Worth driving 22hrs.

J

jdk529

New member
I am having a hard time deciding weather or not to drive the 22hrs. from eastern Pa. to central SD this year to hunt pheasants. I have really enjoyed the last 2 years there, but with the reports that I have been reading about this years numbers, I just don't know. Any thoughts ?

Thanks
 
If your going because of bird numbers, save your $$$ and hope next year is better. If you go because of friends, the fun and dog work and don't mind if you don't see many birds then go.
We had to make the same decision and our group voted No for going this year. We could not justify the Gas prices, house to rent, pay to play and seeing very few birds.
Bob
 
worth driving 22hrs.

I've asked myself the same question and I consider myself lucky and grateful for hooking up w/ a group to hunt with this year. I live about 2 hrs. east of you and have drove that several times a few years back during the ''good'' times. and know we are in an era of uncertainty and the unkown. and yes I agree with you that it is very expensive to just go on a perceived sight seeing journey to just check out the scenery, comaderie etc. to scout or hunt and not see or have an opportunity to shoot birds as a bonus and to not have the luxury to live in the heart of or fringes of pheasant country to scout for hours and make our own assesments. but one thing I have done to help in my decision is to put the time in on the states fish and game resources and make some phone calls to several officials, biologists, county harvests, brood sightings, etc. to somehow make up for the time i'm unable to scout for obvious reasons and hope they will give you a fair assessment on what's going on. you'll be able to read between the lines if an official is B.S. you if you know what I mean.. and always remember just like at a bar tip your resource guy/gal for valid info:thumbsup: i'll p.m. you 2 resource numbers and hope it will help you. good luck and be safe
 
if I had a young pup and or kids that wanted to get into birds....stay home and spend a lot less at a preserve....maybe next season.
 
Example: I have a camp. 2 years ago state reports said birds were down 50%. According to hunters this camp was up 80%. Last year birds were report up 18%. This same camp was down 80%. This year birds are reported down 64%. This same camp has weather and cover growth like it was in the 80% up year. Does this camp have a lot of birds this year? Not even the farmer knows.

Are roadcounts telling the true story? If so, then where are they telling the true story because it certainly is not everywhere in the state.

Guys hunting public love the down reports becuase they know the competition will be staying home:thumbsup:

This year we will make an attempt to begin tracking bird harvest averages and each camp and each week.
 
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I'm struggling with this one too. I keep reminding myself it's not about shooting limits its about quality time with friends and family. The same group has been hunting together for over 40 years and we're now in 3rd generation. I've already set my expectation that limits won't be shot but we'll have fun anyway.
I can go to a local game farm and shoot 21 birds for $ 180 bucks and spend only 1:30 driving there.
 
No it's not worth it this yr. I won't pee down your back and tell you it's raining like others may. We have major bird loss..major. Some areas may fair a little better than others but all in all..not good. People who say its ok are probably outfitters. I live in the northeast part and we have no birds now. I have friends that live all over the state and all have commented on very low numbers. Again..some areas better than others but ALL areas are down.
Why not save that money that you planned to spend and try another location closer or fishing trip or something? I've gone on trips hunting for game and yes..i love the scenery, camaraderie, the hunt etc. But..if Im spending money..i really want a high chance of the end product. In short..I want to harvest my game. Why else do you go? If having good luck/success means something then I think I would wait a yr or two and find something else. If you do choose to come..I wish you success and fun!
 
This thread should be renamed. Instead of "Worth Driving 22 hours?" .......... it should be called "Finally some honesty about bird numbers!" (by most of the posters anyway)
 
Thanks for the honesty, it's a tough decision, but I think I'm out this year, hope the numbers rebound soon, I'm not getting any younger.

Thanks to all
 
I'm driving from Rhode Island, so I definitely understand where you are coming from, but let me ask you this? Is there somewhere else local you can go to shoot a wild bird? I grew up in PA and I know they are at least a few years away from any season for wild birds. If you just want to shoot birds and don't care where they came from then pay a preserve or shoot the pen raised birds that we have all along the east coast.

If you decide to wait a year or two, what are you basing that decision on? Is it the hope that the bird numbers will go up? What evidence is there that supports the bird numbers will be better next year? Everything point to habitat as being the #1 factor and do we believe there will be more CRP acres next year then this year?

I decided not to wait because in 2 years if it is worse than this year and my dogs are 2 years older I will be kicking myself. I also know that I have the resources and time to go this year, there is never a guarantee that will be the case next year.
 
