Parkston

L

Llewellin01

Member
Anyone having any luck around Parkston? My dad, grandpa, and brother are out there struggling pretty bad right now to get on the birds for the past 3 days. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. PM's are welcome
 
What are they hunting? Public - large tracs? Dogs? Lots of grain still in the fields?

Please offer a bit more info. Maybe we can suggest something...
 
All public. Have tried different types including ditches. Smaller tracts have been the main focus. We had good success last year in this general area. I'm thinking the dryness and heat are the major factor in play right now. Several other groups art hotel are struggling as well. Majority of crops are off is what I've been told
 
Our group had about the same result in Iowa, some of the corn was still in the field, and the temperature was up there where you wanted a vest instead of a coat. We found the birds would be in the corn early in the morning as this kept the dew off of them and they could still feed, but it is first cousin to impossible to hunt standing corn as the birds can step over three rows and get behind you. We worked the grass, it was tall and super thick, and the birds would rather fly than try to run in it. We had 4 dogs and they were of little use in that tall thick grass, it wore them out. Best of luck.
 
Early afternoons: Hunt w/in 200 yds of picked beans or corn (edges less desirable). If it's sunny & warm, hunt thinner cover & around edges of sloughs/ponds w/ standing water. If it's real windy or cold, find trees close to picked crops.

Now that sunset is roughly 5:00, from 2:00-4:00 is going to be tough unless you can hunt standing crops or find a relatively small area of cover/trees surrounded by picked crops that's the only cover in town, like a buffer strip (hard to come by in SD).

Last hour, hunt thick stuff near crops, picked or standing. Has to have nice fuzzy stuff down low for roosting.

No real need to pound big cattail sloughs yet, plus lots will be too wet to hunt.

Hunt into the wind to cover your sound. If real windy (20 mph +), you can get away hunting w/ the wind. Either way.....be vewy, vewy qwiet.

These generalities should do well much of the time w/ the weather we've been having, but just about the time you think you have them figured out, they go & prove you wrong.
 
Thanks everyone! Ill relay the messages! They just called about an hour ago and seemed to run into some luck today with having 5 birds by 2pm. Again thanks to everyone who responded, they greatly appreciate it!
 
Just think how gratifying those 5 birds are. Working hard and earning it can be tough at the time but when you have success after "earning it" it can be especially sweet!
 
I second that. Roosters in this state make you pay your dues, particularly on public land & other areas that get hunted regularly. I'd like to think that after 35 years of chasing them awful diligently, the ones I get are because of wisdom & skill. Maybe so, as long as part of my wisdom is to not pass up some dumb luck now & then. Sometimes I also feel like, after 2-3 hours of trudging through snow & cattails, the pheasant gods just finally decide that I've earned a little mercy.
 
Also, Llewellin, I forgot to mention....if they get to an area that gets hunted regularly, try to imagine how most people probably hunt it. Then do something different. For example, if there's a great fenceline starting right by the parking area, many guys will simply head to it & start hunting. Unless the wind is REALLY favorable to do it that way again, find a way to hunt it backward. Or send a guy WAY around to the other end & hunt it both ways simultaneously to pinch them in the middle. Parking areas dictate how the average guy will approach an area & roosters figure it out in a hurry.
 
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I have hunted the Parkston area since i was 12 years old mostly private land but will hunt public when we have had bigger groups..recently my experience with the public land in the area is that it gets hunted pretty regularly (uncle has land adjacent to public land saw 7 different groups hunt same piece in 3 days). If there is not any corn adjacent to it the bird numbers are low or non existent so finding corn next to said public land is key... Have seen more birds in the CREP around the scottland area just east of Parkston worth the drive IMHO...just got back on monday from a little three day trip. here are some pics 2 of the birds were shot on public rest on private.
 
:thumbsup: great pics TBONESD. I'm not sure which is better the GSP or or the limit of birds :D Thanks for sharing!!!
 
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