Worth driving 22hrs.

If its anything like what i have seen in MN. There is some really small birds. 2 weeks ago I took the dogs out for a walk and moved 5 birds that could barely fly. I don't think they were counted in August. This was all in a 1hr walk.
 
NOPLCLKNEB said:
I'm just curious.

Byrdoglvr, gsppurist, pcolagsp, Reifer, 519vx, are you guys:

Paying to hunt private land wild birds?

Not paying and hunting private land with family/friends wild birds?

Not paying hunting public land?

Paying private land and hunting released birds?

I'm curious because I would be much more willing to go to South Dakota during a down year if I was hunting private land and not paying with family/friends.
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I have family and friends all over the state, but my experiece the last two years I have been hunting WIA, CREP, CHAP, and Waterfoul production areas. I go back for Thanksgiving and deer season and tack on some ditch parriots while I'm at it. Public land that late in the season does hold birds. Even more after the crops are out... Now I walk the thick slough grass about 10 yards in and wait for the birds to clear it before I shoot. If you want birds that time of year, cold, windy, and thick are the key words. But this also requires some ethics and passing up shots, but have always had good luck.
 
reddog said:
I got out last night to do some scouting. Stayed in chamberlain . Left early this morning and headed northwest, primarily on hard surface roads early to get somewhere, and the on gravel after it got daylight . I bought a license at 1144 this morning and hit a pasture north of presho for some grouse action. When i bought my license, the clerk asked me if I was sure I wanted it. Lol I said yes, I'm sure.So far today, in my travels i have seen 2 prairie chickens and 1deer. Got a great point on the pair of chickens with a back from the old dog. Missed on the first shot, connected on the second, but realistically,I should've had a double. With that said, I'm still having a great time, although it's raining really,really hard now. The focus of my travels has been in grouse country, but, I would think I would've seen a fez by now. Headed to another pasture.. It truly is gorgeous here right now . Crops are gonna fall fast as soon as this front goesthru I think. No ability to get down the dirt roads right now..
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Great report! The only thing missing is a picture of that chicken!! :cheers:
 
reddog said:
I got out last night to do some scouting. Stayed in chamberlain . Left early this morning and headed northwest, primarily on hard surface roads early to get somewhere, and the on gravel after it got daylight . I bought a license at 1144 this morning and hit a pasture north of presho for some grouse action. When i bought my license, the clerk asked me if I was sure I wanted it. Lol I said yes, I'm sure.So far today, in my travels i have seen 2 prairie chickens and 1deer. Got a great point on the pair of chickens with a back from the old dog. Missed on the first shot, connected on the second, but realistically,I should've had a double. With that said, I'm still having a great time, although it's raining really,really hard now. The focus of my travels has been in grouse country, but, I would think I would've seen a fez by now. Headed to another pasture.. It truly is gorgeous here right now . Crops are gonna fall fast as soon as this front goesthru I think. No ability to get down the dirt roads right now..
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Drove through this area in August coming back from my brothers wedding. In the early morning we counted over 100 birds on a wet morning in a 30 mile drive.
 
519vx said:
Great report! The only thing missing is a picture of that chicken!! :cheers:
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Ended the day seeing 2 roosters 2hens and 2 chickens. Dogs are fed and asleep on the couch. Trying to upload some photos now. What I will say, is that I've been coming here for 35 years and don't remember it ever being more beautiful. I don't know if it's a combination of the greens and red or what, but the big blue stem is outstanding in coloration
 
Reifer said:
Drove through this area in August coming back from my brothers wedding. In the early morning we counted over 100 birds on a wet morning in a 30 mile drive.
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Conditions were less than ideal today. Rain all day (hard)
 
I hunt public about 70% and private about 30%. I hunt the public weekdays. For the first couple of weeks I hunt public mostly because the private land I can sometimes get on usually has family or pay hunters the first two weeks. Last year I hunted the first 6 weeks of the season, 7 days a week, 3-4 hours a day. I only missed 2 days due to dogs run in with barbed wire. I killed birds on public land every day but 3. Most days only 1 or 2, but occasionally got my limit. I run my dog all summer long and scout a lot of public spots. Hope to get on more private land this year. Last Saturday I saw 4 elderly women cleaning up the local cemetery and stopped to help them load brush and offered to take it to dump for them. These ladies were all in their 80's and I did not know any of them. When we finished, they thanked me for helping them and asked about my dogs. I told them I pheasant hunt and 2 of the ladies told me to come hunt their land anytime. Found out from a neighbor both own huge farms that their grandsons now farm. Pays to be nice!
 