Go for it

Or we could rename it how to discourage other hunters . There are ups and downs all the time ... With any form of wildlife. Hunting for sport isn't all about acquiring the game it's also the pursuit. Bag limits may be down but pursuit will be up. Game farms are great but it sucks when you have to wake the bird your dog is pointing...if you have been to one you know what I am putting down. It's apples to oranges. It's a trip , vacation , adventure . Some try to climb mountains and don't make it to the top . I am trying to get three birds a day ... Might not but it's South Dakota huntiing pheasant. Like Colorado sheep , Missouri deer, Alaskan bear. ADVENTURE. ps I will be getting my limit :nutz::10sign: Jeti
 
Nothing wrong with honesty. Guys who are traveling from far distances rely on truthful posts about conditions and bird numbers. We go fishing to Canada each year to catch 100's of fish. Would we go if the lakes population had a 75% Die off? Not a chance in hell. Birds numbers are down big from most farmers and residents. Each hunting party can make their own decision on whether to go to SD to hunt or not. People saying birds are up, when they are down does not help anybody.
 
What is the number ?

Was it 1000 birds psqm now it's 360 . I am sure some areas really pull the number down , the drought was not the same for the entire state . Don't recall a poster saying numbers are up ? That would suck , but some areas could be up. Or maybe not . I live in a state that doesn't have 5 birds per sq mile I would drive for less than 360 ... Still don't know THE number . Jeti
 
Hockeybob said:
Nothing wrong with honesty. Guys who are traveling from far distances rely on truthful posts about conditions and bird numbers. We go fishing to Canada each year to catch 100's of fish. Would we go if the lakes population had a 75% Die off? Not a chance in hell. Birds numbers are down big from most farmers and residents. Each hunting party can make their own decision on whether to go to SD to hunt or not. People saying birds are up, when they are down does not help anybody.
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Wow! Hockeybob you just said in a few words what I have been arguing about for a month on this site.

I understand the guys that want to go for the friendships, the vacation, the chance to shoot a wild bird, ect. I'm not saying your stupid to go for those reasons, those are great reasons to go hunting in South Dakota, or anywhere for that matter.

But a lot of people go to South Dakota for the birds. Me included. If there aren't a sh#$-load of birds in South Dakota I'm not paying to go there.

I'm lucky I guess???? where I live in Nebraska still has wild birds, not many but some. I might even shoot my limit once or twice a year here. I go to South Dakota for the 1000's of wild birds, and I love it!

A lot of people on here will attack what I just wrote above, why? I don't know. I'm just being honest, I don't think its fun to walk 4 or 5 miles a day and shoot 3 or 4 times, while paying someone $300 +- a day for the privilege. I can do that at home, right out my back door, for nothing.

I know, I know, all these guys on here will say its all about watching the dogs work, the friendships from years past, the blond with the tight ass in Dallas. I agree with all those things, I love all those things about hunting also, but what I love most about hunting in South Dakota is the birds, the 1000's of birds. And this year the birds are down, a lot.
 
One point of view, I've grown up in sw Ohio and as a kid we would drive to central Ohio to hunt what few pheasants the state had at the time....which was a lot more than today, and that being 30 years ago. I've been reading this forum for the last year since my wife rescued a brittany from the pound. For curiosity I bought a few quail and planted them around the farm to see if this dog would hunt. I knew from having beagles that she had the desire and after taking her to a few preserves she is more than I could ask for. She was a little gun shy to begin with but now she points and retrieves and loves every minute of it. Ever since I was young I wanted to take a trip where there were wild birds and now since I'm over 50 I ask myself do I wait until there are more birds? Odds are there will be better numbers in coming years, but what if? If residents would call out for us not come to hunt to help the population I would consider staying home, but from what I've read it isn't hunters that have reduced the numbers this drastically.

All that being said, why wouldn't I want to go to the state that will still have the most birds in the nation?
 
JDBLU, if you want to go, then go!

I'm not telling anyone not to go to SD, I'm just saying that I'm not going to spend money to go this year because I think the bird numbers are going to be terrible compared to past years.

Does that mean there are no birds in SD, hell no. SD has the most birds by far of any state, they just are not going to have anywhere near as many as they have had the past 10 years.

There are a few people on here that I believe are painting a better picture of bird numbers than are actually out there, and I think that is wrong.

Maybe I'm wrong, and the numbers won't be down, but I bet when its all said and done this is the worst SD year for pheasant numbers since the late 80's.
 
It will be interesting to see what the success rate actually is once the season starts but I think it's going to be a very tough year. If the GFP survey is correct that means we are down to number similar to the mid-late 70's. Back then there were less than 15,000 non-resident hunters coming to the state. The last 8-9 years there has been an average of nearly 100,000 non-resident hunters each year. How many will show up this year? or the next?

As much as it pains me to admit it, I think we have seen the peak in SD pheasant numbers for quite some time. The Soil Bank program spiked the pheasant population in the late 50's and early 60's. The CRP program has done the pretty much done the same for the past 20 years. But now with the massive loss of CRP acres it's only natural that the numbers are down significantly.
 
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