Bob Peters
Well-known member
Me and some buddies did our first trip to SD for pheasants. It'd always been a ND duck trip, but I finally convinced them to expand their horizons. I'm not one to bull$hit on here, so here's the unvarnished truth. 4 guys, two dogs, one a well educated golden, the other a younger black lab. All public land. I'm listing "birds seen while hunting" for my stats, not necessarily an in-range flush.
Day 1 we saw 8 roosters while hunting and 2 hens. I bagged a rooster that was the first wild bird the lab had ever scented, flushed, and retrieved. I was honored. My other two buddies had 2 softballs thrown up by the golden and they whiffed on both shots.
Day 2 we saw 11 roosters while hunting and 4 hens. The first spot, we were talking just before shooting hours began and two roosters landed in our field. We marked them down, and proceeded to where the first bird had landed on a cattail edge. The bird flushed, my buddy missed but I somehow managed to drop him over the thick marsh. Seeing the cover I was nervous about recovery, but don't ever count out a golden retriever with a good nose. She found him, and we were on the board 5 minutes in. Later on the same property a rooster flushed wild and my buddies dropped him. I found a bleached cowskull in that field that was cool, but too heavy to bring back. Next we walked a CREP field kitty corner to where we had been, and only flushed one hen. Two guys broke off and they bagged a leg-drop rooster that the lab flushed up. Me and my partner missed one that jumped from a small grass patch after we had walked past, while going to get the trucks. We moved shop to a WIA that my buddies had seen the day before and wanted to try. I honestly was a little skeptical of its productivity, but that being said, I try to always keep an open mind, and I am so happy when I'm pheasant hunting I'll try any spot. We only wanted to do a one way walk, so dropped a truck off at the take out point and then drove to the other side. 2 guys walked a long treeline consisting of a row of pines and a row of russian olives. The other two walked a fence line and also some slough edges. I was on the treeline and we heard shooting at the property line. Our buddies had dropped a bird, so we walked over to help retrieve him. Unfortunately, they said he dropped with his head up, and we were never able to locate him. A double bummer was that they said he had a mostly all white head. Me and my buddy got back on the treeline with the golden retriever. Suddenly I heard, "She's goin' for it!" And turned around to see a rooster blasting full speed out of the pines, shooting I took it down to the plug and away he flew
, then I watched as he headed for the fenceline, wheeled over the other 2 guys in our party, and was shot like a high flying duck!
My buddy had picked up my slack!! Suddenly I heard another bang on the other side of the trees, my buddy had dropped one, and then another rooster came through the trees right at me, I heard another shot and he dropped dead in front of me, my buddy got a double! 3 roosters flushed off that treeline and we got them all, it seems like that never happens. A great day. 6 roosters in the bag.
Day 3 we saw 19 roosters and 9 hens. The first spot we tried was a glory hole, it had everything, cut corn, a little bit of standing corn, ponds, cattails, roosting grass, etc. As we pushed the property the only problem we ran into was the birds were bunched, and we had a popcorn flush of around 15 roosters and a hen or two. We got 2 roosters out of that flush. Next we split up and me and a buddy walked a WIA, missing badly on two roosters on the property, and me passing on a sharpie because I'm still not confident in my identification. On our way to the next spot I saw a rooster in the ditch. I jumped out the truck, he was crouched in super short grass, I flushed him and knocked him down with the only shell I had in my gun. He promptly flew up again, and luckily for me went right into a power pole and dropped again. We let the dog out and he sniffed him up. 3 birds in the bag
Day 4 we hunted one hour, flushed two roosters and 2 hens. I dropped a rooster and somehow with 4 guys and 2 dogs could not find him. The golden cut her ear on a barbwire fence, and due to that and life obligations we cut the trip short.
All in all we had a great trip. We all thought we'd see more birds, but also a lot of crops are still up. One thing I will say, the birds held great. We had never been to this area before, so we were essentially scouting and hunting at the same time. A few of our spots were duds. The 4 of us shot 10 birds in 3 days, and also we found 2 deer antlers. We hunted NE and NC, and honestly went a different direction every day. This is my third year pheasant hunting, and I don't think there's anything I'd rather do. And oh yes, I always pack a first aid kit and book with me, and the dog is doing very well after her cut.
