carptom1
Well-known member
I returned from a few days in SD . It was a spur of the moment deal with my oldest son. I broke a toe about 8 weeks ago and he wanted to get back into hunting after an 8 year hiatus getting a masters degree and starting a career/ family. I was finally feeling a bit better and thought I would give it a go. We hunted around Redfield/ Melette and 60-70 miles in all directions.
The good..
First off I have gotten serious about my health and am down 50 pounds with about 40-50 to go. Even with the toe barking a bit, walking wasn’t nearly the chore it was in years past. The little Pudelpointer is really starting to figure it out. She works at a nice pace and had several good points and got several birds shot over her and made some good finds. I still am keeping her inside 60 yards or so until we firm her up a bit. She is only about 60-70 % steady at this point, but she is doing well for less than 2. I shot one yesterday that wasn’t hit well in some waist high CRP interspersed with trees. She tracked it for fifty yards or so and dug it out from under a bush very much alive. She also gifted me with a beautiful point at the end of our morning today before we left for home.
The Bad
With the exception of one CREP field that we flushed 50 pheasants out of one morning we saw very few birds. In fact we hunted that field all three days and managed six birds out of it and should have had a couple more. It was way too big for two guys and one dog but we worked the edges by the cut corn and hit the short cattails in the back. It was weird as I saw many hunters in cover much less appealing but never found anyone in this one.
The weather was horrible, windy and warm.
The Ugly
Severely depleted bird counts in this area. I would say 30-40 percent of the corn was still in, but we saw very few roadside birds. I would guess 20 or less in 3 days. Most of the minimum maintenance roads were like golf courses. Anything that wasn’t cut was wet. If you are going to that area to road hunt good luck. I talked to many groups in the hotel and restaurants and they were around 1bird a day or less. Of course private land guys were doing better but who knows what they were shooting. I saw a ton of busses full of guys. Most of the public guys were disappointed. More hunters than years past. I felt like our six birds in two days hunted were good by comparison. We picked up a couple more the day we got there down south.
All and all a good time and beats working any day. Might try to get on some quail here this weekend. Might even try Iowa here in a couple weeks. Haven’t hunted there in years.
The good..
First off I have gotten serious about my health and am down 50 pounds with about 40-50 to go. Even with the toe barking a bit, walking wasn’t nearly the chore it was in years past. The little Pudelpointer is really starting to figure it out. She works at a nice pace and had several good points and got several birds shot over her and made some good finds. I still am keeping her inside 60 yards or so until we firm her up a bit. She is only about 60-70 % steady at this point, but she is doing well for less than 2. I shot one yesterday that wasn’t hit well in some waist high CRP interspersed with trees. She tracked it for fifty yards or so and dug it out from under a bush very much alive. She also gifted me with a beautiful point at the end of our morning today before we left for home.
The Bad
With the exception of one CREP field that we flushed 50 pheasants out of one morning we saw very few birds. In fact we hunted that field all three days and managed six birds out of it and should have had a couple more. It was way too big for two guys and one dog but we worked the edges by the cut corn and hit the short cattails in the back. It was weird as I saw many hunters in cover much less appealing but never found anyone in this one.
The weather was horrible, windy and warm.
The Ugly
Severely depleted bird counts in this area. I would say 30-40 percent of the corn was still in, but we saw very few roadside birds. I would guess 20 or less in 3 days. Most of the minimum maintenance roads were like golf courses. Anything that wasn’t cut was wet. If you are going to that area to road hunt good luck. I talked to many groups in the hotel and restaurants and they were around 1bird a day or less. Of course private land guys were doing better but who knows what they were shooting. I saw a ton of busses full of guys. Most of the public guys were disappointed. More hunters than years past. I felt like our six birds in two days hunted were good by comparison. We picked up a couple more the day we got there down south.
All and all a good time and beats working any day. Might try to get on some quail here this weekend. Might even try Iowa here in a couple weeks. Haven’t hunted there in years.
