Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game South Dakota 2021

The usual group of suspects went out for a shoot in Sully Co on Saturday. I would say that twelve shooters shot twenty birds, not working very hard to do so. Its more of a family event like a holiday than it is hunting. We mix the two well in SD. I shot three birds. I was about as proud of my Lola on the first one as I could be. She worked him up out of nothing, put him up right and I grassed him to her satisfaction. She took him on a victory lap even. I didn't correct her.

On Sunday we went over to Harrold and eight of us shot six. We started at 515 and quit at sundown. The crops round there are just not harvested enough yet to fill our CRP with feathers. Hopeful for things to come yet this year. The harvest is in full motion and in a couple weeks things will get really good. I shot zero, never even pulled up on a bird.

I've been getting good reports. It's been hot and dry so that doesn't the dogs.

I'll be out there in a week!

As usual, our group is looking forward to our December trips.

Pouring rain here today. Flat out pouring. This will set harvest back a few days. Feel bad for folks who came to hunt, and are sitting in motel rooms waiting it out. Ick.

Next door neighbor just got back from SD, had a great time with his sons and friends.

Not alot of report. Some crops starting to come out again after the rain delays of last week. Went to Gov's Hunt but skipped the hunting for Hobo Day, as is my custom. I do not skip Hobo Day.
Two of us went out in the rain yesterday for a short bit to exercise the dogs mainly. My hunting partner got one rooster, I did not. Heard many out in the corn, crowing proudly. They'll have to come out sometime.

Going out today for the annual State Pub hunt. Making hot lunch on the tailgate, out in the field. Have a great Monday everyone!

Weather, specifically rain, is one reason we go in Dec. if it’s going to precipitate, it’s liable to be white stuff which can be a great help, as long as it isn’t coming down sideways accompanied by 25 mph and a - 25* wind chill.

Wet, rainy, and muddy is for the birds, except they don’t like it either.

After tomorrow, no rain in sight for 10 days!

Friday's high will be 69, though. Too hot for the dog. But it is only that one day, it seems.

Back from the State Pub hunt. Its a put and take deal, not my cup of tea, but a great group of guys and glad to be a part of them. I took a grill and made korean style beef ribs on the tailgate for lunch. I shot four and was back in town for a 4pm meeting.

I saw no harvesters in action yesterday and its a damp 49 degrees at present. As Rimfire noted, the forecast is looking up.

Crops are coming out here as early as I can recall. Especially corn. But rain on and off here for the next two days will keep the farmers around the coffee pot.

Pheasants are safe here until Saturday morning.

We had 7 inches of rain in a few days. Very uncommon for fall weather - it must be Trump's fault. Anyhow my pheasants have not been disturbed I'd have to trod through a lot of mud to get to them. It's raining here today...

Back from elk hunting on Friday night. Drove to Brookings and back to watch the Jacks throttle the Bison. Made it out last night, went over to Harrold. Crops coming out nicely all over the place although a quarter of an inch of rain this morning will slow them down some.

In any event I was presented with three nice opportunities. Missed the first bird with the first shell and crushed him with the second shot. Proceeded to grass the next two roosters with a single shot apiece and all of it happened on Go Pro in the space of about 6 minutes. I'll post video if I can figure out how to do it.

A couple of short videos here: https://imgur.com/pnuvWSB

and here: https://imgur.com/IbZEz7B

I have been hearing that a ton of the birds shot in SD are actually stocked birds. Is this true?

Preserves are required to release a number of roosters equal to the number killed on the preserve. They use tags to keep track. There's around 200 licensed preserves. They do indeed shoot a ton of birds on preserves each year.

Yesterday…30-40 mph wind along with sleeting snow. Birds were tucked in, however we often saw them in bunches. 6 Birds were killed by 5 of us and it should have been double that.

This kind of weather is way a Lab is a great choice for out here…..Merlot is getting a rest day for most of today.

Weather in Rapid Ciity was nice today 4-6mph wind from west to nw
Probably get better for you guys on saturday. Good luck
Mb

Yes Labs are a great choice for hunting here. No question about it. If I thought some other breed was better, I'd run it.

Yes it’s very true. I hunted around Gregory SD a couple years. There was 6-8 guys in our group. We limited easily. I believe all of the birds were released.

Just curious here---

Was this on public ground? Private, but pay farm? Private, but free access? Big hunting lodge?

Once again: The state of South Dakota does not release pheasants. No pheasants are released on public ground.

No one releases pheasants for others to shoot for free.

The licensed preserves must release pheasants in a number equal to the number of pheasants shot on the preserve, which birds are tagged and recorded.

Some wild birds are shot on preserves. Some released birds escape from preserves to private and public land and are shot there.

Helpful? Let me know.

Yesterday turned out much more beautiful than anticipated, so after the previously ignored yard work was accomplished and the summer yard furniture was put away, two of us took off on a drive through Sully County. I left the dogs home, kennel cough has hit our house, despite my dogs being vaccinated. Going through town Im told.

