carptom1
Well-known member
Thought I would share a few thoughts about a second trip to SD last weekend. We hunted some public spots that I had done well north of Pierre on friday. It was a little discouraging. Not so much in the fact that we only saw two cocks, but the fact that we only put up two hens. Six guys, four dogs and no shots fired in six hrs of walking. We finally decided to road hunt and came upon a field with about twenty cocks standing in it, there were also several in the ditch. Waaaay to close to the house. I went up and talked to the old farmer, he asked where I was from. I told him where and he said as long as your not from Wisconsin
, you can hunt the ditch and the fenceline but stay out of the cedars because my son hunts those. I thanked him and we got out and walked the ditch. Right after we shot a cock, his wife came out and told us to get the hell off the property. Kinda weird. My son and I ended up getting one on a dirty field road north of Blunt. Total for the day was three. Pretty tough but still beats working. There were a ton of hunters in Pierre, kinda like opening day. Most were skunked, or close to it on public. The only guys that seemed to have much success were on the grasslands.
Sat/Sun we hunted a private farm south of Harrold. If you are road hunting, I saw more birds in that area than any other, the ditch cover was a lot better also. The hunting was very good. We saw a lot of birds but they were really wild. Hunted hard, the limits did not come easy. Couple birds out of most spots, but definately earned them. Highlight of my trip was my fifteen year old boy making a great shot while blocking. He was really happy as he was the only kid on the trip and the other guys were really trying to get him in the right spot. He missed a bunch but shot more than last year which is good. He frustrates much easier than my older boy, so I was glad he was able to connect. He is a very safe hunter, he passes any shot that is not 100% safe. He is a good kid. My dog is also coming along nicely. He made some great retrieves. A couple hundred yard plus ones that were pretty blind for him. Was able to get a lot of birds in his mouth. I love watching him in the cattails, he is a very strong dog. He looks like he lost 6-7 lbs the last couple weeks. All in all another great SD experience.
I was able to watch my buddies 13 year old lab make several good retrieves. He is a championship quality dog from great lines and has slowed a great deal. He still hunted him a few fields a day. Interesting to watch a 3yr old hunt with a 13 year old. My dog is running busting tails, hopping and full bore. His is slow walking, methodical, but still putting up birds. Fun stuff. It was great watching his dog beat mine out on a retrieve of a bird I shot. Mine went in too fast and overran it, his was slower but got right on it. My dog was not pleased and tried to take it from him, they ended up doing a dual retrieve side by side. On sunday towards the end of the hunt, I put down a rooster and my dog went in for a retrieve. As he was bringing in the bird, he came across another. It was funny watching him go through the decision making process on what to do. He broke from the hiding bird to bring me the dead one. He then circled back without completing the retrieve. You could see his dilemma. He finally decided to flush the sitting bird with a cock in his mouth. Dang it was a hen. I wish I would have got that on video.
, you can hunt the ditch and the fenceline but stay out of the cedars because my son hunts those. I thanked him and we got out and walked the ditch. Right after we shot a cock, his wife came out and told us to get the hell off the property. Kinda weird. My son and I ended up getting one on a dirty field road north of Blunt. Total for the day was three. Pretty tough but still beats working. There were a ton of hunters in Pierre, kinda like opening day. Most were skunked, or close to it on public. The only guys that seemed to have much success were on the grasslands.Sat/Sun we hunted a private farm south of Harrold. If you are road hunting, I saw more birds in that area than any other, the ditch cover was a lot better also. The hunting was very good. We saw a lot of birds but they were really wild. Hunted hard, the limits did not come easy. Couple birds out of most spots, but definately earned them. Highlight of my trip was my fifteen year old boy making a great shot while blocking. He was really happy as he was the only kid on the trip and the other guys were really trying to get him in the right spot. He missed a bunch but shot more than last year which is good. He frustrates much easier than my older boy, so I was glad he was able to connect. He is a very safe hunter, he passes any shot that is not 100% safe. He is a good kid. My dog is also coming along nicely. He made some great retrieves. A couple hundred yard plus ones that were pretty blind for him. Was able to get a lot of birds in his mouth. I love watching him in the cattails, he is a very strong dog. He looks like he lost 6-7 lbs the last couple weeks. All in all another great SD experience.
I was able to watch my buddies 13 year old lab make several good retrieves. He is a championship quality dog from great lines and has slowed a great deal. He still hunted him a few fields a day. Interesting to watch a 3yr old hunt with a 13 year old. My dog is running busting tails, hopping and full bore. His is slow walking, methodical, but still putting up birds. Fun stuff. It was great watching his dog beat mine out on a retrieve of a bird I shot. Mine went in too fast and overran it, his was slower but got right on it. My dog was not pleased and tried to take it from him, they ended up doing a dual retrieve side by side. On sunday towards the end of the hunt, I put down a rooster and my dog went in for a retrieve. As he was bringing in the bird, he came across another. It was funny watching him go through the decision making process on what to do. He broke from the hiding bird to bring me the dead one. He then circled back without completing the retrieve. You could see his dilemma. He finally decided to flush the sitting bird with a cock in his mouth. Dang it was a hen. I wish I would have got that on video.