“It is raining pheasants!”– A hunt report

South Dakota Pheasant Hunt Report

Dates – October 24-26, 2018

Hunt Area – Near Pierre, SD on the Missouri River Breaks

Operator – Cheyenne Ridge Signature Lodge www.cheyenneridge.com

Agent – Gordie White, Expedition Adventures, 830-483-0796, www.expedition-adventures.com

Weapons Used – House guns, Beretta semi-auto’s that never quit

Animals Sought – PHEASANTS!

Other animals seen – White-tail deer, Mule deer, bald eagles, sharp-tailed grouse



Executive Summary

My son and I were after a fun, easy hunt for pheasants. After two disasters in the past year (brown bear hunt in Alaska, Fannin Sheep hunt in the Yukon), we needed a success. This was it! Fantastic lodge, 5 star food and equipment, excellent guides and a 20 bird per day limit per shooter. We shoot our shoulders sore and limited out each day. The birds flew great and we missed more than we shot. A perfect, all first class hunt experience.



The Area
We flew to Denver, then on California Pacific Airways to Pierre. I mention this because we were late getting to Pierre because the incoming flight to pick us up in Denver collided with a back hoe at the airport in Pierre. That is right, a plane hit a back hoe…. I have been a lot places and on a lot of planes – but never in my long legged life have I heard of a plane hitting a backhoe. This happened on take off at Pierre and the back hoe was actually working at the end of the runway when it pulled onto the black top. The landing gear took off the entire cab of the back hoe. No one hurt! Hard to believe.

Anyway, they got another plane; we had a good laugh and made it to Pierre.

South Dakota and North Dakota are the mecca for pheasant hunting. In South Dakota there is in estimated 6 million pheasants and 800,000 total people. In all, about 1.2 million are shot by hunters each year and the remaining suffesr a 70% attrition rate due to weather and predation. South Dakota game management is intense and focuses on this cash crop. Every town in pheasant country sees the value and caters to shooters.
This is all farm country with corn, milo and sunflowers everywhere – this is what keeps the pheasants flourishing. Pierre itself is the capitol of South Dakota with a population of 13,000…. Second smallest state capitol in the USA as measured by population. Nice people, friendly, happy to see hunters.





The Lodge

The lodge and surrounding lands are owned by a private family but managed by John Burrell’s High Adventure Company based in Georgia. Burrell owns and manages some boutique hunting and fishing lodges around the world. This is a top notch facility where every whim is catered to. Sean is the executive chef and the site manager. He has a well trained staff that meet and exceed whatever your little ol’ heart desires. Food is off the scale super. Wines are excellent. The bar is huge and over stocked. As we say in Texas – “If it is worth doing, it is worth over doing”. That is personified at Cheyenne Ridge.









Rooms are large and perfect. There is a locker room for storing hunt clothes and guns. There is a fun 5 stand sporting clays range that is INSIDE. Secret – the number six station is impossible. I was one for 22 on it. They even offer a long range rifle range using a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, just for fun.



Not to mention, sauna, whirlpool, massage area and a great patio for watching Indian red and orange sunsets. This rivals any lodge I have been to. Most of you do not know me, but I am into comfort and fun. This place sets a high standard. Your wife would love this place.



The Hunting

Ok, I know what you are thinking – here is an old guy that went on a smorgasbord of death in a kick and shoot pheasant slaughter. You are right about the “old guy” but wrong on the rest. This is a reserve area that is intensely managed for pheasant. It is managed to the extent that the layout of the crops, the cover, the water is designed to grow as many birds as possible. The area draws in birds from the surrounding areas as well. Of course, the wild birds are supplemented with flight ready birds but I was hard pressed to ever tell the difference between the wild birds and the released birds.









I am former taxidermist that specialized in pheasants and quail. I know the difference between pen raised and wild. I can look at one and in less than 5 seconds tell you which it is. On this hunt, we were allowed 20 birds per man per day. I looked at every bird and found maybe 4 or 5 that had the type of tail feathers you associate with pen raised birds. These birds flew hard, flushed wild at times and were very challenging.

On the limit of 20 per day – the state allows reserves to set this limit based on the intensity of the habitat protection. This is legit and not a gimmick. I do not know how many birds are taken off this property yearly, however, we saw three or four for every bird we shot. In the end, we took 120 birds.






The hunt method was simple – walk. It was just my son and I and two guides/dog handlers. My son and I were on the outside of a wide row of corn or milo with the guide working 2 to 4 dogs in front of him and the other guide acting as a blocker at the end of the row. We got a lot of action, especially at the end of a row. I am a very average shotgunner and connected about every 4th or 5th shot on birds. Same for my son.
The dogs were nearly all Labrador retrievers with a couple of Georgia big running pointers thrown in for fun. Dogs that work every day are a joy to watch. These were no exception. The pictures speak for themselves.








