Sharpies at Sunrise

G

GWP

New member
Hi all. I am headed to South Dakota the first week of November and have a question. When hunting in South Dakota we occasionally come across sharpies while looking for pheasants. We shoot them when possible but we have never really targeted them. The group I am with always waits until 10 am to head out to chase roosters per the rules. Has anyone here every headed out at sunrise to specifically hunt for sharpies then look for roosters after 10 am? It should be noted we are hunting mostly private land and there is enough that I wouldn’t be hurting any pheasant hunting spots we would intend to target after 10 am. Just curious what all you guys thought? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
 
Perfectly legal to do that. We did the same thing last year on the grasslands. Have one farm we hunt that we will likely do that for this year one day also.
 
Thank you for your responses. I usually shoot 3” Golden Pheasant No. 5 out of my 20 ga. My over under is choked mod/mod and my sxs is choked imp cyl/mod. Would a different round be more effective for sharpies specifically? I use pointers if that makes a difference.
 
Sharpies are usually quite wild, especially later in the season. If you are shooting lead I would choke any double barrel gun Mod/Full even with pointing dogs. This Saturday my Brittany was pointing a covey of Sharpies. When I got to the dog the birds flushed about 50 yds. ahead. There was a fairly good breeze so the point was from quite a distance. Normally points aren't going to be close like pheasants. I had the Mod choke in my Sweet Sixteen, had I had the Full choke in I might of been able to take a shot. The cover you find Sharpies in is shorter grass like in pastures and not heavy cover where you find pheasants.

Just a FYI, hunting Sharptails usually requires a lot of walking and covering a lot of ground for both you and the dog. If you start at sunrise and hunt until 10:00 when pheasant hunting starts both you and your dog might be a little winded. While the cover is easy to walk in the terrain is usually quite hilly so it can be exhausting. In two hours on Saturday my Brittany cover 16.75 miles. I probably walked 3-4 miles.

Good luck!
 
Sharptails are easy to harvest compared to pheasants are are not hard to knock down. I kill a lot of sharptails and a 2 3/4" lead number 6 traveling 1200-1250 fps out of a 20 gauge is plenty. Choke the gun IC and modified and you will be good for any bird within reasonable shooting range These birds are not tough and you will be wasting money and tearing birds to shreds inside of 40 yards with anything more potent than what I recommended.
 
Thank you all for your help. It looks like I will need to do some planning. Thank you again!
 
They may not be as tough as a pheasant but most shots will be in the 40-50 yard range, from my experience. #6 shot would be my first choice and you need to choke your gun to what gives you the best pattern at the range I've indicated above. Whether you shoot a 20, a 16 or a 12 gauge any load that travels at 1,200 - 1,300 fps will do just fine. I'm talking lead shot. If you need to use non-tox I'd go with #4 steel or #6 Bismuth.

I know Swap Collie indicated above using IC/Mod but because most shots are at longer ranges than pheasant I prefer a tighter pattern. I was out this morning and managed to bag one Sharpie. I was using my new Browning A5 Sweet Sixteen with #6 shot Fiocchi Golden Pheasant and Full choke. If I had been using an IC choke I doubt I would have taken that bird. Good luck and I hope we have provided you some useful advice.
 
Dakotazeb said:
They may not be as tough as a pheasant but most shots will be in the 40-50 yard range, from my experience. #6 shot would be my first choice and you need to choke your gun to what gives you the best pattern at the range I've indicated above. Whether you shoot a 20, a 16 or a 12 gauge any load that travels at 1,200 - 1,300 fps will do just fine. I'm talking lead shot. If you need to use non-tox I'd go with #4 steel or #6 Bismuth.

I know Swap Collie indicated above using IC/Mod but because most shots are at longer ranges than pheasant I prefer a tighter pattern. I was out this morning and managed to bag one Sharpie. I was using my new Browning A5 Sweet Sixteen with #6 shot Fiocchi Golden Pheasant and Full choke. If I had been using an IC choke I doubt I would have taken that bird. Good luck and I hope we have provided you some useful advice.
Click to expand...
George: How do you like the new 16? Recoil?

Jon
 
George,
You have got to get yourself some better dogs to lock those birds down. Just kidding!! Those sharpies were wild this year and I have had numerous flushes well before I could get into range. Pretty typical for sharptails as some days they just aren't going to let you get close. Conditions are extremely dry just about everywhere but there are birds.
 
The advice you guys have given has been great! I don’t have any experience chasing solely sharpies so anything to help me get headed the right way is greatly appreciated. I live in Southern Indiana and only have wild quail to hunt in my part of the state. I have been to South Dakota (mostly north central part of the state) a dozen times but the group I travel with generally only chases roosters. With the access we have to private land and the entire morning open I have no problem getting up early and heading out to find a sharpie or two. I will definitely have to rotate my dogs and will probably not chase them everyday since I want to have rested dogs for chasing roosters as well. Thank you all again!
 
jonnyB said:
George: How do you like the new 16? Recoil?

Jon
Click to expand...
I really like it. Took some getting use to probably due to the light weight. Recoil seems to be light as I don't notice any recoil even with Federal PF load's at 1,425 fps.
 
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