Anyway we got to our first destination and found a group of Minnesotans working the ditch, and their dogs working a very generous amount of the cover. I would say they were skirting the line, at best could be said about that situation, so I got out and walked through their party and into some trees on our spot. We found one rooster left in there and he escaped. I noted how unused I am to hunting without dogs.

I was told to take a hike and assume a position covering an escape route from a second tree cover, while my hunting partner approached it. I got there about 30 seconds too late for the big flush, but two late comers fell stone dead to the shots, and my retrieves were flawless. My partner got one in the trees, and so we had half a limit. We decided to walk back to the pickup, about 100 yards away, and as we did, flushed two singles from the wheat stubble, and crushed both of them.

We are one short at this point. I drove back a quarter mile to the road, and my partner and his dog made it about 100' into the grass before finding and shooting and killing #6. Six roosters, probably ten shots, and 20 minutes tops. What a fantastic day.

Off to Harold soon.

Three of us went out to Harrold yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock. It was a much chillier day than Saturday was. The pickup said 31, I called BS on that and said 23. My neighbor said he'd peg it at 19. It was fresh. Dry and over cast but the sun came out toward the end.

We caught the birds napping in a loafing cover next to harvested corn. Unfortunately we also caught about 6 whitetails napping in the same place. When the dogless blocker (Me) took a poke at a distant passing rooster, the deer woke up, scattered and in doing so scattered about 250 pheasants as well, and before the walkers got close enough to bag any. Our cover is thin this year owing to the lack of rainfall and so once scattered, its hard to get back on the birds. We ended up with two hefty roosters, both shot by the dogless blocker (me). If we'd had three more blockers in place, it would have been a grand shoot indeed. Fun to see so many pheasants going so many directions at once.

Edit to include that I am up to five flawless retrieves over the weekend. I was steady to the flushes, took excellent lines, retrieved to hand without a victory lap, and even deposited the birds in the pickup.

You have a peculiar way of making some guys jealous as all git out.

We went back to Harrold last night. It was too nice to stay home and also too nice to hunt apparently. The cover is thin and when the birds can hear you coming, they don't stick around long. We got one.

We had some out of staters on hand Friday so we took four of them plus a local for flavor, and went to Sully County. We had a hell of a good time. As usual, the non locals were great sports and eager but it took putting alot of birds in front of them to make a limit of 21. My dogs were "plumb tuckered out" at the end of that adventure. Fun to make friends like that, hope they come back again. I shot seven.

You boys need to pay attention...the Dog has one nailed up in the weeds....

Ha, I pulled the camera to the right to get him in the frame. Nice dog but it wasn't his day. Never did anything too wrong, but he never did anything right either. Couldn't even get himself in the picture!

I had walked around that pile of gravel about 3 hours earlier to figure out our next move, when I spotted a rooster about 40 yards away run into a drainage ditch. I got the guy in the pickup on the left to get his shotgun and took my old dog Flash with us to get him. Ended up to be a great chance at a double but he missed the first one and crushed the second. The retrieve was beautiful.

Four of us Iowa friends, a son, and a grandson in central SD Thursday, Friday and Saturday during an 8” snow fall. We had some Michigan friends we were with with their dogs also. This dog is a poodle pointer, is well trained, and has a great disposition. If he looks kind humped up, he is probably very sore as he was nearly run over the day before. Catastrophe averted and a local vet had checked him out as ok.

We expected the most birds to be in the shelter belts because of the snow but Friday and today, in spite of a -10* wind chill, they were in the row crops primarily.



The next day — today — was clear, cold, and bright. Good shooting again. I picked up these three in a picked cornfield nearby with the help of my friend’s lab.

Been waiting for this… looks like your crew is putting a dent in them!!!! Have fun, try and stay warm and keep the pics coming.

Friday’s wet snow had everyone wet including the guns. Back in the room I broke my Ben UL 20 down to it’s component parts, which of course a blindfolded monkey could do with gloves on. I dried everything well and put it back together. Oh, the beauty and practicality of Ben’s inertia guns.

On Saturday, with a temp in the teens and the wind chill, most of the guns were hiccuping. Did you break them down and dry them out? No, why? That’s why!

I barely used the Dickinson Plantation 16 because, first, “I wasn’t feeling it”. Just wasn’t connecting like I’m used to — winter clothing effectively increases LOP — and secondly, moisture in the air started Thursday afternoon and it’s a fair-weather shotgun for me.

Actually, I wasn’t shooting that well with the Ben 20 either due to the clothes “thing.”

A second smaller recoil pad goes a long way in solving that.....Two screws....off and on.

Yeah, you are right. However my Dickinson 16 has the very thin wood butt and my two UL’s have the notorious Benelli crumbling recoil pads. My 12 is on its second pad which is already breaking down. I put a slip-on pad ( very thin) on both of those UL’s. Something several years ago went awry in their production. Anyway, I will replace both this year with a different make.

A little more about Jaeger, the poodle pointer’s, incident. We were gathering at the end of a field after a hunt and one of the trucks was very slowly pulling ahead on a two-track dirt road. I don’t know if Jaeger didn’t hear it but he was sitting at attention and the left front tire pinned his two hind legs and pelvis. As quickly, a few of us saw it and screamed for our buddy to back up. Of course he couldn’t see what was happening.

