Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game South Dakota 2021

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!