Passing through SD…Pheasants Galore

[gps4]

Oh you people with your miles and hours driven. Take your phone out and the maps app. Put in Sterling Ak and quit whining.

I’m not whining about the miles or hours. I enjoy the road trip and the windshield time I get with my buddies. The destination is great, but the adventure just wouldn’t be the same without the journey!

 

[Hunters Retreat]

Wife and I just started our road trip out west and passed through southern MN to eastern SD today. I had my eyes peeled for pheasants along the route. From southeastern to southwestern MN, I counted 7. Pretty impressive, I thought, as long tails are pretty few and far between on my WI highway drives.

We had some time to kill before we wanted to settle into our SD hotel, so we decided to take a country drive for a bit. I quickly looked up some public lands in eastern SD. Gravel roads with plenty of ditch mostly around wetlands and ag. We made it a mission to see how much birds we could spy. And spy we did. We counted 49 in about our hour side mission. 95% roosters which makes sense with the nesting season in full swing. No broods. But holy cow, I wasn’t expecting that #. My username is a play on my land in WI and what I’m hoping to get the habitat to be (a slice of SD in WI).

Attaching a pic of one rooster in town. Seems he’s one with the locals.

Anyway, I’m jealous and amazed and happy you all get to experience a great wild pheasant population. And no, I didn’t spot any holes in their beaks (A5).
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Hello, I just came back from the Redfield area and the birds are up, especially when you have to avoid hitting them. I found good numbers to the south and west as there has been plenty of water this year. Nesting has been successful and multiple hatches.

 

[Bob Peters]

Bumper crop.

 

[reddog]

It totally depends on how far you travel. For me it is 8 hours give or take each way. That doesn’t lend itself to day or even two day trips. Counting travel it is a 6-7 day investment regardless of how do it. I have made 4 trips in a year but now usually twice. The 150 license is the least of my costs. If I lived four or less hours away, my perspective would likely be different.

Before I moved to SD, I had to travel an hour and a half to get to Sioux Falls. Given the ten am start time, it was easy to do even a day trip, but not worth wasting 4 days on my NR license. I suggested to the state a 9 day license divisible in three day stints which wouldve worked great for me, as I always wasted days from the 2 5s because I couldnt stay that long, or didnt want to burn the vaca. definitely agree with you though, the license fee is/was the least of my expenses.