I feared the worst as we retrieved him and was expecting a crushed pelvis, a broken back, or minimally a broken leg or two. He was immediately passing blood-tinged urine. I gingerly felt both legs to feel if there was an obvious displacement which there wasn’t. He used his right rear leg very hesitantly but did do some weight bearing. His urine cleared and he began to act normally if a little slower.

I was still concerned about soft tissue damage — a ruptured bladder or bowel. A quick trip to a vet in Chamberlain confirmed no fractures and his urethra was ok. As far as soft tissue damage, “ you’ll just have to wait and see.”

Yesterday, Saturday, he seemed normal if somewhat subdued. But we were all very relieved because of what might have been.

Of course the driver was devastated but he had no way of knowing what was immediately in front of his tires or that a dog had just gone and sat down there. It made me wonder if a front-view camera would be such a bad thing for these big trucks to spot kids’ toys, kids themselves, or dogs, all in perpetual motion.

I and some others are thinking of going back to SD the week of the 27th.

Looks like a great trip. We were spared the weather here but the line isn't very far south of here Im told. Sorry about the dog deal, I hate to hear stuff like that. Yikes.

I had the most odd happenings this weekend pheasant hunting that I can remember. Just bizarre occurrences.

On Saturday two of us went up to Sully County. Three guys with Minnesota plates were thrashing a well worn cover but they had Munsterlanders as does my friend, so we stopped to chat with them a minute, They'd seen nothing, and we directed them toward thicker cover. I hope their weekend got better after that. They'd seen pheasants in this particular walkin area a few years back and were surprised to find none were home today. Yikes. Long ways to drive to hunt a public spot from memory.

Just after that, We were passing a cover on private property which is too hard for two guys to hunt, you just end up blowing the birds out and doing yourself no good. But as we did, I spied a rooster about 15 yards off the road. I called for a halt, and took my 20 out the door with me. The bird busted out and I dumped him, causing him to be doing the dead bird flop, and another rooster sprang up just past him. I missed with the first shot but connected firmly with the second, and now a third rooster erupts. "Click." Empty gun, no vest. At some point in the ruckus #2 who was in my eye completely wrecked, I mean he was totally messed up as far as I was concerned, composed himself and scurried off. Fifteen minutes later and with three dogs searching, no #2 could be located. Arrrrgh. WTAF.

We arrived at the cover we intended to hunt a couple minutes later, composed a plan and executed it. My dog was in the trees while I stood outside essentially doing my own blocking. A rooster flew over me and I grassed it; within seconds, a second did the same. My dog came to me, started to hunt around, found one rooster, then found a live hen and grabbed it and brought it to me, and in the process never recovered the second rooster. WTAF. Got a couple more roosters on the way back to my truck in the normal fashion whereby they're walked up, shot and retrieved without incident, and that was that.

On Sunday we went over to Harrold where its been a difficult year. There are birds around, not a lot but several hundred in the area. You just can't get up on them, the cover is too thin to make them feel secure. We put together a plan where we had minimal walkers and more blockers and downed five total. I shot none. One of my friends took the tail feathers from all the birds as his wife has a flower shop and she wanted them for arrangements.

On my way back to town, I stopped to pull some sunflower heads laying on the ground in a picked field, which I use to feed the squirrels and a rooster that lives in our neighborhood. He's fat like a turkey. Just about a mile past that, I saw a rooster sneaking into a weed patch in the ditch, and thought I could probably get him so I stopped, and got out to find one rooster is now three roosters springing from the same ditch. I wasted three shells in the surprise but a fourth late rooster busted out and I graveled him with my last shell. Fell right in the middle of the road, dead as a wedge, no movement at all. None. Zero. I picked him up and put him in my truck. No ruffling, no hours spent in a dirty vest, no lab drool, he looked perfect.

I had to stop on my way home at the flower shop to pick up some stuff for my wife and order a few wreaths for clients. I planned to take my friend's wife the plumage from the perfect bird. Got out with my pocket knife, went around the back, looked in with the dogs and the crates and the beer bottles and the sunflowers, and no pheasant. Some time in that 20 minutes, that bird came to life and decided to make a flight for freedom. Eff.

Anyway, chickamaFLASHmc-co executed a beautiful retrieve during the Sunday ruckus and I got my phone out as he was coming back with Curt's pheasant. He'll be 12 in April. Be sure to turn the sound on.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/e7gyAMz.mp4[/img]

I really enjoy reading everyone's pheasant hunting exploits. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent retrieve!!!!

Thank you. He's done mostly blocking this year. Its his 12th season.

I wish I had a count of the number of pheasants that dog has retrieved. Not working at a lodge, his numbers wouldn't be as gaudy as their numbers. For a weekender, he's grabbed alot of them.

How's the pudelpointer doing?

Tough day yesterday. Too nice to stay home, too nice to shoot many pheasants. We got two, I shot none.

I was in Yankton yesterday and it was cold and windy. Would have been nice without 30mph south wind. Was it not windy by you?