We are out of the wall and passing cars . Good deal PcolaGSP . And glad to have you back in the game jdk529. You said your 63 I am just 50 but had quintuple bypass in June so I am going and have a great group to boot . I will be praying for you and all those that want it for a productive safe and enjoyable hunt . If some are discouraged that's just will leaving more stock for restoration . 6 more weeks for me !!! Jetifantasy. :cool:
 
Ive been scouting for 3 days now. Friday report above. Yesterday, if you dont count the 18 birds I seen in the kennebec city limits, I seen less than ten birds in 234 miles between kenn and pierre. Conditions were less than ideal with it raining hard all day. Rain stopped last nigt about 2. This morning I hit the roads around sunrise and took the backroads from Oacoma to West Brule. It is absolutely beautiful this morning. 42.5 miles on the odometer in 2 hours through known bird territory and ive seen ,1 pheasant. Even with the projected numbers there should be a pheasant on every short edge, and at least standing on some round bales near cover. Its 10 am now and im going to put the dogs on the ground, but im not too optimistic.
 
My buddy and I will be making the 17 hr trip again this year to Pierre :)

I've been heading West bird hunting over Thanksgiving week for the past 20 yrs. We've had some spectacular years and some not so spectacular. Not the best time for weather and the birds are pretty spooky by then. But I'm fortunate to be able to afford the trip both in time off and dollars. When we head to SD, we always hunt public ground. Limits are the exception vs the rule......but that makes the birds we do get more enjoyable :cheers:
Besides, my buddy's been working in China the last 3 years and and all he talks about is getting out into wide open spaces with the pups......and no people :D

Brett
 
UGUIDE said:
Doomsday, I can't ever remember once where you posted anything remotely positive.

Doom and gloom and and the media sure sells don't it?
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lmao I guess a guy should just take up golf. safari south dkota is so freaking easy to kill birds what are you talking about?
 
safari said:
With the end game (habitat loss) now played out in our beloved SD..2013 will be known as the year that upland bird hunting died in this country.
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if you want to talk about tough going drive down to ole Missouri and we will hunt a secret spot called bilby I will show you died tough hunting if you cant kill them in south Dakota pick up the clubs it don't get know better
 
reddog said:
Ive been scouting for 3 days now. Friday report above. Yesterday, if you dont count the 18 birds I seen in the kennebec city limits, I seen less than ten birds in 234 miles between kenn and pierre. Conditions were less than ideal with it raining hard all day. Rain stopped last nigt about 2. This morning I hit the roads around sunrise and took the backroads from Oacoma to West Brule. It is absolutely beautiful this morning. 42.5 miles on the odometer in 2 hours through known bird territory and ive seen ,1 pheasant. Even with the projected numbers there should be a pheasant on every short edge, and at least standing on some round bales near cover. Its 10 am now and im going to put the dogs on the ground, but im not too optimistic.
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After a 3hour walk thru an area that has held lots of birds in the past, I came up empty. I did run into a small brood and got three points that ended up being too small to determine what they were so I passed. I then moved to a different area and walked trees, milo and picked corn field edges. Nothing. Seen the warden checking a couple guys that I had run into the day before at a spot that was my first choice, but moved on when they were there. He said they(4guys) hunted all day in the rain and shot 1fez and 1chicken and some doves. (There are some doves there. Lol). They didn't have anything at that time for yesterday, he indicated. I had heard one shot, but could only assume that it was a dove. I then moved up 30 miles to another area, and again found nothing. I'm not going back till November rolls around and will give it another shot after the crops are further gone. Seen 7pheasants for the day.

This is real time hunting/scouting, not relying on previous experience.

Your experience may vary.... I hope so.

Not going to take up golf, but the Walleyes may be in trouble sooner, and I will probably get a new puppy, and hope for better things in the years to come.

By the way, I still had a great weekend and enjoyed it immensely
 
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david0311

NOPLCLKNEB said:
Thanks for your post reddog, I hope it doesn't get deleted.
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Why-Why-do you insist on being such a orifice?? :confused:

You have been nothing but negative in your posts--but the innuendo in this comment is just too much

Get out of your mothers basement and get some fresh air--:
 
I'm obviously new here, but wow! Why so much hate on this site?

I just read noplclkneb post Opinion: Future of South Dakota Hunting, and the guy sounds like he knows what he is talking about to me.
 
When I bought the tribal license they asked me twice if I was sure I wanted to do that. As there is mo refund. I indicated that the only way I would consider not buying the full season right away would be if they sold me two one day licenses for the weekend and then if I decided to come back to credit the amount paid to date towards the season license . They indicated that they could not arbitrarily do that at that time, so I ended up committing to the season.

There was a group of grouse hunters that tried to get their money back last week, but to no avail. I believe that is why they are asking you not once, but twice if you really want to do this, as it's bad. (Their words)

Local opener is this weekend, I'm looking forward to some other real hunting reports and hoping that I just was out of sync this last weekend.

My posts are not intended to change anyone's mind about coming or not, they are only my experience.
 
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