A couple friends and I have hunted second week of season for last 23 years. I personally saw more birds than any other year with exception of 2005/2006 when they had record numbers. We also saw more grouse than any other year and maybe more grouse than last 4-5 years put together! We hunt center part of state, East River, Pierre north to mobridge. A mix of walk in, wpa’s and ditches. More crops harvested this time than maybe any other year and the few fields with standing crops were being worked. Was also warmest, driest and dustiest hunt I can remember. If you hunted along standing corn it was typical frustration of birds flushing wild, low and flying deeper into corn. Cripples almost impossible to find due to dry dusty conditions so we stopped and only hunted areas with harvested crops. Several walks I saw hundreds of birds, in fact it was often too many birds with mass flushes and wild flushes. My dog is really good and birds were mostly holding tight so it took a dog to get them up. Shot a lot of yoy birds (probably 60%) but also more 2nd year+ birds (30+%) than I expected— last year was also good and winter was mild so carryover was likely good. Also plenty of hens.
Like others we saw very few hunters. Not sure why? We had no problems with getting limits but we are willing to walk.
Looking forward to next hunt in mid November. All crops should be gone and hopefully some moisture comes to improve scent conditions.
Supposed to be a La Niña year so if weather turns and blizzards hit the birds could evaporate! I have told several friends to get out and hunt this year—if the really good years are 20-30 years apart then this will be my last year to see this many birds! Although a crap year in SoDak is still better than anywhere else it is still fun to see this many pheasants.