No weekend reports?

[Limitless]

I haven't seen any reports of people hunting in SD this past weekend.

Is it one of these?

- People aren't hunting
- People are hunting, but not getting birds
- People are hunting and getting birds, but not reporting it

Did @A5 Sweet 16 and @Golden Hour take out all the roosters, and there are none left for January?

 

[molliesmaster]

Wish I was up there giving it the ole college try.

 

[Weimdogman]

I have hunted with 2 guys , 3 guys , 4 guys , 5 and 6 guys with from 3 to 6 dogs over 12 of the last 14 days. Have gotten birds every day and are seeing a good # of hens.

 

[Limitless]

I have hunted with 2 guys , 3 guys , 4 guys , 5 and 6 guys with from 3 to 6 dogs over 12 of the last 14 days. Have gotten birds every day and are seeing a good # of hens.

So option 3. Keeping them all secret, huh?

Don't worry. I won't tell anyone there are birds there.

 

[Golden Hour]

Was out on Sunday and shot three roosters. Planning to get out tomorrow and see what the local WPAs have to offer.

 

[wingsnfins]

Was out on Sunday and shot three roosters. Planning to get out tomorrow and see what the local WPAs have to offer.

What is the thoughts with WPAs vs GPAs? I hit a GPA today that had everything on it....CRP, trees, evergreens, corn, sorghum, grass, sweet clover and thin cattail slough....private field of picked corn on one border....not even a hen! Dog never even got birdy. Hunted out? Pressured out?
Just curious.

 

[wingsnfins]

---

@ Limitless......my thoughts exactly.

 

[Limitless]

Was out on Sunday and shot three roosters. Planning to get out tomorrow and see what the local WPAs have to offer.

Another person keeping the pheasant action a secret, until called out.

Good luck at the WPAs.

 

[Limitless]

What is the thoughts with WPAs vs GPAs? I hit a GPA today that had everything on it....CRP, trees, evergreens, corn, sorghum, grass, sweet clover and thin cattail slough....private field of picked corn on one border....not even a hen! Dog never even got birdy. Hunted out? Pressured out?
Just curious.

I am sure others who live there will have their own thoughts, but my experiences have been that the gpa's get hit pretty hard.

 

[wingsnfins]

I am sure others who live there will have their own thoughts, but my experiences have been that the gpa's get hit pretty hard.

That's what I was figuring, wondering.
Saw some dirty ditch birds on minimum maintenance roads adjacent to some public but that damn barbed wire keeps me at bay, my dog has 1 speed.....he'd be through it and ripped open before he ever thought twice!

 

[Limitless]

Sometimes when there isn't even a hen, I start to wonder if someone is shooting hens, or there is just a bad predator issue. I had a similar experience at a wma in MN year. Tons of corn and almost no birds. It bordered a tiny town. Part of me wondered if the residents went out for a little hen extermination party, to prevent having to deal with shots right out their back doors.

 

[Limitless]

That's what I was figuring, wondering.
Saw some dirty ditch birds on minimum maintenance roads adjacent to some public but that damn barbed wire keeps me at bay, my dog has 1 speed.....he'd be through it and ripped open before he ever thought twice!

That's too bad. I somehow convinced mine that she should stay clear, and for the most part, she does. I do worry about a bird flushing to the other sides of fences, because I could see her being less careful then.

 

[wingsnfins]

That's too bad. I somehow convinced mine that she should stay clear, and for the most part, she does. I do worry about a bird flushing to the other sides of fences, because I could see her being less careful then.

Lab brain for mine....."see obstacle, go through it"

 

[carptom1]

That's what I was figuring, wondering.
Saw some dirty ditch birds on minimum maintenance roads adjacent to some public but that damn barbed wire keeps me at bay, my dog has 1 speed.....he'd be through it and ripped open before he ever thought twice!

It’s not just your dog…. 725 on a Friday night in Aberdeen

 

[Limitless]

It’s not just your dog…. 725 on a Friday night in Aberdeen

Ouch! What part of the animal are we looking at here?

Besides the cut, if mine gets shaved, then she doesn't have protection from the vegetation. A well meaning vet did that to her dew claw toe a month back (without asking me), and I had a devil of a time with it getting rubbed raw for weeks after.

 

[PairOfLabs]

Well darn. I've got the back half of both a ND and SD license but it doesn't look like I will get to use them. I'll make a few more eastern CO trips but expect to be mostly looking at the scenery.

 

[carptom1]

Ouch! What part of the animal are we looking at here?

Besides the cut, if mine gets shaved, then she doesn't have protection from the vegetation. A well meaning vet did that to her dew claw toe a month back (without asking me), and I had a devil of a time with it getting rubbed raw for weeks after.

So it was her upper front leg. I was driving east of Aberdeen back in October and it was the last hours of a six day ND/SD hunt. We were both tired and needed one more bird an hour or so before dark. Saw several sitting in a tree on a really dirty looking minimum maintenance road. The fence wasn’t good but enough of it was under some blowdown to cause an issue. I shot a bird and she pounced into the grass and I heard a yelp but she continued on and grabbed the bird in some heavy cover. As I grabbed the bird from her I noticed some blood on her front leg. I took her back to the truck and cleaned it up a bit. It was a deep gash 5 or so inches long. It was a little more than I wanted to field doctor as I worry about infection. She ended up with eight internal stitches and 7 external staples. I bought a one leg protective sleeve to protect the area and she hunted for four days right after she got her staples out. We have barbed wire on our property so she is good at negotiating it. This one just tricked both of us.

 

[Limitless]

I bought a one leg protective sleeve to protect the area

Do you have a link to that product?

 

[Bigdave]

Hunted South Dakota last weekend, saw lots of hunters. Birds seem to be pushed out of a lot of walk-ins. The weather was warm so the birds were out of heavy cover and spread out more. Seemed to stay out in short grass or corn all day and went back to cover late. Rained Monday. Still managed to get a few and had fun .

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

Saturday, Sunday & yesterday. East central SD. Hunted public land & a few ditches. Saw real good numbers of pheasants. Public land is quite a challenge right now because with no snow, there's as much cover now as there was in October (minus standing corn). In most cases, roosters are using small portions of public spots & for very brief portions of the day. They seem to try to avoid being hunted.