Hunting Pheasants in South Dakota

[wonder]

Any one with experience hunting roosters in SD?  Was planning a October trip and looking at lodges, guides, and even just going over there and hunting public land?

[mp.hunter]

Yes, fun times. A lot of places to hunt public there. The edges of fields in the ditches of any of the gravel roads you can hunt. Crp grass that is planted in those ditches held a lot of birds. The farmers there are very nice as well and most let us hunt their land. We were in the Winner area of SD.


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[WAcoueshunter]

It's nuts.  I hunted a few years back just outside of Pierre.  Here's the outfit, the owner is a former work colleague of mine.  On more than one occasion there were 100+ birds in the air.  Just nuts. 

http://www.dakotawildhunt.com/


 

[Duckhunter14]

I went a couple years back, and it was truly amazing. Spoiled me for life when it came to pheasant hunting. As mentioned above the amount of birds over there is staggering. Hundreds....literally hundreds would come out of what they call shelter belts over there. We were lucky enough to have a connection over there and we were hunting private land, but we did hunt some public with success also. Muzzleloader whitetail deer tags were 2 for $80 at the time too, so we took full advantage and came back with full freezers. It was a blast (pun intended), you wont regret the trip...just a disclaimer. You wont be as excited the next time you hunt WA after a SD trip.

Clint

[salmonchaser]

Let me put this in some kind of perspective; hunting an awful lot, mostly in Oregon, up to six people following our shorthairs, we tallied limits 90 percent of the time and killed about 70 percent of the pointed birds. Most hunts were a full eight hours.
I've hunted south Dakota 8 years in a row, three of those with Dakota Wild. I have seen as many birds on a single field, as I saw all last season hunting 20 days. I'm going back this year.
it's just that good.

[Derailed]

Great hunting in SD, I wish I could convince the wife to let me move back there.

I use to miss a couple of weeks of school to go hunting with my dad. I miss those times.

There are plenty of great hunting spots, lots of public land, Google the South Dakota Walk in Atlas. There is a ranch that I hunted probably 20 years ago in white lake, that was a great hunt. http://birdhuntingsd.com/ I hunted with the Original owner but it is now run by his son.

There are a lot of good birds around Kimball, Woonsocket, and Huron.

I have family around De Smet and saw some birds there last fall. but I actually got a couple near Woonsocket.

[salmonchaser]

One more item regarding Dakota Wild, it's all wild birds. I guarantee the older roosters are the biggest you've ever seen.

[shootem]

I hunted SD the last 2 years. Two seasons ago the local newspaper greeted us with pheasant populations being down 60%. It is going to be a bad year. Sounds like it must have been compared to what has happened in the past. Being new and dumb I struggled to notice. I hunted with friends of my cousin who have been hunting the same farm for 30 years. The farmer walked with us a few times and apologized that only 100 birds got up out of a strip of corn. He wanted me to know there should have been at least 200 birds. I made sure he knew I was OK with how bad things were. 12 guys limiting in a few hours with dogs going nuts. Pretty hard to beat a bad year in SD. Last year birds were up but it was such a wet year corn could not be harvested by the beginning of the season where we hunt in central SD. It was actually a tougher hunt last year because so much corn was standing in spite of more birds. One day we had to hunt 4 hours to get our 36 bird limit. I survived though. It was nothing like spending 4 hours hunting elk with Coach. That has come close to putting me in the hospital. Like most hunting access is the key. A farmer who manages for pheasants really makes a difference. We paid a daily fee to hunt his property that was way worth it. If you don't know exactly where to hunt there will be a learning curve of a few years. Two years ago with birds down few were seen driving the dirt roads. Last year we always saw birds just driving down the dirt roads where it is legal to shoot them. Let us know if you go and how it went.

[jetjockey]

Don't let the stories of 100 bird flushes get you too excited.  Yes they do happen, no it's not in every field.  If the crops are in, hunting is tough, if they are out, it can be stupid good.  I've seen flushes where the sky literally turned black and you couldn't shoot because of all the birds.  Like guys have said, access is key.  The public land can be tough hunting, but you can hunt road edges as well all the way to the fence line.   Running roads with a pointing dog will put lots of birds in your bag if the dog will run out of a vehicle.

[wonder]

Thanks for all the tips and feedback on Pheasant Hunting in SD.  I have looked at these sites as well as others and it won't be cheap to hunt on private land but it sounds like it will be hard for it to not be successful.  I just need to decide how much I'm willing to pay for a quality hunt or spend my hunting time scouting?  I'm looking forward to it either way.

As the saying goes, your worst day of hunting is better than any day working!

[Duckhunter14]

I want to go back. We had a blast over there. It helped we had a bunch of guys and were able to surround corn fields and brush patches and push them with blockers. Some birds held tight, but a lot were runners too.

[Duckhunter14]

And just to clarify. We did not overharvest or overshoot our individual limits. As fore mentioned we had a really big group of guys. 

[Bluemoon]

I like it when you guys drive right through Montana.  There are no birds there

[Duckhunter14]

Keep on driving eh Bluemoon!  Ive done pretty good in MT also, we've hunted around the Chodeau area. But didn't see the numbers like in the Dakotas, although I've heard from guys in Eastern Montana that hunt private land and say that it can be comparable. That looks like one heck of a day there! Nice shooting.

[ELKBURGER]

I have family in both states. I would like to hunt either state

[jetjockey]

Montana has plenty of birds, but it ain't SD!  SD is quickly becoming very commercialized though, where Montana is still reminiscent of older days with less pressure and lots of open land.  Land owners are also more likely to let you hunt their land, where much of the private land in SD is leased for lodges.  Next spring I'm moving to CO, and I can't WAIT!!  SD, KS, NE, and MT will all be within an easy half day drive.  With the drought in KS quickly disappearing, pheasant and quail numbers should rebound quick there as well.

