Opening Day Reports

Another good day---hunted completely different fields about 30 miles east of Platte and got 19 birds with 8 hunters. It got WARM in the afternoon and the birds did not start coming to roost until after sun set. :D

Practice makes perfect



Yes it does



A field on Monday



WE got them cornered now for sure---wanna bet

 
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I only hunted till 2 today. It was too hot for my dogs, and with 8 more days, I wasn't going to risk any problems. We had 15 when I quit, and ended up with 20 and one grouse.
 
Southeast

1 guy, 1 daughter, and 1 dog. 2 hours. 2 birds. 2 shots. 1 on private and 1 on public. First year birds. A hot 74 degrees. Rough guess, 80% of beans harvested and 20% of corn harvested. Out again on Thursday.
 
Group just left my place (Pheasant Camp Lodge) with a 2.5 hour limit.

Faulkton is getting early limits as well as Meadow Creek and West River Adventures. Might be happening elsewhere too just not getting all reports in yet.
 
my report

Saturday - 12 guns, got 34 birds (2 short of group limit), hunted all day.
Sunday - 10 guns, got 30 birds, hunted all day.

Near Parkston, 20 miles south of Mitchell.

The birds are there, late season should be awesome.
 
Can anyone top this mixed bag? Thursday and Friday mornings I hunted pronghorn antelope in western SD. Passed up 3 bucks because they were not big and the numbers are down. Afternoons I hunted birds. Saturday I grouse hunted. Sunday went east and pheasant hunted on the way home. Ended with 2 sharptails, 2 Hungarian partridge, and 2 pheasants. I'm sure I could have limited on pheasants in the first spot I stopped but it was really hot and I cut it short for the dog's sake. On the Hungarian partridge, the rancher was with me. We flushed the covey twice with no shots fired. On the third approach, the dog pointed the covey and they held, flushed, and between the two of us we dropped 4 birds. Great fun!
 
I just wrapped up my hunt near Howard, South Dakota. A friend and I hunted for 5 days and bagged 22 birds. I got 15 though :). Man it was warm and had to deal with crops being up, but we did great and saw a lot of birds. The 4 dogs are beat!!! Heading back up this way in November. Love SD!
 
You fellas are tearin' it up in SD! Sure looks like a great season shaping up.
 
Western SD

Two of hunted together with two Pointing Labs. We had mixed results over the first five days of the season. The first day we did not even get off a shot. My honey holes were not so sweet after all, cover had changed with land management. We shifted gears and explored some new areas. Seems like we had the best luck pushing tree rows, but also where finding the birds in heavy tall cover. Didn't get to see the dogs most of the time, so hard to tell how many points they had. When it was all said and done we came home with fourteen birds, lost one, should of had around 20. Most of the beans and wheat was out, starting to work the milo, corn and sunflower still in.

I had better luck in this area last year and saw a lot more birds. The season is far from over so I plan on making two or three more trips and try my luck again!
 
Helped with the harvest the entire opening weekend and did not hunt. I feel bad for many guys and families trying to make a dollar and then come out and be unsuccessful. Crops are moving out at a rapid pace. If you are headed out to hunt, stay away from the public stuff. You will walk for miles and maybe get one bird. We harvested a 360 acres across from some public ground. I counted over 200 guys and one gal in four days criss crossing that thing. It was LOL funny. Best bet at this point is to pony up some cash and hit a a U GUIDE hunt deal.
 
Not to throw rain on your parade but I just returned from hunting public ground and did phenomenal. Should have had my limit by 11 but lost two in extremely heavy cover. Finished up at about one. Saw plenty of birds. Enough that I am headed back Saturday. Dog performed great after two weeks of recovery after getting cut and stapled on opening resident season. Had to bust my butt through some rough cover but found plenty of birds. Also observed a group of four in the same public area. Only heard them shoot three times total. They walked the lighter upland grass while I and the dog took to,the thick stuff. Had to chuckle as they never saw a quarter of the birds I saw.
Asher and our limit today.
 
Opening week

haven't had a chance to post since returning from hunting opening week. 3 guys hunted 5 days. We averaged 2 birds per day per hunter, so overall good report, particularly considering hot weather conditions. We took many breaks and were unable to hunt as much as normal due to the weather and being safe with the dogs. Corn was at best 15-20% out, which was a factor but still saw plenty birds. Interestingly, we saw a lot fewer hunters than we normally do. Hunting mostly public (little private) and not all that much competition for spots. So for those that stayed home, thanks :) Going back in couple weeks...typically not seen as many hunters mid November most years but guessing it may be different this year if a lot postponed trips. Our opening week was more like our typical November trip in terms of hunting pressure. Bird #s definitely up. As with every trip, great time had by all. Good luck to everyone.
 
UGUIDE said:
Meadow Creek produced early limits for 9 all 3 days. The unique part of this is the group was one where the guys each wanted to shoot their own 3 birds. They did. That ups the anty a little bit.
Click to expand...

Am I reading this correctly? For instance, under what conditions are you allowed to shoot a 4th bird if you buddy only has 2, and you have your 3, and its almost the end of daily shooting time? Aside from ethics, doesn't Group Balancing" violate the law?

If I am intrepreting this post incorrectly I apologize.
 
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