Pheasant hunting with kids on thanksgiving

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Gee Mei Tan

New member
Hi! New to this chat.

I am planning to hunt with my 2 kis, 15 and 13 over Thanksgiving in SD. Do you guys have any suggestions to hunt so that the kids can see some birds?

Last year we were in Kansas and saw zero birds. Kids are not enthusiastic after that.

So need some help
 
Take them to a game preserve, guaranteed birds. You have another trip like last year hunting wild birds and you may never get them to go again.
 
The drop in bird numbers in the K state is well documented here.

A game farm guarantees birds, but at a premium cost. Plus there is no challenge to hunting flare nares.

South Dakota's wild birds on public land will provide the best chance of finding and harvesting wild pheasants.
 
What's the cost of going to SD? Guarantee a hunting a preserve is cheaper. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather hunt wild birds but for kids it's all about getting to pull the trigger! I teach middle school kids and kids don't pheasant hunt anymore. The reason is they are tired of walking all day and not getting into birds. I've been taking kids out to some family ground for years in SE Kansas and planting pheasants for them, they love it. Doesn't matter to them weather they are wild or released.
 
Gee Mei Tan said:
Yes. 2 labs
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Besides the game farm idea, which is the only true guarantee, finding spots that are next to cut/tilled corn, that are more than an hour away from towns of 5000 or more people, would be a good start at increasing your odds. If you get a map of the public lands and look at satellite imagery around the locations, for corn, that can help narrow down your options ahead of time. The imagery might be out of date (corn last year, but not this year, or vice versa). There are paid apps that can help speed up this process.

As for areas of the state to choose, there are various maps online showing past harvest information or heat maps generated based on other sources of data.

Here is one: https://sdgfp.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=cef82625dbd04142bd0542f2746eebe9
 
When you see these guys like sage and that springer guy,those guys are locals, they know where the honey holes are.Get one of those guys to take you out.
 
If they are novice shooters they will very likely be challenged with shooting any flying bird. Another vote for a local game farm until they can connect on flying birds some what consistently.
 
Nothing against lab (that is all that I have personally owned and love hunting behind them), but at bird farm, they will likely also have pointers to hunt behind (and also let you bring your dogs). Pointing dogs help novices prepare for the flush. You are doing the right thing by seeking more concentrated bird numbers to keep them interested, but hunting is hunting, and when they finally connect on a wild rooster, the feeling is that much better!
 
I would second the idea of game farm to get them some experience and quite honestly some practice. Is it like chasing wild birds in SD no but I bet it would really get them going and excited to then chase wild birds. To answer your question on finding birds in SD if you read through previous reports from the last 3 years or so you will start to see some trends.

Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it goes.
 
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