BritChaser
Well-known member
What fascinates me about the map is that ten or so years ago the primary pheasant habitat was all WEST of the Missouri. Now it's all east of the river. Huge change.
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- Thread starter TomU
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What fascinates me about the map is that ten or so years ago the primary pheasant habitat was all WEST of the Missouri. Now it's all east of the river. Huge change.
TomU
Active member
BritChaser,
I was talking with a Conservation Officer Supervisor and he was telling me about the expansion of corn planting on the west side of the river. where it used to be mostly wheat.
If I understand what he was saying the Pheasant (and deer) followed the corn and hunting became better in the west river areas. But as the planting areas spread there was a loss of needed varied habitat resulting in a decline of bird (and deer) population to where it is now.
I know my explanation above is simplistic and leaves out a lot of the nuance in his narrative but what he told me makes sense.
I was talking with a Conservation Officer Supervisor and he was telling me about the expansion of corn planting on the west side of the river. where it used to be mostly wheat.
If I understand what he was saying the Pheasant (and deer) followed the corn and hunting became better in the west river areas. But as the planting areas spread there was a loss of needed varied habitat resulting in a decline of bird (and deer) population to where it is now.
I know my explanation above is simplistic and leaves out a lot of the nuance in his narrative but what he told me makes sense.
Big increase in bird numbers everywhere we went from Sat-Wed for the NR opener. Limits every day for 14 hunters in 5 vehicles, 3 groups without dogs. We got our limits by driving 25mph from spot to spot that had weedy ditches in front of standing corn and/or grass sloughs. Stopped when we saw birds on the road that ducked into the ditch or were standing in the fence line. I would get out and solo walk the ditch (just me without a dog) right next to the fence up to a road approach. Had a blocker standing on the road approach but the birds flushed next to me 2/3 of the time. Had some escape into the corn, some doubled back on me and flushed behind my back, some flushed wild just far enough that neither walker or blocker got a shot. Lots of strategizing about where to go, which fields to drive by at what times of day, how to plan to drive to keep the sun out of our eyes. Walked about 3 miles a day and had a truck drive past us about once a day while we were walking- they went super slow or waited for us to get done walking. Saw another truck with hunters in it maybe twice a day but never saw another hunter on the ground outside of lodge groups that were on private food plots.
The habitat was wide open and all to ourselves. Limits were done most days hunting from noon to 4PM or 3-5PM. I drove by many WIAs, CREPs and WFAs to see the conditions but never stopped. Most had grass since they were muddy sloughs, pond fringes or weedy draws which aren't easy to mow. However the majority of these in my area were far from bird populations without much feed around so we skipped them. We had one person in two of the trucks who couldn't walk more than 30 feet due to bad knees or COPD but they got shooting and birds every day. We spent about $100 over the 5 days in gas for driving which was the smallest expense of the trip.
Absolute blast of a time. This is my encouragement to anyone who thinks it can't be done solo, can't be done without a dog, can't be done unless you can walk for miles, can't be done unless you pay for access, can't be done unless you have private ground contacts, can't be done if an area doesn't have lots of public ground, too much traffic, too risky with a dog. The fence around the public ground is just as limiting as the fence you put around your mind. Don't become a pen raised hunter.
Here are the areas different groups found great numbers of birds (draw a line on a map between these towns and hunt inside that area):
Redfield-Rockham-Tulare: this area produces year after year. Lots of cattail sloughs and lakes keeps this area productive through hard winters and droughts. Found lots of small coveys of roosters in groups of 3-4 everywhere.
Cresbard-Northville-Athol-Miranda: Lots of big coveys with hens, barely feathered roosters and young of the year roosters which made for challenging identification and then shooting between the dozen birds that would get up. It was calm weather Tuesday and we slalomed home between the flocks walking all over the roads at 4PM with our limit. Unending action even in the windy days. Stay away from the far west and southwest sides of this square as they are pasture land with no feed for birds.
Redfield-Melette-Brentford-Frankfort: This area had hard times with floods, hard rains and hail limiting hatches for a lot of years. Bumper crop this year and birds back in numbers like we saw 10 years ago. Definitely a place you could spend your entire hunt.
Hearsay reports from other groups:
Gettysburg area- a group of locals go here every year for hunts but there were very few around so they stayed home. Normally has good hatches due to the river providing moisture but a localized drought brought numbers way down.
Ft. Pierre National Grassland- guide service that does grouse and chicken hunts there said the habitat that holds pheasants was very productive for their hunters this year. Still wouldn't recommend this area for dedicated pheasant hunting but don't pass up the opportunity.
The habitat was wide open and all to ourselves. Limits were done most days hunting from noon to 4PM or 3-5PM. I drove by many WIAs, CREPs and WFAs to see the conditions but never stopped. Most had grass since they were muddy sloughs, pond fringes or weedy draws which aren't easy to mow. However the majority of these in my area were far from bird populations without much feed around so we skipped them. We had one person in two of the trucks who couldn't walk more than 30 feet due to bad knees or COPD but they got shooting and birds every day. We spent about $100 over the 5 days in gas for driving which was the smallest expense of the trip.
Absolute blast of a time. This is my encouragement to anyone who thinks it can't be done solo, can't be done without a dog, can't be done unless you can walk for miles, can't be done unless you pay for access, can't be done unless you have private ground contacts, can't be done if an area doesn't have lots of public ground, too much traffic, too risky with a dog. The fence around the public ground is just as limiting as the fence you put around your mind. Don't become a pen raised hunter.
Here are the areas different groups found great numbers of birds (draw a line on a map between these towns and hunt inside that area):
Redfield-Rockham-Tulare: this area produces year after year. Lots of cattail sloughs and lakes keeps this area productive through hard winters and droughts. Found lots of small coveys of roosters in groups of 3-4 everywhere.
