pheasants are really down

kansasbrittany said:
Ok, I've helped round up some cows, I've been invited to tour a few farm facilities, but how's'a fella get in on a Mennanite family hunt:confused::D

Being serious now, the point of your post is well-taken:thumbsup:

It seems most folks are still enjoying their time in SD this season;)
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lol oh man I am keeping quiet on this one I cant quit laughing :D:
 
Sent a group of 4 friends to a public spot in Highmore area. They were 1 short of limits for all, and saw a good many birds. Had a great day. They scouted north toward Gettysburg and said cover looked great and other hunters they spoke with were getting some birds too.
 
hunter94 said:
Chris, your managed ground and habitat is producing well...I think those areas, that are managed for bird production will be above average, unfortunately, there is not enough of that habitat left over...and as we know, the first hatch was pretty dismal.
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I disagree and here is why. In 2009 there was corn in until 2010 if you know what i mean (summer harvest 2010).

In my report I added the 2012 harvest data for the week of opener to show the delta between 2013 and 2012. The delta is 70%.

I am saying NO ONE knows what the birds really are. Even article on comments from GFP says they refer to their road counts as "Visible" counts.

You will not know the real situation until ALL the crops are off AND then hunters reports come in.

This is just classic case of early season hunters struggling and the late season hunters will be rewarded.

We won't see a complete harvest until well into December.
 
Gatzby said:
Man o man it's not all doom and gloom. Today four of us shot a limit, helped round up some cows that got loose and had an awesome homemade dinner. Yesterday we only shot 5 but were invited to tour a dairy farm that had a 50 cow rotary milking parlor. Tomorow we are going to church with a Mennanite family and than hunting with the whole family. It's not the killing it's the experience.
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Gatzby, I think you described the real South Dakota Pheasant Hunting Vacation

:cheers:
 
My SD Hunt

OK so here is my report from SD this year, so far. I like to hunt solo and hunt all on public ground. I have been going to the same area for the past three years including this year. On this trip I took one dog that is seven years old and has a GM title with APLA and a Senior Hunt title with AKC.

As with most stories there is good news and bad news. I'll start out with the bad news. In years past I would see close to 1000 birds over the course of five days driving around, mostly on private ground/fields. This years I saw less then 10 during the five days of driving around. As everyone is saying there is still a lot of row crops still standing, most of the wheat has been taken out. Other guys I talked with before the start of my hunt remarked about hunting for three days and only taking one shot.

And now for the good news. My hunt started on Tuesday and I finished on Saturday. I could go into detail and talk about each day hunt and each flush that I had, but I won't. The long story short is that I killed 14 roosters in five days of hunting. Over the course of the week I saw some awesome dog work that included tracking, pointing and retrieving. I should let you know that each rooster equaled about one mile of walking. Ninety percent of the flushes were single birds and I had some good weather conditions, overcast and windy.

From what I can tell is that if you are willing to hike a mile or two from your truck and have a good seasoned dog, you will find birds and make some memories that will last a life time.
 
4 of us harvested 33 roosters in 3 days...... I have always said the quality of the hunt is determined by the quality of the dog.... I have some dang good dogs!!!!!! And there are very few skunks unlike 2011

On a side note, The more time I spend with my Mennanite friends the more I respect them. We should all try to be more like them. If you ever have a chance take the time to get to know them.

Steve
 
Are they down? Yes. Is it horrible? No.

I hunted public land around Watertown, Clear Lake, and Brookings this past weekend. Had 2 guys and 2 dogs. Hunted for 5 hours on Friday and shot 2 roosters at about 12:30 and 12:45. Those were the only roosters we saw that day, also saw 4 hens.

On Saturday we shot 1 rooster at about 12:15 and that was the only rooster we saw. Also got up 7 hens. Ended the hunt after 2.5 hours to go watch some SDSU football!

On Sunday we shot 2 roosters at about 11:45 and 12:45. Saw one other rooster that got up just out of range, also got up 11 hens. Only hunted for about 3 hours before driving back home.

Moral of the story, it was exactly like I expected. 2 guys bagging 5 roosters over a 12.5 hour period spread out over 3 days all on public land. If you are hunting public land you have to look for a picked corn field within a half mile, some type of water, and good cover. Most of the birds we saw were in thick grass or thin cattails along the water. The birds were not yet in the very very thick cattails but it won't be long. If you don't have corn, water, and cattails then don't hunt it.

Personal reports of mine from other parts of the state include opening weekend near Chamberlain. Group of 12 on private land that usually gets about 20 birds every year shot 8. Group of 14 that has always limited got 6. Group of 9 near Winner that has always limited every year only shot 5.
 
was not far from u but in MN the birds over in MN are in thick stuff near crops already opening day & MEA wk-end did that 2 them i guess??? or cold temps??? there not in just CRP grass but i did see many more roosters & hens then ur report in MN 2 guys limited out 2 days all public lands 8 birds 2 lost should of been 10 in 2 days... seen at least 5-8 roosters more each day & missed at least 1-2 birds each day as well bird numbers are down but not all gone...

im not brag n on my hunting or knocking yours jackrabbit so we are clear just sharing a hunt report not far from ur area but in MN try that thick winter stuff near any corn standing or cut is 100% better of course... found birds in thick stuff aka cattails & woody cover near fresh cut soy beans also his crop was stuffed with beans many more were in close proximity as well...

we did hunt around 16-18 hours though we had to earn our MN limits but we could of been done hunting in say 8-12 hours thats 2 days hunting if i shot better lol theres birds to be had but id go farther west if im buying a SD license then watertown & clear lake SD thats for sure!!! it only gets better the farther west you get... mite as well hunt MN then if u hunt that close to MN??? its the same difference habitat & bird #s wise... also hunting mid wk helps alot if u hunt only 100% public lands if you try to do it on the wk-end theres a good chance somebody just hit the area prior to you mid wk that happens very little its great tue/wed-fri
 
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small munsterlander- i agree might as well hunt MN if that close to the border. However, within the past month I moved from central SD to MN so I already had a SD resident license for the year and I was hunting with an old friend from Brookings.
 
I've hunted the past 2 weekends and a couple week days in SD, and we've seen more Roosters and Hens than we did last year. Both weekends, our group commented they saw more birds than they expected to see.
I was really happy to see quite a few hens, and the cover was excellent from all the moisture they got this spring/summer.
 
Tbear, big Jon, myself and another friend hunted 3 1/2 days last week and came home with 34 roosters and 2 sharp tail grouse. We did have 7 labs in the field with us and saw plenty of birds on public ground even with all the crops up.
 
I hunt MN 4 days a week in the season..The Doom and Gloom I hear out of SD would be Christmas Morning here in Minneapolis. Id work all day for one rooster..maybe thats just me though.
 
LoneRooster said:
I hunt MN 4 days a week in the season..The Doom and Gloom I hear out of SD would be Christmas Morning here in Minneapolis. Id work all day for one rooster..maybe thats just me though.
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how many birds have you bagged in the 12 or so days you have hunted MN lonerooster??? there are birds here in MN more in SD of course but once you find the birds here in MN you can have a great hunt if ur willing to work u can have a limit dont have to settle for just 1 bird here in MN just got to hunt wear there are birds & u have good success...
 
I guided a group of ten hunters on a friend's farm near Presho today. Thirty roosters in four hours, with less-than-stellar dog work and lots of missed shots. All wild birds. Interestingly, twenty-nine of those thirty were this year's birds, only one longspur in the bunch. Numbers are down a bit, but I don't think as bad as the initial forecasts indicated.
 
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