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admiralcad

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Would it be a wast of time for me and my son to load up our pointer Bob (a grouse dog here in east KY, and never seen a pheasant) and head to SD to hunt puplic land.

It's been my dream to hunt SD sense I was a kid, but every time you see a SD pheasant hunt on TV, there's a bunch of guys and their labs driving and blocking to get birds in the air.

I dont have to kill a limit every day to be happy but we'll only take one big trip next year and would like to feel like we had a chance at some birds.

We've got plenty of time to plan, and right now we're split between SD and the UP for grouse, just hoping you guys that hunt SD can give me some insight.
Thanks in advance.
 
Admiral, You know, I find all birds must smell pretty much alike. We train our birds with pigeons, Quail and Chukars. Then we take them out and hunt them on Pheasant. The dogs hunt them like a champ. If you want to take Bob on your hunting trip, I'd say "do it" you may be pleased at how he does on them........Bob
 
I think it would be worth your time to give it a try. There's alot of public land you can hunt with a couple people and a dog. I grew up on a farm in NE SD and recently moved back. My brother and I will go out and walk public land alot. I think the most critical part will be deciding when to go. You can probably get alot of good advice from guys on here about the best time. I prefer to have people come out later in the season, between Thanksgiving and Christmas alot of the local hunters will be deer hunting or ice fishing depending on the weather. When it cools off enough to freeze the sloughs the hunting seems to get better and alot easier to get around. I have posted this alot on here but some of the waterfowl production areas were very successful last year, alot easier to cover will a small group. Hope your first trip is a success. If you have any questions feel free to ask
 
sd

admiralcad said:
Would it be a wast of time for me and my son to load up our pointer Bob (a grouse dog here in east KY, and never seen a pheasant) and head to SD to hunt puplic land.

It's been my dream to hunt SD sense I was a kid, but every time you see a SD pheasant hunt on TV, there's a bunch of guys and their labs driving and blocking to get birds in the air.

I dont have to kill a limit every day to be happy but we'll only take one big trip next year and would like to feel like we had a chance at some birds.

We've got plenty of time to plan, and right now we're split between SD and the UP for grouse, just hoping you guys that hunt SD can give me some insight.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
If you hunt grouse with your pointer apparently it will hunt close...I think you will be fine. My brittany had never seen a pheasant until I went to SD last year...she boned out one the first one the smelled. She piddled with it a bit after I killed it. Didnt know what to think...cause all she had been around was quail but she adapted well. If you had a long ranging pointer...you might not like the results. By the way...I was in your shoes last year...had maps...of all the public and walk-ins. Ended up with our limit two of three days. This year...did the same thing and ended up full all three days. Some spots had lots of birds and some very few but I really enjoyed it. Send me a personal message with your email and I will be glad to help. I am from Ky also. Cats by 10...LATER
 
I'd say yes to coming up, but will differ with the others on dog expectations.

Grouse and pheasants handle dramatically differently for a dog. Most good grouse dogs lock up at first scent some distance from the bird and don't move--that kind of dog work in my experience becomes very frustrating for solitary wild pheasant hunters, I've seen more than one guy pulling their hair out on wild pheasants with dogs they claim were fantastic grouse dogs.

As far as when to come it's kind of a crap shoot in your situation, I beleive. Very early in the season you stand a better chance of birds holding in cover they'll just run in later, but that window is pretty short and there tend to be a lot more hunters around then. Later season--especially if there a bit of snow--can be good but you may want to pick and choose your spots to hunt. Look for smaller patches of cover rather than big fields--or patches that narrow down to a spot where there's no cover anymore to hide in for awhile.

And if your dog doesn't do this already, it might be good to work on a release from point command before you go up.
 
Reading my last post it sounds a bit more negative than I'd intended. With a bit of help (folks on this board or otherwise) you stand a good chance of getting your dog into good numbers of birds, even on publicly accessible land. Just temper your expectations towards actually being able to shoot at very few of the ones you see, work with your dog and recognize it's a new game that may take some time to learn, and you'll have a good time.

And if you were wondering if the only way to hunt pheasants here is with lines of guys and blockers, you can stop now. Lots of us hunt solo with one dog or a couple of dogs. May not see the numbers in the air at once that some of the light brigade folks do, but we like it just fine that way...:)
 
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Thanks for all the info,and keep it comming. I am encouraged from what I'm hearing from ya'll.

Good to hear there are locals who hunt solo or with just a couple buddys. The whole gang working a field just doesn't apeal to me.

Bob does work closer in heavy cover but the pointer tends to come out when were chasing quail in an open field, as for the release from point a pat on the head does it, or a tone from his collar. Also our grouse here will run as often as fly the first time the dog points, nothing like what I've seen pheasant do on TV but he will follow a moving bird even try to get in front of one and cut it off.

I guess my question is more about hunting the wide open spaces with two guys and one dog.

I have been to SD I use to haul honey bees from a guy just west of Sioux Falls out to CA, Use to tare me up driving out to the pastures where he had his hives on the gravel roads a fence line on eather side. My Tractor Trailer was a heck of a fulshing dog every place there was a drain with tall weeds birds would bust out and I'd almost wreck watching them.

For now my minds made up, barring any major problem I will be walking behind ol'Bob through the SD plains. Can't wait.
Thanks again and keep the advice comming, it's much appreciated.
 
I don't want to discourage you from coming to South Dakota this fall but in all likelyhhood the bird numbers will be down rather significantly across the state due to the winter we are having. It's had to have been one of the worst winters for pheasants that we've had in a while. A lot of snow, wind and cold. Then a couple weeks ago it warmed up only to see large areas of the state have freezing rain. Some areas are just getting power back now. The past 4 days we've gotten more snow and there is still more coming. It's starting to get kind of depressing around here. But we need to be optomistic and hope the birds that survive have a good spring and summer for nesting.
 
Probably lot less hunters to. Hard to imagine things being so bad there won't be some Pheasants to hunt. But boy I've seen it real hard to get a couple roosters though. I agree that a bird dog is a bird dog. A good dog will have no trouble adjusting to pheasants.
 
Admiral,

I own 80 acres in Iron county of the UP. Grouse / woodcock hunting is Fair to good. I love hunting both grouse and pheasant and do both in the Fall. You will put on many miles in Michigan and see a fair number of birds.
I went to SD for the first time 6 years ago and there is no comparison IMO between the two. I go every year now. Now, to be fair, I save my $$$$ all year for my SD hunt. We pay $150.00 per gun per day which is a little pricey. However, the way I look at it is if I'm driving from Illinois (12 hours) all the way to SD for a 3 day hunt, I want to get into some birds. I can hunt all day here in Illinois for one or two birds.
We hunt in Faulk county on some amazing private land. All wild birds. Its been the best pheasant hunting trip I have ever been on.
The public land hunting can be rewarding I'm sure, but for my money get on some good private land and you won't go wrong.
If your hunt is between Public land in SD or public land in the UP of Michigan, I say go to Michigan.

Bob
 
Two of us went to SD for first time this year with one Brit that had never hunted pheasants and a couple of labs that had limited experience. Did some research asked a few questions, got a little advice and had a great hunt in Dec almost exclusively on public land. Not limits every day, but had opportunities, learned a lot for the next trip, and had a great time and that is what it is all about. Will go back for sure.
 
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