Day 1, all public land...
As usual, no matter how much preparation I do the night before, intending to get in the vehicle 15 minutes after my alarm goes off, it always takes me much longer. Instead of leaving at 5 AM, Honey and I rolled out closer to 6 AM. Ahead of us was a 6+ hour trip to the land of pheasants, not counting stops. Next comes the difficult decision of stopping at 10 AM in less pheasanty areas, or driving to our intended destination and missing out on a some hours of hunting. This trip, we decided to go all the way. After getting to our first stop and getting our gear on, it was after 12:30 PM. However, now that the days are getting longer, that did give us about 4.5 hours left to hunt.
Crossing the border, we saw SD being SD.
The first spot is a WIA we had hunted the previous week. The birds were very jumpy last time we saw them, but we managed to get one escaping out of a tree line surrounded by harvested beans. Last time we had walked a long ways to get to the tree line. This time we entered the property closer and parked just across the bean field from the trees.
We were greeted with mid teens temps and more than the 15 mph winds they promised (probably high teens and gusting into he 20s).
This time, only a single hen in the trees. We checked out the cattails past the trees and found another 28 hens/unknowns and 2 roosters, all flushing wild. Most were 30+ yards away. They were right at the edge of the cattails in wetland grasses or directly in the cattails, up to 60 yards in. I put on 2 miles and the inaccurate Garmin GPS collar recorded 3 for Honey.
Next, we drove around to the other end, where we had entered the previous week. This has a WPA butting up against the WIA, and the WIA has cut corn over there, in addition to some other private land cut corn next door, along one side of the WPA. We didn't flush any birds as we drove along theroad cow path to get to where we parked. We didn't even see any birds when we walked through the cattails to get to the interior frozen water of the large marsh. We walked the interior edge of the cattails for a ways and did get a few birds up, flushing wild. They flew across the water to the cattails on the other side.
We figured if they were flying over there, maybe we should check it out. We went over and walked that edge without much action. We proceeded to the south, where there are clumps of cattails and open areas around them. We got some birds up, but not many. We even ventured further to the east a bit, but didn't see many tracks. So we made our way around the interior of the west side, until the cattails looped to where we were walking east again, and rather than a 50 yard fringe of tails they were hundreds of yards to the north and east. It was over on this northerly, interior area, where the action started picking up. We were getting multiple flushes and multiples of multiples. 5 would flush wild, and while trying to pick out any roosters in the overcast conditions, another 10 would flush, drawing our attention. And while looking at them, another 15 would flush back the other way. Once in a while, we could pick out a rooster, but too far to get.
My battery ran out on the camera. I placed the gun between my legs and was just about to start changing the battery, when Honey, who had been rather still up ahead to the left, had a cackler give up and flush not too far in front of her. By the time I got my gun up, he was too far away to connect with. Our only close bird, and fate had other plans in store for me than to get that bird.
As we made our way further east, we'd find pockets of cattail-less spots, with TONS of tracks. We were almost to the edge of the WPA on the east side, when the birds started getting up from reed grass stands, and mainly flying either south or north to other areas of the slough. However, one young boy made the mistake of flushing just a bit too close and presented a going away shot. I dropped him as he was passing through the reed grass, heading east. His buddy went east a little north from the first bird, and I tickled him, but he kept on trucking into the next county.
I got through the tails and the bamboo, to find a little bit of wetland grasses before the field on the other side. After a brief explanation to Honey on what we were doing, she went into the reed grass, even though I thought he had fallen after getting through the clump, and would be in the shorter stuff. Less than a minute later, however, she had located him just inside the tall stuff, apparently dead on arrival from the 1 1/2 oz bismuth I tapped him on the butt with.
As always, Honey *loves* taking photos with the birds. (/sarcasm)
We made our way further south, finding clumps of birds here and there, but nothing we could connect with. We then made our way back to the north. At one point, we were wrapping around the outside of a reed grass stand, when one got up and provided a left-right crossing shot, at about 20-30 yards, that I promptly missed.
I believe there were only 4 reasonably shootable roosters by the time we were done. The one when my gun was down, the one we got, his buddy that we didn't get, and the crosser that I graciously spared.
How many birds did we see? Well, with those large flushes, I couldn't keep a completely accurate count, but my numbers ended up being 222 hens/unknowns and 23 confirmed roosters. So, although we only got one bird, we had quite a bit of excitement and chaos at that spot.
I ended up putting on another 5.5 miles, with Honey logging an inaccurate 11+ miles at the 2nd location. 7.5 miles total for me for the day. We got back to the vehicle right at sunset.
We were staying in a small town in ND, which is about a half an hour drive from where we were hunting. And small towns in ND, SD, MN, and many other places across this great land, often don't keep late hours for gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants. We had already missed the gas stations for the night (but were able to fill up the next morning). I was worried I might be having beef sticks or breakfast burritos (the only food I had along, other than some protein bars) for dinner, but there was exactly 1 restaurant still open. Without unloading at our lodging, I entered the restaurant in full pheasant orange attire (but I'm not a complete rube....I swapped out my orange cap for a brown Browning cap).
The special of the night was, what I call, an open faced beef sandwich, and what others call a Commercial. I had a cup of chili first, before devouring the beef, mashed potatoes and bread, doused in gravy.
We got to the house we were staying at and unloaded. Many more bedrooms and beds than what I need, but it was what was available at a reasonable price. After some exploring, Honey and "Pheasy" settled in, while I got stuff situated.
Outdoors artwork adorned the walls of the various rooms. Dogs, ducks, farm scenes. But my favorite was this simple rendition of our illustrious bird.
It was a long day. One bird is infinitely better, in my mind, than zero birds, and I was content with our outcome, given how unruly the birds were behaving on that overcast day. I didn't intend to put on so many miles the first day, but the garden path had other plans in store for me.