It was quite cold and breezy Saturday but a warm front came through yesterday which calmed the wind and we were in the 40's. Back to the mid 20's today then mid 40's on Weds. Crazy but I'll take it.

BK, upon coming home my friend took Jaeger to another mutual friend, a local vet, who set him up with a Sioux Falls vet for an ultrasound. The U/S showed soft tissue swelling and pockets of fluid (serum) and one testicle has atrophied already.

But as my friend just texted, all visible bodily processes are working and he is eating well and “I’m just glad he is alive.”

Good report, could have been so much worse. My goodness.

We aren't very good at this kind of picture. Friday morning we went up to Sully County. We had a tougher time finding birds than we suspected at the outset, but when we found them, we were in them deep. I shot seven.

Great day!!!!

Move all in closer together, get close to eye level with the Dogs and the pic will pop.....

Yesterday we made a day trip to the Chamberlain area — a 5 am until 7:30 pm day. There were nine of us, mostly one extended family that had graciously invited me along. Included were four kids from six to 14. And one guy pushing eighty. Winter weather roulette was with us again — the forecast was for cold and windy but conditions exceeded that with a -15* to -20* wind chill. I thought to myself that this hunt will not last very long.

The birds were in the shelter belts understandably. Hunting, Pushing and blocking, these quarter to half mile strips of trees and cedars was a little like herding cats. Most squirted out at various places, rocketing up to clear the trees and then turning with the wind or running out or flushing a quarter mile ahead.

These kids had been taught very well, one little guy with a 20 youth model O/U took three witnessed birds, but more importantly held off on a low flying rooster that was in line with a blocker. The oldest kid took six birds by himself, not by committee. I on the other hand was shooting like a one-armed blind man though I was getting the shots. I expect the birds had been watching me awhile and decided their best bet was just to fly out in front of “that guy.”

We scratched down our collective limit and got into our vehicles for the ride home weary and cold. We probably walked three plus miles but the cold made us pay a higher price than normal. None of the kids complained or quit which greatly exceeded my expectations, not to mention their shooting, safety, and manners.

Oh, and when we first arrived in Chamberlain, I was going to gas our vehicle up and discovered that the only credit card I thought I had was missing.

Super fun stuff. Sounds like a great report, yesterday and today both would be damn chilly days to be out and about. Its a balmy 7 here today up from zero at dawn, and the wind is blowing 12 now, down from 20.

Great to read about your hunt. I do hope you found your credit card where you left it.

If I lived within a four hour drive..maybe further...of that kind of Bird hunting, the people at the gas stations would think I was a local....

When my in-laws were still on the farm, I stopped at the gas station in Bridgewater, SD so much the lady went out and fed my dog the sausages on the roller while I got my Mello Yello and Doritos. She loved Mac. Everyone in that story except me is all gone. Time marches on, I suppose.

For those maybe unfamiliar, there is a great difference between one or two guys following a springer or a pointer working waves of brown grass, and the two guys with a lab or two pushing a half mile shelter belt. In the latter case there are some shooters spaced ahead and along the side of the trees, and one or a couple at the end.

This scenario more closely resembles a driven hunt in the UK. In these long belts, wherein you are rarely near a flush and shots granted are mostly after the birds have already shifted into their highest gear and are high. Not too unlike ducks overhead coming toward you at 12 o’clock.

Rarely is there an opportunity for a straight-away because the guys pushing the cover are in what I imagine a ruffed grouse-like scenario to be — too many obstacles. Most are at some angle away, or toward you, or even straight up and at you.

Now add the exponentially increased difficulty the clothing a - 20* wind chill requires, the watering eyes, and numb fingers. Gloves are always a compromise between the viability of flesh and being allowed to work both triggers in the trigger guard. A SxS a bad choice? Perhaps, but I just wanted to use it on this hunt. The biggest problem though on mounting the gun is not getting the heel high enough in the shoulder as it catches the clothing in the armpit, and just like that you are missing high. Technique changes to first pushing the gun out for clearance before snugging back to the shoulder and getting your face down on the stock.

As soon as shooting becomes a conscious step-wise process, you find new ways to miss.

I called my wife immediately about the missing credit card and she found it in the garbage can in the garage, another story. But a sigh of relief.

George,
I realize that has worked for you successfully, and many times. However, they are the reasons I avoid the forced march with a group. Noise, people getting into position before the push starts, etc.

I'd much rather work that shelterbelt by myself or with one other. And even more so to do it in warmer temps.

Prairie folk like South Dakotan Heartlanders are a pragmatic lot, only a handful of generations past the settlers and homesteaders. They adapted techniques to the prey and cover at hand for an efficient harvest — no wasted effort. In the early days, the sporting aspect of pheasant hunting was probably only a secondary or even a tertiary aspect.

I’m not sure about the history of the shelter belts right off hand, when and how they became a part of eastern SD’s landscape, but they are a literal Godsend for all kinds of wildlife, offering needed winter shelter cover, not to mention wind breaks for ranches, cattle, and snow drift control.

