I have a couple openings for pheasant hunters at my house. Some of the guys here hunt with me. Going to be an excellent season.

October 20-24 ---- 1 or 2 spots available -- $450 per person

December 2-6 ----3 spots available -- $450 per person

PM me if interested. Thanks!

Great place to stay!

Beautiful pictures! Care to elaborate on the fine shooting iron propped up?

That one is my 1898 Charles Daly Model 275 12ga. I shoot a few Dalys.



Thanks KK!

What part of SD are you in? I'm north of Aberdeen, just across the ND border....Been seeing all kinds of birds lately - easy winter, easy spring. Should be a decent year up here, too!

Kaiser Norton

North of Pierre.

Everything looking good for this season

Would love to come and hunt with my CZ Bobcat in 28 ga. I'll see how my schedule works out! Starting a new job, so might be chancey!

CZ Bobwhite? Congrats on a new job.

When's KK going to be there? Two lefties may be too much to handle.......
Gotta replace my dog.....Had to put Max down a month ago.
I got a new lefty CZ Bobwhite coming. Hope it gets here by then!

All my spots are full until December 13. If there is any interest up to Christmas let me know. Thanks for looking! Have a great hunting season.

Well crap. I was planning on booking the week of December 2nd. Was just trying to work out details and secure a pup to start training. Please keep me in mind if someone cancels. 573-243-1947. Scott in Missouri.

Looks like some rain is finally coming….what’s the rain report?

General rains over the pheasant belt Monday night into yesterday noon. My hunting place needed a shot and got it, 1.2". Everybody got .50 it looks like, some got up to 4". Every drought ends with a rain, maybe that was the one.

I am really concerned about the haying going on right now. Lots of temptation to hay everything they can cut, farmers being farmers and all that.

Time to jump start this thread. Today, I was in the Sioux Falls Scheels and picked up some Federal 16ga. Loads. How different from a year ago.

However, the rifle and shotgun ammo shelves are still not full, but a cursory guess would be ~50-60% which still means a lot of ammo if they have what you want. I normally buy Fiocchi’s but other than 28’s they were not available. No problem, I’ve always used different brands, though usually stay with 5’s and 6’s and away from magnums.

Win and Fed made up the bulk. That said, I really didn’t need any as I have enough 20’s,16’s, and 12’s to carry me a good long time.

BK, what’s the latest from the central part of the state as regards this great game bird in SD?

Other than antelope in Montana, I didn't draw much this year. I was waiting on the results before I committed to dukxdog. I'm glad he booked his spots, but sad I missed out.

If anyone goes anywhere in early December and needs a partner, keep me in mind.

We went out to the CRP on Sunday, and put up the signs/mowed a parking area etc. Our place looks pretty rough frankly, but the crops around there look better, thanks to hybrid vigor I suppose, and the timeliness of the rains. I think the birds are spotty, in fact I know they are.

“Drought has reared its ugly head across the entire pheasant belt and many places in South Dakota are no exception. That being said, pheasant hunting here should still be a "can't miss" opportunity.
South Dakota's pheasant population had a great winter, leading to high spring populations. These adult birds should be available for hunters this fall. These are smart and wary birds and successful hunters will need to adjust their hunting tactics.

Similar to pheasants, the prairie grouse outlook is mixed. This spring brought record lek counts for adults, but drought conditions deteriorated grassland habitats in the grouse range and hampered grouse production.”

…Looks like the GFP is hedging its bets as to hunter upland success.

Careful, the head of tourism is a real propagandist.
Last year his reason for dropping the the annual rural mail carriers pheasant report was “hey, we’re running a business here”. Can’t be scaring off nonresident hunters with an abysmal report.

I understand it. It’s reasonable. Realism with a positive face.

There will always be pockets of birds, but a lot of CRP was cut for emergency haying and grazing. Even sloughs have been mowed. Recently driven the state north to south and east to west without seeing a bird from the road, not that I was particularly looking but not to have any fly across you at windshield level was unusual.

Excellent - I was slightly concerned but figured 3-4 boxes of 12 ga #6 would be around someplace. Looking forward to it

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That is rather sobering. When did the mowing take place? Would this be late spring into summer? Chicks big enough to sit still and be killed,..or get away?

I cannot imagine they won’t have 12’s when you get there. It’s their #1 seller. And don’t let this thread dampen your enthusiasm. You’ll have a great time — fine companions, fine guns, good dogs, and the satisfaction of a “refreshing” physical weariness of long walks in premier pheasant country. I’m sure you will get in the birds.

govt doesnt allow haying or grazing of CRP until after the main nesting season , around August 1

any cattails mowed off would usually be pretty late in the summer

Yes, I think the haying started mid-July up until just recently. As you know we had a tremendously hot and dry June. Hot and dry is probably more conducive for brood raising vs cold and wet is the only good thing.

Hottest couple of weeks here, in June, that I recall.

Yesterday I had a short conversation with a Fiocchi VP about possibly getting target ammo shipped directly to my house...The answer was..."Sorry we don't do that."

Anyway, he said they are currently emphasizing hunting ammo...both shotgun and centerfire. However, they are backed up on committed orders...If I could look around and obtain my needs before I arrived to hunt....I'm sure it would be the best option.

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The lodges banded together and put in a single order for truckloads of ammo, so they feel like their bases are covered in that regard. i looked around this weekend and saw a few shells on the shelves. If you guys get out here and need some 16, I know where to get some.

The emergency haying should be no surprise to anyone: https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsr...to-emergency-grazing-and-haying-policies for example. Lots of people are short of feed for their herds going into fall. Stuff's going to get hayed as a result. Lots of trucks on the roads moving cattle and hay right now.

Had a conversation up at the Y this morning about there being some late nesting and seeing chicks resulting from that. I've driven some over the first half of the month and hit two pheasants with my pickup, so there are some birds out there. We don't have the kind of thick cover at our usual spot that will keep birds into the winter like we did last year but we're not limited to hunting only that place either.

Thanks for the perspective BK.

Pugs, your outfitter is sure to have some then also. But, FYI, on the same street as Scheels, but further east on the same 41st street, another gun shop, though small and privately owned, should also have 12’s. Gary’s Gun Shop. On the way to Scheels from the airport.

They usually have a rounded glass-enclosed display of higher-end guns, usually mostly rifles — hat tip to Jorge.