in SD. But plenty in SD…ND, MT, MN, IA, KS…
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On Point benelli banger !

Here is my experience from the past recent years. If a state has had large numbers of bird population and habitat then with the declined of both, it is still better than a state with less population of birds and habitat. I have travel to SD, Montana, NEB, KS etc and in most cases had to work harder than say the glory days. All in all is better than just watching Utube on upland hunting. I have never heard of a bird dog becoming a bird dog just seating around. To all HAPPY HUNTING this coming season wherever you go.
 
20-30 years ago we’d pull up to certain big block crp fields and we’d honk the horn and slam doors just to watch the swarm of pheasants erupt and sit back down, thousand birds give or take in a 1/2 section, we’d then hunt and have a big old time. ‘93-2003 was silly…had great hunting through 2011, then weather changes and reduced crp caught up with things. Still
have a great time, just small groups and smaller chunks of cover than 20+ years ago. Dogs are just as excited, me too!!!! 🤪
 
benelli-banger said:
had great hunting through 2011, then weather changes and reduced crp caught up with things
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Yep, that's when I noticed a significant change too. 2012 and 2013 winters really made things worse quickly here in MN and 2014 was the worst hunting season I had in 25 years of upland hunting.
 
Hutcho said:
I'm somewhere between #1 and #2. Growing up it was all #2 but as family either passed away, moved away, or just quit farming I have become more like group #1.

I guess the whole reason I started this thread was, you always hear the stories or see pictures and it's so many pheasants you can't see the sun. So even if you scale that WAY down to more realistic numbers it still sounds like really good hunting. I was just curious where the difference is between the overzealous stories and advertising and the real life boots on the ground hunting. I think you guys have nailed it! Sounds about like anywhere really. If you put the work in you're gonna find birds, maybe just more than other places...
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So I have have seen things in South Dakota I have never seen anywhere else. Have probably made 25-30 trips in the last 15-18 years. In that time I have seen things that I have never seen anywhere else. Have been witness to countless hundred plus flushes of birds including 3 or 4 that were north of 1000. 10 years ago it was nothing to see a few thousand in a 4 day hunt. All private all wild birds. Blotting out the sun? Well I don’t know about that, but there are a few on this site that were there with me. I don’t have access to that anymore and have no aspirations of seeing it again. If I guy goes up there thinking he is going to just grab an atlas and hunt public within 25 miles of a bigger city, in the first few weeks of the season, he is probably going to think that it is a lot of hype. But I know for a fact that a guy can get a little intel, put in a little work and find some birds. I have talked to many on here that have done it. That said I am going to be there at some point with a 10 month old puppy trying not to pull my hair out.
 
I’m guessing we are in pretty similar situations. I’ve hunted ks my whole life and always heard the stories about sd. I finally went last year. Did it meet my wildest dreams of easy limits and hundreds of birds flushing at once? No, but it’s all going to be about expectations. I hunt solo and had no inside intel. I also stayed primarily in the se part of the state so not maybe the hot spot. I did shoot birds every day and missed some I should have shot. I also spent about 5 weekends in western ks and my average daily take ended up being about the same for both places. However I’ve spent years hunting the same area’s of ks versus being a 1st timer in sd which I’m sure makes a huge difference. All said I enjoyed my time there and will go back again but I’m not sure it met the hype or picture I had in my head.
 
benelli-banger said:
Hit lots of spots. That’s key.
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This is always something I wonder about. And I'm not disagreeing with you. But sometimes if you are hunting a large parcel and there are good pieces of cover spread about it, I have a hard time leaving it. Should I stay or should I go?
 
Bob Peters said:
This is always something I wonder about. And I'm not disagreeing with you. But sometimes if you are hunting a large parcel and there are good pieces of cover spread about it, I have a hard time leaving it. Should I stay or should I go?
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Your dog won't tell you if there are a few roosters a quarter mile to the southeast, so you have to trust yourself. If you think a spot is likely to hold birds at the time you're hunting it, hunt it. But that needs to be determined before you even get out of the truck. I never get into a spot, decide it's no good, turn around & leave. I go to a spot because based on cover type, weather conditions, time of day, etc., I think it's more likely to have some pheasants, located where they might actually be huntable. I don't hunt a spot simply because it's a bunch of grass or cattails that I happen across. A spot has to make sense. Comes with experience.
 
