I live in Alabama and have never hunted pheasants, looking for recommendations on my first pheasant hunt, and trying to do it on a tight budget. What state would u recommend? Public land? Do it yourself or guided? Any leads would be appreciated, thx Robinhedd

Get a PLOTS (private land open to sportsman) map for SW ND (where I grew up).
Stay at a hotel in Bowman or there are a few farm houses in the area that are available to hunters.
As they say, thank me later.

If you need someone to help split the fuel and costs I'm game! I've always wanted to do that myself

ND may be good as I've not hunted pheasants there but I have many times in SD and even when numbers are down, it's very good. Look about anywhere in central SD east of the Missouri reservoirs. There are many walk-in areas and you can find reasonable motels and restaurants.

Going later (December) avoids the non-resident crush and there plenty of birds. The downside is being from the south, you might run into 20 mph winds, a foot of snow, and -20* temps. Or not.

All the info can be found on the SD game & fish website.

And SD would be a bit shorter drive.

May also be worth mentioning that when a place has the claim, "____________ capitol of the world" there are often attributes associated that some may not want. All depends on the individual's expectation(s).

SD and walk the grown up ditch lines out on the country roads

Thanks for the info, keep the tips coming please. Thx, Robinhedd

Hunted with this guy about 4 years ago. 6 of us from church went. We split costs and traveled 3 to a crew cab truck. The 3 day hunt cost me total about $1200 including steak and prime rib every night. I thought it was a great hunt. I shot a limit every day and saw a lot of birds.
http://www.fairchasepheasants.biz/about_us.htm

Go to the SD and ND game and fish websites, and search around for two statistics:

1) Spring Crowing Counts (gives an idea how many breeding adults survived the winter)
2) Late Summer Roadside Brood Counts (how many chicks are being spotted)

Tally the best spots that seem to have birds, and just get a hotel somewhere nearby. If you are from the South, don't bother coming up after mid-Nov. as you won't like the weather and it can get dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Just go in mid-late October and have a good time on public land, ask farmers for permission, ask around a small town. People are used to it, they want your money to support the economy, and you'll find your 3-bird limit if you want to hunt hard all day.

Easy-peasy, S.D. is where you want to go. I've been hunting S.D. for over 30 years and have never paid to hunt. Read up on the rules for hunting the right-of-ways (yes you can road hunt S.D.). I've road hunted with a couple of game wardens before. Go on the Game,Fish and Parks website and print the Sportsman's Atlas... that will give you good maps of all the public roads in the state... stay away from any of the Rezs.
The license is $125 and good for 10 days pheasant hunting. You can divide it into two 5 day portions (which is what we do but it's only about a 9 hour drive for us). The limit is 3 roosters a day with possession limit of 15... coming as far as you are I would figure on hunting until everyone had their 15 birds. The Sportsman's Atlas will show the waterfowl management, game management and other public hunting areas but 2 or 3 hunters walking around in 1000 acres of cover can have it pretty tough with educated roosters unless you have good pheasant dogs also the public hunting areas require non-toxic shot.
What was said earlier about the weather later in the season was true but that being said, the worst blizzard I've ever been in happened on the 3rd day of the season... 17" of snow with 70mph winds... snapped many power poles and when we went back a month later there were still minimum maintenance roads drifted shut with 4-6 foot drifts in places. We always take a tow-strap or chain and a snow shovel.
The weather could be like the aforementioned blizzard or it could be 80 degrees... It could be rainy or still extremely dry. If it rains be advised that the minimum maintenance roads that are black mud can be like grease... even with 4x4 and rough tread tires they can be very difficult to travel when wet.
Obey the 660' rule, stay away from cattle, houses , the Rez and you should be fine road hunting. You can't start pheasant hunting until noon the first week and then 10am after that.

A five day hunt with meals, lodging and travel costs me about $600 and we drive up the day before and spend the night of the 5th day and have a leisurely drive home the next day.

Oh, you might want to pack one varmint rifle for the group and if you come across a prairie dog town, find who the owner is and see if you can get permission to shoot a few as it might be your only opportunity ever to do so.

