?What is "good" Pheasant hunting to you?
- Thread starter watermen
- Start date
BritChaser
Well-known member
MiUplander
Member
For my buddy and I that have been enjoying western hunts for going on 25 yrs this year, a good day is a chance at our limit. We always hunt public ground and hunt later in the season the week of Thanksgiving. Two guys walking later in the season with 1 or 2 GSP's putting up 6 roosters within range over a 5-6 hr day (with lunch between) is good hunting for us. Getting both our limits is great hunting :cheers: We've had some great hunting in supposed down years and somewhat poor hunting in a stellar year too. So we take the forecast with a grain of corn and enjoy our week away in the prairie.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Even at night with lights! Seriously. Wish I was younger
no, it was daytime...darn!!
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Fun & enjoyable pheasant hunting happens every time I’m out, barring any major injuries, incidents or accidents. The dog’s always flawless & roosters are always bastards, so they’re the two constants. But “good” hunting, while not terribly difficult to achieve, does include many variables. Birds seen. Shot opportunities. Shells contain shot? Barrel straight that day? Weather. Comedy at the expense of others. Other flora/fauna/views experienced. Birds even 1/2-way cooperative? And others. If a few of those variables happen to turn in my favor, I can experience “great” hunting, especially if either the dog or I exhibit EXTRAordinary prowess. It shouldn’t be forgotten, though, that although pheasant hunting is nearly always fun & enjoyable, “fair” to “poor” hunting is usually only a couple variables away. If all the stars line up just right (or are in complete misalignment), “phenomenal” or “terrible” hunting are possible, though rare. I do the vast majority of my hunting alone with my dog on public land. In general, I term “good” hunting as a bird in the bag for each 40-50 minutes of effort.
wolfcreeknc
Member
benelli-banger
Well-known member
OK, I will be totally honest: I typically host 5-6 groups each season, some of which come a long way to get to SD...most of these guys want to pile 'em up...we usually do. I am not a pay to hunt set up...have been offered money by quite a few guys, never take it...don't want that. But we start each day with the intent of getting our limit...we usually do...5-8 guys, usually a dog per guy on average...hunt mostly private land, some public. We take a lunch break typically, then back out until we are done, or it's dark. The last few years it seems like small spots have really paid off...cattails, trees, chunks of grass, small lakeshore vegetation, dry creek beds surrounded by picked crops...we can walk big fields of CRP or WPA's or GPA's for two hours and come out with a bird per guy...or hit a 1-3 acre slough or tree belt and come out with a bird per guy--in 5-10 minutes. So we move back and forth between such covers...fun to let the dogs stretch in the big fields, and it is good to get some exercise. But when we need points on the board I hit the small stuff...that's where it has paid off hunting the same area for 25 years...knowing that there is a 1/2 acre cattail clump in the back corner of a certain field, for example, is priceless...and we now have a lot of those little honey holes...
by myself, or with just another guy, we just kind of work whatever suits us...usually birds around. I hunt with really good hunters...really good. GREAT DOGS...GREAT SHOTS...they shoot a lot of my birds...I am there for the license, I guess....and my land, I suppose...I like to think of myself as a "Trophy buddy"...OK, I kid....
by myself, or with just another guy, we just kind of work whatever suits us...usually birds around. I hunt with really good hunters...really good. GREAT DOGS...GREAT SHOTS...they shoot a lot of my birds...I am there for the license, I guess....and my land, I suppose...I like to think of myself as a "Trophy buddy"...OK, I kid....
frantzracing0
New member
If im outside with my dog and not in my office at work.....it was a good day
benelibanger - what is the point of this post
I admit to having chased a coyote or two across a picked bean field, with my buddy literally "riding shotgun", getting off a few shots at the 'yote out of the window of my 'burb...yes, quite a bit younger when that happened...and it was fun! and I think it was legal...I think you can shoot out of vehicles at varmints...maybe I am wrong about that point...but there is a definite "vibe" in South Dakota!!!!
save your posts for something constuctive. It's not fun, it's cruel and redneck. It's likely not legal. Most adults try to explain to our kids that shooting from a vehicle or out the window is both dangerous and unsportsmanlike.
