Question about SD pheasant hunts

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duckn66

Well-known member
I'm trying to put together a group hunt for sometime this year in SD. I see a bunch of place advertised, "best hunting in SD". Come hunt on our 3500 acre farm and experience pheasant hunting like you have never seen. Now I understand that SD had birds no doubt. But, I simply cannot imagine that on a 3500 or even 7K acre piece of ground that wild birds will be there the entire season with all the hunters that come to hunt.

Is it safe to say that you will be hunting pen raised birds at places like this?

I have found what I believe is a legitimate guide service that leases over 100k acres and is all wild with the exception of neighboring lands released birds which he laughed at.

There are many fly by night operations with guides and I was the victim of one on the only guided hunt I ever booked. Needless to say he isn't in business anymore due to his crooked nature. Never did get to hunt and lost 300 dollars in deposit. It was a waterfowl hunt out of state. Kind of reminded me why I was cautious about hiring a guide.

If it were 100 percent up to me we would go with Uguide simply because I know it would be more "fair" chase and the price simply cannot be beat.

I am hoping some residents can give some insight on this or those that have had bad experiences or good experiences can chime is as well. I don't want names of outfitters named in here but just perhaps some experiences you have had.
 
I'll start by telling you I don't live in SD but my family , friends and I have hunted in SD for many years. We started by staying in motels in the Huron area and hunted government land. We found private land to hunt and lodging on the property and did okay. Then one year we caught the landowner stocking pen raised birds. We were completely deflated. For those 3 years we hunted there we thought we were hunting wild birds. A couple of our guys have never come with us after that. Needless to say the search was on for a new place. Luckily we found Uguide 6 years ago. His property has improved every years since we started with him. Lodging is great. I don't know want could make it any better. Good luck to you and your group. Uguide has a very good sale going on now. Try it you'll like it. Give Chris a call he is a good guy.
 
Check references. If they don't post them call and ask to talk to guys who have hunted there in the past. If it is really good he will have lots of repeat customers who will be willing to talk. What I do know is this. It is big business for the entire state! I worked at a game farm in MN a few years ago. Bird numbers were down in our state and lots of guys were coming to the game farm to shoot birds. We ran out of birds because our supplier had a contract with us for a guaranteed amount once he fulfilled our order SD bought all the rest of his birds! They were all sent out to South Dakota, thousands of birds. We ended up going to the Chicago area to get birds for game farm clients. Does the state buy birds? Somebody does. Why? Because it is a money making business for a lot of people in the state. It is not a bad thing just reality. In good years it isn't a problem. In bad years you do what you can. Lots of great outfitters have enough land that they don't need to release birds. Habitat will determine that.
 
Our group has been lucky enough to find a farmer who lets groups come out Fri-Sun and the farm "rests" Mon- Thurs.
We pay $150 per gun per day and I feel it's a bargain compared to what some farms charge. His trick is to leave some large fields of standing corn into late November which draws surrounding area birds to his property. This keeps bird numbers high throughout the year.
We did not go out last year with lower bird numbers but are going back this year as we have heard good bounce back numbers.
 
If properly managed those places that claim 100% wild birds could very well be telling the truth. You certainly can't hunt the same piece of ground day after day and expect large numbers of birds. But yet, the public lands get hit hard and they still retain wild birds so who knows. Bear in mind that the hunting preserves are required to release a certain number of pen raised birds each year. But the farms that are not preserves only need to release birds if they are over harvesting the land.

I have a good friend that operates a hunting operation on the family farm and they have 100% wild birds. But they manage it well and limit the number of birds taken each year. Another member on this site has hunted that land at my recommendation and can attest to the wild bird population. It's not cheap to hunt there but if you are interested send me a PM and I'll give you the info.
 
It's more than worth it for these farmers to plant birds.... if they can buy birds for $15 a bird and charge $150 per day to shoot 3 birds, they make $35 a bird. That's more than the most expensive hunt clubs charge! ;)

I like the public stuff... might have to work a little harder but that's why it's "hunting". :thumbsup:
 
I have hunted SD for more years than I can count. It is possible for a guy to have 3500 acres and hunt every week. If the ground is managed well, and rested more days than it is hunted it is possible. If you have great cover and food the birds will come back. Two years ago the farm where I hunt had 600 roosters harvested by the second week of dec. Seven of us hunted three days and shot 60 more.

BTW if you are being charged 125-150 a day they are more than likely wild. The release three and make 35.00 a bird thing doesn't translate when you see several hundred a day. I agree check references as there are some crappy deals out there. I hunted with a guy up around Aberdeen several years ago that was guiding us on ground he may or may not of had permission to be on.

If you want PM me and I may have a lead for you if you like.
 
