519vx
Member
Well, where to start. This will be a little lengthy and may ramble a little and frankly isn't going to be a cut to the chase bird killing only report, but it?s a pretty good recap of my trip to the mecca of ringneck pheasant hunting. Last year I made my first trip there, pretty much blind with the exception of some great help and assistance and encouragement I got from some of the folks from right here on UPH that are probably reading this now. To hunt South Dakota was a life bucket list thing for me. I enjoyed my time there so much last year, that I decided to return this year. Last year it was just my younger Golden retriever Sage and I that went. This year, older golden Kaytee and my wife came with me. My wife doesn?t hunt, but was up for the adventure and to see ?her? dog Kaytee work for wild birds. Unfortunately here in Wisconsin, there are almost no opportunities for the average guy to hunt wild birds, we are forced to hunt State released birds and game farms.
We left home Wednesday and drove about ? way. The trip is about 12 hours from my house in Wisconsin to my final destination area (Pierre area) in south central South Dakota. We got a good start Thursday morning and stopped at Cabela?s in Mitchell. Yeah, it?s kind of a tourist thing to do, but I just gotta walk around there, especially when they have a 40 foot tall rooster out front!
After Cabela?s, I was able to meet up with a friend in the Mitchell area for a little hunting. That said, it isn?t all about hunting. Back home, I live a pretty hectic life that doesn?t allow for a lot of down time or social time. I hadn?t seen my friend in a year, and we had some catch up talk time to do. He hadn?t met my wife Kathy, and his wife and Kathy also got to chat for a while. It felt good there just doing that, standing around and shootin? the sh*t for a while.
On to the hunt?I was encouraged driving out there as not long before Mitchell, I started seeing signs of pheasants. I saw some from the interstate, and a handful that had been hit by cars along the road. I don?t like seeing them having been hit, but it was a good sign of some birds around! It was early afternoon, and the weather was warm with a slight breeze. I started by working a grass strip along a great looking shelter belt. Scenting conditions were tough. The dogs got birdy twice along the first part of the grass row, toward the end. I suspect that the tough scenting conditions coupled with dogs that had been cooped up in the truck for two days didn?t help. It didn?t matter, we were hunting. Part of a hunting trip to me is taking it all in, not just the hard push to cover ground and shoot birds. I stopped about midway down that grass strip where a Russian Olive tree was growing in the middle of the grass, away from the shelter belt. There?s a pretty nice buck on that property, because he had done a number on that olive tree. The branch/trunk was a good 4? in diameter and it was all torn up. That was cool to see that buck rub and didn?t delay me from hunting, but instead just added to an already great day.
The piece of cover we were working was probably close to ? mile long, and did a 90 degree bend about mid way, then ran straight to a section road. When I was about ? way through, my older dog got birdy, real birdy. In classic SD wild bird style, it was off to the races. This bird wasn?t going up easy and my car tired, warm, and thirsty dogs suddenly came to life. Goldens are flushers, and the closer and fresher the scent, the faster the tail is going, the closer the bird is. It?s just a hoot to watch and you can tell they are close, real close when the tail gets whipping. About then, I notice my friend has parked his truck on the section road and has his gun out to act as a blocker. Cool. The dogs kept working and finally put up a hen pheasant. Was I disappointed? Maybe just a tad, but I was smiling just the same. A little further down, they put up another hen. When I met my buddy, he said there were several roosters and a couple of more hens sitting in the ditched that flushed as he pulled up. It figures, but that?s just how it is sometime.
I?m not in the best physical shape for several reasons, and I was hot and tired and it was starting to get later in the afternoon. My buddy says hey, do you want to try a little bit down by some food plots? OF COURSE I DO!
We headed down there and as we were chatting, I hear the cackle of a rooster. Then another. There isn?t a prettier sound then that. We started working the cover and the dogs birdy. Suddenly from the edge of the plot, up goes a rooster, cackling away. The bird is to my side, flying left to right. I line up on him, and he folds up and goes down in some knee to thigh high grass. What a feeling?in that beautiful country and I just (think) got my first wild SD rooster of 2014. The dogs are already over where it went down, but they aren?t stopping and aren?t retrieving. We make our way over there (I had a pretty decent sight line on where it went down) and the dogs aren?t birdy and there?s no bird. Hmmm. Maybe he buried in the grass? My buddy and I start doing a grid search while both dogs are back and forth. Nothing. Not a good feeling. I?m bummed, it doesn?t happen very often at all that I lose a bird. Somewhat reluctantly, we resume hunting. It was clear that the birds were using the food plots as over the next 45 minutes or so, several other roosters flushed. Many were out of range or flushed and flew too low in front of the dogs for a shot, but admittedly I missed a nice bird as well. Exhausted from the heat and hunt, we regrouped and talked. Not about anything in particular...we talked about the birds, the one lost, about past times, and future plans. It was awesome. I didn?t have a care in the world, all was good. The sun started to set, and the roosters in that field started to let us know they were still there. Imagine sunset on the prairie, the temperature now cooling off and the breeze is now gone. It?s completely calm. The dogs are wiped out and at our feet while we just take it all in and smile at one another as another rooster cackles in the distance on this beautiful property that no written description can do justice to. That is what hunting is all about. That is why I made a 700 mile trip. I bid my friend farewell and headed the truck west toward Pierre.