Good luck, be safe and obey the road hunting rules.

Can't really add anything to any of the above. I grew up in Iowa, where phez hunting has been great and/or terrible over the last 40 years, but SD will spoil you. Make you start looking for hunting property in the upper midwest. Which isn't a bad thing...

tag

Yeah, SD is really the destination for pheasants; that doesn't automatically eliminate doing some research for the where and how.

But if you can travel from the SE, maybe you can fund a guide or access to land for a day or three. I'd suggest researching the Chamberlain, Platte, or Pickstown areas.

Yeah, SD is really the destination for pheasants; that doesn't automatically eliminate doing some research for the where and how.

But if you can travel from the SE, maybe you can fund a guide or access to land for a day or three. I'd suggest researching the Chamberlain, Platte, or Pickstown areas.

Yep,you have to consider that my total cost of $1200 included 1/3 of a 44 hour road trip there and back at an average of about $2.50 a gallon in a crew cab truck. It included absolutely everything,ammo,hotels,even tips for the guides. Not too bad really when starting from Alabama.

Would also add that Kansas has been a popular destination in recent years, as their phez numbers have rebounded. I believe that would be a shorter drive from AL.

Do you have dogs? That is the first question. If you do, then DIY might be for you. If you do not, then I do not suggest DIY. Dogs are critical to enjoyment of any bird hunt, and nearly a requirement for success for DIY pheasant hunting. I say these things because you could conceivably road hunt limits of pheasants without dogs, and to each his own.

Its going to be a tough season this year, the lack of rain in June and July limited the success of the hatch and consequently not a lot of birds around in 2017.

+1, could not agree more.

Don't let the lack of a bird dog keep you from doing it yourself. The majority of my S.D. roosters ( probably 90% at least ) I've shot without dogs. That's over 30 years of hunting S.D. at least once a season and if I don't have my 15 rooster possession limit after 5 days of hunting I'm probably only going to be down 2 or 3. You have to pick right cover to hunt and the right tactics.... small patches, ditches, fencelines etc.... 2 or 3 hunters walking around in a 500 acre block of cover following good dogs have their work cut out for them. Been there and done that.
Myself, I would be perfectly content hunting S.D. without dogs for the rest of my days. I realize that some people enjoy watching the dogs work... I get it... I've known coon hunters and coyote hunters that were that way. Not saying they're wrong at all but it's not my way.

I do think that it may be a tough season this year. I was in western S.D. prairie dogging in early July and saw very few birds while going and coming, not even very many feather spots on the interstate. Also on the way out, in pheasant country, we took a couple of 10-15 mile loops off of the highway on gravel roads to try and see how the hatch was and did not see a single pheasant... ordinarily we'll see a few even a hen now and then with her chicks. On the other hand, in the west where we almost never see one, we saw a few birds where normally we see none. Go figure?

Good luck and be safe however you do it... dog or no dog, guide or diy.

PrairieDog, I think maybe you should share your road hunting spots with him. If you're going to encourage him to come out here on his own with no dogs, and expect to have the same success you enjoy after having put in all the time and the miles, the least you can do is give him the full benefit of all that experience.

I myself do not think a guy or guys, with no dogs, can come out here for the first time and expect to shoot five day possession limits of roosters, for free. Some will. Most don't.
Some guys shoot six point bulls every year. Most don't. Same general proposition. Can they still come out here and have a good time? Absolutely. Unquestionably. Its up to them.

For what its worth, the state finally today released the pheasant numbers for 2017. The counts are down statewide and the average is -65% below the 10 year average. Good luck men!

