This will not help pheasants

BRITTMAN said:
Haymaker ... Scandanavian and Germanic people came to the prairies in mass. In many western European countries, the firstborn son inherited the land. Subsequent born had to find something else ... soldiers, apprentices in a small business, and/or immigrate.

While people can certainly recognize the issues that indigenous people faced (and continue to face) along with the injustice of people brought to the US against their will ... but we should recognize these settlers and honor their hardiness and perseverance. They were handed 160 acres and an opportunity and not much else. The stories of my immigrant ancestors that settled the eas tern Dakota prairie before 1900 are daunting, to say the least.
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My great grandparents homesteaded on a place that did not have a well. They hauled water in a wooden barrel on a stone boat four miles pulled by oxen. Their chickens froze the first winter. Amazing people or very desperate. Failure may not have been an option.
 
City of Brookings was originally established a few miles south of its present location. Settlers left when a July blizzard wiped out their crops.
 
Wolfchief said:
I just read on Yahoo News that the Pine Ridge reservation and its environs are in serious difficulty due to this latest storm. Many if not most of the houses on The Rez heat with wood stoves. With this weather (below zero temps, cruel wind and snow drifting and blowing) they can't get wood delivered and the health issues are piling up since they really don't have enough of the right equipment to deal with this blizzard. Their maintenance equipment often consists of surplus military and construction equipment several decades old which may/may not function reliably when they most need it. On Pine Ridge Reservation, currently there are snowdrifts 70-80 yards long that are as high as the houses on the Rez.
With this storm's onset, there is a worsening health crisis, as dialysis patients can't get treatment, mothers are running out of formula, heart patients are at risk, and food shortages grow more acute. I have hunted on this reservation several times in more seasonal weather and even then, it's often hard to get around. Many people there are resigned to a life of grinding poverty, a Third World lifestyle, and no hope.
As some of us know, Native Americans on the reservations suffer from drug and spousal abuse, child abuse, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, unemployment and loss of hope. They have no real voice (have you heard about this situation on major media outlets in the last 3 days?? Didn't think so.) You have to see this situation to believe it...even then, you can't. Our "Government" needs to address this issue NOW--send in the 10th Mountain Division or our Arctic unit in Alaska. It's not supposed to be this way in America.
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I believe this is the article he was talking about.

www.yahoo.com

Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

“We don’t have the proper equipment here to handle what’s been going on. We have drifts as high as some houses that stretch 60, 70 yards at a time.”
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

It his home because I lived in Kyle for three years.

Also saw another article talking about trucks trapped in Vivian sd.

Buried in snow, semi truck drivers spend days trapped at South Dakota fuel stop

Extremely strong wind gusts created drifting snow, shutting down major highways in South Dakota.
www.fox6now.com www.fox6now.com

Crazy how much snow and wind in so dak.
 
Yep, that is the type of snow-blow that can doom a ton of wildlife, the pheasant population will be in a rebound status for the next few years....that sucks. Ranchers are busy dealing with this. Merry Christmas!
 
Hopefully they made it through last few days and wind blew snow off of enough of the areas they feed in. Heading there on the 29th so I’ll report then.
 
Wolfchief said:
Thanks to those who have shown concern. Here is what I've done so far: I've called the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pine Ridge Agency at 605-867-5125; also the Oglala Tribe President, Julian Bear Runner at 605-8675821 as well as the Pine Ridge Agency at 605-407-8101. I regret to let you know I could not reach anyone at any of those locations. I did leave voice mails, which is not worth much.
I also called the South Dakota Governor's office in hopes of reaching Kristi Noem (I know, fat chance, the Friday afternoon 2 days before Christmas, right?) to see if aid could be administered by the South Dakota National Guard, possibly by helicopter or maybe even drone. With the wind and blowing snow, that very well may NOT be an option yet. I left a voice mail with "Kristi" and I'm hoping an underling may call back. I know--they're "state" and the Natives are under Federal jurisdiction, but this crisis really does go beyond that crap. We ought to help our own in this country first.
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We should help our own, I will make those same calls for what it’s worth.. thank you for the information
 
Haven't seen the dead deer like the pictures in this thread. Most of our dead deer are on the roads next to cattle feedlots. Pheasants in NE SD, well we had some dead ones frozen along road ditches between Groton and Doland. We still see large groups of pheasants working together to scratch the soybean ground looking for feed. I notice some farmers are putting out small amounts of corn on bare spots to help wildlife along. On our farmstead we have about 30 pheasants hanging around the sloughs/crp and shelterbelts. We put an icecream bucket of corn out every other day along the driveway to help the birds out some. Lotta Winter in front of us. The 2 inches of rain which put a heavy coat of ice on everything followed by 9 inches of snow and wind made things tough. Need some sunny days now. 1672599968346.png
 
I spent most of the holidays working on my house, but did take a couple drives with binoculars and spotting scope. I live 1 mile in from the eastern border in Minnehaha county. We have alot of snow right now and more expected. I took a drive up north thru Moody county on the way Pipestone mn for christmas. Went from Garretson to Madison, then east to Pipestone. There are alot of birds around, I was surprised. They are struggling to find food, and it seem the only place thay can get to dirt is in a soybean field. I did not see one pheasant in corn residue. They were either on the side of the road picking grit or picking at bean stalks. (I was not hunting, just observing) . I had a friend that came back from snowmobiling in the black hills that told me there was no snow at Mitchell, which surprised me. I was wanting to get a hunt in, mostly for the dog as we have only hunted 1 day so far this year. Im blessed with some awesome private ground in Aurora county and went out there with a friend yesterday. From about Montrose to Plankinton, there is very little snow on the landscape, other than ditches, fencelines, tree belts etc. I dont know how much further west the lack of snow continues, but I know that west of the river has a tone of snow also Bean fields were bare, corn stubble has very little snow and the ground is exposed. We hunted together, but separately, (he has a lab, me, a shorthair) if you know what I mean. It was very typical of late season bird hunting. You had to move them a couple times in order to separate/confuse them. I call it putting them in a blender to mix them up We hunted from 10 am till I shot my last bird at 1:37 and headed back east to watch the Vikings game. (UGH!) Not every bird in the state is stressed, but Id venture to say that alot of them are.
 
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