benelli-banger
Well-known member
Shot a prairie chicken today, which I’ve seen around here before, but not on that many occasions…6? Quite far East in the state…east of hwy 37…a first for me out here…
40 years ago we'd see Huns practically every time out pheasant hunting. I haven't so much as seen one in many years. Probably been at least 20 or more since I've shot one. I blame agricultural practices in the area. Far less alfalfa, oats, & other light cover than there used to be. Now it's either dirt (crop fields are cleaner than clean), thick CRP, or cattails, none of which do Huns a lick of good.I got a Hun in Clark years back. 15 years ago? Only covey Ive ever seen in SD. Out of picked corn
I don’t know,but a friend of mine is an expert and he looked at a pic of my bird today because he thought it could be a hybrid between the two…it isn’t…it is a female.Opening weekend we were walking an uncut sunflower field. Had a chicken playing leap frog in front of me but couldn’t get a shot. Almost across the field dad hollers at me, look north and a flock is flying right at us from a grass patch. Dad knocked down one and my buddy hit another. Get to end of field to look at them and one is a sharpie and one is a chicken. I’d never seen a Sharptail before, so is it common for the two birds to be flying in the same flock?
Maybe one is trans-species...I know when I used to hunt them in Nebraska we would commonly flush chickens in the same area as sharpies so they could intermingle and flush together. Could be a simple fact of safety in numbers during this time of year.Opening weekend we were walking an uncut sunflower field. Had a chicken playing leap frog in front of me but couldn’t get a shot. Almost across the field dad hollers at me, look north and a flock is flying right at us from a grass patch. Dad knocked down one and my buddy hit another. Get to end of field to look at them and one is a sharpie and one is a chicken. I’d never seen a Sharptail before, so is it common for the two birds to be flying in the same flock?