Sd part 2

S

small munsterlander owner

Banned
well boys i think im heading west again for my 2nd 5 day hunt period in SD??? after looking at the weather i dont think i should wait around for better weather??? FRI-TUE well FRI-MON look good to me so i plan another 4 day hunt this time i hope to take my father along to see how well the young dog is working & get him on some decent pheasant hunting...

wish us/me well hope its not to damn cold & we at least bag some birds dont need limits daily just some action & good dog work... i would wait for the SD east river deer season to end but like i said that weather looks cold in the future so F it i will head out & avoid any deer hunter i come across...

wont hear from me for awhile im sure many will like to hear that & i hope to post some pics when i get back...

happy thanksgiving guys
 
Good luck SMO

Getting your dad on some birds sounds like a good plan to me.
Be safe and best of luck. I'll be chasing fowl till late Dec!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
 
Have a good trip.:thumbsup:
 
not very much to report from this trip fellas this trip was a real up-set very poor shooting & very skittish wild birds & not very much fun hard hard hunting...

the trip was a trip from hell the camper cabin we rented from the SD GAME & PARKs was not opened up for us like it was supposed to be when we arrived & they would not be able to open it up for who knows how long??? so i canceled my reservations for the rest of the WK with that state park lost 50$ for nothing what a waste of $$$

after 2 days of walking & missing 3-4 birds thats the number of roosters we seen in range seen 40-50 birds in the 2 days but they were mostly 75+ yards away all the time its hard to get my old man on birds that run run run & thats all these birds were doing running... the frozen cattails worked 2 the pheasants favor not hunters they just got on a trail & ran out the other end i like hunting cattails when there is water it holds the birds at the edge of the water at least in my experience when frozen cattails i hardly get the birds up 2-4 times id walk in to cattails with the dog & birds were flushing out the other side of the cattails already 100+ yards out not the kind of hunt i wanted for the old man...

2 days hunting i think 3-5 shots fired from both my dad & i 0 birds harvested what a difference 2-3 WKs makes im not blaming deer hunters but the birds did know exactly wear people will be parking & coming in after them from & they have all the escape routes in there head & know how to avoid people that was not the case a WK prior to east river gun deer season every parking area we parked at or pulled up to had trash at it we picked up & 4-10 empty high power rifle cartridges no wonder the pheasants & deer were so damn spooky wear i hunted...

my father was happy to see as many birds as we did even if they were mostly 75-100 yards out he would like to head back in the early season next yr so we will see??? we dont need dead birds for a good hunt so thats not the reason i say it was a trip from hell its just no fun to try to get your old man on birds that dont want to play or that have the game figured out as well as these birds did... if my dad could walk faster or farther we would of could of got on birds but thats not the case so i need birds that hold well & are not educated as well as these late season birds were in SD...

i think i may be done pheasant hunting for the season??? them frozen cattails are not my thing!!! hate em!!! so i may head up to the ruffed grouse woods to get my dog on some ruffed grouse hunting she has not hunted them enough so maybe thats in the cards in the future???
 
Birds are definitely morphing into escape artists.. I found myself under choked several times last week, particularly for the Prairie Chicken encounters I had.

To be quite honest, Im still finding the majority of my birds in light to medium cover.. Yes, I ventured into a slough on a time or two, but it wasnt a solid mass of cattails..but more like islands or clumps of cattails..
 
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Your great reports continue Rollie, thanks for posting them. Though they are kinda tough to read when I'm trapped in an office and would so much rather be in a field with my pups.

Keep the reports and pictures coming. :thumbsup:
 
One good thing, You got out before the Blizzard.
 
Man I've always had the exact opposite experience. I love late season. Once we can get out on the ice and work both sides of the cattails we slaughter them. Well relative to early season that is.
 
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There is a trick to late season hunting if it is just two guys. One is running a few extra dogs than usual, but you also have to use the lay of the land to your advantage. You have to remember that these birds, they get wiser as the year goes on, so in the words of TBEAR "NO TALKING", not really but you have to be a little sneakier. Also I tend to slow the pace, as it slows the birds down some, gets them antsy to jump up right away rather than running.

You actually might of went over many birds by running to be honest.
 
reddog said:
Birds are definitely morphing into escape artists.. I found myself under choked several times last week, particularly for the Prairie Chicken encounters I had.

To be quite honest, Im still finding the majority of my birds in light to medium cover.. Yes, I ventured into a slough on a time or two, but it wasnt a solid mass of cattails..but more like islands or clumps of cattails..
Click to expand...
Me too. We are hunting areas with varied cover and are finding fewer birds in the sloughs than the past. That will change with6-7 in. of snow.
 
my father can not talk with out a eletrolarnyx witch he does not bring hunting in the fields & we did not slam doors or yell at dogs or talk to them all dog work was done using a beep on the E COLLAR & a hand signals... also my father can not run so we were doing all things correct including using the lay of the land something i always do as well as wind we didnt sky-line ourselfs B4 we got to areas wear birds held last hunt in SD & worked the area slow due to my father not being able to stay with the dog & birds were flushing well ahead of us no doubt in my mind if we both could of kept up with my dog she would of pinned the birds but it would of took us 5+ min for my dad to get to the dog & i figured the birds would flush wild witch they did when i let the dog just do her thing i had to keep her close for the old man...