Cresbard-Northville-Athol-Miranda: Lots of big coveys with hens, barely feathered roosters and young of the year roosters which made for challenging identification and then shooting between the dozen birds that would get up. It was calm weather Tuesday and we slalomed home between the flocks walking all over the roads at 4PM with our limit. Unending action even in the windy days. Stay away from the far west and southwest sides of this square as they are pasture land with no feed for birds.
Redfield-Melette-Brentford-Frankfort: This area had hard times with floods, hard rains and hail limiting hatches for a lot of years. Bumper crop this year and birds back in numbers like we saw 10 years ago. Definitely a place you could spend your entire hunt.
Hearsay reports from other groups:
Gettysburg area- a group of locals go here every year for hunts but there were very few around so they stayed home. Normally has good hatches due to the river providing moisture but a localized drought brought numbers way down.
Ft. Pierre National Grassland- guide service that does grouse and chicken hunts there said the habitat that holds pheasants was very productive for their hunters this year. Still wouldn't recommend this area for dedicated pheasant hunting but don't pass up the opportunity.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
This is crazy. Nobody wants to drive 100 miles a day.We drive maybe 30.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
Good advice. I've been to redfield and Aberdeen.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Great trip! Great summary! Thanks. Never saw the reference to miles driven, but who cares? Glad you all had a great hunt, and thanks for sharing, and also, for the encouragement to others who may be on the fence. Go! 
Matt D
Well-known member
Would agree with that also. Go! And driving 60-100 miles isn’t really that big a deal IMO. Now if doing it every day to get to your hunting area that would be a little much but we have a couple of places that take us close to that distance to get to.Great trip! Great summary! Thanks. Never saw the reference to miles driven, but who cares? Glad you all had a great hunt, and thanks for sharing, and also, for the encouragement to others who may be on the fence. Go!
Weimdogman
Well-known member
Isn't it funny that people who live in either really desolate areas or people in large urban areas don't think much about driving 100 miles?
Live in the desolate area and it's 45 to 100 miles to shopping or another towns activity.
Live in the urban area and it's a 100 miles to get out of town. Or 60 miles to go to a event.
Benelli Rooster
Member
I'm pretty sure I don't want to remotely know how many miles I drive for pheasant hunting in any given handful of days. Some days it can be an absolute sh*tload. We do what we have to do to chase the birds
I think 100mi avg/per day is accurate but this is road hunting where we are driving about 5-10 miles to one of these areas. Then we go slow around the best spots in the area until we see a bird or a good ditch to try under the conditions. I would say that happens 15-20 times a day so about every 5-10 miles. We either flush the bird and take off after a couple minutes or spend 20-30mins walking out the ditch. It's a ton of action for the walker while still be very manageable for the driver/blocker who has limited walking range.
Once we find an area with birds, we stick around it all day long. I've hunted many of these areas for 10-20 years so I put pegs on a map for spots that have either produced birds consistently or have all the right cover/feed. We go from peg to peg with the occasional side road to check out new ground. There are CREPs and WPAs in the area but none of them are ever hotspots for us.
So to me the public grounds are low quality areas on the fringe of good bird areas, require hours of walking without producing any action and you are fighting the crowds. Just outside these fences are hundreds of miles of prime habitat with 10x the birds. They are wide open and empty spaces you have all to yourself. You rarely see another truck pass you while you are in the ditch so there's no more risk for dogs getting hit that when you are on the borders of a WIA. We spend about 4 gals/day in gas which is cheaper than the truck stop double-cheese burger and soda. But we are always warm or airconditioned, snacks and drinks in hand, listening to the football games on the radio, talking and BS. We see a lot of the country and get all our birds every year.
I see new hunters lead to believe there is only one way to do when there's a fun and productive way to hunt just outside the fenced in area they're being lead to. That what makes me think of it as pen-raised hunters that I am trying to set free into a wild hunting experience.
Once we find an area with birds, we stick around it all day long. I've hunted many of these areas for 10-20 years so I put pegs on a map for spots that have either produced birds consistently or have all the right cover/feed. We go from peg to peg with the occasional side road to check out new ground. There are CREPs and WPAs in the area but none of them are ever hotspots for us.
So to me the public grounds are low quality areas on the fringe of good bird areas, require hours of walking without producing any action and you are fighting the crowds. Just outside these fences are hundreds of miles of prime habitat with 10x the birds. They are wide open and empty spaces you have all to yourself. You rarely see another truck pass you while you are in the ditch so there's no more risk for dogs getting hit that when you are on the borders of a WIA. We spend about 4 gals/day in gas which is cheaper than the truck stop double-cheese burger and soda. But we are always warm or airconditioned, snacks and drinks in hand, listening to the football games on the radio, talking and BS. We see a lot of the country and get all our birds every year.
I see new hunters lead to believe there is only one way to do when there's a fun and productive way to hunt just outside the fenced in area they're being lead to. That what makes me think of it as pen-raised hunters that I am trying to set free into a wild hunting experience.
Great post Pete and I want to thank you for it. My "pup" is 10 this year and arthritis is slowing him down greatly. He's good for about 2 to 3 miles a day tops when in years past he would go from bell to bell full out. Although I am coming up to SD in January to pick up my new pup from a breeder, I was thinking about staying home this fall since what fun is it to hunt by yourself without a dog???? Thankfully, your description got me excited again as walking ditches / grass sloughs and driving until we see birds when he's too tired to continue is about all he has in him anymore. Had a great 9 years with him with 100's of amazing memories. I'd hate to look back and think "dammit, I should've went". So thanks, I'll plan on getting to SD around Nov 8th, hunting somewhere in the south central region. Although I will start in a region I know very well, I'll take your advice and head northward at 25 mph.
This will be just as awesome, just different...