In bitter December they are usually full of birds getting in out of the wind. Even in a driven hunt so described above, I bet only 10% - 20% of the roosters flushed are harvested. Hunt it yourself and with one other with a dog or two and you wouldn’t even see the hundred roosters spilling out everywhere a quarter mile ahead of you. You will still get some birds, sure, but the pheasant in the cedars acts differently than it would if in the grass, being more apt to run and flush out of range in my experience than hold for a dog. Thus folks often use the described way to drive the shelter belts. But the beauty is, you can hunt it the way you wish.

It is important, to emphasize that for mature wing shooters — it certainly is for my group — it not about the number of birds taken, but for the total experience, including companions, dogs, shotguns, and everything related..

As to the weather..that’s why the Dakota prairies are almost empty in December. You plan for some dates looking at the extended forecast, make your best judgement and go. And then take what comes, sunny, bright and in the 30’s or a prairie blizzard. Most likely very cold.

Most folks don’t know that Charles Dickens hunted pheasants in SD in December: “it was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Happy New Year to all here!

Yes, Happy New Year....


A long time ago I had a Springer that knew the game well...You would have him hup and stay at one end...then you quietly made your way perhaps 50-100 yards out..When ready you gave him the whistle and he plowed on thru the trees towards you...A one Dog/Man push that often worked well..

George,
The shelterbelts were likely planted by the landowners (and maybe some R&G Clubs) through cost share programs with the SCS (Soil Conservation Service)........now called NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

I was hoping that as Iowa abandoned different railways the last half century, that the state would purchase the right of ways and turn them into shelter belts, or at least subsidize the farmers’ who had owned the land, to so turn them. It would have been good all around.

But it’s a hard thing to get done with land that is worth $10-$20k an acre as crop land. Farmers can’t even leave four feet of cover along a fence line, which is why in NW Iowa, it truly is a biological desert.

There was a time when hunters and farmers were on the same team....The farmers for the most part have decided to have their own league....They want us to support farm bills, however willing to give back little in return,,,,

While I acknowledge it is a hard way to make a living, often part of the hunters taxes help them make it. But often we are considered the enemy.

Got maybe 50 yards onto one of their cut fields and here he came roaring on a 4 wheeler..."I'm going to call the GW and you can lose your license." "Go ahead, call them. I'll wait right here and pay the fine." "I don't have time to be waiting around for them to come." "Up to you, I'll wait or leave. What is it?" "Get over there" and he left. Was kind of humorous..


Recently watched an info movie about Wild Horses called "Unbranded"....Was interesting to again see the ignorance of some landowners when it comes to setting foot on their land..5 young guys were riding Mustangs from Mexico to the Canadian border. They came to some private land and asked permission to ride thru what I seem to recall as 1/4 mile in the middle of practically nowhere.."Not on my land, go around."

When I look at the USDA website to see how much each individual farmer in the areas I hunt gets for subsidies it really pisses me off. Some get literally MILLIONS of our tax dollars to subsidize their farms each year.

Then they want us to "Eat more beef!"

When you ask them if you might hunt their land they tell you "No!" often being rude about it. That's really crappy. Then they harass you when hunting the ditches between road and fields. We are their customers and paying them out tax money. Lots of them are real jerks!

The farm subsidies here and the writing off of huge numbers (expenses) each year has become a long accepted gambit of farmers.

From 1995 to 2015 SD received about $18 billion in farm subsidies. For some context, Iowa was double that at about $36 billion (see below) while overall, farmers and actual farms, have actually decreased significantly.

A lot of the subsidy business was started by Hoover and FDR in the early 1900’s to create market stability. I don’t know enough to criticize all of it but I know the “family farm” here is largely a concept of the past in our county, now made up of corporate and millionaire farmers. Some due to shrewd business minds, sure, but they were definitely given a hand (maybe two) up.

Ironically, or maybe not, many lost it all in the Democrat Carter years when interest rates hit 18% and many couldn’t cash flow their loans.

https://farm.ewg.org/

We were going to go out Friday but it was just too miserable. -8 here and -13 up in Sully Co. No thanks, I'm good. We went out Sunday instead. Found plenty of birds in tree rows and cattail sloughs. So much cover and scent in the cattails that finding downed roosters was difficult. I shot four. I'll put up some GoPro video once it imports from the camera to the computer.

For those of you, love all of you to pieces, who hijacked my season long attempt to chronicle my bird hunting:

Lots of farmers have done well. Lots of them have gone bust. Lots of them are nice people. Lots of them are a$$holes. Kinda just like the rest of us. I'm reasonably sure that farm policy is necessary in this nation to guarantee our food source; I'm also sure that everyone has a congressman or woman who gets to vote on that policy and tax policy as well. My plumber, my electrician and my HVAC guy all seem to benefit from the same tax policies. I know this also: pheasants tend to gather where access to them by hunters is restricted. People who let everyone hunt don't tend to have a lot of birds around.

I like pheasant hunting solo and I like to hunt in groups. The sport lends itself to both. The point is, its a social activity here and I wouldn't ever want to change that. We include more non hunters than hunters in our opening day tailgate party, and doing so turns them into people who would vote along side our interests should it come to that. My daughters don't hunt but the aspects of it which they see are positive ones, repeatedly so.