all i was told & find out on my 1st hunt to SD was hang near water & your good most the water i hunted near had cattails of varying sizes from clumps here & there to huge marshes i have never seen as many birds we had a 30-40 bird flush in a cattail slough had as many if not more flush in close proximity to that slough the hunt B4 in SD had another 20 flush just around the shore i found loads of birds in cattails from MN to SD if there was shatter cain/horse weeds or what ever they call them also along with cattails i seen loads of birds more then i ever seen...

hunted 2-3 grassy CRP type light/medium cover fields & never moved a bird or seen beds or poop no feathers from dead birds dog never got birddy i had to find trees grass sloughs water & food aka corn beans sun flowers to find birds... i passed a half dozen or more areas like REDDOG has in his pics the short grass type cover wear you may see prairie grouse i focused on heavy thick pheasant cover i would of never seen a prairie grouse wear i was hunting still seen hundreds of pheasants...

i guess i missed out on some EZ hunting for my old man if i didnt hunt light/medium type grassy cover a guys...

as far as working both sides of a cattail slough & slaughtering the birds i am not so lucky & was not out in SD it takes the wind out of my sail to head in to a area nice & quit into the wind get half way in & watch 30-40 birds flush out the slough yes a few birds may hold there for us to go kill them but my $$$ is on most the birds flushed with the 30-40 birds just my feelings... maybe the birds hold better if the slough is the only cover they have around??? but im my experience late season you enter 1 end of the slough & the pheasants exit the slough on the other end...

love hunting slough with water for me it holds the birds on the waters edge have the wind blowing in ur face & back over dry land worked like a charm most the season now the cattails are froze & the pheasants are wise to that... i will hunt some of the grasses that helps the pheasants warm up but i feel im wasting my time late season hunting just grass i need woody cover & water & food close by like any other time of the yr...
 
I must have missed something in your post? The birds you saw and the experiences you had with your father--that is the hunt.

The cover you chose and running, walking, and talking do not change the experience.

My point--I have never gone to any type of cover and witnessed multiple roosters waving white flags.:p Enjoy the experiences--the birds and how many you bag are just the bonus.
 
my father & i both agreed that 2 days of that kind of experience was enough for us... walking around just flushing birds at 75-100 yards is ok & like i said above my father was happy to see the amounts of birds he did but after the 4-5 cluster flushes in the cattails 75-100 yards out it was clear to see it was tuff hunting & my old man was get n wore out so we called it quits early i can go have non stop hard hunting & wild bird flushes in MN we went to SD for a good pheasant hunt... but not a pheasant shoot dead birds dont make a hunt i feel what your trying to say kbell...
 
No worries SMO. I wish you the best with your father and his condition. It is my sincere thought that he improves enough to enjoy some future hunts.

If it helps you in any way, I often flush birds over a solid point and watch them rise and fly off to another flush.:)

Ken
 
thanks kbell the old man is 100% cancer free just has heart issues pacemaker defib & has the treceoscopy to breath so that it self limits how long & hard he can hunt at 1 time im just saying my old man has to take a lot of little breaks aka breathers & on running birds each stop they gain ground you dig... the heart issues dont help any & he has to watch how hard he works due to that also so hes limited to road hunting & posting & he really only does that if hes dead tired... my old man is 100% better then he was 2-3 years ago & he is getting around better then we all ever would of imagined so if he improves any longer he will be defying his age lol its kind of a running joke with friends & family we call my dad benjamin button because he is more active then he was prior to his battle with cancer??? he had to due hyperbaric therapy to help him heal up after a surgery so maybe that speed him up a little??? lol he is doing great KBELL thanks for the kind words man

oh i have flushed birds & got on the same bird B4 many times but i have gotten my ass handed to me many times trying to re flush a huge flock of birds i buggered up prior most times i pushed the birds off the public lands as was the case in SD they went to safe private lands well most did any way...

i plan on maybe trying out some new areas a little closer to home i dont expect much late season but im more or less scouting for next season & working the dog at the same time... hope it warms up some in the next wk??? dont look good... hope the young pheasants got some fat on them for the winter looks like a long cold one???
 
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SMO good on you for making the attempt to get your dad out on some birds. You are lucky that you are able to do that in any capacity. I lost my father when I was 18. Hopefully when I get older my sons will do for me what you have done for him. Those late season birds can be a challenge when they are grouped up a little. K-bell is right though, sometimes we do need to stop and smell the flowers a little.:)
 
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Thanks for sharing SMO:10sign: Alway great to hear father/son stories:10sign: An old guy told me when hunting cattails work allittle on one end before birds get up(if you can time that:) Then do a big circle around to the backside and push back to the start. It's worked for me but not for sure they would of not held in the first place:D
 
coot i like to do stuff like that on hard hunted or small or long thin type cover wear i can hopefully confuse the birds a little on wear exactly i am & get them to hold tight... the areas i was hunting in SD were long & thing sloughs/cattails but big i would of took us backing out & get n in the vehicle to do that old timers trick but it mite of been worth it anything would of been as good as what did... lol

the old man has another 5 day SD pheasant hunt period so who knows we might head back out west to SD??? plus he seen a bunch of jackrabits out west they were huge & would like to get 1 mounted in its full white coat so he may want to head west again about a WK B4 X-MASS weather look ok hope it holds true???
 
I ain't seen a jackrabbit in years around here:(. I forgot iowa habitat a couple acres SD has big areas. If you go again good luck SMO:)
 
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