Bob Peters
Well-known member
I caught a wild hare and hit the road to South Dakota last weekend just me and the dog. I never been pheasant hunting there, so I printed off the SD pheasant distribution map, closed my eyes and threw a dart at it, and that's where I drove to the next morning. I grabbed a license and map book at the gas station and hit the gravel roads. Certain spots were ghost towns, and it took a little bit, but I found birds. I went a different direction everyday from the motel and hit new spots*. Day 3 Going south on the way to a spot I had 3 roosters fly over my truck into a walk in area. I took a right heading west along the section line and saw other birds flying low across the north of the property. I parked and saw a flock of birds standing at the fence line on the NW side of the property. I sat there and watched pheasants fly and run back and forth from the corn field to the low ground for 20 minutes, and unlike other spots there were so many roosters. I'd never seen anything like this spot, it was just loaded and it was public!! The time was 4pm and I was a bit overwhelmed because there were pheasants everywhere. I waited them out and by 4:20 the birds had settled in to their roosts for the night. We quietly hopped out and you should have seen the dogs face when we hit the marsh! She didn't know what way to go with scent coming from all over. The bird tracks in there looked like a pheasant interstate. *Never hunt the same place 2 days in a row they say. Well I broke the rule when I found this spot and I'm glad I did because it was loaded up again the next day. Overall I'm really glad I went, the birds were the most jumpy birds I've ever seen in my life, but they taught me and puppy a lot. You needed a perfect strategy and execution to get shot opportunities. Bottom line: it's late season wary birds and tough hunting, but burn some gas and boot leather and you'll get your chances....And the beer is cold and the people are friendly.
. Just get a field bred golden retriever, they win people over like you wouldn't believe. She runs all day in the field and settles right down at night in her bar stool.