South Dakota 5 rooster limit?

R

RMC Hunter

New member
Surprised to not see this on here yet.. what do you guys think?

PHEASANT LIMITS MAY INCREASE IN DECEMBER

Pierre, S.D. â?? Due to the delayed harvest of crops this fall, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission intends to act at its Dec. 3-4 meeting in Pierre on a proposal to raise the three-bird daily pheasant bag limit to five cock pheasants daily.

Under the proposal, the current 15-bird pheasant possession limit would increase to 25 male pheasants.

If adopted, the emergency rule would take effect Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, and remain in place until the current pheasant season ends on Jan. 3, 2010.

â??The ability of hunters to harvest pheasants in the first seven weeks of the 2009 pheasant hunting season has been severely inhibited by lack of row-crop harvest,â?� said GFP Secretary Jeff Vonk. â??The weather patterns that led to this situation were not anticipated by the Commission when it adopted the pheasant season back in April.â?�

The adjustments in the daily limit and possession limit will not hurt overall pheasant numbers in future years because only cock pheasants may be harvested, Vonk said.

â??As crops are taken from the fields, the refuge that pheasants found in oceans of cornfields will disappear, and birds will be concentrated in the remaining cover,â?� Vonk said. â??The addition to the limits will allow hunters the ability to make up for opportunities that were lost in the first part of the season.â?�

-GFP-
 
What they did not mention but should have, is that a 5-rooster limit in December of this particular year is probably in the best interest of the hens anyway in case of a tough winter.
 
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If it happens will be a nice bonus for hunters fortunate enough to chase under pressured private land roosters. Or maybe those who hunt in large groups.

For the rest of us mortals hunting late season birds on public parcels it will be irrelevent most days.
 
I some times wonder about the DNR, here in MN it now goes from 2 birds to 3 in dec. since last year.It just seems wierd to me to be changing the rules 1/2 way through the game, but I guess they know how to manage them better then us. It may boost the economy out there some, drawing hunters out that were not going at all too.Whatever they do I hope it is in the best interest of SD.
 
Im out there the 2nd through the 7th so I guess it would help but as mentioned earlier-Im alone and on public land sooo....it will be nice to know in case the stars align.....
 
For the rest of us mortals hunting late season birds on public parcels it will be irrelevent most days.
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I totally agree. Being a SD resident I would prefer they leave the limit at 3. I hunt public land 90% of the time because the landowners that use to let me hunt all went to "pay-to-hunt" and I lost all those places.

I had some friends from out of state here this week. We hunted Monday and Tuesday all day on public land. 4 guys and 4 dogs. We harvested 4 birds in 2 days. The 5 bird limit wouldn't have helped us.
 
and we just booked for 3rd thru the 9th.
hope it does go into effect.
they should have raised the limit to 5 birds 3 years ago.
they look better in my skillet compared to a coyotes belly or froze up next to the road.
they have always said they hold the limit to 3 birds for more tourism late season. As most of us die hard know--a large part of the out of staters come 1st 2-4 weeks of season and thats it.
We will just have to wait and see what happens.
 
I hunted SD Monday thru Wed this week and saw lots of birds on public ground. Too bad most of them flew back to the corn before 10:00 AM. The five bird limit would not have helped us either as we couldn't seem to hit anything this week. Opening at 8:00AM would make more of a difference than higher limits with the corn still in I think. I saw dozens and dozens flying into the corn before 10:00 AM leaving very few left when the hunt started. The afternoons were pretty good as some returned to the roost. We also managed some late as they flew in from the corn.

4 of us got 11 birds in 3 days all on public land. We missed a LOT of easy shots this trip so we should have had at least 25 for the three days. I talked to guys hunting private ground that were doing as bad or worse than us.
 
In addition, alot of CRP came out again this fall, so the remaining birds have less cover to winter in. As they say, "kill me now, or kill me later". I bet that this one passes...the last couple of years they tried to extend the season by a week or two but those efforts were scuttled due to pressure from landowners who didn't want to be bothered by hunters in January. This one could just pass....as it should.
 
