Passing through SD…Pheasants Galore

I'll be driving to Rapid City at the end of the month. Hope to see some birds along the way.
 
Matt D said:
East of river. I’d call it north central. Looks like nice rain central part of the state right now. Keep the storms away and things are shaping up nicely IMO.
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I'll be in Platte 6/28 and the Black Hills for the 4th so I'll get a pheasant feel for SE part of state anyway.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Thumbs down!
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This is the forecasted rain faill the next 2+ days. Literally a monsoon right through the heart of bird country during peak hatch. And that's on top of all the rain that has already fallen this week. Double thumbs down

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gimruis said:
This is the forecasted rain faill the next 2+ days. Literally a monsoon right through the heart of bird country during peak hatch. And that's on top of all the rain that has already fallen this week. Double thumbs down.
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We've had 1.7" so far today. On top of the 2.75" we had over the weekend. If we get another couple like they're saying, could be 6"-7" total. Not really what we need.
 
10 inches is a heck of a lot of rain. That's 2 months worth. Bad news if you're a pheasant chick.
 
Anything nested near a crick is gone. The population sucked bad enough in far SE SD. Is it too late to have a second nesting?
 
Labradinger said:
Anything nested near a crick is gone. The population sucked bad enough in far SE SD. Is it too late to have a second nesting?
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Gimruis is right. No, it's not too late to re-nest. I'm still seeing roosters hanging out with hens who obviously haven't nested yet, or at least aren't on a nest right now. They might keep trying through July if necessary. I know I've shot birds about Nov. 1 that were only 8 weeks old before. That means their mother was bred about Aug. 1.
 
Stumbled across some old posts from 2010 in Kansas. Super wet June and it still worked out. Was the last really good year there. Keeping fingers crossed.
 
According to Keloland, Worthing and the southern metro area of Sioux Falls received over 18 inches from this storm. Close to the year’s total in about two days, and it had already been a pretty wet spring…
 
It takes about 33 - 35 days from first egg on the ground to brood hatching on a 10-egg clutch.

SD hatch peaks mid-June to early/mid-July. Hens will renest if they lose their nest. I have seen fuzz balls pretty late in August.

While Spring came early ... I noticed in many areas that most grassy areas did not get that tall or thick enough to support nesting birds until mid-May.
 
Pheasant nests in ditches and low areas likely flooded out as many wetlands have stretch out pretty far from where they started upon thaw.
 
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