BK, there are no magic year after year spots but a hunter can use his head and find spots with birds... my first trip in the early '80s, two first time MO. hunters watched, learned and killed our 15 roosters each... first pheasants for both of us so it can be done. We're not afraid to drive, most trips for us run around 2200-2300 miles from home to home( central MO.)... we might drive 10-15 miles between spots that we want to walk.
Myself I hate to see someone pay big money for a deer hunt where the buck was in a pen a few weeks earlier and I hate to see someone pay big money to shoot roosters that most were in a pen a couple of days earlier... you know it and I know it that the lodges turn many, many 1,000s of pen raised birds out... I see more and more of the big pens every year with hundreds if not thousands of roosters in them... what a crock.
Now I'm retired and if I was coming up by myself I would offer to show the OP how to do it but I don't think my buddy would approve so how about this... I'll tell the OP a water fowl production area( and it's a specific fence row on opening day) and a road that I've killed many birds on AND a specific spot that I've killed my limit on numerous times if you, being a local, will guide him for free one day on YOUR spots not mine. I'm not saying his party is going to limit every day... the way it sounds this might be the toughest season I've seen and we may not limit every day but they will be birds we found not some guide. Now if the OP doesn't mind paying $$ for pen raised birds so be it and I'll STFU but if he wants to do it himself.... Balls in your court. Should be a win for everybody.

Prairie dog, you win. I can't imagine that the OP or anybody would want to go hunting with me and my dogs for a day, when he could opt for the ultimate day of road hunting. After all they would "be birds he found, not some guide." Its a win for you.

I asked if the OP had dogs, in an attempt to steer him toward realistic success for what he's looking to accomplish. YOU might like to drive around road hunting, in order to fill your freezer. HE might like to walk up his birds over his own dogs, or someone else's. There are thousands of acres of public land to hunt for free, and thousands of people hunting it. There are lots of other options also. The various reservations can be excellent places for DIY hunters from out of state. Lower Brule is fantastic, and the Cheyenne River reservation was full of birds last year. The tribal licenses are somewhat reasonable and buying them often gives you access to land that isn't pounded day after day. Some fantastic places are operated by farmers with converted farmhouses, converted farm dogs and wild birds.

The OP also doesn't have to choose only one manner of hunting for his whole trip. He might like to do a shorter trip on preserve or he might like to spend a day or two with someone and then go DIY for the rest of his trip. I don't know, and it doesn't matter to me. Its HIS trip. It might surprise folks to know that I hunt many different places each fall, in many different ways. I hunt in big groups, small groups, duo's and solos. I hunt big preserves, I hunt small preserves, I hunt private land, I hunt public land. I hunt standing crops, cut crops, grass, sloughs, tree belts, CRP. I take my dogs, I hunt over others' dogs, I don't go without dogs. People who can choose to hunt with dogs will make that choice because people without dogs shoot birds, but they don't flush as many and they don't find as many of those they do shoot. < period. I also don't shoot 12 gauges for pheasants but that is another post.

BK, the OP started this thread about pheasants on a budget which is what I was trying to help him with. Some people's budget doesn't mind $200-$300 per day to hunt but some people don't want to spend that much. Just offering a different option from paying for a preserve hunt also since the OP lives in Alabama and has never hunted pheasants I took the liberty of assuming that he does not have a dog accustomed to hunting pheasants.
We walk our birds up and we do cherry pick the cover we hunt, that's why we put so many miles on.
I don't care whether someone hunts with dogs or not... could not care less. You hunt your way and I'll hunt my way.

My dad took us to South Dakota and Nebraska more than once on DIY pheasant hunts when we were kids.

Didn't have any dogs. It was fun. We killed birds.

That being said if you could find something in the panhandle of Texas that allowed trespass or daily rates, you might be miles ahead. Some of the best COCK hunting in the country believe it or not. But private access is the name of the game.




Travis

Dogs or not should never be the determining factor in pheasant hunting. If one doesn't have a good dog, then they'd be far better off hunting without one than putting an dumb dog on the ground in a good pheasant field.

Having kept track of this over the past decade or so, visiting dogless hunters have an ever so slight advantage in birds bagged per day. Most people's dogs are a disadvantage to actually getting wild birds.

Fun and enjoyable, yes. Even close to necessary, no.

Do tell us more, DD.

Between the drought beating up chick production and emergency cutting of CRP allowed due to drought as well this isn't an optimum year. Chick production or lack thereof is fairly self-explanatory. Emergency cutting of CRP however will really concentrate hunters which is a HUGE detractor (it is for me anyway), way more so then low bird numbers. It's a rescipe for a fairly impressive crap-show. Think "busy boat ramp" on fishing opener or Mem/Labor Day/4th of July weekend and then add shotguns.

