Pheasant Industry in SD

I really want to try nebraska someday. Seems like great bird country and doesn't get hammered like SD, MN, and IA.

KS I have no interest at current moment. I think you need good private there for chance at good success.
 
matto said:
One summer I spent some time researching commercial hunting operations in SD. My dad, in his late 70s at the time, wanted to treat me, my BIL, and our kids to a hunt. My job was to pick the spot. As we all know, consistent success on truly wild birds on pubic land takes time to develop. So we were looking for something private/commercial. I talked to a lot of places. The websites frequently promised wild birds. That was their first answer when you talked to them on the phone--"yes wild birds." Press them a little and they admitted to releasing birds. I suppose in the lodge owner's head "wild" can be a description of their behavior or their current living circumstances, not the circumstances of their hatching. And in that sense, to the operator at least, it's not a lie.

We ended up with a native guide on Rosebud that year. I'm sure they were wild birds, but the experience was not what we were after. The next year we were with UGuide. I'm pretty confident that was wild birds, at least as far as UGuide knew. That experience was better, but still not exactly what we were after.

A couple years after that I started going up with some friends, DIY on public. 4 years into that now, and we're having more fun than ever. Far more fun than those two years we spent in the commercial space.

Anyway, I'd guess that SPUR's numbers are on the low side. There are pheasant ranches in Kansas that ship birds to SD.
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I have talked to a couple places/lodges that claim all wild birds, I told them great I am sold. But then I hit them with a question that always seems to make them backtrack. I ask them that if all their birds are wild, I shouldn't have to worry about shooting a bird with flared nostrils, right? They say absolutely, then I asked them that if I did indeed shoot or see birds with flared nostrils would I get my money back because you're claiming all wild birds and that's false advertising? They all scoff and say, well we can't do that. Not one of these places that claims all wild birds is willing to put their money where their mouth is and back the claim of all wild birds because they know it's 100% false! No lodge or commercial operation can support groups of hunters 7 days a week for a entire season and almost guarantee limits. Not possible unless you've got thousands upon thousands of acres of prime habitat.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
So what exactly are those reports showing? Birds sold in SD & released in SD? Or birds sold in SD & released anywhere in the world?

Where are these out of state pheasant farms located? I'd guess that most of the time, the lowest price is going to come from one of the suppliers close to you.

I suppose, though, the top tier preserves may buy birds that act extra wild, which would obviously cost more. Unless they buy regular dumb ones & train them once they arrive at the preserve.😆
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I think I saw something where they actually tried to train them to be afraid of predators...lol. It's a very complicated deal to raise these pheasants.
 
waterdog09 said:
I have talked to a couple places/lodges that claim all wild birds, I told them great I am sold. But then I hit them with a question that always seems to make them backtrack. I ask them that if all their birds are wild, I shouldn't have to worry about shooting a bird with flared nostrils, right? They say absolutely, then I asked them that if I did indeed shoot or see birds with flared nostrils would I get my money back because you're claiming all wild birds and that's false advertising? They all scoff and say, well we can't do that. Not one of these places that claims all wild birds is willing to put their money where their mouth is and back the claim of all wild birds because they know it's 100% false! No lodge or commercial operation can support groups of hunters 7 days a week for a entire season and almost guarantee limits. Not possible unless you've got thousands upon thousands of acres of prime habitat.
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I hunted it one of those places 20 years ago, it was really easy, there was no limit, they took you out in a big huge bus. Even though there was only two of us. We hunted in late March.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
So what exactly are those reports showing? Birds sold in SD & released in SD? Or birds sold in SD & released anywhere in the world?

Where are these out of state pheasant farms located? I'd guess that most of the time, the lowest price is going to come from one of the suppliers close to you.

I suppose, though, the top tier preserves may buy birds that act extra wild, which would obviously cost more. Unless they buy regular dumb ones & train them once they arrive at the preserve.😆
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The reports are birds sold. I'm assuming, but don't know 100%, that 95%+ of the birds raised in SD are released in SD. If they were exporting a pile, there wouldn't be farms in NE, IA, MN, and WI who's biggest clients were in SD. (Those are the states that farms were located in that I was able to glean info from). And you did touch on an important note - the way birds are raised reflects the price. High netting large run non blindered birds that have better flight ability, better tails, and overall more "wild" upbringing cost 1.5-2x more than short tail blinder birds that never got more than 6 feet off the ground before release. My co-worker buys non blinder birds for their farm at $26-$32/bird. They have zero preserve acres, and run 8 groups of hunters per season. two groups of 8 or 9, and 6 groups of 4.
 
waterdog09 said:
I have talked to a couple places/lodges that claim all wild birds, I told them great I am sold. But then I hit them with a question that always seems to make them backtrack. I ask them that if all their birds are wild, I shouldn't have to worry about shooting a bird with flared nostrils, right? They say absolutely, then I asked them that if I did indeed shoot or see birds with flared nostrils would I get my money back because you're claiming all wild birds and that's false advertising? They all scoff and say, well we can't do that. Not one of these places that claims all wild birds is willing to put their money where their mouth is and back the claim of all wild birds because they know it's 100% false! No lodge or commercial operation can support groups of hunters 7 days a week for a entire season and almost guarantee limits. Not possible unless you've got thousands upon thousands of acres of prime habitat.
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That's why many farms have moved to raising non-blindered birds. They can charge more money for a more wild appearing bird.
 
Goose is right. No way in this world you can hunt wild birds seven days a week. They will leave. Most people don’t even know the difference. I do been doing it for 55 years Goose maybe longer. But good for the hunting operations. Makes the farmers some money I guess.
 
Dixieman said:
Goose is right. No way in this world you can hunt wild birds seven days a week. They will leave. Most people don’t even know the difference. I do been doing it for 55 years Goose maybe longer. But good for the hunting operations. Makes the farmers some money I guess.
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One thing I noticed 20 years ago when I hunted that preserve, was that those birds don't really have a flee instinct, so they hold until the dog gets on them. When they do fly, they are not real strong flyers, and they will fly right at you sometimes.
 
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