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.