SE SD not too bad….

[benelli-banger]

Hunted Wed-Fri, walked about 16 miles, worst walking is entry points into fields/cover. Wed was warm enough that snow was soft, next 2 days had crust. Birds were bunched, saw several groups of 100-400/500 birds, usually from the car, but did get into some decent bunches while hunting…50-150. Wed I hunted alone, flushed 200+ over a 3 hr walk, 90% hens. Roosters were bunched together, but once they busted, I killed 2 singles. Saw 2 sharptail coveys, unusual for this area! Buddy joined me for last 2 days, we stumbled our way into 11 (12th bird was in my buddy’s dogs jaws, it escaped and dog couldn’t follow it due to a snow drifted fence!). Birds stand out like a sore thumb right now. Lots of my best spots we couldn’t get to, township roads are not all plowed. Fun trip, 5% of the walking was very tough…may go back, my farmer buddy secured permission to hunt some good land for the next month, had access all last season, and most of this ground I can get to, at least currently!

 

[waterdog09]

Hunted Wed-Fri, walked about 16 miles, worst walking is entry points into fields/cover. Wed was warm enough that snow was soft, next 2 days had crust. Birds were bunched, saw several groups of 100-400/500 birds, usually from the car, but did get into some decent bunches while hunting…50-150. Wed I hunted alone, flushed 200+ over a 3 hr walk, 90% hens. Roosters were bunched together, but once they busted, I killed 2 singles. Saw 2 sharptail coveys, unusual for this area! Buddy joined me for last 2 days, we stumbled our way into 11 (12th bird was in my buddy’s dogs jaws, it escaped and dog couldn’t follow it due to a snow drifted fence!). Birds stand out like a sore thumb right now. Lots of my best spots we couldn’t get to, township roads are not all plowed. Fun trip, 5% of the walking was very tough…may go back, my farmer buddy secured permission to hunt some good land for the next month, had access all last season, and most of this ground I can get to, at least currently!

We just returned from the same area of the state and had very similar results. Hunted Tues-Fri and the first 2 days were great with warm temps and soft snow, the last 2 days the dogs took a beating and it was tough walking. We saw plenty of birds and came home a few birds short of our 3 man limit for the 4 days all on public land. Hopefully this next storm spares them a little as some of the areas were almost completely drifted in and almost unwalkable.