[JODakota]

Yes everybody, please stay south. There are 0 birds in the north

[hntnfool2]

I have been going back for the past 5 years and found plenty of places that are open to hunting without ever having to knock on farmers doors. There is nothing quite like seeing several hundred birds in the air at one time and watching the dogs doing what the love to do. I would recommend the trip to anyone who loves to hunt pheasants, it is a special place, I can guarantee you wont regret going.

[Ridgerunner]

Man what a great thread, this trip is high on the to do list one of these years, sounds like an amazing time.

[wonder]

You guys are making it very hard for me to work now!  Nice job.  In all seriousness I used to think the best place to hunt in Western US was outside Pendleton Oregon with all the wheat fields, geez those are some amazing pictures.

Had a College buddy who's dad used to hunt the Klamath Falls area way back in the 60's and 70's that had piles of roosters in a days hunt like these but that is just amazing. Just amazing.  Thanks again!

[Bluemoon]

Yep, no birds in MT.  as JODakota stated just keep on driving South....

[ELKBURGER]

Yep, no birds in MT.  as JODakota stated just keep on driving South....

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!

[eastsidemallard74]

I hunt ND, and have hunted SD once. Biggest difference I've seen is price. ND is cheaper, more farmers hate the birds, as to where it's a big business in SD. Either way you will not be disappointed. Make sure to keep up on the weather though. We've been out there last week of October for 7 years now, and have hit freezing snow,70 degree days, and 70+/- MPH winds. The weather is crazy there.

[haugenna]

I am in Winner the next couple days for a prairie dog shoot. Looks like they have had a pretty mild spring for a good hatch. Pheasants are everywhere on the drive in.

[JODakota]

I am in Winner the next couple days for a prairie dog shoot. Looks like they have had a pretty mild spring for a good hatch. Pheasants are everywhere on the drive in.

Your in pheasant Capitol ND

[haugenna]

This is in South Dakota. Staying at Tbones treehouse.

[wildweeds]

I've hunted in Ipswich 3 times,Platte,Utica and Irene all private property.I've also hunted Montana and Iowa and our own state,Actually I've got a spot in our own state that is comparable to Montana and Utica. Irene,Platte and Ipswich were phenomenal in sheer numbers on more than one occasion I saw 300+ bird flushes,it really is something to see a 300+ bird flush and then arrive at the standing corn patch feedplot to have another 150 erupt at the first report of a shotgun,and still have birds in the patch for dogs to point after that.Irene was springer cover 8 foot tall cattails,Platte was CRP that held pheasants and sharpies.My buddys aunt owns a BUNCH of ground about 25k acres,his uncle passed away suddenly and they were in the process of getting set for retirement income of hunting season and hunters by farming solely for birds,his uncle quit the clean farming and began leaving a 20 foot strip of milo in the entire circumfrence of the fields for winter  in two years the bird population blossomed.The best tip I can give in this thread is DO NOT EVER go in search of Pheasants in the LeMars/Mapleton area of Iowa,5 days hunting,4 hunters 5 shots fired 3 pheasants killed,1 bobwhite quail,we returned to the palouse on saturday and killed 9 roosters with good dog work in an afternoon circa 2003.It's all in wherever a person wants to go.

[jetjockey]

I am in Winner the next couple days for a prairie dog shoot. Looks like they have had a pretty mild spring for a good hatch. Pheasants are everywhere on the drive in.

That's good to hear.  My pup will be just outside Winner in Ideal sometime this week or next for summer camp.  I'll be driving up there in late July or early August to drop off my older dog for camp as well.  Can't wait to run some dogs up there in August.

[AspenBud]

This is a little off beat, but when you guys look at those pheasant numbers out there bear in mind that there are A LOT of stocked birds turned loose in South Dakota in addition to the wild population. Case in point...

http://www.capjournal.com/news/pheasants-released-in-south-dakota/article_739c77b2-0e36-11e4-9396-001a4bcf887a.html

[Kittman]

I know the OP was talking about SD, but growing up in ND and hunting them south of I-94 in the Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA's) we never had problems getting our limits of birds hunting these gems.  Like another poster on here had mentioned, they are a less costly DIY hunt, and not commercialized.  Lots of public places to go.

http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/waterfowl-production-areas/resource/adfad33f-efc1-4b6f-8413-705fc21c7b1c

[Bluemoon]

Great article Aspen...Another thing to take into consideration on those wild birds.  When hunting public land in SD,
The resident hunters get to start hunting them a week before non-resident hunters are allowed to.  So by the time "out of staters" can hunt the public land, it is pounded hard and most of the birds are chased onto private land.. 

Kittman Shhhhhhh.  there are no Pheasants on WPA's...

[jetjockey]

Great article Aspen...Another thing to take into consideration on those wild birds.  When hunting public land in SD,
The resident hunters get to start hunting them a week before non-resident hunters are allowed to.  So by the time "out of staters" can hunt the public land, it is pounded hard and most of the birds are chased onto private land.. 

Kittman Shhhhhhh.  there are no Pheasants on WPA's...

Where did you hear that?  It's a 3 day hunt only, and it ends 5 days before the regular season opens, so those birds have plenty of time to get back onto the public land if they were chased off.  Not to mention, in recent years the chances of the crops being in has been pretty good making hunting tough all the way into November when they finally get them out.

[Bluemoon]

I stand corrected, thank you Jet for pointing that out.  Yes it is three days...None the less those public grounds get pounded.  Resident hunting starts the 10th for three days then non resident starts on the 17th this year.  I hope you have a good hunt when you are in SD.   

[wonder]

So many choices, so little time!