I admit to having chased a coyote or two across a picked bean field, with my buddy literally "riding shotgun", getting off a few shots at the 'yote out of the window of my 'burb...yes, quite a bit younger when that happened...and it was fun! and I think it was legal...I think you can shoot out of vehicles at varmints...maybe I am wrong about that point...but there is a definite "vibe" in South Dakota!!!!
save your posts for something constuctive. It's not fun, it's cruel and redneck. It's likely not legal. Most adults try to explain to our kids that shooting from a vehicle or out the window is both dangerous and unsportsmanlike.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Sir--the point of this post was simply a continuation of post #17 on this thread, which I authored, and I am sure you will take issue with..but that was a macro-observation after hunting SD for 25 years, and being around LOTS of NR hunters at hotels, bars, restaurants, and having guided on a few occasions. I thought it logically followed after taking in what was said on post #17. But I often find that others don't think my mental calculus adds up...
actually, I think shooting varmints from a vehicle is legal in SD. No kids were involved. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. If you only knew what the youngins do out there when it comes to coyotes (snowmobiles) you would be taken aback..I have not partaken myself. When i hunt with farmers and ranchers out there, they make it clear--if you can shoot a coyote, do it...just checked the regs...no limit on coyotes, no closed season on coyotes, no time of day off limits on coyotes...again, pretty sure you can shoot varmints from a vehicle...sorry if you are opposed...I have had guys in my groups kill a few while hunting, as they get pushed out of cattails or other cover...I don't recall ever shooting at one while hunting...always concerned about dogs...I have been chided by a rancher who took us hunting on his ground for not shooting at one while he pushed towards me...it shot out of a tree belt so fast and I wasn't sure where dogs were, I passed...he was chiding me partially in jest, but I got the point. checked the regs further...a firearm may protrude from a vehicle while shooting at coyotes, including other varmints. I wouldn't have done that with kids around, I agree with you there...cruel? redneck? unsportsmanlike? dangerous? I guess you should take those assertions up with GFP...
I have never hunted deer in SD, pretty much impossible to get a rifle tag E River as a NR...but, deer season is THE big deal for residents...I suspect that 80% or more of the deer that are killed in my area are killed from inside of pickup trucks...just the way it is. Not condoning it, just the way it is. Hard not to know what is happening when you see it occur...
plenty of guys don't think it is sportsmanlike having a group of up to 20 guys with guns that may have extended magazines surround a slough or small food plot and kill a limit of birds, using the party hunting method...I can choose to participate, or not...follow my conscience..you follow yours...but you will usually hear them defend that type of hunt in terms of "thinning out the roosters" to help the hens...I was invited on a late season hunt last december with mostly locals and that is just about what happened...the landowner figured we killed 50 but 300 roosters got away...it was a fairly large tree belt that had really nice grass in it...took 20 minutes I bet...as long as everyone is safe and aware of where the birds are dropped, and they are diligent about retrieving them, I have no issue with that...I did one hunt like that last year, that one...not my cup of tea, mostly because of the time it takes to position the guys...i would rather be walking and able to traipse where I want...but for a half a day out of the whole season, it was neat to see new country and make some new friends...
It is your prerogative to proselytize on this board, even regarding legal activities. And it is my prerogative to comply with, or ignore, your protestations...which, it appears, are filled with incorrect assumptions. Bottom line, I am sure you are well-intentioned and a good guy.
Last edited:
That right there is the reason I sign up to work opening weekend of east river deer season every year. I don't want to be out chasing roosters and have myself or my dog get shot. It happens. A family friend had a round come right in his passenger side window and lodge in his steering wheel. His wife was riding in the passenger seat. Nothing I want to be even close to. I'll stick to my west river hunting. Walking a few miles into river breaks where nobody can drive. I feel much safer there.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
scary!!!!!! I have always hunted during deer season, and never had an issue, but we try to be aware of vehicles driving around, deer that we push out, etc....
You should have seen what happened with jack rabbits in the 60s and 70s. Many shotguns in the back of a pickup and the passenger window at night with lights at 30 miles an hour across an alfalfa field that looked like it was moving because there were so many rabbits. Rabbit drives where 30 or more guys would surround a quarter and walk it to the middle and only shoot when they broke out of the circle. It was not uncommon to shoot a pickup load of rabbits on a sunday afternoon. There was not much sport in it but it was exciting and we had to do something about the rabbits. There was a time when alot of deer were shot out of a moving vehicle. Two brothers I know cut a hole in the top of a van so they could shoot out of that. They called it the iron pony. That has changed, not much of that anymore and that is a good thing. We are the wild west and proud of it just not quite as wild as we used to be.
beneli-banger haymaker
Your ethics need an adjustment if you believe it is fine to run an animal down with a vehicle because it may be legal. I doubt most hunters would think it is ok to do so to deer or other non coyotes. Remember your mushy evolving ethics when someone runs down your dog in the middle of the road because he didn't have a duty to avoid it.