Finally I'll confess this: I don't like to pheasant hunt all day. I don't mind hunting antlered game all day, but pheasant hunting is a 1-2 hour diversion for me. I like to go out to where I know pheasants are, walk in there and shoot a few of them, accept the retrieves from my retrievers, have a beer or two on my way back to town and go about what is left of my day. I don't like my pheasant hunting to be ineffiecient. If I'm out that long pheasant hunting, I'm failing at it.

Good Post...

And at the end of a long day, I mostly say to myself...."Self, you are really not all that good at Pheasant hunting."

Addition: And they don't have to let everyone hunt....However, than can be civil in saying no. They can also realize that some hunting the edges is not the same as giving up the entire farm. And as Bobby mentioned, which is more than relevant...."We are their customers." And the ones that are most likely to appreciate the difficulties of their particular profession.

Ha funny.

I've marveled more than once at the lack of a public policy partnership between farming and hunting. In this state it seems to stem from a series of unfortunate incidents between farmers and the Game Fish and Parks Department, although I'm sure its more than that. Feels like the interests between the two groups are fairly well aligned as far as these types of things go.

It won't make you happy but it might help to understand this: Farmers and ranchers are price takers. By and large, esp in this state where farmer's markets (think fruit, flowers, honey etc. in the direct sales to consumers at open air facilities) are so limited and agriculture is so big and the products produced require processing on a huge scale, they don't set the price paid for their products. Thus they don't see themselves as having customers. At all. Very little to absolutely no concept of that. Only the most sophisticated of them understand the political interplay between food policy and farm programs at the macro level. They all strive to understand how to fit into the programs and maximize their personal gain from that. Its fairly natural to respond that way I suppose. So if they don't see a benefit from something, they're not generally going to do it. Part of the reason is that they rarely see anyone go out of their way for them ever.

Anyway there's a little bit of tree row action found here for you: https://imgur.com/a/uQGQx7M
I put the Go Pro on my head this time instead of on my chest and its jumpier as a result. I have a barrel attachment, I might do that next. The second bird fell dead right around the corner and was retrieved by my friend as he advanced along side the trees.

Nice video...thanks for posting...When watching them I always have a hard time visualizing distance from gun to Bird..30 Yards????

I would say the first was 25 and the second 20?

The biggest difference here is the slow change from mom ‘n pop farms with a little bit of everything to huge corporate grain farms, and then the separate livestock confinement’s. The change has been occurring longer than I’ve been alive, but I’ve been alive long enough to notice much of it. The other changes I think has been all the chemicals used — insecticides, herbicides, etc, the tiling of stream beds, and the intensity of the land use.

All of that has greatly reduced natural cover which is the key ingredient for all wildlife. Ironically, the explosive growth of livestock confinement’s, always with a few dead livestock I piled nearby, has resulted in an bald eagle population never seen before. I also think it has greatly increased the coyote population as they have a ready buffet nearly always available. Bald eagles, I have come to appreciate, are neither majestic nor proud. The coyote will at least semi-consciously feast on the gore at night, but the eagle will gorge and then rest atop the stinking, bloating carcass with its mates while squinting at you as you pass by..

Regarding pheasants and their loss of cover, the thing that steams me now is not even the roadside ditches, one of the few remaining areas of cover, are safe. Before many hens are off nests there in the spring, or the chicks are mobile enough to protect themselves, farmers are out burning many of the ditches, or cutting them. No weeds on this ground! It literally is a rape of the land and its wildlife.

The system and controlling economics of it are such that few individuals have the real freedom to do what they wish anymore but are forced into a mold and mode beyond their control. And fewer and fewer young people have any interest in farming the way it is, if they can even get started any more. With some of the best soil on the planet here — going near $20k an acre and north — it is probably all inevitable. But it’s hard for those of us who remember a different day and way.

Farmers and hunters were never "on the same team" but their was respect for each other. As hunters increasingly lost touch with "country ways" conflicts emerged. We cut off general access to our property as hunters regularly broke fences while crossing them and did not temporarily fix them and/or tell us where the break was, did not close gates or latched them improperly all of which ended up letting out livestock; excessively knocked down standing crops; shot close to and even at the house, barn, outbuildings, and livestock; used the access given to our property as a springboard to other properties creating bad feelings with our neighbors; blocked field access points by parking in them rather than the side of the gravel road or along the field road; and not having the courtesy to thank or even wave if the hunters happened to pass one of the owners on the way in or out.

Those experiences are why I post my properties and am very picky on who I let on. I have one neighbor I would kick off for the amount of corn his kids knock down but as he rents the land from me my money is not affected by the yield.

As for who gets what from taxes, realize the farmer pays a fair bit of taxes that go to help the city dweller. Property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and the rest of the slew of taxes one pays also hits the farmer.



You find trespassing "humorous"? And you wonder why farmers are reluctant to allow strangers on their property? You are lucky you ran into a good natured farmer, I know more than one who would have made sure you were still there when the warden or sheriff showed up.




