My First SD Hunt

[BritChaser]

Went up to Martin SD to start my first SD hunting trip. Had three inches of fresh powder the first night. Hunted all public ground with a focus on game production areas. Saw 150 pheasants in the first one, all but a few hens of which were far in the distance, very spooked. Went east and hit a few spots in Winner's county and then hit a couple of spots just east of the Missouri R. Spent my last night in Platte SD, hunting east from there until mid-afternoon the third day of the trip. The habitat development, in the Winner area in particular, was amazing. About every 40 to 80 acres of private farm land along the highways had a habitat belt in it. They've gone all in for pheasants up there.

 

[CRP]

The Winner/Gregory area has been THE king of the pay-hunt zones forever. It's also home to a plethora of "well-heeled" folks buying cropland to hunt on.

On the other hand, Martin is very popular to the GPA/WIA hunters. Even though the habitat was awful this year, it is home to a lot of wild birds. However, they get hunted almost every day from the special res-only opener through Jan. Consequently, it takes a special day of bad weather to have any success.

 

[BritChaser]

The Winner/Gregory area has been THE king of the pay-hunt zones forever. It's also home to a plethora of "well-heeled" folks buying cropland to hunt on.

On the other hand, Martin is very popular to the GPA/WIA hunters. Even though the habitat was awful this year, it is home to a lot of wild birds. However, they get hunted almost every day from the special res-only opener through Jan. Consequently, it takes a special day of bad weather to have any success.

It was a learning experience for me.