Ethical behavior doesn't have exceptions
As a retired law enforcement officer I have arrested many ethical people (I know they were ethical because they told me they were) for lying a little on a bank application, omitting some of their income on their taxes, selling a little dope only to there friends, lying just a little to make their ponzi scheme believable, submitting a false insurance claim.
Ethically challenged people do many legal yet unethical things (cheat on their spouses, ignore needs of others who count on them, lie to their bosses, fib a little bit about that car you sell, lie to your church about what you owe in tithing, etc)
So yes keep doing as you do, my hope is karma bites you right back
Your ethics need an adjustment if you believe it is fine to run an animal down with a vehicle because it may be legal. I doubt most hunters would think it is ok to do so to deer or other non coyotes. Remember your mushy evolving ethics when someone runs down your dog in the middle of the road because he didn't have a duty to avoid it.
Ethical behavior doesn't have exceptions
As a retired law enforcement officer I have arrested many ethical people (I know they were ethical because they told me they were) for lying a little on a bank application, omitting some of their income on their taxes, selling a little dope only to there friends, lying just a little to make their ponzi scheme believable, submitting a false insurance claim.
Ethically challenged people do many legal yet unethical things (cheat on their spouses, ignore needs of others who count on them, lie to their bosses, fib a little bit about that car you sell, lie to your church about what you owe in tithing, etc)
So yes keep doing as you do, my hope is karma bites you right back
haymaker
I understand that as a teenager that behavior may have been fun and exciting, however it is not ethical or fair chase which you and beneli-banger still don't recognize. Everyone can find a reason to bend the rules about something, that doesn't make it right.
do you farmers ever stop whining about how tough life is for you all. sweet deal working 6-7 months a year. my sd farmer relatives have been complaining for 50 years how tough farming is, but have never left for Arizona later than mid November and rarely back before mid March.
Most of the rest of the population actually have to work full time all year long, rather slide into the family farm business. If conditions are so bad get a real job, but I don't no of many farmers who have gone that route.
So I can actually see how those tough conditions you were raised under would require the fun times provided by chasing and slaughtering rabbits in your pickup. I have a farmer cousin who likes to chase coyotes and smack them with a shovel blade so the hides won't have any holes that way. I expressed my revulsion to that behavior and we have not spoken again for 30 years, but were both fine with that.
You think farmers have unique problems. The rest of us have market downturns, renters who don't pay or damage our rental property, business activities that go south, high property taxes, no untaxed fuel to put in our cars, no sales tax exemptions for all products used on the farm to include food, no gov't insurance, no price supports, no government farm loan programs, no farm aid concerts to raise money and awareness of how much sacrifice farmers make for all the rest of us non farmer americans. You are right us non farmers don't know how tough life can be.
I have no problem with fair chase for any legal animal, however chasing them in a vehicle doesn't qualify as fair chase or ethical behavior no matter how tough your lifestyle choice turns out to be.
As to your comment that my career must have been tough on me, guess what full time careers are tough on everyone.
I understand that as a teenager that behavior may have been fun and exciting, however it is not ethical or fair chase which you and beneli-banger still don't recognize. Everyone can find a reason to bend the rules about something, that doesn't make it right.
do you farmers ever stop whining about how tough life is for you all. sweet deal working 6-7 months a year. my sd farmer relatives have been complaining for 50 years how tough farming is, but have never left for Arizona later than mid November and rarely back before mid March.
Most of the rest of the population actually have to work full time all year long, rather slide into the family farm business. If conditions are so bad get a real job, but I don't no of many farmers who have gone that route.
So I can actually see how those tough conditions you were raised under would require the fun times provided by chasing and slaughtering rabbits in your pickup. I have a farmer cousin who likes to chase coyotes and smack them with a shovel blade so the hides won't have any holes that way. I expressed my revulsion to that behavior and we have not spoken again for 30 years, but were both fine with that.
