Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Pheasants on a budget?

I live in Alabama and have never hunted pheasants, looking for recommendations on my first pheasant hunt, and trying to do it on a tight budget. What state would u recommend? Public land? Do it yourself or guided? Any leads would be appreciated, thx Robinhedd

Get a PLOTS (private land open to sportsman) map for SW ND (where I grew up).
Stay at a hotel in Bowman or there are a few farm houses in the area that are available to hunters.
As they say, thank me later.

If you need someone to help split the fuel and costs I'm game! I've always wanted to do that myself

ND may be good as I've not hunted pheasants there but I have many times in SD and even when numbers are down, it's very good. Look about anywhere in central SD east of the Missouri reservoirs. There are many walk-in areas and you can find reasonable motels and restaurants.

Going later (December) avoids the non-resident crush and there plenty of birds. The downside is being from the south, you might run into 20 mph winds, a foot of snow, and -20* temps. Or not.

All the info can be found on the SD game & fish website.

And SD would be a bit shorter drive.

May also be worth mentioning that when a place has the claim, "____________ capitol of the world" there are often attributes associated that some may not want. All depends on the individual's expectation(s).

SD and walk the grown up ditch lines out on the country roads

Thanks for the info, keep the tips coming please. Thx, Robinhedd

Hunted with this guy about 4 years ago. 6 of us from church went. We split costs and traveled 3 to a crew cab truck. The 3 day hunt cost me total about $1200 including steak and prime rib every night. I thought it was a great hunt. I shot a limit every day and saw a lot of birds.
http://www.fairchasepheasants.biz/about_us.htm

Go to the SD and ND game and fish websites, and search around for two statistics:

1) Spring Crowing Counts (gives an idea how many breeding adults survived the winter)
2) Late Summer Roadside Brood Counts (how many chicks are being spotted)

Tally the best spots that seem to have birds, and just get a hotel somewhere nearby. If you are from the South, don't bother coming up after mid-Nov. as you won't like the weather and it can get dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Just go in mid-late October and have a good time on public land, ask farmers for permission, ask around a small town. People are used to it, they want your money to support the economy, and you'll find your 3-bird limit if you want to hunt hard all day.

Easy-peasy, S.D. is where you want to go. I've been hunting S.D. for over 30 years and have never paid to hunt. Read up on the rules for hunting the right-of-ways (yes you can road hunt S.D.). I've road hunted with a couple of game wardens before. Go on the Game,Fish and Parks website and print the Sportsman's Atlas... that will give you good maps of all the public roads in the state... stay away from any of the Rezs.
The license is $125 and good for 10 days pheasant hunting. You can divide it into two 5 day portions (which is what we do but it's only about a 9 hour drive for us). The limit is 3 roosters a day with possession limit of 15... coming as far as you are I would figure on hunting until everyone had their 15 birds. The Sportsman's Atlas will show the waterfowl management, game management and other public hunting areas but 2 or 3 hunters walking around in 1000 acres of cover can have it pretty tough with educated roosters unless you have good pheasant dogs also the public hunting areas require non-toxic shot.
What was said earlier about the weather later in the season was true but that being said, the worst blizzard I've ever been in happened on the 3rd day of the season... 17" of snow with 70mph winds... snapped many power poles and when we went back a month later there were still minimum maintenance roads drifted shut with 4-6 foot drifts in places. We always take a tow-strap or chain and a snow shovel.
The weather could be like the aforementioned blizzard or it could be 80 degrees... It could be rainy or still extremely dry. If it rains be advised that the minimum maintenance roads that are black mud can be like grease... even with 4x4 and rough tread tires they can be very difficult to travel when wet.
Obey the 660' rule, stay away from cattle, houses , the Rez and you should be fine road hunting. You can't start pheasant hunting until noon the first week and then 10am after that.

A five day hunt with meals, lodging and travel costs me about $600 and we drive up the day before and spend the night of the 5th day and have a leisurely drive home the next day.

Oh, you might want to pack one varmint rifle for the group and if you come across a prairie dog town, find who the owner is and see if you can get permission to shoot a few as it might be your only opportunity ever to do so.

Good luck, be safe and obey the road hunting rules.

Can't really add anything to any of the above. I grew up in Iowa, where phez hunting has been great and/or terrible over the last 40 years, but SD will spoil you. Make you start looking for hunting property in the upper midwest. Which isn't a bad thing...

tag

Yeah, SD is really the destination for pheasants; that doesn't automatically eliminate doing some research for the where and how.

But if you can travel from the SE, maybe you can fund a guide or access to land for a day or three. I'd suggest researching the Chamberlain, Platte, or Pickstown areas.

Yeah, SD is really the destination for pheasants; that doesn't automatically eliminate doing some research for the where and how.

But if you can travel from the SE, maybe you can fund a guide or access to land for a day or three. I'd suggest researching the Chamberlain, Platte, or Pickstown areas.

Yep,you have to consider that my total cost of $1200 included 1/3 of a 44 hour road trip there and back at an average of about $2.50 a gallon in a crew cab truck. It included absolutely everything,ammo,hotels,even tips for the guides. Not too bad really when starting from Alabama.

Would also add that Kansas has been a popular destination in recent years, as their phez numbers have rebounded. I believe that would be a shorter drive from AL.

Do you have dogs? That is the first question. If you do, then DIY might be for you. If you do not, then I do not suggest DIY. Dogs are critical to enjoyment of any bird hunt, and nearly a requirement for success for DIY pheasant hunting. I say these things because you could conceivably road hunt limits of pheasants without dogs, and to each his own.

Its going to be a tough season this year, the lack of rain in June and July limited the success of the hatch and consequently not a lot of birds around in 2017.

+1, could not agree more.

Don't let the lack of a bird dog keep you from doing it yourself. The majority of my S.D. roosters ( probably 90% at least ) I've shot without dogs. That's over 30 years of hunting S.D. at least once a season and if I don't have my 15 rooster possession limit after 5 days of hunting I'm probably only going to be down 2 or 3. You have to pick right cover to hunt and the right tactics.... small patches, ditches, fencelines etc.... 2 or 3 hunters walking around in a 500 acre block of cover following good dogs have their work cut out for them. Been there and done that.
Myself, I would be perfectly content hunting S.D. without dogs for the rest of my days. I realize that some people enjoy watching the dogs work... I get it... I've known coon hunters and coyote hunters that were that way. Not saying they're wrong at all but it's not my way.

I do think that it may be a tough season this year. I was in western S.D. prairie dogging in early July and saw very few birds while going and coming, not even very many feather spots on the interstate. Also on the way out, in pheasant country, we took a couple of 10-15 mile loops off of the highway on gravel roads to try and see how the hatch was and did not see a single pheasant... ordinarily we'll see a few even a hen now and then with her chicks. On the other hand, in the west where we almost never see one, we saw a few birds where normally we see none. Go figure?

Good luck and be safe however you do it... dog or no dog, guide or diy.