January Solo Hunt

BrdHntr

Active member
Good morning guys, back from a five day solo trip. Did this last January as well, taking advantage of the extended season (& retirement). Last year's trip started with 3" of fresh snow, perfect! This trip featured no snow, except some residual drifting........enough in certain cases to show tracks. The first two days were cold, but calm. Temps around 0 to start, and warmed up to a balmy 15-20 degrees. Those temps suit me fine, and considered ideal to me...............being a sweat hog🤣 The birds were jumpy due to the calm conditions, but put in enough miles to limit both days. The next three days saw the warmer temps, and wind. Winds the first of these three days was ridiculous.........20-25 sustained and gusts to +40. The goods news was closer flushes, and boy were they gone in a hurry catching the wind. That had to be one of the windiest days hunting out there. Instead of drifting snow, it was dust. I was covered by days end. Winds still blew to finish up the trip, but much more manageable. I was able to hunt without gloves one day, which was really nice. One of the highlights of this trip was Pop finding a winged rooster in a critter hole. She couldn't reach in far enough and grab the bird, so I put to put my arm in and pulled it out. What a memory! (gate pic) She made some great cripple retrieves, and found some tight sitting roosters in thick cattails. Pure pleasure watching her in action. We were able to limit every day. Only heard a few shots one day, didn't see any hunters, and there were no hunters at the hotel. It was extremely dry, so bought some Bag Balm to apply to Pop's pads. It definitely helped.
Very enjoyable trip, saw quite a few birds, and would put the rooster/hen numbers at around 50/50.
 

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What general area were you in? I was thinking about heading out myself for a solo trip. Would love any hotel recommendations you could give.
 
Thanks Miforester, appreciate it!

Wise12375 - Huron area. The Super 8 and Dakota Inn are dog friendly...............best of luck if you head out! Most of the decent sized towns have dog friendly hotels/motels, just check in advance.
 
Thank you KSBRITTMAN and Chessie 67, Pop will often hesitate before the flush................our last lab did that all the time; it really gives you the chance to be set for the flush.................great dog work enhances the experience beyond measure...............their enthusiasm is contagious!
 
Find yourself a pup Fallfreak. They bring great joy to the home (& grandchildren) and provide that extra push to get out and chase upland birds (& waterfowl in our case). The hard part is trying to perform as well as they do!
Here's our early December addition, a surprise from my wife, and a trainee for Pop next year!
 

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Find yourself a pup Fallfreak. They bring great joy to the home (& grandchildren) and provide that extra push to get out and chase upland birds (& waterfowl in our case). The hard part is trying to perform as well as they do!
Here's our early December addition, a surprise from my wife, and a trainee for Pop next year!
That looks like a great playmate for Pop. I'm hoping to add a brittany this spring. He is right Fallfreak, the pup will be your cheapest investment and will bring you the greatest joy and memories. Once you get one you will be hooked for life.
 
BrdHntr, appreciate your info. I am thinking somewhere around MItchell, or somewhere around Huron. Does anyone have any feedback about which area might be more productive for a single hunter with good dog? I can only assume that cattails is probably the place to be? Would habitat around Huron or Mitchell be better for late season birds? Appreciate any advice from public land late season hunters!!
 
Find yourself a pup Fallfreak. They bring great joy to the home (& grandchildren) and provide that extra push to get out and chase upland birds (& waterfowl in our case). The hard part is trying to perform as well as they do!
Here's our early December addition, a surprise from my wife, and a trainee for Pop next year!
I would love to get a puppy. I grew up in KS with German shorthairs. Something really special about watching a dog hunt for you. Then moved to TN after college and have lived here for 25 years. Only get to pheasant and quail hunt a couple times a year. Not sure I could do that to a dog that's born to hunt. Once the kids start heading off to college I'm hoping I have more time to take trips afield and will entertain the idea of having a hunting companion once again.
 
I'm going to piggy-back off this thread with my recent solo trip as well.

Weather was fantastic, snow is minimal, birds are around but they are smart. Hunted all day Saturday - Monday, anywhere within 50 miles North and South of I-90, east of Hwy 45 and West of Hwy 19, my "base camp" was conveniently located in the middle of that area - Mitchell.

Birds are very smart, they DO NOT want to fly. Some birds ran like crazy and resulted in sprinting behind the dog, some of which never flushed and some of which flushed a long long ways away. Some birds (every bird that was shot) held extremely tight - I have a lab that has developed a little point over the years, and every bird I shot was one that never ran, but he had pointed for several seconds. Had one bird hold so tight - I shot a rooster, didn't move, dog searched and retrieved, I still hadn't moved for about 1 minute after shooting, and a rooster flushed about 2' away from me. I had unknowingly shot over it and stood next to it for a minute before it flushed. When working field edges, could even see some birds run out of the grass and along the field edge ahead of us.

10am-Noon - Saw birds in cattail areas.
Noon - 4:00 - really struggled to see much of anything, seemed to be lighter loafing cover in between corn fields and cattails maybe held a couple, or else really couldn't find them anywhere.
4:00-5:00 - Saw birds in cattail areas.

Days 1 and 2, focused on big sections and finding different pieces of cover within them, this resulted in a lot of walking... Get into 1x1 mile sections, chase a bird here and there, and before you know it you've spent 3 hours walking the same section and wasted a lot of the day. Day 3, focused on small sections, pieces of land that were tiny, or maybe had cover that had been cut or was short but had a little area of grass or cattails way in the back. Areas that were small enough the holding birds had to eventually fly and couldn't just keep running for a mile.

I enjoy trips that are hard and take from 10am - sunset to get a limit. I enjoy the physical challenging aspect of it, in 3 days I walked 31.5 miles on my Garmin Watch. Probably the most I've ever done in a 3 day stretch, and it was fun. I'm thankful for the extended season, it was a very fun 3 days! And better hunting and weather than my trip 2 months ago. If it wasn't for a young family at home that needs me, I'd be back again each of the next 2 weekends.

The attached picture is not what I would envision for a January trip to SD, 48 degree afternoon, 3 birds, no snow. I would have envisioned 0 zero degrees, 20mph wind, blowing snow, and being darn tired from breaking through snow drifts.
 

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And for anyone planning a DIY SD Trip, they are very possible to do for cheap. Lots of factors (weather, dog work, shooting, right place at right time), but you can have success (I would classify that as a reasonable expectation for a 1-2 person limit with the factors in your favor) on a public land trip about 75% of the time.

3 days hunting, left home early Saturday morning, hunted all day Saturday - Monday, returned late Monday night.
Non-Resident License: $121 (divide by 2 trips though) = $60.5
Gas: $150?
Lodging: $55/night x 2 = $110
Food: $9. I bought one meal from a local grocery store deli. Or else I had everything else prepared in advance from things I already had at home. I am not going to count them into my cost because if I did not go, I still would have ate the exact same things just in my own home instead. You can also make an argument that you should not bring your own food and instead should support local small town businesses that rely on hunting tourism- I get that and will often do that when with a few other hunters, but this was a quick, cheap, DIY trip.
Shells: I'm not going to count those on this trip because I used up random steel shells from previous years.
Total: $329.50 = $110/day = $36.66/bird = maybe not as cheap as I thought. Could go to a local game farm for that price, but that would be nowhere near as fun.
 
Life is short, much can happen that will prevent these trips in the future…so yes, go! Nothing else compares…well, I do love the prairie grouse/hun trips as well! But go!!!🥳
 
Strictly from a dog's perspective, they don't care if the bird was hatched in a barn or in a SD ditch, but we do. The dog learns from every bird.
Repetition builds confidence. We might learn from from failure, but our dogs??
 
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