Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game South Dakota October 2021

The season started October 16, 2021. The guys have been doing pretty well. Some better than others. You have to hunt for birds on public lands. I started hunting October 25. Pheasant number are pretty good. It's not as dry or drought conditions as the reports I heard before actually getting my boots on the ground.

The grass is still tall and green. Ponds and lakes have good water levels everywhere I have been.

A good amount of corn has been harvested and I see combines running every day.

Lots of beans still standing in the fields which us unusual. I'm not sure the reason as the beans I checked were fully developed.

Most of the Walk-In and WPA's and ditches have had hay cut out of them. They left part standing but the cut areas have no cover for pheasants which is a shame. I was very surprised to see the WPA's hayed since they are posted as Federal land.

I have shot my limit of three roosters every day in anywhere from 1-3 hours time. I'm expecting good things until I head home for Thanksgiving.

This is bucket list stuff for me!!!

Great pictures!

Thanks for posting.

Good report. I’m sure many were wondering about bird numbers because of the drought reports. Hope you have a good fall.

Love those old SXS's. great pictures

I hunted SD the first week for non-res and my experience was different. I hunted near Chamberlain on walk-in and GPA areas. There was lots of standing grain put some areas were being harvested. There was still water in some ponds & lakes but it was obvious the water level was quite a bit lower and we did encounter dried up smaller ponds. In one week of hard hunting, using a professionally trained GSP, the dog pointed 5 roosters. Four of those presented a shot (one was in very heavy cedar cover) and we bagged two.

The day before the season opener, we talked to biologists at the fish and game dept in Chamberlain and got their input on the best public land spots to hunt. We also talked to other hunters who also were experiencing limited success. In driving around, hundreds of miles that first week, we only saw 2 roosters on road right of ways (we didn't shoot them as that is not our style of hunting). The only people getting any significant # of birds were those hunters who used lodges or guide services. On the Friday before the opener we saw several trucks loaded with crates of roosters that were heading to those places.

Maybe we picked the wrong area of SD to hunt (we did select the Chamberlain area as one report I read before leaving said it had the highest pheasant density), but the hunting was very poor by all accounts. Maybe as the crops get all harvested, the birds will seek the grass/cover offered on public lands but opening week was a huge disappointment for me.

Cooper, sorry to hear of your experience, especially after coming half way across the country. Our group hunts that area too but has access to private ground and though we usually do very well, I expect numbers will be down there too.

The greatest fun for me is the camaraderie of good friends and the friendly banter exchanged with some birds tossed in. Of course, we are only three hours away.

The counterpoint to your experience, is that moisture has already been better this fall than last fall across SD and Iowa. This, with normal snowfall s winter and rain next spring should help chick survival rebound next summer.

So don’t give up. I certainly appreciate the time, expense, and anticipation of guys who come to hunt those gaudy, gorgeous birds from a long ways away.

Just got back and my experience mirrors the op's - plenty of birds and all we did was walk them up with labs...

Wasn't it pretty warm the first week? That results in dogs breathing through their mouths, so they miss a lot.

To me it was still too warm until maybe Monday of this week. Then drizzled all day yesterday (near Huron). Today my shorthair pointed a couple of roosters but they were tough to hit in the 25-30 mph wind.

I lost weight this year. Maybe I shouldn't have.

I read your report with interest Cooper. Thats a bummer. I can see some things that you did wrong in my view.

A couple would be that you were too early to hunt public land at all, as the birds would tend to be in standing crops, and then you doubled down on that by being here the first week (right after the resident public land opener) to compete with others similarly situated. What few birds were on public land then, would be greatly diminished that week. If people are going to hunt for free on public land, then I suggest that people come later in the year, when the birds have come off of private land and into the public cover. I hope it works out better for you next time.

Finding lots of Birds…and putting in lots of miles to find them. Winds have been crazy…up to 50 mph. And many are getting up, catching the wind and are gone. However some have made the mistake.

Pics to follow when home.

dukxdog thanks for the pictures and report. A SD pheasant trip has been on my bucket list for trips for awhile and I hope to get down there in the next couple of years.

Still plenty of birds in South Dakota. Weather has been nice with just a couple days of light snow and heavy winds.

I'm finding the bird density varies dramatically from one area of the state to another, and previous years' densities are no guide. I cannot tell why.

Eye Dominance and the Subconscious Mind in Shotgunning

The birds are spotty from year to year because of rainfall and agricultural practices. Some guy doesn't choose to plant wheat, or his wheat doesn't get rain, or he burns his ditches/sloughs, and you get a natural response to the lack of habitat.

Yep. I arrived there a week ago today and was carrying a full length gun case into our lodging. Wind was blowing 50+ and I told our host that if it hadn't been for a post on the front porch, I might have ended up in Nebraska.

Hunted 3 days around Halloween. Public land. Killed 5 roosters in 3 days. Hard hunting. Most found in cattails, so wore rubber boots all 3 days.

I realize the drought was brutal this year but it was sort of depressing to see how much grass and cattails got hayed. Some of that productive cover may not be back for a decade.

My lab got skunked too. All just part of it.

I might just add that by far most hunters go to SD from between opening day and Thanksgiving. To add to what BK said, 1) the public and walk-in areas get a lot of pressure, while 2) crops on private ground are often not harvested yet, making many birds inaccessible to public-landers. 3) Weather, if there is moisture, it is almost always rain, the bain of all pheasants, and making for a muddy, slogging mess for the hunters and the dogs. If it is mild and fair, with plenty of cover, hunting can be very,very challenging. Wind can come early, or late.

My point is from Thx’g on, hunter pressure and competition are greatly reduced. Crops are usually mostly harvested, reducing hiding cover. Weather, ah-ha — the wild card, if precipitating, is usually snow, almost always an advantage to hunters within reason. 6 fresh inches — great! 1 1/2 feet with a 25 mph wind and -20* wind chill— very bad! But that’s weather roulette in the upper Midwest during late season.

Point being, there are reasons for going to SD later rather than early.

I agree. I live so far away, I need to bundle my elk, pheasant and duck trips out of state. So I hunt when I can. Some day, I'm gonna pay one of these guys with private land, but I'm still too angry at em to not try public land. Driving those roads, finding a good field to push based on cover and the prevailing wind is great. If you are lucky, a burger and a beer mid afternoon at some small town bar. It's a good time with good guys. Maybe when I retire, I'll make a later trip. Hell, I might just move there. Doubt it, but might happen.

So did Otis. 2nd year in a row. Quart of 3% peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, squirt of Dawn dishsoap, sponge it on, rub it in , let it sit for 5 minutes, rinse off. That got 97% of the smell. They say doing it a second time will get 99%+. His collars still have a bit of an odor...