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I rarely hunt a spot that I don’t have virtually 100% certainty that it holds birds, either by prior experience or visual sighting, tracks (snow), etc. Good areas that have good #’s of birds will provide lots of visual data as to bird #’s, especially when crops are out. But a spot that I pick that I’ve never been in and have no idea if it holds birds doesn’t take too long to deduce if it holds birds…the birds may be 100-300 yards away, but the dogs do give more than a few clues if the birds had been in the currently birdless area within a reasonable time frame. And this discussion leads to a bigger point: you can wander in a sea of cover for 2 hours (1-2 guys) and come out with a few birds, or you can hit 5 spots the size of a football field and shoot limits. I am happy to wander and sight-see in a half-section, and push birds around, or focus on small cover where I’m likely to flush birds and get shots. Or, pick micro-cover within larger fields and accomplish the same thing…small cover without adjoining escape cover, for example…not rocket-surgery 🤪….it’s all good, enjoy! 🍺☮️👍
 
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Bob Peters said:
This is always something I wonder about. And I'm not disagreeing with you. But sometimes if you are hunting a large parcel and there are good pieces of cover spread about it, I have a hard time leaving it. Should I stay or should I go?
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If you’re in a general area that you’ve had poor luck in for a day or two, and you’re trudging around in a 2500 acre public spot and not contacting birds but there’s nice cover 1/2 mile away, etc, I’d get the hell out and move 20-50 miles and find birds and hunt small parcels…give the dogs a rest. I don’t care what time of day it is, but I see birds when I’m in decent or good or great areas…from the truck. Fisherman with all the electronic gear don’t drop a line til they find the depth, structure, and other data that they need to feel confident. I do the same thing by scouting…normally…sure, some areas may not produce, all part of the process.
 
I find that I spot game birds more often than whoever I’m with, or whoever is in other trucks…like anything else you get better at anything with experience…
 
There very well may be about 30 thousand people who used to hunt Kansas in Sd this year. I may be one of them. I’ll put more thought into when as well as what days of the week , and where I’ll be doing it.
 
benelli-banger said:
I rarely hunt a spot that I don’t have virtually 100% certainty that it holds birds, either by prior experience or visual sighting, tracks (snow), etc. Good areas that have good #’s of birds will provide lots of visual data as to bird #’s, especially when crops are out. But a spot that I pick that I’ve never been in and have no idea if it holds birds doesn’t take too long to deduce if it holds birds…the birds may be 100-300 yards away, but the dogs do give more than a few clues if the birds had been in the currently birdless area within a reasonable time frame. And this discussion leads to a bigger point: you can wander in a sea of cover for 2 hours (1-2 guys) and come out with a few birds, or you can hit 5 spots the size of a football field and shoot limits. I am happy to wander and sight-see in a half-section, and push birds around, or focus on small cover where I’m likely to flush birds and get shots. Or, pick micro-cover within larger fields and accomplish the same thing…small cover without adjoining escape cover, for example…not rocket-surgery 🤪….it’s all good, enjoy! 🍺☮️👍
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This conversation highlights some of the many reasons I love pheasant hunting. The challenge of uncertainty, even when you think you're pretty certain. Also, variety. Sometimes I might get into a big piece of CRP during the golden hour on a beautiful late October evening. Combines growling through the surrounding fields. Sun low in the sky; you can practically hear it light up the corn & grass as you wait to hear &/or see a couple roosters flutter in from the corn. I'm there to shoot pheasants, but if I don't, just being there seems like reward enough. Conversely, I might walk a 100-yd stretch of cattail ditch with some thickets next to picked corn, full of tracks, when it's -10 & blowing 20 mph & wonder why there weren't a couple dumb roosters in there that I could shoot and go home. Now I have to hunt another ditch & hope they're in THAT one!! I pretend not to love it, but I do. :ROFLMAO:
 
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