We left home Wednesday and drove about ? way. The trip is about 12 hours from my house in Wisconsin to my final destination area (Pierre area) in south central South Dakota. We got a good start Thursday morning and stopped at Cabela?s in Mitchell. Yeah, it?s kind of a tourist thing to do, but I just gotta walk around there, especially when they have a 40 foot tall rooster out front!
After Cabela?s, I was able to meet up with a friend in the Mitchell area for a little hunting. That said, it isn?t all about hunting. Back home, I live a pretty hectic life that doesn?t allow for a lot of down time or social time. I hadn?t seen my friend in a year, and we had some catch up talk time to do. He hadn?t met my wife Kathy, and his wife and Kathy also got to chat for a while. It felt good there just doing that, standing around and shootin? the sh*t for a while.
On to the hunt?I was encouraged driving out there as not long before Mitchell, I started seeing signs of pheasants. I saw some from the interstate, and a handful that had been hit by cars along the road. I don?t like seeing them having been hit, but it was a good sign of some birds around! It was early afternoon, and the weather was warm with a slight breeze. I started by working a grass strip along a great looking shelter belt. Scenting conditions were tough. The dogs got birdy twice along the first part of the grass row, toward the end. I suspect that the tough scenting conditions coupled with dogs that had been cooped up in the truck for two days didn?t help. It didn?t matter, we were hunting. Part of a hunting trip to me is taking it all in, not just the hard push to cover ground and shoot birds. I stopped about midway down that grass strip where a Russian Olive tree was growing in the middle of the grass, away from the shelter belt. There?s a pretty nice buck on that property, because he had done a number on that olive tree. The branch/trunk was a good 4? in diameter and it was all torn up. That was cool to see that buck rub and didn?t delay me from hunting, but instead just added to an already great day.
The piece of cover we were working was probably close to ? mile long, and did a 90 degree bend about mid way, then ran straight to a section road. When I was about ? way through, my older dog got birdy, real birdy. In classic SD wild bird style, it was off to the races. This bird wasn?t going up easy and my car tired, warm, and thirsty dogs suddenly came to life. Goldens are flushers, and the closer and fresher the scent, the faster the tail is going, the closer the bird is. It?s just a hoot to watch and you can tell they are close, real close when the tail gets whipping. About then, I notice my friend has parked his truck on the section road and has his gun out to act as a blocker. Cool. The dogs kept working and finally put up a hen pheasant. Was I disappointed? Maybe just a tad, but I was smiling just the same. A little further down, they put up another hen. When I met my buddy, he said there were several roosters and a couple of more hens sitting in the ditched that flushed as he pulled up. It figures, but that?s just how it is sometime.
I?m not in the best physical shape for several reasons, and I was hot and tired and it was starting to get later in the afternoon. My buddy says hey, do you want to try a little bit down by some food plots? OF COURSE I DO!
We headed down there and as we were chatting, I hear the cackle of a rooster. Then another. There isn?t a prettier sound then that. We started working the cover and the dogs birdy. Suddenly from the edge of the plot, up goes a rooster, cackling away. The bird is to my side, flying left to right. I line up on him, and he folds up and goes down in some knee to thigh high grass. What a feeling?in that beautiful country and I just (think) got my first wild SD rooster of 2014. The dogs are already over where it went down, but they aren?t stopping and aren?t retrieving. We make our way over there (I had a pretty decent sight line on where it went down) and the dogs aren?t birdy and there?s no bird. Hmmm. Maybe he buried in the grass? My buddy and I start doing a grid search while both dogs are back and forth. Nothing. Not a good feeling. I?m bummed, it doesn?t happen very often at all that I lose a bird. Somewhat reluctantly, we resume hunting. It was clear that the birds were using the food plots as over the next 45 minutes or so, several other roosters flushed. Many were out of range or flushed and flew too low in front of the dogs for a shot, but admittedly I missed a nice bird as well. Exhausted from the heat and hunt, we regrouped and talked. Not about anything in particular...we talked about the birds, the one lost, about past times, and future plans. It was awesome. I didn?t have a care in the world, all was good. The sun started to set, and the roosters in that field started to let us know they were still there. Imagine sunset on the prairie, the temperature now cooling off and the breeze is now gone. It?s completely calm. The dogs are wiped out and at our feet while we just take it all in and smile at one another as another rooster cackles in the distance on this beautiful property that no written description can do justice to. That is what hunting is all about. That is why I made a 700 mile trip. I bid my friend farewell and headed the truck west toward Pierre.
