siouxcitysmitty
Member
Good idea....let's critique the hunts of other poster's and let them know they don't meet our elitist criteria of a hunt.
Reports from opening day in SD?
- Thread starter Boomer-IN
- Start date
hazzard
New member
X2 Well said
kansasbrittany
Banned
Oh boy
Buy the ticket, take the ride.........Not sure which poster you're referring to, but I appreciated that person's report, no matter what technique they chose or how many was in their party.
Oh boy
Not sure which poster you're referring to, but I appreciated that person's report, no matter what technique they chose or how many was in their party.
X2 Please lets hear the reports.....:cheers:
Yes it is legal. When I was younger, the opener, was a family tradition, if not a small town tradition. Meaning small towns came together for the hunt. The local Church served breakfast followed by a prayer for the hunt. Then the group of hunters broke up into groups of 15 to 20 hunters and hunted fields. Some blocked, some flanked, and some pushed the field, with the dogs. Sometimes this worked great and sometimes not. But it wasn't just shooting and never did all the roosters get shot.
Uncle Buck
New member
The opener used to be a bigge for me, but I do not have much private land to hunt on the opener, tho I get access latter. I do have 13 acres + neighbors 20 in backyard and hunted the last hour Sat. One for one at this point. As I was putting the last dog away, three roosters cacled as they came into the creek cover75 yards away from the dog barn. Still legal for about ten minutes, but I left them for another day.
Don't shed too many tears for me as I am spending three days at Gregory this weekend. Cast and blast as there are some nice bass in the pond too.
The best reports I am getting are from the south central region. No real difference over the last three years and in fact easier this year with crops out.
Don't shed too many tears for me as I am spending three days at Gregory this weekend. Cast and blast as there are some nice bass in the pond too.
The best reports I am getting are from the south central region. No real difference over the last three years and in fact easier this year with crops out.
1pheas4
Moderator
No big deal.
Anyway, are you driving from FL. or flying into SD? My brother usually flies in from the Orlando area.I only spent 2 days in the Gregory area & decieded to go home ,I hunted private ground & saw less than 20 phesants in the 2 days!NEVER fired a shot, saw maybe a total of 3 roosters & 1 of them was crossing a road!! Fellow I hunted on combined a 80 acre corn field & only pushed 2 birds total? Glad some are reporting success but the hunters I talked too were only averageing 1 to 1/2 birds a day? They were hunting pay to hunt land too!!I hunted sharp tails early morning & saw lots of birds, but very spooky. I had a lot of good dog work on the grouse, so all was not a bust for me!
only a pointer
Banned
ok i will agree with that im so partial to ks i love the mixed bag hunts, i will be traveling to s dakota for my first time leaving tue night going to pollock dont know anything about but your right if you just want to kill ditch parrots it has ks crushed especially this year! so thats what i hear?
nstric
New member
Interesting feedback. Thanks for offering it. I haven't heard the same from others -- not that they've shared to the contrary, but rather they've suggested other areas as most optimum.
miller
smacked em in miller sd, had our limit within a few hrs- shot 60 over the weekend. i know they said sd's numbers are down, but its after an amazing yr so to me, sd numbers arnt too bad.....i will say we saw a lot of young birds i had to pass up on shooting .....good second hatch perhaps?
smacked em in miller sd, had our limit within a few hrs- shot 60 over the weekend. i know they said sd's numbers are down, but its after an amazing yr so to me, sd numbers arnt too bad.....i will say we saw a lot of young birds i had to pass up on shooting .....good second hatch perhaps?
OKIEGunner
New member
How can you hunt with that many people
agreed not my favorite way to hunt, kinda a family reunion type of event...to answer your question we do it VERY carefully, we talk through what each person will do and where they will go when. lots of talk about where blockers are, no dogs and luckily no real young hunters. been doing it every opener for years and (knock on wood) no accidents, we just know out there that its ok to pass up a bird, there will be more.
Uncle Buck
New member
There is not much public land down there, but I am talking Winner area where I got excellent reports from two groups. I see one party here who did not do well towards Gregory.
Mitchell Huron area---bad reports. Salem- bad.
still_steamn
New member
Hunted west of the muddy Missouri. Went out 4 days early and hunted sharptails on private land ranch with one other hunter and my dog. We shot limits of sharpies both days, plus one day we got into some Hungarian partridge. On the same day I shot my lifetime first double on sharpies and later my first double on Huns. Love that Benelli Ultralight I've been using last 3 years!
Scouted for deer one day and while doing a 5-mile walk in a big circle packing my rifle I shot one coyote at 180 yards, and just missed another that gave me only seconds to unshoulder the gun, jack in a round, and get off one shot before he was up and over the hill. I missed just under him. Had the bird dog along (German shorthair pointer, they are a versatile breed) and he tried to track him down but I called him off.
For pheasant moved 80 miles to a different private land area in the west, this time 2 hunters and 2 dogs. Limited on pheasants both days, first day we worked quite a bit harder than usual, like 5 hours. 2nd day we hit a hot spot and limited by 2pm plus got one sharptail. I think the pheasants are down some but hard to tell cuz many were in the corn and sunflowers which we did not hunt. BONUS: That morning before phez opened we spotted from the truck a coyote mousing. I dug out the rifle (.257 Roberts Ackley Improved) from back of truck and he was still out there. I guessed 300 yards, plus 20mph crosswind. Shot across the hood of the truck. Broadside standing shot, aimed at head and hit too far back but it was a killing shot. We paced it off at 320 yards, I had left the laser rangefinder back at the house. The actual wind drift turned out to be about 20" based on where I aimed versus hit. My best combo trip ever.
I do have photos of this stuff if folks think I'm pulling your leg.
Scouted for deer one day and while doing a 5-mile walk in a big circle packing my rifle I shot one coyote at 180 yards, and just missed another that gave me only seconds to unshoulder the gun, jack in a round, and get off one shot before he was up and over the hill. I missed just under him. Had the bird dog along (German shorthair pointer, they are a versatile breed) and he tried to track him down but I called him off.
For pheasant moved 80 miles to a different private land area in the west, this time 2 hunters and 2 dogs. Limited on pheasants both days, first day we worked quite a bit harder than usual, like 5 hours. 2nd day we hit a hot spot and limited by 2pm plus got one sharptail. I think the pheasants are down some but hard to tell cuz many were in the corn and sunflowers which we did not hunt. BONUS: That morning before phez opened we spotted from the truck a coyote mousing. I dug out the rifle (.257 Roberts Ackley Improved) from back of truck and he was still out there. I guessed 300 yards, plus 20mph crosswind. Shot across the hood of the truck. Broadside standing shot, aimed at head and hit too far back but it was a killing shot. We paced it off at 320 yards, I had left the laser rangefinder back at the house. The actual wind drift turned out to be about 20" based on where I aimed versus hit. My best combo trip ever.
I do have photos of this stuff if folks think I'm pulling your leg.
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nstric
New member
Please do post your photos. Not because I don't believe you, but rather I'd simply love to see them.