I just got the new Pointing Dog Journal yesterday, such a relief to get a magazine that has articles I want to read, ( no bonefishing in the keys crap), but I digress. An article by a long time pheasant hunter, and guide in South Dakota, suggests than the decline of pheasants virtually everywhere, except South Dakota, is a reflection of the regulations which allow sun-up hunting, thereby catching the birds on the roost, and later quitting time, which disturbs birds just prior to roosting leaving them vunerable all night, in possibly hostile weather, and secondary cover subject to predadation. He also likes the limited out of state lisence, to reduce pressure. Food for thought..... I think I would be willing to adapt to these rules, for a trial period, to see if there is anything to it. Makes the game tougher, wonder how many birds we would get! My wife heartily agrees! she having no warm feeling for the pre-dawn excursions, preferring a more civilized hour! Dogs vote for early and often... stay till it's dark.
New Regulations?
- Thread starter oldandnew
- Start date
landman
New member
In my opinion, the argument about the reduction of birds due to sun up to dusk hunting being responsible for the reduction of pheasants doesn't have much merit. I believe that habitat is the major factor in pheasant populations. Increase habitat for nesting and winter protection and you will have more pheasants.
onpoint
Active member
Did the article mention anything about the state of South Dakota(and it's residents) releasing millions of pen raised birds?
Most other states(residents) don't do this. IMO, the Pheasant is a commodity much like a cob of corn in South Dakota. It's raised, cultivated and harvested like any other commodity there. It's just another crop to many. Other states don't do this to the extent that South Dakota does.
Most other states(residents) don't do this. IMO, the Pheasant is a commodity much like a cob of corn in South Dakota. It's raised, cultivated and harvested like any other commodity there. It's just another crop to many. Other states don't do this to the extent that South Dakota does.
Article is amazingly short, does not point out the stocked bird aspect, ignores the fact that the pheasant is ingrained into the state's identity. ( Is it on their quarter?), but does point out that the farmers by and large use the same pesticides/herbicides, as neighboring states, the same farm practices by and large, yet the birds thrive in numbers. I've hunted North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, over the years. When it was good everywhere, I think Iowa, and Nebraska were equal to South Dakota, maybe better, North Dakota because of the vagarities of weather, just a notch below, along with Kansas,( just a personal observation here), Kansas maybe only because you get distracted by the quail, in the old days, at least I did. I travel now and see/hunt some really good habitat, better than some years ago, still limited numbers of birds, in traditionally strong areas. I try to remember in my minds eye, and I don't see any real difference in the habitat. So what is it? We had blizzards and spring deluges then too. Populations never got this bad. I'm speaking now mostly of NE Kansas, NW Mssouri, SE Nebraska, and SW Iowa. Other area are of course better, butno like they were, even before we had CRP, and after the end of Soil Bank. Fewer hunters now too! I sometimes wonder if I have the dates wrong, because I don't see anybody else after Thanksgiving.
moellermd
Super Moderator
He has been smoking too many pheasant feathers. There is no limitation to out of staters. SD has more out of staters than any other state. It is all about habitat.
onpoint
Active member
Ya and you can buy as many Lic. as you want, as long as you have the money. The way I see homesteads and wood lots being bull dozed in my area. The farming from fence line to fence line is making major progress.
quail hound
Moderator
Our shooting hours are from 8am to on half hour before sunset, and we only harvest around 150,000 roosters per year. Maybe it has more to do with habitat than shooting hours, but I don't know. I think a good portion of SD's economy comes from pheasant hunting so it's in the states best interest to make sure there are birds to hunt. Our economy hinges on agriculture so it's in our states best interest to farm lean and clean. Jmo.
I would encourage everybody to read the article. But the theory he espouses is that by charging 100.00 for a 10 day lic. really 2x 5 day lic. you limit the number of weekend warriors from adjoining states, that hunt every weekend. I agree that the argument is stupid. I also will state that if it were possible for me to go every weekend to S.D. I would, and gladly pay the price. I agree it has more to do with the "value" placed on the resource by everybody in the community. If we had that kind of response in other states, we might have the same density of pheasants.... we might all be paying to hunt as well, since that seems to go hand in hand.
quail hound
Moderator
Calisdad;40704QH said:
moellermd
Super Moderator
The problem with that theory is that the majority of Non-resident license only get used for one 5 day period according to SDFGP.
i quit getting the PDJ some time ago, this type of stupidity in this article only reaffirms my abandonment of this publication as well substantiated.