You think farmers have unique problems. The rest of us have market downturns, renters who don't pay or damage our rental property, business activities that go south, high property taxes, no untaxed fuel to put in our cars, no sales tax exemptions for all products used on the farm to include food, no gov't insurance, no price supports, no government farm loan programs, no farm aid concerts to raise money and awareness of how much sacrifice farmers make for all the rest of us non farmer americans. You are right us non farmers don't know how tough life can be.
I have no problem with fair chase for any legal animal, however chasing them in a vehicle doesn't qualify as fair chase or ethical behavior no matter how tough your lifestyle choice turns out to be.
As to your comment that my career must have been tough on me, guess what full time careers are tough on everyone.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Birddogz--I certainly wouldn't expect you to have read the totality of all the threads on this board that have occurred in the past month or two, but if you had you would realize a couple of things; there is one thread where a member is trying to round up gear for a veteran who has been back home for a year or so, and doesn't have funds for hunting gear, and this guy is trying to help outfit his friend, so he can take him hunting this fall...i am helping with the hunting boots. second, there has been at least one thread started by a landowner whose land was decimated by hail, and I think there may have been one hurt by drought, whose hunting will be severely negatively affected, and I have invited said landowners, who I have never met, to come and hunt with me on my ground. I don't need your approval, but before you get too righteous (hard to turn back now), it may be helpful for you to learn a bit about who you are indicting. Like I said, I have been hunting SD for 25 years, and whether I have chased a coyote once in that time (which is the case), or if I did it every time I am out there (which is legal, and would be met with strong approval from every farmer that I know out there, and most game wardens, frankly), that is my business. Actually, other SD landowners can vouch for this, but I recall being contacted by SD GFP more than once to ask my permission for GFP to be able to fly over my land with a chopper and have a sharpshooter shoot coyotes, typically in the winter time. And I have been told my neighboring landowners that they told GFP that they could do this over my land as well...which was fine by me.
"keep doing as you do. my hope is karma bites you right back". Wow. over this? Again, sir, you have no idea who I am, or how I conduct myself. I will tell you that a coworker of mine was recently diagnosed with bone cancer...this guy is not a "friend" of mine, but certainly a good man who I have known for 10 years. Never have done a thing with him...having lunch, a beer, etc. Friday will mark the 4th meal that I brought his family in the last 3 weeks, and it won't stop at that. I raise that example because I am right in the middle of that situation, but frankly, it is not the exception, and I am not a guy who would normally pat myself on the back...but your indiscriminate accusations motivate me to do so. Anyway, I am going to get on with my day...and thank the good lord that the closest I will get to someone like you is via a board like this. Again, I know how this kind of thing happens, not that unusual, but it is on this board. All my best to you, I wish you no ill-will...happier days ahead, hopefully. Is your back giving you trouble again? Hope not...will send positive energy your way. Seems like you retired too soon...isn't there a mall or something that needs guarding???
"keep doing as you do. my hope is karma bites you right back". Wow. over this? Again, sir, you have no idea who I am, or how I conduct myself. I will tell you that a coworker of mine was recently diagnosed with bone cancer...this guy is not a "friend" of mine, but certainly a good man who I have known for 10 years. Never have done a thing with him...having lunch, a beer, etc. Friday will mark the 4th meal that I brought his family in the last 3 weeks, and it won't stop at that. I raise that example because I am right in the middle of that situation, but frankly, it is not the exception, and I am not a guy who would normally pat myself on the back...but your indiscriminate accusations motivate me to do so. Anyway, I am going to get on with my day...and thank the good lord that the closest I will get to someone like you is via a board like this. Again, I know how this kind of thing happens, not that unusual, but it is on this board. All my best to you, I wish you no ill-will...happier days ahead, hopefully. Is your back giving you trouble again? Hope not...will send positive energy your way. Seems like you retired too soon...isn't there a mall or something that needs guarding???
Last edited:
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I totally missed this one...really??? Huh. Well, I'll be darned....this is getting good!!!! I will speak for myself only: I have much respect for farmers/ranchers. I have learned that I could never do what they do, and that is 100% intended as a compliment to them. I am amazed by what they do, and what they are able to tolerate as it relates to all the uncertainty they face. But that is just me...
I guess its just different how some farm or ranch. If you make your living farming down here , its 24/7/365. My friends who farm in ND work year round , help others harvest , haul grain , spread manure , plow roads for the county , work at the elevator , etc........Those guys rarely if ever take days off. Much respect to them!!