Thus began our 2nd January trip to SD in 2025.
As usual, no matter how much preparation I do the night before, intending to get in the vehicle 15 minutes after my alarm goes off, it always takes me much longer. Instead of leaving at 5 AM, Honey and I rolled out closer to 6 AM. Ahead of us was a 6+ hour trip to the land of pheasants, not counting stops. Next comes the difficult decision of stopping at 10 AM in less pheasanty areas, or driving to our intended destination and missing out on a some hours of hunting. This trip, we decided to go all the way. After getting to our first stop and getting our gear on, it was after 12:30 PM. However, now that the days are getting longer, that did give us about 4.5 hours left to hunt.
Crossing the border, we saw SD being SD.
The first spot is a WIA we had hunted the previous week. The birds were very jumpy last time we saw them, but we managed to get one escaping out of a tree line surrounded by harvested beans. Last time we had walked a long ways to get to the tree line. This time we entered the property closer and parked just across the bean field from the trees.
We were greeted with mid teens temps and more than the 15 mph winds they promised (probably high teens and gusting into he 20s).
This time, only a single hen in the trees. We checked out the cattails past the trees and found another 28 hens/unknowns and 2 roosters, all flushing wild. Most were 30+ yards away. They were right at the edge of the cattails in wetland grasses or directly in the cattails, up to 60 yards in. I put on 2 miles and the inaccurate Garmin GPS collar recorded 3 for Honey.
Next, we drove around to the other end, where we had entered the previous week. This has a WPA butting up against the WIA, and the WIA has cut corn over there, in addition to some other private land cut corn next door, along one side of the WPA. We didn't flush any birds as we drove along the
We figured if they were flying over there, maybe we should check it out. We went over and walked that edge without much action. We proceeded to the south, where there are clumps of cattails and open areas around them. We got some birds up, but not many. We even ventured further to the east a bit, but didn't see many tracks. So we made our way around the interior of the west side, until the cattails looped to where we were walking east again, and rather than a 50 yard fringe of tails they were hundreds of yards to the north and east. It was over on this northerly, interior area, where the action started picking up. We were getting multiple flushes and multiples of multiples. 5 would flush wild, and while trying to pick out any roosters in the overcast conditions, another 10 would flush, drawing our attention. And while looking at them, another 15 would flush back the other way. Once in a while, we could pick out a rooster, but too far to get.
My battery ran out on the camera. I placed the gun between my legs and was just about to start changing the battery, when Honey, who had been rather still up ahead to the left, had a cackler give up and flush not too far in front of her. By the time I got my gun up, he was too far away to connect with. Our only close bird, and fate had other plans in store for me than to get that bird.
As we made our way further east, we'd find pockets of cattail-less spots, with TONS of tracks. We were almost to the edge of the WPA on the east side, when the birds started getting up from reed grass stands, and mainly flying either south or north to other areas of the slough. However, one young boy made the mistake of flushing just a bit too close and presented a going away shot. I dropped him as he was passing through the reed grass, heading east. His buddy went east a little north from the first bird, and I tickled him, but he kept on trucking into the next county.
I got through the tails and the bamboo, to find a little bit of wetland grasses before the field on the other side. After a brief explanation to Honey on what we were doing, she went into the reed grass, even though I thought he had fallen after getting through the clump, and would be in the shorter stuff. Less than a minute later, however, she had located him just inside the tall stuff, apparently dead on arrival from the 1 1/2 oz bismuth I tapped him on the butt with.
As always, Honey *loves* taking photos with the birds. (/sarcasm)
We made our way further south, finding clumps of birds here and there, but nothing we could connect with. We then made our way back to the north. At one point, we were wrapping around the outside of a reed grass stand, when one got up and provided a left-right crossing shot, at about 20-30 yards, that I promptly missed.
I believe there were only 4 reasonably shootable roosters by the time we were done. The one when my gun was down, the one we got, his buddy that we didn't get, and the crosser that I graciously spared.
How many birds did we see? Well, with those large flushes, I couldn't keep a completely accurate count, but my numbers ended up being 222 hens/unknowns and 23 confirmed roosters. So, although we only got one bird, we had quite a bit of excitement and chaos at that spot.
I ended up putting on another 5.5 miles, with Honey logging an inaccurate 11+ miles at the 2nd location. 7.5 miles total for me for the day. We got back to the vehicle right at sunset.
We were staying in a small town in ND, which is about a half an hour drive from where we were hunting. And small towns in ND, SD, MN, and many other places across this great land, often don't keep late hours for gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants. We had already missed the gas stations for the night (but were able to fill up the next morning). I was worried I might be having beef sticks or breakfast burritos (the only food I had along, other than some protein bars) for dinner, but there was exactly 1 restaurant still open. Without unloading at our lodging, I entered the restaurant in full pheasant orange attire (but I'm not a complete rube....I swapped out my orange cap for a brown Browning cap).
The special of the night was, what I call, an open faced beef sandwich, and what others call a Commercial. I had a cup of chili first, before devouring the beef, mashed potatoes and bread, doused in gravy.
We got to the house we were staying at and unloaded. Many more bedrooms and beds than what I need, but it was what was available at a reasonable price. After some exploring, Honey and "Pheasy" settled in, while I got stuff situated.
Outdoors artwork adorned the walls of the various rooms. Dogs, ducks, farm scenes. But my favorite was this simple rendition of our illustrious bird.
It was a long day. One bird is infinitely better, in my mind, than zero birds, and I was content with our outcome, given how unruly the birds were behaving on that overcast day. I didn't intend to put on so many miles the first day, but the garden path had other plans in store for me.
Thus began our 2nd January trip to SD in 2025.
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