IMO, the 5 bird limit is a marketing decision. Others have already suggested more effective ways of culling the rooster population (expanding hunting hours, extending the season) but I suspect the GFP decided they could sell more licenses and entice more early season non-resident hunters to return for a late season hunt with the 5 bird limit.
 
JMBZ71 said:
IMO, the 5 bird limit is a marketing decision. Others have already suggested more effective ways of culling the rooster population (expanding hunting hours, extending the season) but I suspect the GFP decided they could sell more licenses and entice more early season non-resident hunters to return for a late season hunt with the 5 bird limit.
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That is definitely part of it, but I doubt that they would do it if it also wasn't consistent with legit wildlife biology. Again, LOTS of CRP has been cut since 9/30, so all of the remaining birds have LESS cover to winter in, which is not good for the hens since far fewer roosters have been shot compared to a normal year.
 
JMBZ71 said:
IMO, the 5 bird limit is a marketing decision. Others have already suggested more effective ways of culling the rooster population (expanding hunting hours, extending the season) but I suspect the GFP decided they could sell more licenses and entice more early season non-resident hunters to return for a late season hunt with the 5 bird limit.
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It is pure conjecture on my part, but I would agree with this. My initial thought to the low harvest numbers is that if you are not getting the number of birds you want are not hunting hard/long enough or are expecting that every time you go out you should get a limit. This is based solely on my hunting experience this year. My harvest has been the same on average as last year. I hunt in one of the lowest pheasant per square miles areas of South Dakota.
 
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Last year I hunted an area that still had little corn out in late November. The roosters were just laughing at us by the thousands in the corn surrounding us as we walked the CRP.
Just got back from a hunt to the same fields/area and tho still a lot of corn around, we had fantastic hunting compared to last year. Leftover longspurred roosters and plenty of young ones too.
Sure, the major motivation here is $. The birds are coming out of the woodwork, or should I say picked corn and I do not think a big dent has been made in them thus far. Motive makes no difference, the resource can stand the pressure. Not sure I'll bother to shoot five if I have the opportunity---but I may.
________
Suzuki Bandit Series History
 
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benelli-banger said:
That is definitely part of it, but I doubt that they would do it if it also wasn't consistent with legit wildlife biology. Again, LOTS of CRP has been cut since 9/30, so all of the remaining birds have LESS cover to winter in, which is not good for the hens since far fewer roosters have been shot compared to a normal year.
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Good to hear from your Banger..has been awhile. Yes the End Game we have been discussing for years now is playing out. Definately YES to the 5 bird limit - in many cases those are bird populations that are never coming back anyway so they might as well be utilized. SD down to 1m CRP and counting.

I will say there is one silver lining- the 100K acre James River CREP was approved and sign up began 11/23. Banger, Landman, U Guide ..what are your thoughts to the Walk In requirements tied to these acres?

One group of 4 that I know hunts at Alexandria and never killed a bird due to a combination of CRP losses and standing crops. Best reports as predicted coming from the river corridor counties.

Banger..what is your report so far?
 
Like the harvest, the SD pheasant "resort" industry is down in 2009. People have canceled trips and many more have delayed trips. Many delayed trips just never happen because other things just get in the way.

Lodges, guides, hotels, etc.. all would like to get a bigger piece of the pheasant $$ pie. Increasing the limit to 5 is purely an attempt to attract a larger revenue stream back into SD. Has little to do with carry-over.

If the limit is raised and the el Nino weather continues this strategy should work at the higher end operations. Mother nature could throw a swift blow of cold and/or deep snow and end most Out of State people's interest in returning to SoDak.

Landman: I respect your views on roadhunting, but this should have its own topic thread.
 
safari said:
Good to hear from your Banger..has been awhile. Yes the End Game we have been discussing for years now is playing out. Definately YES to the 5 bird limit - in many cases those are bird populations that are never coming back anyway so they might as well be utilized. SD down to 1m CRP and counting.

I will say there is one silver lining- the 100K acre James River CREP was approved and sign up began 11/23. Banger, Landman, U Guide ..what are your thoughts to the Walk In requirements tied to these acres?