^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^

For sure, PD should offer to guide him for a day, at the minimum. And then show us the pics to prove his "uber" pheasant hunting prowess and expertise.

THANKS for keeping it Real World, BKinSD.

Ok, this thread is getting good! Who's gonna be my guide on day number 1? I'm ready to get this hunt rolling! I can taste those brazed pheasant legs! Robinhedd

Tag

North Dakota summer brood counts are out now. In a nutshell, the entire state is down by 60% or more over recent years, which weren't all that high to begin with. Not good. Sharptails and Huns are down also.

I drove 200 miles yesterday through the heart of pheasant country and saw exactly two birds. One mature rooster, and one chick which could just barely fly. I did see two hens flying night before last, just at dark. I would say 60% down is a very optimistic number. I presume there are pockets of birds here and there, there always are, but the lack of birds is very widespread.

I'm still waiting to hear whether or not you have dogs. Are you going with dogs or not? If so, are your dogs trained for birds? I was wondering because of so much debate here and I might want to try this sometime.

Even though I've never hunted wild birds, only release birds, I can see where an inexperienced dog might become a problem. I used to do a lot of rabbit hunting. Every time we took dogs, even though they were trained for running rabbits, it became a pain in the ass. We'd spend more time F-ing with the dogs than shooting rabbits. I always found it better and funner to just put on the brush pants and plow my way through it myself.

If you can get your dog on A LOT of wild birds at a young age it really helps. I hunted along side a number of guys with high dollar professionally trained dogs( it was obvious they themselves did not spend much time training with them) and I witnessed again and again their dogs failing to deal with running roosters, sharpies or birds sitting tight and doubling back between hunters. . Most would just chase running birds a few hundred yards out, ignoring their owners, and kick them up way too far away. In the meantime the owners yelling, swearing, blowing their whistles and shocking them to near death on the ecollars. It was obvious they were trained on pen raised birds. Of course these professional dogs would do well on pen raised birds.

I put my most recent dog on 100's of wild birds the first year in the Dakotas and after a week or so she picked some of the tricks used by roosters, huns, sharptails.( I try and do this with every dog I have owned if possible and there is no substitute for wild wary birds) As soon as she picked up scent she would immediately run ahead in a wide circle a 100 yards or so, and using the wind work her way back to me. Stopping ocassionally to make eye contact with me to see I was involved. In high cover she would pogo to see my location. Both of us moving quietly, no constant yelling or tweet tweet tweet on a whistle. Does she managed to find every smart rooster? If i needed to nudge her in another direction a quick vibrate on her collar. Of course not but each time she learns more and more. Fun to watch. I see a good deal of guys whose dogs, even the very expensive ones, just run ahead and hunt for themselves. It is amazing how much a well bred, not necessarily expensive dog, can learn on their own when exposed to a lot of birds. just my opinion of course.

I'll hunt alone with no dog then with a poorly trained dog these days. If you can get a few guys who know what they are doing you can work cover quite well without a dog. Usually one guy has to bust cattails or the thick stuff.and if needed set out a blocker but of course be aware of safety. Park vehicles at least a 1/4 mile from area hunted and sneak into area hunting to minimize spooking birds.

Driving up to an area and slamming car doors wont cut it after opening day. Some gorgeous country and really nice folks in the Dakotas. Frustrating that more and more areas are tied up by outfitters but good hunts can still be had. Suggest first year call game bios, gets some good maps of hunting areass. Pick a spot and spend the first year scouting and developing contacts

[quote=BKinSD]I drove 200 miles yesterday through the heart of pheasant country and saw exactly two birds. One mature rooster, and one chick which could just barely fly. I did see two hens flying night before last, just at dark. I would say 60% down is a very optimistic number. I presume there are pockets of birds here and there, there always are, but the lack of birds is very widespread.[/quot




thats sad

thanks for update

Excellent advice. Esp about getting pups involved at an early age on WILD birds.

http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/docs/PBR2017.pdf 2017 pheasant survey. Down 45% from last year and 65% down for the ten year average. And these #'s appear optimistic. It was a cold and wet early spring, then terrific hail storms in June in the south central part of the state, then drought in July. The Winner area especially hard hit with hail.