The landowners certainly weren't "ignorant" regarding their property rights, the owners understood their rights as did the riders as they apparently knew to ask permission to cross. That the riders were denied was the perogitive of the owners. It's kind of like someone to cut across your yard to reach the other block as they don't want to walk to the end of the street, across the short block, and then down the next street. Depending on your mood, the circumstances, what you have going on in your yard at the moment, various aspects of the person asking permission, the odds of the shortcut becoming permanent, previous experiences, et al, you may or may not give permission to cross. In the case of the documentary, access probably could have been arranged ahead of time or an alternate route could have been planned. It is also very likely the scene was written in to prevent others from thinking this would be a grand adventure and create problems with others trying the same trip. Kind of like giving permission for one person to hunt your land and he brings a buddy. Later, that buddy shows up with someone else who later brings yet another. Pretty soon you no longer know who is on your land and you have to kick everyone off to get things under control. Relates back to the first paragraph.

I hear that all the time....but I continually see less and less hunters in the field. Hunting license sales are mostly getting lower. Less and less young people are getting involved in hunting..Yet, because of the acts of a few...you want to make it more difficult for individuals to access hunting.

Depends on how you look at "humorous." The humor was in that I was willing to let him call and bring the game warden. He wasn't going to have to make me do anything. I said make the call. Willing to pay the fine. Willing to wait. However, when I gave him the option, he said he didn't have time to wait around. That was the humor you obviously missed. Or perhaps didn't fit your agenda.

Five young guys facing the task of riding from the Mexico border to the Canadian..Five on an adventure most couldn't handle. An adventure not like someone cutting across your yard...but one that entailed thousands of miles on horseback. 5 who in the making of the journey found out something they didn't realize..That America is someplace special and needs to be cherished. "But no, you won't discover that on my 1/4 acre in the middle of nowhere...Go around."

Nor did the movie have anything to do with preventing others to think this would be a grand adventure...Not surprised you are willing to guess....


People who think like you are a big part of the problem..

However, this is where your "way" all eventually leads...You are either with us or against..Now we know...

Queens County Maryland has always been a place where hunting and shooting was a way of life, Perhaps one of the most historic locations for the Duck and Goose hunting traditions in the U.S. From the days of the market gunners and great upland hunting. A shooting history that still goes on today..Makes no difference if you are whoever proposed this restriction. Makes no difference if you are someone who refuses to see the bigger picture that some are trying to paint for our future. Now we know.... figured you for an elitist-and know I know...

Schrader's has been an extraordinary member of the Queen Anne County community for over 30 years...And landowners like you are part of the reason traditions are dying...





And for who are Anti Facebook...Guess where this was posted?

Sorry for the hi-jack...However, the reality is some need to see what is going on....Or there will be little need for an Upland forum.

Dude, that's hilarious. Farmers are generally wealthy, and generally pay little to no tax. Go right on thinking that. You have no idea apparently the kind of tax shelter that farming is.

The average household worth 300k and making 100k in this community pays more income and property taxes than the average farmer worth ten million bucks and making seven figures. The farmer might pay more in sales taxes but it would be close. The words "agricultural exemption" are the most used words in the South Dakota Code.

I'm the "elitist" because I believe the landowner has the right to determine who, when, and how uses their personal property? Isnt the belief that those who do not have have a right to use that which belongs to others elitist? Or, is it something else? I'll bet you are no different than that farmer/rancher when it comes to the use of your property by others. If others had the same experiences as landowners' face there would be a lot more understanding of the landowner's viewpoint. Those who feel as battue that landowners should be required to open their lands to the use of others is the other side of that "problem."

What you describe as "humorous" I see as snide and mocking. I wonder if you would have seen the same humor if the landowner threatened to flattened a couple of your tires and then said, "See you in court! Have a safe couple trips back here," after you threatened to press vandalism charges against him if he did so? Or, if someone said the same regarding their use of your property?

I should be used to the fact that others believe they have the right of access to lands they don't own but I am not. If believing the person who possesses a property has the right to determine who uses it, when, and how is somehow "elitist" then I will gladly and proudly wear that badge. The other side of that coin is that no one owns property and everyone can use it as they see fit.

You keep making up situations that I never said...Like landowners should be required to open up their lands to the use of others. What I did imply is we both have more than a passing interest in our outdoor heritage. And hunters for the most part have reason to support agricultural...However, in recognition of that support the farmer should be willing to treat us other than the enemy...Much like you. You think you have King George rights to land and Game..Thus elitist...

Since you were not there, you can assume...we will visit that again...that I was being snide or mocking. Wasn't the case..He came screaming, do you have permission to hunt here and I immediately said no. I said i wanted to hunt that little depression in this cut field but knew I was out of bounds. Then he commented about calling the Warden, still in a loud aggressive voice, and i replied then go ahead. I will sit right here and wait. Never became aggressive back...just admitted i knew what I was doing and he can take it wherever he wanted to. I could have argued back...do you think that would have been the better option?

