Observations

jmuller19 said:
Just got back from Sd opener, my 26th year. Had a great time as always, wind was terrible and was very dry. Didn't get my limit but still good enough. Dog had issues with strong wind and dry conditions. My only problem was this being the third year for habitat money and not seeing any improvements made me scratch my head, in fact most GPA that I hunt are in the worst conditions I have ever seen, I know it takes time but to see nothing new and conditions worse was no good.
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Please reach out to the SDGFP. I'm a big believer in the squeaky wheel getting the grease. I posted up a list of projects the habitat stamp money has been used for and there are a lot of boat ramps and things of that nature. Granted, fishing is a big part of the tourism economy here, too, but pheasants should be receiving every single dime and then some, in my not so humble opinion. :)
 
“Habitat” is a buzzword that feels good and is an easy sell with little pushback…the politicians/marketers at GFP know this and have overtaken the biologists…I was criticized a few years ago for letting people know they could avoid the habitat stamp if they bot their license(s) before 7/1 or whenever. I’m glad I did. Yes, very dry…wow! Windy as well. Still lotsa fun! Birds are ok, not great, but average for the past 5 years, I’d say.
 
Just returned from SD opener. Hunted on private land by the James River. Alot of cover destroyed by July heavy rains/flooding.
Our normal group of mostly 1 weekend out of the season hunters, that stand around and talk more than actually hunt, 2 hour lunches, etc, I believe we got 8-10 birds on Saturday. Sunday was a much smaller group and ended up with probably only 4 birds.

The corn that we hunted was stripped nicely, and it was not on the river bottom, it was on the higher land area. We did not see many birds in corn. The wind was really blowing. Birds seemed to be in heavier cover such as tall grass. Not far from the water.
Also, another interesting thing was, every bird we got was a young bird, well, except for 1 bird. Just did not see many older birds at all.

Didn't really see the bird numbers I was expecting. Although, I do believe there are some places we could have found some more birds, and I'll be back there for a late season hunt probably in January.

I leave this Thursday afternoon to go hunt more private property at a different location. We will hunt for 4 days. We'll see how things are and give a report when I return. Either way, everyone will have fun. Dogs will enjoy themselves, what more can you ask for.

My 8 year old Black Lab "Remi" did a good job for us. Was a little warm for him, but it was better on Sunday.
 
Goldenhour, thanks for the advice I will drop a line to sdgfp. I didn't see near the number of birds I was expecting but crazy wind and dry conditions were a big part of that. I'm just saying that the GPA I hunt was in terrible condition. Still had a great time and will be back out soon for my second trip.
 
jmuller19 said:
Just got back from Sd opener, my 26th year. Had a great time as always, wind was terrible and was very dry. Didn't get my limit but still good enough. Dog had issues with strong wind and dry conditions. My only problem was this being the third year for habitat money and not seeing any improvements made me scratch my head, in fact most GPA that I hunt are in the worst conditions I have ever seen, I know it takes time but to see nothing new and conditions worse was no good.
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Didn't think about it until you mentioned it. I wonder where that money is spent?
 
I just returned from SD after hunting the opener and it sounds like I experienced what several others have reported. We hunted along the James river and found most of our birds in the grass near water. It was the dryest I have seen in the last 10 years of hunting SD and probably the fewest number of birds seen. Hunting from 10 am to sunset, we averaged 1.5 birds per day for 7 hunters. The wind was pretty strong every day and the temps were mild. About 50% of the corn was still standing and very few birds were found in the corn. No birds were found in and around soybean (not surprised by this, but we looked). Overall had a great time, but it was not easy to find birds.
 
The GPA had several years old corn, nothing left and broke down to the point of no cover, sparse grass which offers little cover and hedge rows that need help. Maybe I hoped for to much and help is still coming, I know Rome wasn't built in a day but would like to see this years corn in the food plots.
 
jmuller19 said:
The GPA had several years old corn, nothing left and broke down to the point of no cover, sparse grass which offers little cover and hedge rows that need help. Maybe I hoped for to much and help is still coming, I know Rome wasn't built in a day but would like to see this years corn in the food plots.
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Can't speak to the condition of the food plots, but it sounds as though the grass was probably grazed by cows. The grass/cover in the areas I hunt this year has been spectacular. Better than average. Unless it had cows in it, which they do every once in awhile to help renew it & keep noxious stuff from taking over.
 
dogbo2013 said:
I just returned from SD after hunting the opener and it sounds like I experienced what several others have reported. We hunted along the James river and found most of our birds in the grass near water. It was the dryest I have seen in the last 10 years of hunting SD and probably the fewest number of birds seen. Hunting from 10 am to sunset, we averaged 1.5 birds per day for 7 hunters. The wind was pretty strong every day and the temps were mild. About 50% of the corn was still standing and very few birds were found in the corn. No birds were found in and around soybean (not surprised by this, but we looked). Overall had a great time, but it was not easy to find birds.
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It certainly has been dry, warm & windy. 1.5 per hunter per day? Or 1.5 total a day for your entire group?
 
Has anyone hunted the NW Iowa area, say from Storm Lake to Spencer and Okoboji? Just wondered how dry it is, harvest progress and any idea on bird numbers up that way?
 
Wolfchief said:
Has anyone hunted the NW Iowa area, say from Storm Lake to Spencer and Okoboji? Just wondered how dry it is, harvest progress and any idea on bird numbers up that way?
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ahhhhh, grouse and hun are all that is open. have not seen any posts.
 
He said "1.5 per day for 7 hunters." Apparently some days zero birds. Maybe he meant 10.5 birds (in total), per day, for seven hunters. He didn't say how many days they hunted...
 
dogbo2013 said:
Some got none and some filled their tags each day, but overall bird numbers seemed to be lower than normal
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Thanks for your "observations" 🙂

So I am curious if the was say your first or second year coming to S.Dak. would you be coming back? For me it isn't about birds bagged it is bird contacts, camaraderie, and value- time-effort-$.
 
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