I literally saw only two broods of pheasants all summer, and that was me driving tractor every day. They hatched extremely late this year, if at all. It's not going to be any fun this year. I suppose I will spend more time hunting coyotes in their prime instead.

DD, its a bad year. I have heard better reports on the grouse than I expected and I will be giving them a go here pretty soon. Pheasants are in pockets here and there but widespread disaster is the rule.

Agree totally on poorly trained dogs, no question about that. Dogs can be a handicap. There is no substitute for experience. Most peoples dogs will not do well in an unpicked cornfield or in a strip of cover with hundreds of birds in it. They don't have that experience.

For what it's worth, I would never allow my dog to (or watch anyone else's) circle "100 yards ahead" of me; that is going to accomplish nothing but blowing most all the birds out of a cover. Dogs need to stay close and learn when to apply pressure for the flush. Pups get lots of callbacks in my world. Once pup is 20 yards away, she better be circling back to me.

For what it is also worth, in my opinion any dog is better than no dog when it comes to finding a downed bird. Hunters without dogs will shoot some birds; my experience is that they'll also find fewer of them. A poorly trained dog is generally able to be taken to the spot where the bird was downed and be able to find it, even if he won't bring it to hand. If you have to shoot five a day to put three in your bag, well, you do the math. Days get harder and longer.

Good luck with a dog that stays 20 yds from at all times when wild running roosters , Huns, chukars are running 50 to 200 yds ahead of you
Anyone who does a lot of hunting on pressured wild birds on public land knows the answer to this . That is why it is crucial, if possible, to expose your dog to as many wary wild birds as possible imo. A good bird dog with good breeding will figure how to properly hunt wild running birds.


Wild roosters, but mostly hens, will sometimes hold tight and run behind you but wild pressured birds will run quite a ways ahead of you or just take off a 100 yds or more a way on public land if you are not quiet. I have arrived dozens of times at public areas parked my vehicle to have wild bids flush a 100 or more yards away.

Sure on on private land with planted or unpressured birds the rooster might hold tigh in limited thick cover but a dog that has a lot of experience on roosters Huns chukar knows to run and circle at least 100 yds ahead in open cover when birds run


Your experience hunting non pressured or planted birds might be different

Have never experienced a problem with my dog's the past 30 years bringing a grouse goose duck woodcock quail rooster to hand

That's the basics any bird dog should do imo

I expect the only way the dog gets that experience is through exposure to wild birds,,,the more times the better,,,,,an owner just needs to understand that the "learning times" could be tough!!

Sounds like BKin SD uses flushers and ribka runs pointers which would be consistent with their philosophies on how a dog should work. It is always amusing to listen to one group run down the other about which is "better" when both dog types are great for what they do when put on the correct ground type. A coworker had nothing good to say regarding pointing dogs over his labs as he hunted mainly preserves with strips of milo and corn for cover. Birds run in there as there is nothing to stop them. When I took him into the woods for grouse and woodcock, he had an eye opener on how a pointing dog worked. He had comparatively easy shooting as he could somewhat approach the dog from more open cover which gave him a chance to swing the gun. A single instance of right cover for the dog.

Pointers do not do well on pheasants in row crop fields, picked or not, as that is the absolute worst possible cover in which to get a bird to hold for a point. Much the same can be said for strip cover like fence rows, ditches, and shelter belts that are not overly wide and lack undercover. Cattails can be good or bad depending on the amount of canary grass, reeds, and what other lower story cover is available. Pointers also are not the best for groups of hunters conducting drives as that is not conducive to their hunting style. For these areas and conditions a flusher works best if one insists on taking birds as meant by the dog's breed type.

