Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game South Dakota public land late season Pheasants...

Arrived home 4 am this morning....Worst driving conditions were 5 miles from home...Go figure.

Anyway, the Birds were there in crazy numbers when you hit the right spots, however more than a little wild...weather was perfect for this time of year. Bud shot really well and did a number on them..




I had the opportunities to work on filling the proverbial pick-up, but shot worse than poorly...However, managed to come home with a few...




I lost that glove in November on a two track while taking a pic. This hunt going down the same track, I looked at Higgie and he had it in his mouth....




That is a Deer that scratched on that post; we came across some that were so thin you could have snapped them. Saw at least 100 Deer....When the corn is down they are out there...and if they even hear a vehicle are off to someplace else.

Ran into a few of these....




Higgie got his first nose full of Pheasants...at least 75 of them...but I blew a couple opportunities to bring his first wild Bird to ground..

Glad you made the trip safely, that you had a good time and weather. And that you shot “lights out.” 😀

Those late season roosters are a thing, aren’t they? 😊

They are "Booners" with those thick necks, wide white neck gaiter and the extra greens and blues on the rump....

How lucky can you be to get out there twice in one year???!! . Thanks for the report on the great hunt. We are all jealous, but happy for you boys. Check out Higgie already pulling his weight!

Bummer on the bridge in Pittsburgh.

Thanks Tim...Pittsburgh is called the "City of Bridges"....It should be renewed to "Old Bridges". It may not be the first....

Thank you for the great pics. I took a few days off to finish the bird season here in Kansas but the bird numbers around here are way down. Makes it tough to keep a 2 year old dog interested. At least I haven't lost a glove yet. I still have three more days though...

Congrats on a fantastic trip, super glad it worked out for you. Going out today with a small group in fact.

Your glove story reminds of a deer hunting trip some years back. I brought the Flash along just to get him out of the house. A friend's young son and I crept along the edge of a bluff on the White River for about two miles trying to get ahead of a deer, finally connected on it and descended the cliff to start the hard work. I discovered I'd lost my new Leica rangefinder somewhere along the way. I turned back and ascended that bluff with Flash in an attempt to retrace my steps and find it. Some hundreds of yards into my quest I was on hands and knees in the dead grass searching for a $500 O/D colored item the size of a deck of cards when here comes the Flash with it in his mouth! One of his best retrieves ever.

A lot more snow in my corner of the state. Ran out for a quick afternoon hunt. Picked up a new Montefeltro and wanted to get some shooting in.

Snow shoed till I got in the middle of the thick cattails then knee deep, but soft snow to trudge through.

And no bird dog...shame

Well done...The cattails can be nasty, make them knee deep in snow and they don't get any better.

Addition: If I had to go out without a gun or Dog...It would be the gun.

Keep an eye on that recoil pad. Ben has had a run of them disintegrate in a very short time. That’s not hyperbole — I mean disintegrate, like in crumble off.