Day 1 we saw 8 roosters while hunting and 2 hens. I bagged a rooster that was the first wild bird the lab had ever scented, flushed, and retrieved. I was honored. My other two buddies had 2 softballs thrown up by the golden and they whiffed on both shots.
Day 2 we saw 11 roosters while hunting and 4 hens. The first spot, we were talking just before shooting hours began and two roosters landed in our field. We marked them down, and proceeded to where the first bird had landed on a cattail edge. The bird flushed, my buddy missed but I somehow managed to drop him over the thick marsh. Seeing the cover I was nervous about recovery, but don't ever count out a golden retriever with a good nose. She found him, and we were on the board 5 minutes in. Later on the same property a rooster flushed wild and my buddies dropped him. I found a bleached cowskull in that field that was cool, but too heavy to bring back. Next we walked a CREP field kitty corner to where we had been, and only flushed one hen. Two guys broke off and they bagged a leg-drop rooster that the lab flushed up. Me and my partner missed one that jumped from a small grass patch after we had walked past, while going to get the trucks. We moved shop to a WIA that my buddies had seen the day before and wanted to try. I honestly was a little skeptical of its productivity, but that being said, I try to always keep an open mind, and I am so happy when I'm pheasant hunting I'll try any spot. We only wanted to do a one way walk, so dropped a truck off at the take out point and then drove to the other side. 2 guys walked a long treeline consisting of a row of pines and a row of russian olives. The other two walked a fence line and also some slough edges. I was on the treeline and we heard shooting at the property line. Our buddies had dropped a bird, so we walked over to help retrieve him. Unfortunately, they said he dropped with his head up, and we were never able to locate him. A double bummer was that they said he had a mostly all white head. Me and my buddy got back on the treeline with the golden retriever. Suddenly I heard, "She's goin' for it!" And turned around to see a rooster blasting full speed out of the pines, shooting I took it down to the plug and away he flew
, then I watched as he headed for the fenceline, wheeled over the other 2 guys in our party, and was shot like a high flying duck! My buddy had picked up my slack!! Suddenly I heard another bang on the other side of the trees, my buddy had dropped one, and then another rooster came through the trees right at me, I heard another shot and he dropped dead in front of me, my buddy got a double! 3 roosters flushed off that treeline and we got them all, it seems like that never happens. A great day. 6 roosters in the bag.Day 3 we saw 19 roosters and 9 hens. The first spot we tried was a glory hole, it had everything, cut corn, a little bit of standing corn, ponds, cattails, roosting grass, etc. As we pushed the property the only problem we ran into was the birds were bunched, and we had a popcorn flush of around 15 roosters and a hen or two. We got 2 roosters out of that flush. Next we split up and me and a buddy walked a WIA, missing badly on two roosters on the property, and me passing on a sharpie because I'm still not confident in my identification. On our way to the next spot I saw a rooster in the ditch. I jumped out the truck, he was crouched in super short grass, I flushed him and knocked him down with the only shell I had in my gun. He promptly flew up again, and luckily for me went right into a power pole and dropped again. We let the dog out and he sniffed him up. 3 birds in the bag
Day 4 we hunted one hour, flushed two roosters and 2 hens. I dropped a rooster and somehow with 4 guys and 2 dogs could not find him. The golden cut her ear on a barbwire fence, and due to that and life obligations we cut the trip short.
All in all we had a great trip. We all thought we'd see more birds, but also a lot of crops are still up. One thing I will say, the birds held great. We had never been to this area before, so we were essentially scouting and hunting at the same time. A few of our spots were duds. The 4 of us shot 10 birds in 3 days, and also we found 2 deer antlers. We hunted NE and NC, and honestly went a different direction every day. This is my third year pheasant hunting, and I don't think there's anything I'd rather do. And oh yes, I always pack a first aid kit and book with me, and the dog is doing very well after her cut.