Pointers excel in larger areas of more open cover such as grassy CRP. as pheasants hold in these areas and often tend to be scattered about. A dog that can range a fair distance and hold point can save a lot of time and foot steps in covering ground to find the birds.Pointers are also beneficial on other bird types as many of them hold well in more open cover than pheasants and may be even more spread out. Huns, and prairie grouse come to mind first as I have often walked for miles before contacting them. Their cover requirements and population size are such that a dog that works only a couple dozen yards will leave you covering much of the property yourself which is time consuming and tiring.

I run both types of dogs depending on the cover type/size, the condition of the dog, the experience level of the dog, and personal whim. Just as I would pick the gun, ammo, clothing, or footwear for a given hunt, so do I for the dog. The proper tool for the job to be done generally makes things go better. There is no "best" dog type, just the "best" for the individual. The better one understands the various types of dogs, the better one can appreciate their differences and capabilities.

Hey I didn't run anybody down. I will not argue that hunting prairie grouse is much more a pointing dog game. By all means, have at it. Similarly, if someone wants to plod along chasing pheasants with a pointing dog, they can go right ahead and knock themselves out. It matters not to me. If someone wants to only shoot birds from points, I can understand that. Have at it. If I thought having a pointing dog would work better on pheasants, I'd have one.

I'm planning on going this year to SoDak to see what I can kick up on "walk in areas" or other public spots.
But, for me,its a chance for memories and exercise. I just love walking around new to me areas and exploring. Don't have a dog. As I said, I just like "the hunt" and seeing new terrain. Do I want to take a few birds? Heck yeah, but if I don't, I won't go home disappointed.
As for the OP, I would strongly suggest saving up some extra cash and hiring a guide, or going to some preserve. If you want to see plenty of birds, and since you've never tried it, that would be my recommendation.
I'm in it for the memories at this point, me and my dad, me and my son. I'll be by myself thinking about time with them.
I hope you find something that fits your budget, best of luck to you.

good points and yep comes down to one's own style and taste

probably came across too preachy in my last post

I hope everyone is safe and has a great time. This isn't the best year to be trying to come here. Things are way off this year. If you are coming, I would suggest taking a look at south central SD, as they seemed to have timely rains and stayed green all summer. North central SD had the worst of the drought.

Apparently the hard winter followed by the drought-stricken summer was very hard on them. That said, there will be pockets of good numbers and then pockets with very few if any birds. However, even a bad year for SD has usually translated to a good to very good year elsewhere.

gracias

ND down 60% or more statewide.

I talked to my farming friend in Chamberland and numbers of bird are way down . Corn crop was good .

Can't figure out what the drought did to affect the hatch. There were at least some insects around all summer, so I don't see how they would have "starved to death." We didn't have any bad storms that would have killed them. We did have early spring rains that caused good grass growth and there are plenty of weeds around, so they should have had decent nesting cover.

The other odd thing is that we are still seeing very young birds out there--as in little ones that can barely fly off the ground, so they must have been hatched only two months ago. Since pheasants don't double-hatch, it means that the early nesting birds were unsuccessful for the entire early summer. That makes no sense.

Anyway, if we don't keep on having a mild fall and early winter, those little birds won't make it once the cold weather hits hard.

Pheasant numbers are down here in northeast MT.

Last year was very good.

Last year you'd kick up say 20 birds. This year maybe 2-3 on the same walk.

Sam,

Heard the same basic news from your "Uncle Boone" on Thursday evening when we had dinner with him, Alice and Allison in Helena.

Sure hope it's better next year!

We were surprised with the numbers of birds, still not high but better than expected. All adults though.

I travel to the middle of Kansas and find plenty of birds on public property. It is about 3-4 hours east of many of CO's pheasant areas but worth the extra drive time. I also did western NE last year and had great fun. New pup seems to find quail easier than pheasant but the human dogs put up enough pheasant. Still 10 hours of drive time shorter than SD

That's awesome. Glad to hear it. I was seeing quite a few Kansas pickups driving around this past weekend.

This is probably why...

PHEASANT.
Regular: November 11, 2017-January 31, 2018.

AHA ! Makes total sense to me. Good luck!