Uguide's results thus far....

B

benelli-banger

Well-known member
Uguide's camps have been averaging under 2 birds per day per hunter...some more, some less...that is the average. This is an interesting data set that he publishes weekly allowing for some insight into bird #'s in different parts of the state. I was surprised that this weeks data were about as weak as any ytd, as more corn has come out in general. I think the drought of '17 is still being felt in places like miller, selby, faulkton and other locales in central and western sd...nothing profound about that statement. Overall, the results are probably decent, considering...and, we know nothing about the skill of the hunters, the dogs, their hours per day afield, etc...again, i view these results as a good indicator, when we can line them up over several years of results and make some broad comparisons. Like i have said before, he runs some nice camps with some great habitat...i have to assume general results are probably lower in the areas he has his camps, as there can't be much better land to hunt than his per location. Please don't misinterpret this thread as any type of criticism of uguide...just relaying his data, which i wish there was more of out there...i guess this website is as close as anything out there, really. I had two buddies come out this past weekend and hunt 100% public land for 3 days...they got 15, lost at least 3, and missed many "lay ups"! Easily should have had their 18, but they were thrilled. Hunted between mitchell and madison, mostly crep and wpa's. Never saw a jillion birds, but it was very consistent...i know that this type of result is there to be had...small groups that have a dog per guy should do pretty well...i have driven by dozens of public spots this year coming and going, in addition to my own hunting...not many hunters out there, really...good bird #'s overall, spectacular in some cases!!!
 
Interesting report BB - thanks. Our group averaged around 2.75 per hunter; we walked a lot of miles and didn't miss many. Our hunt was the weekend after opening. Crops were still up - huge fields of milo and flowers.

Second trip scheduled for Dec.6.
 
I put a little math to his week 5 hunt and it appears those hunters paid $470 per bird not counting food, license and transportation. I wonder how long a business can stay viable with that type of performance
 
Chip said:
I put a little math to his week 5 hunt and it appears those hunters paid $470 per bird not counting food, license and transportation. I wonder how long a business can stay viable with that type of performance
Click to expand...

Come on, Chip. If your math is even in the ballpark, there are plenty of guys who gladly pay way more than that per bird with the higher-priced outfits. And they manage to stay in business because the market's there. I, personally, don't want to pay $470 per bird to hunt, primarily because I don't have to. Who knows? When you factor in gas, gear, snacks, shells, dog-related-expenses.....maybe I DO pay that much. But I know I end up paying enough that I purposely don't do the math. If we needed pheasants to be in the same range ($/pound) as chicken, or even say $25/lb, we wouldn't hunt.
 
Not for me, but for many heading to SD ... having land that no one else will access and a place to stay close by is worth that expense.

Flip side, I can't imagine traveling to SD and then spending the week exclusively hunting ditches.
 
How do you put a price on watching your dog work. After watching Sam work a bird and getting a shot or not, all I can say is thanks Sam. What ever you have cost me you have just paid the bill in full, and I do get the bill paid in full more than once a year. I just wish that my shooting was as good as his noise. Then some days it might be a short day.
 
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