i have hunted pheasants for over 40 years and i can tell you, for me, i kill the majority of my birds between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., day in and day out and it doesn't mean i am not out there some days at the crack of dawn either or chasing them until sundown, it often depends on the weather.
by now we all should know why SD has the biggest pheasant harvest year in and year out, yep, lots and lots of pen raised birds and a pretty favorable climate and habitat, thanks to preserves and lodges with dedicated CRP.
raising the fees and cutting back on hunting time will not increase the resource. birds are naturally moving from roost to grain fields in the early morning naturally, often making them harder to approach, so no huge advantage restricting hunting time to 10:00 a.m.
i have hunted pheasants for over 40 years and i can tell you, for me, i kill the majority of my birds between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., day in and day out and it doesn't mean i am not out there some days at the crack of dawn either or chasing them until sundown, it often depends on the weather.
by now we all should know why SD has the biggest pheasant harvest year in and year out, yep, lots and lots of pen raised birds and a pretty favorable climate and habitat, thanks to preserves and lodges with dedicated CRP.
raising the fees and cutting back on hunting time will not increase the resource. birds are naturally moving from roost to grain fields in the early morning naturally, often making them harder to approach, so no huge advantage restricting hunting time to 10:00 a.m.
he is wrong again, as this poster says, most guys make only 1 trip per year and they often don't hunt more than 3-4 days and often it is over a weekend.
Does anyone know how the SD Game and Fish arrived at that figure... only 1trip per year....I'm just curious is all..thanks
I don't think South Dakota is going to, or needs to change it's regulations, this guy wants all other states to emulate South Dakota in his opinion we would all be over-run with pheasants. All I have to say, is we have a strict turkey season in Missouri, and prior to a couple of bad nesting years, we were overun with the damn things, If you manage for quail and pheasant here, you get a few, but you get overun with turkeys. Yet the quail and pheasants struggle, and are pursued over a 75 day season, daylight till dark. Maybe the idea is simplistic, and we all like simplistic solutions to any problem, maybe this one as far as hunting hours is concerned is so stupid simple, as to be inspired. We put up with all kinds of insults and regulations in our sport, if this trial would help, why not. Kansas used to have a split opener west of US 81 two weeks later to protect quail, when the pheasant season opener was around the 6th of November. They must have had some biological reason to do so. Later hours might encourage landowners into a longer season, because some numb nut isn't beating on their door at 5:30 am to ask permission to hunt, or waking them up with a rousing chorus of shotgun blasts at 30 minutes before daylight. Might prevent freeze loss of birds rousted at dark, in 10 below weather. Don't even try to tell me this type of behavior doesn't happen. I've seen it and so have you.
You all can change the shooting time to what ever you like. It will not change anything. If the time to shoot starts at noon people like me will just have to hunt harder. My 8 year old can tell you, JUST OPEN THE SEASON and look out for him and his dog. Kansas is still always going to be #1 pheasant hunting state for those of us that aint afraid to walk a field. All SD did last year was teach me not to hire a guide if all you are doing is road hunting.
pheasantaddict
New member
PDJ is a good publication, the reference of one does not speak for all. Same as this forum, there are characters here but that does not make this a bad forum. I have a hard time believing that if given a choice in hunting times the vast majority would take sunrise or sunset. The last hour is SD could be known as the golden hour. I have shot way more birds at opening and closing of each day than in the middle.
Lots of wild roosters!
SD has millions of wild pheasants because SD still has some decent pheasant habitat plain and simple. Anyone who has had any experience at all hunting wild birds can easily tell the difference between a wild rooster and one that has been pen-raised. One obvious is that pen raised birds have open nostrils because they have worn hoods while in captivity. The other obvious is that they are just not very smart. A lot of guys do not like the "party" hunt experience...but the past two years 2008 and 2009 our groups have bagged our limits 3 days in a row in some of the better pheasant range and did not kill one pen raised bird! SD is and will remain pheasant mecca!
SD born and raised....sojourning in S. Indiana!
SD has millions of wild pheasants because SD still has some decent pheasant habitat plain and simple. Anyone who has had any experience at all hunting wild birds can easily tell the difference between a wild rooster and one that has been pen-raised. One obvious is that pen raised birds have open nostrils because they have worn hoods while in captivity. The other obvious is that they are just not very smart. A lot of guys do not like the "party" hunt experience...but the past two years 2008 and 2009 our groups have bagged our limits 3 days in a row in some of the better pheasant range and did not kill one pen raised bird! SD is and will remain pheasant mecca!
SD born and raised....sojourning in S. Indiana!