warm weather!!

I opted to skip this week due to the heat.... It's on come Tuesday!! Honestly, my gsp s are very well conditioned to the heat. Although,they will drink my 3 gal. water thermos dry everytime running bobs in our Texas heat . 🤣 I'll fill it every chance I can when I'm around a windmill.
With that said, even a heat conditioned southern dog is useless if you don't water him enough!
I undoubtedly enjoy hunting over my pointers better when its cold and the birds are holding tighter.
 
hunted tuesday through thursday...the first few hours and the last hour were the focus...not perfect, but it worked well...tough conditions...hunted small patches, shorter corn strips, etc...some grass the last half hour...decent bird #'s, managed to fill out each day, I pick the right partner!!!!
 
I have been in SD hunting since Wednesday. This heat is brutal for the dogs. My approach is to hit one good field at 10 before it gets too hot, then spend the rest of the day driving around scouting - hit small pieces of cover near water - maybe 15 minutes each. Swim the dogs before putting back in the truck. Only take about 30 minutes for 'golden hour'.

So lots more driving (with wind through the topper) and swimming than hunting last few days. High bird numbers make it work OK - don't need too much time in the field. But already seeing a lot more runners and wild flushers vs the nice tight sitters we had after the blizzard, so not as easy as 2 weeks ago.

And yes - lots of water. The water bucket gets a bag of ice in the morning and I carry two 20oz Gulpy bottles.
 
Hunted west river Sunday - Thurs. Had a dogless friend along which really taxed my little springer. Pheasants were spotty but sharptails were everywhere. Brought home 22 grouse and 18 roosters. About what I would expect in that heat with one dog.
 
Just got back from hunting my traditional (25 years) third week of the season in SD. Really tough conditions - saw temps as high as 84 not much breeze, cover generally very thick, lakes where I've never seen water and high ground dry and dusty. Maybe it was the conditions or going from single digits and snow to summer weather, but bird numbers seemed about like last year, maybe a little down. Motels had very few hunters, rarely saw other hunters hunting or driving the roads, didn't hear a lot of shooting - strange. Talked to several other hunters and some had done well, some struggled more than normal. Definitely hard on dogs and 70+ year old two legged hunters. Lets hope December is better.
 
Hunted Friday and Saturday, had to manage the dogs, fortunately we didn’t have to stay in the field too long as there are birds everywhere and we limited out with just a few hours hunting each day. Hunted only public land. The hatch this year must have been one of the best in many years, nearly every rooster we shot was from this year’s hatch. Best bird numbers we have seen in 8 or 9 years.
This is not the year to take a break from SD pheasants, there are a lot of birds.
Taking today off to rest the dogs, will hunt Mon-Friday rotating 4 dogs. Looking forward to the cooler weather.
 
I second Corndawg. I’ve seen great numbers this year. You just have to put your boots on and do the work. The rain just started in my area, so we’ll see how the conditions change in the next few days. The cold is coming and I’d say most corn is out, so it should get really good soon.
 
Got an invite from a friend to join their group on a farm they've hunted for a dozen years. 10,000 acres, mostly contiguous. Cat-tail sloughs and pockets in about every field. 100% wild birds. On the drive up we hit some public areas, got a couple birds, numbers about like I'm used to in Kansas. Then, we hunted Friday, Saturday, Sunday at the destination. 13 of us limited out in a 4 hours on Friday, 5 hours on Saturday.

Sunday, we saved the 'slough'. 2 miles of winding cattail bottomed slough, up to 1/4 mile wide, narrowing down some from that. 11 of us pushing, a truck on each side staying in front and blocking key bends and escape areas. I bet in that 2 miles there wasn't more than 2 or 3 minutes at any given time that a pheasant wasn't in the air, often 20 or 30 in the air at a time. 2 1/2 hours to walk that. 30 miles an hour winds in your face is miserable, but you totally forgot about that.

South Dakota truly spoiled me from what I am used to.
 
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