I will tell you this much, I have been in the pheasant hunting business for about a dozen years. I have never released a pheasant. If I did release pheasants I would have to get new clients because they are not going to drive half way across the country to shoot pen raised birds. They have told me so in no uncertain terms. When neighbors harvest their crops and work their land the pheasants move in. I usually have more pheasants at the end of the season than I do at the beginning. Last year the last group hunted week nine and limited out in time to watch the second football game. There were days when the weather was too nice and the birds spread out and it was tougher hunting because the birds are well educated by then. I will never be low on birds but depending on the weather the late season hunting can be great or tough.
 
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Pen raised vs wild

I wondered the same thing when I first started coming out to SD and didn't have a dog. I hunted a small pheasant operation and the owner showed me how to tell if a bird was pen raised or wild, which I thought was interesting. He showed me that you can look through the nostrils of the bird and if you can see right through, it's pen raised. He said that all pen raised birds wear a plastic appliance through their beaks that keeps them all from pecking each other to death. This appliance creates the hollow opening through their nostrils. Wild birds have a membrane that separates each nostril. When I first got my dog I called a large hatchery here in Wisconsin to buy some training birds, and they were out because every bird they raised went to SD, and they raise a ton of birds there. That made me wonder if I was driving 1200 miles and spending 1200 dollars to hunt a bird that raised in a chicken house 50 miles from my home. I now have my own method of telling the natives from the pen raised birds. When I hunt DNR land here in Wisconsin I am able to hit most of the put and take birds that my dog puts up. When I hunt birds in SD I miss most of the birds that my dog puts up. Wisconsin pen birds are like fully loaded B-17s, slow on takeoff and cruising speed. SD birds, on the other hand are like P-51 Mustangs, quick on the take off and extremely agile in the air. When I'm in SD missing, I know I'm hunting wild birds. They seem like a little different creature than the birds back home. Experienced hunters know all this, but it was all new to me.
 
in Wisconsin a pen raised bird seems to drop with a single BB, whereas in SD in takes a good hit to drop the wild bird. I leave in a week. Can't wait.
 
mgorvi said:
I now have my own method of telling the natives from the pen raised birds. When I hunt DNR land here in Wisconsin I am able to hit most of the put and take birds that my dog puts up. When I hunt birds in SD I miss most of the birds that my dog puts up. Wisconsin pen birds are like fully loaded B-17s, slow on takeoff and cruising speed. SD birds, on the other hand are like P-51 Mustangs, quick on the take off and extremely agile in the air. When I'm in SD missing, I know I'm hunting wild birds. They seem like a little different creature than the birds back home. Experienced hunters know all this, but it was all new to me.
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That is priceless!!! Never said truer.
 
UGUIDE said:
That is priceless!!! Never said truer.
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Yep the best line ever said to me was from an east coast hunter on his 1st trip to SD. It seemed to me to be just an average day when he walked up to me and said

" They get up so far away and they are so fast "---I replied " Welcome to WILD PHEASANT hunting in SD" :D

JUST 6 more days :cheers::cheers:
 
So true. If I've heard it once I've heard it a thousand times from folks out East.
"Hell...Pheasants are easy to hit, all you need is a 28ga. with a skeet choke. Just walk on over to your dog on point and kick em up".
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If they only knew what a real wild Pheasant was like...I always have a grin from ear to ear when I read things like this. :D
 
Stuff like that makes me chuckle. As this weekend I hit two with a full load of #2 steel shot. Both blew feathers and all I got was a cackle as they laughed and kept going. Got to hit the real pheasants harder than everyone thinks.
 
They are some tough azzed birds. I remember one last year I dropped hard. The dogs got right on it at about 50 yards. Three guy's and three dogs and we found no sign of it in about 30 minutes of searching. Those are the ones I hate. Makes me sick to know he ran off an died somewhere. On the other hand, every trip to SD he will just show up with a wounded rooster in his mouth so I guess that evens it out a little. Hard to hunt pen raised with an aggressive flusher. He catches as many as I shoot.
 
The same guy that said they get up so far away and are so fast also was observed about 40 yards to my left when I heard that sound of a multi pheasant flush--ya know 30-40 birds at once--he just stood there gun hanging down at arms length--no shots and was heard plainly to say "H--Y SHIT" :D:D
 
Some farms/managers are very selective about the pheasants they buy for stocking. They will only buy mature, long tailed roosters. Helps give the appearance of wild birds. It's fun to see advertisements for "100% wild birds" from some outfits when they just got a delivery of roosters in from a MN pheasant farm. Just another effect of the pay-to-play mantra.
Towards the end of the season I buy "stubbies" from a particular pheasant farm for cheap and we have a shoot/feed with friends and family who otherwise don't pheasant hunt. Nothing like a good kick n shoot to wrap up the season.
 
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