One group of 4 that I know hunts at Alexandria and never killed a bird due to a combination of CRP losses and standing crops. Best reports as predicted coming from the river corridor counties.

Banger..what is your report so far?
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The hunting so far has been spectacular, and that is with the corn still standing. My last two trips (11/11 and 11/18) were just plain awesome. The corn is starting to get combined, and my December hunts should be even better, assuming the weather isn't prohibitive. Yes, the CRP losses are a bad thing in the macro sense, and do warrant the increased limit for the rest of the season, but I have luckily "hitched my wagon" to some farmers who ARE putting new ground into CRP and tree belts, and those efforts over the past few years are paying off already. My hunting over the next 5-10 years compared to the past 5-10 years should be equally good, but the ground I hunt will change a bit, as one of my farmer friends did take his remaining CRP out (about 160 acres), though he still has lots of natural vegetation to hunt. And, their CRP started to decline in the past 5 years as it is an old stand, and a new 1/4 section was put in directly across the road by a different landowner, and that piece really attracts the birds as it is newer. So, bird #'s won't go down much in that neighborhood, but I don't have access to the new CRP.

My ground has really blossomed as well, as we interseeded about 7 additional species of prairiegrasses into the switchgrass about 4 years ago, and it is coming into its own. We have taken over 150 birds off of it so far, and I am sure we will take that many again between now and year end. I got a call from one of my farmer friends yesterday who was over there looking for a deer yesterday a.m. with his 17 year old daughter, and they both were amazed at the # of birds out and about feeding--and he lives there and cultivates bird habitat and sees this stuff regularly! I think the surveys undercounted birds to some degree, as I saw very, very young chicks when I was out there for the youth opener 10/3/09, which means the hens were sitting on those nests in August.


I do realize the detrimental impact of the CRP losses on a macro-basis, but I am not too concerned about my own hunting. There is still alot of great habitat in the general area I hunt, and I think the pendulum will swing back as far as conservation programs are concerned at some point in time. So, if hunter #'s fall off a bit due to bird #'s dropping, that is OK with me, it will keep the overall relationship about where it has been in the mega-years.
 
JMBZ71 said:
IMO, the 5 bird limit is a marketing decision. Others have already suggested more effective ways of culling the rooster population (expanding hunting hours, extending the season) but I suspect the GFP decided they could sell more licenses and entice more early season non-resident hunters to return for a late season hunt with the 5 bird limit.
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JMB, I agree as well and this is a bold "announcement" for GFP to come out with before a vote is passed. There is strong language in the announcement that suggests it is a done deal. however, if it is not passed it could backfire even more on out of state hunters never retruning to SD due to this and other crop weather issues the state has experienced this season already.

If they send out an announcement like this and don't pass it. It will backfire bigtime.
 
UGUIDE said:
JMB, I agree as well and this is a bold "announcement" for GFP to come out with before a vote is passed. There is strong language in the announcement that suggests it is a done deal. however, if it is not passed it could backfire even more on out of state hunters never retruning to SD due to this and other crop weather issues the state has experienced this season already.

If they send out an announcement like this and don't pass it. It will backfire bigtime.
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Here is the deal. The Game,Fish & Parks Commission is a public entity so they are required to disclose all pending actions on the agenda, which they did. The media almost always reports on GF&P Commision meetings so they read the agenda and thus reported that the Commission may approve the five bird limit for the rest of the season. Certainly this is a news worthy event. At this point all we know is that the GF&P recommended to the Commision that they raise the limit via a letter from Jeff Vonk, the head of the GF&P, to the Commission.

At this point we have absolutely no idea how the members of the Commission view this proposal so we don't know if they will go along with it or not. At least three members of the Commission must vote for the proposal for it to pass next week. It will be interesting to see if anyone shows up at the meeting to speak for or against it in an effort to sway the vote one way or another.

The Commission members are appointed by the Governor so they could be swayed by his stance on the issue. At this point we have not heard anything from him.

LM
 
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