And as far as him slicing the tires, then like me he should be willing to pay the man...Hell the last trip out there I bought a whole truck. 😂 A couple tires would be aggravating, but not insurmountable. I suspect an obliging passerby would have given me a ride into town.

Now for your additional assumption re use of my land...Have a small piece...56 acres...in one of our better Deer counties. Mostly farms around, however mine is all woods which does make it attractive to the Deer. The surrounding neighbors all post, I don't. My choice, and for the reasons stated...but again you assumed wrong and would have lost the bet. You wouldn't agree with Jag on making bets by any chance?

In addition... it is a county which is known for poaching...Who do you think does most of it? Well it isn't the visiting hunter.

Use your land as you see fit and according to the law, your choice....The fact I think you are an elitist priick in assuming most hunters have no respect for it is mine.

And your attitude is why fewer younger people are getting involved in hunting...They have better things to do than beg you for permissions to hunt the King's land.

Addition: I grew up in a time when most of my friends hunted and it was rare to find posted land. Now there are little Kings everywhere and most Kids don't hunt????

You bring up another good point. Frequently the trespasser/poacher is the neighbor or the neighbors kids/nephews/in-laws. I think over bagging is spread across the general population of hunters but my latest trespassing call involved a landowner who hired a local bar fly to run deer off of the neighboring landowner's spread and onto the landowner's property so landowner's paying customers could shoot them. It will be interesting to see if the laws of agency apply to a trespassing case but in any event, looks like motives of profit caused a landowner to act outside the law. Shocking, isn't it?

I was born into it on my Mothers side, and more than a few game laws are ignored under the pretense of this place is mine...And I would expect it would be rare for the TIP line to ring all that often....McDonald on McDonald....

Anyone shooting any Pheasants?

Haven't been out since Sunday...she'd be pretty fresh out there today. Present temperature of +2 and winds gone down to 19 mph. I can wait for nicer days.

What is your opinion on flushing Birds out of their protective cover late in the day, with those temps or worse?

The frigid day, the 27th, we ventured into SD, I wasn’t feeling perfectly fit. After getting home, it went downward. Seems many in my family after getting together for Christmas got the Corona. It’s been two weeks, and despite only 2 or 3 days of being acutely ill, I still have absolutely no energy. I just realized this is why I was whiffing on many of my shots that day. I’m sticking with it.

Yesterday and today we had 30 mph gales with single digit temps, so WC’s a good deal below “0”. Lovely.

Plus a memorial service in the eastern part of the state this weekend.

My pheasant season is fini..

Battue, in this kind of weather, they fly right back to similar cover. Roosters compete with the hens for cover in hard weather. So, whether from time to time, it results in greater or less hen mortality is arguable.

In general, cover is is at a premium for all wildlife in winter.

Edit to add: we don’t have enough cover in the Heartland!

I think the birds generally settle right back into cover, they seem to have to go out of it to eat twice a day anyway. We would not be pushing them out of evening roosts by and large. its more of a pushing them out of loafing cover at that time of day. They're going to generally be on their way out anyway.

Two of us went to Harrold yesterday afternoon. As we drove over, I saw many pheasants on the move and it was no different at the spot. Lots of birds around, hard to get close to them.

I had the dumbest thing happen. Our plan was to hunt solo, but at the same time and perhaps move some birds into each others pathway. It kinda worked. Rob flushed a bird and it flew straight at me, easy shot, when it got close enough I let fly and hit it but didn't break a wing or a leg. It sailed down about 40 yards away and Lola was on it, I watched it zig and zag for its life and then take wing and fly about 200 yards. We walked to that spot immediately and were unable to find the damn thing. Super frustrating, I should have shot it again in flight but figured it would work out. Darn.

Anyway I shot another one and found it. So the weekend tally is one.

Glad you got out again. Actually today is our last day here but I’m still coughing from Covid though I don’t feel ill any longer. At least it’s calm today. We have had a long run of high winds and serious wind chills that just keep one inside.

Glad to hear also that you saw bunches of birds. At least so far, assuming you are dry like we are here, they don’t have to contend with snow at present.

Surprising number of hens yesterday. I flushed probably 40 birds, 34-35 of which were hens. The only rooster that flushed in range didn't make it to sunset. The rest got out of Dodge as they say as soon as other nearer hens started to fly.

We are quite dry and will need snow, hopefully in March. Bare ground everywhere.

"Well I'm not the world's most accurate guy,
but when I shoot at birds, I always try,
for my Lola,
L-O-L-A, Lola."



Sorry one got away from you.

I saw a high percentage of hens all over the state this year, too. To get roosters required a lot of walking, unless you got lucky. That's okay, I need the exercise more than I need birds in the freezer, and the dog has fun no matter what. He just loves to be out hunting.

Ha Funny

We went out and shot a few yesterday, up to Sully County. It was a great day. 52 degrees and a nice day for October...let alone January. I shot 6 I think.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/XHhMHhW.mp4[/img]

Another short clip: [img]https://i.imgur.com/XaqZpHk.mp4[/img]

And a third: [img]https://i.imgur.com/OVBvER9.mp4[/img]