Please answer a question?

C

cajun1024

New member
Will one of you SD guys please answer a question for me?
I am making my first pheasant hunt this fall to SD and would like to know the reasoning behind not being able to start hunting till noon the first week and 10:00 AM thereafter. The reasoning behind this to the best I can figure out, is to let the birds come out to feed in the early morning and then get back into cover before the shooting starts. Is this correct thinking on my part? Other reason I heard is that it is a social thing.
Have hunted quail here in LA. for years and years and pheasants in the TX. Panhandle for the last four years, but we always started early in the A.M.especially, when the weather was warmer as to not wear out the dogs.
Looking forward to your response.
Thanks:)
 
Cajun, not a SD native but I had the exact same question when I first began hunting SD. All my research told me that it is tradition from way back. They had plenty of pheasants (more than ample opportunity to fill your bag) and they wanted the hunters to spend their money in the towns before setting out for the fields.
 
Cajun, Can't answer your question as to why, but I kinda liked the noon, or 10:00 AM start. Most of my hunting are excursions that wear me out. Up early, hit it hard all day, stay up a little too late, then the early start all over again, coming home worn out. The SD trip is always more like a vacation. The morning to relax and prepare, scout if wanted. Hunt till sundown, then back to camp to shower, get a fire started, grill some supper and enjoy a few cocktails around the camp fire. Then no 4:00 am wakeup you have to face. Plus pounding the boot leather from noon till 6ish is enough to make a man leg weary enough to know you've done something that day. My suggestion: go with the flow and enjoy yourself.
 
many states offer sunrise to sunset.....i never go real early, but waiting until 10 or noon makes for a late day.
 
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some would say that it gives the pheasants a chance to get off the roost where they are most vulnerable. Others say it gives the landowners a chance to get morning chores done before being bothered about hunting. Also as stated late start gives the bars a chance to lure hard partying hunters out, as do the cafes in the morning. I don't know for sure, but as much as I enjoy seeing the sun rise on a dirty weed patch in Kansas, I also enjoy a 10 am start when it is -10 in South Dakota.
 
Please answer a question

Thanks guys for the responses. Roosterslayer, your answer seems to go along with what I heard. Can see the 10:00 A.M.start, but the 12 noon seems kind of late. But, rules are rules. Learned a long time ago not to buck the system
However, if the birds are there, why start at the crack of dawn,it does make for a long day.
Thanks again:thumbsup:
 
it gives the birds a chance. thats how i see it. it allows the birds to get into thier fields and the noon start saves some birds. especially when the crops are still in, like this coming year. its true too that there is more money spent at the local taverns with the 10 am start. If you are doing a combo hunt it does allow you more time to make the switch from waders to pants. Its tradition!!! the walkin ground and the public ground always has people parked next to it by 8 am though. sometimes earlier. i've seen guys sleeping in the ditch next to thier cars.
 
Tradition mostly. Conservation theory/reason is simply to reduce the pressure until the birds become accustomed to it, not unlike the myriad of Federal and State waterfowl refuges which observe noon or 1pm closing times. Part of the charm of hunting different places is the observance of local laws and customs.
 
I'm surprised that I'm the first South Dakotan to respond to this thread. I grew up in Minnesota and while that was many years ago it seems hunting always started around noon. Now it starts at 9:00 AM in MN. I've been in SD for 33 years and I don't know the real reason for the noon/10:00 AM start, but I like it. First time I ever hunted pheasants at sunrise was about 10 years ago in North Dakota and it just didn't seem right. Guess it's a matter of what you grow up with and get use to. I do think the later morning start is good for the birds. Gives them a chance to get off the roost and out feeding before the hunting pressure starts. I, myself, find the 10:00 AM start more relaxing. Especially when I have out of state hunters visiting. We can get up and have some breakfast without having to rush around. And as I get older being in the field from 10:00 AM until sundown makes for a long day. :)
 
Dakotazeb said:
I'm surprised that I'm the first South Dakotan to respond to this thread. I grew up in Minnesota and while that was many years ago it seems hunting always started around noon. Now it starts at 9:00 AM in MN. I've been in SD for 33 years and I don't know the real reason for the noon/10:00 AM start, but I like it. First time I ever hunted pheasants at sunrise was about 10 years ago in North Dakota and it just didn't seem right. Guess it's a matter of what you grow up with and get use to. I do think the later morning start is good for the birds. Gives them a chance to get off the roost and out feeding before the hunting pressure starts. I, myself, find the 10:00 AM start more relaxing. Especially when I have out of state hunters visiting. We can get up and have some breakfast without having to rush around. And as I get older being in the field from 10:00 AM until sundown makes for a long day. :)
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Zeb I think the reason no South Dakotan answered that is that nobody can remember back that far to know why. Personally I wish it would just be noon all the time. Maybe if you have driven a long distance it is more important. I don't think the bars were taken into consideration in 19??.
 
Here's some info I found on the web.

The South Dakota pheasant hunting season started at 12 noon many years back. South Dakota locals have a variety of reasons, or theories to why this is. It has been said that many years ago, when a law was decided over a cup of coffee, a landowner said that he had wanted to go pheasant hunting with his family, however he would need time in the mornings to get his daily chores done, and take care of his families livelihood. Others say, that early morning start times for the South Dakota pheasant hunting season would constitute an unfair advantage for the pheasant hunter, as these pheasants would be near the road ditches collecting gravel, thus resulting in a slaughter of the pheasants. Local game wardens state that with the great numbers of pheasants in SD, early morning start times are not necessary to harvest limits on a daily basis, therefore starting later in the morning or at 12 noon will give the pheasants the time they need to seek cover before the pheasant hunting is allowed. Either way, it has worked very well, it is not only the law, it does give the wily ring neck pheasant that slight edge over the pheasant hunter.
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"The noon/10 a.m. opener is a tradition unique to South Dakota pheasant hunting," said Game, Fish and Parks Upland Game Biologist Tom Kirschenmann of Huron. "Business operators believe the noon starting time allows hunters to be more willing to frequent their establishments. Others contend that one doesn't need a full day of hunting to harvest a limit of pheasants. And finally, some farmers like to have the opportunity to have chores done before hunters arrive at their farm. Regardless of the reasons, tradition will likely preserve the current opening date and shooting hours."
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Looks like some good valid reasons for the 10/noon shooting.

Those cafe's in ND and MT would love to have a 10am start time.
They like the breakfast crowd $ but hate the hassel, hurry hurry hurry.:eek:

That being said. I love the first light on the prairie.:)
 
mnmthunting said:
I love the first light on the prairie.:)
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You can still enjoy the "first light on the prairie" in South Dakota, you just can't shoot. :) Actually an excellent time to scout, observe the birds leaving their roosting areas and see where they may be headed.
 
Pheasants are so thick in SD there's no need to get up before dawn. We start at 10:00 and rarely haven't limited out by early afternoon. I think the locals just don't want people knocking on their doors while they're eating breakfast and shattering the early morning with gunfire. Let'em wait until 10:00.
 
Tradition.
I like the idea of not shooting them in the nest,+ many times I duck or goose hunt first.
When the nooner is on you can hunt for 6.5 hours. When it goes to ten, 7+ and then a few minutes less till the close when you have about 5. Your tromping some snow then.
I am getting old but works for me.
 
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