We hunted from 9am to noon then from 2:30pm to about 5:30pm. That was plenty of time to get in a lot of shooting and not worry about missing birds or not getting a lot of action. Both guides were unhurried and did a great job of working the dogs and not laughing at our missed shots.



Observations

1. Top notch all around. If you like bird hunting, this is an excellent place. Berretta is in the rating business and gives this place two Tridents for Excellence. Sporting Classics Magazine named this the Lodge of the Year for 2017. I saw why.

2. The staff are partly college interns learning the hospitality business. On this trip, there were 4 from Texas Tech. They added to the fun.

3. This is an all-inclusive trip. You pay one price and no added expenses. I like that.

4. They pick you up in Pierre in a Lincoln Navigator. I like that too.


5. They can handle a large number of hunters. For part of our trip, there were 20+ people in the lodge. We never bumped into them in the field. There is enough room to hunt easily.
6. Cheyenne Ridge offers fishing as well. We ate walleye and pike from the lake next to the lodge. If you are a golfer, there is an excellent golf course 5 minutes away that is rated #85 in Golf Digest’s Top 100 Courses. We got our birdies in the corn patch rather than the greens.



My Agent

I met Gordie White through Col. D. D. Behrens, a long time bird hunter and retired Air Force officer. I bumped into DD at the Buenos Aires airport after a disappointing fishing trip in Patagonia. I booked that trip via a “fishing expert” and learned he wasn’t. DD was returning from a phenomenal quail hunt in Patagonia as well. We struck up a conversation and DD suggested I book with him and Gordie on bird hunts as they are experts on birds. I later found out that Gordie had been a PH in Africa for several years, so they know the business. Gordie is also an author and a good one. If you book with him, get his book.

All I ask of an agent or an outfitter is transparency and honesty. I have been through the mill with several- some you would know. I can tell you, these guys are good and Gordie is a fanatic on the details. Try him out. Contact info – 830-483-0796, gordiewhite@verizon.net

Summary

Best pheasant hunt I could imagine. Lots of birds, first class operation, details managed and a reasonable price for what I received. The key question – Would I go back? Yes, in a heartbeat – and will take my other son, my son-in-law, wife and whoever else wants to have a great trip.

Well sounds like a good time. Lots of birds lots of shooting.

But it is a plant and shoot place.

That is why the states allow extra limits on them.

It is the only way they can maintain those types of bird numbers on the property.

I knew a fellow that guided on a place like that.

What you didn't see was the truck dropping off birds before you started hunting.

I free lanced SD and hunted wild birds for 20 years in a row some times making a couple of trips each year.

P Dog,
Not disagreeing with you. The native birds are supplemented. I contacted several other places that offered pheasant hunting and sharptail grouse hunting. All were very upfront that they supplemented with flight ready birds as well. Several of these places offered 3 bird limits with extra birds that could be paid for in extra fees.
My point is that SD is A great destination. If you want 100% likely native birds, that is available. You can only hunt after noon and you will likely get your 3 birds if you go in the first part of the season. You will pay about $750 to $1000 per day all in for expenses. We chose to hunt all day, have access to more birds and shooting for an all in fee a little higher.
Either way, it is a great bird shooting destination!

quote:

My point is that SD is A great destination.

Yes it is.

Like I stated before I free lance it for 20 years most of the time a couple of trips per year.

My cost was running around 100 dollars a day that was every thing.

But one had to work a lot harder to get ones birds.

Plus I like to go later in the season when the opening time was 10am.

My 2nd trip was normally a Dec trip hit the weather just right the shooting could be fantastic.

Cold and snow would push the birds into the public land cattail marshes.

I had a lot of fun and looked forward to the SD trips every year.

Looks like a great father/son trip! Well done. It's nice to have the option and opportunity to shoot a twenty bird limit when one sometimes has to work so hard for a bird or two a day. Have to add this one to my bucket list! Maybe, just maybe, I could use CR to introduce the wife to upland hunting!

Nothing better than a SD pheasant hunt! Thanks for sharing.

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT

The food is great too. Smoked duck sandwiches were great..Your photos are excellent..Thanks for the report.

Sounds like a lot of fun, but way out of my spending range just to shoot some pheasants.

BH63

Buff,
It is pricey. However, for the amount of high quality shooting, the lodge, sporting clays, their guns and shells, food etc.... It is all inclusive.

I weighed that in my thinking. I have been on several pheasant hunts in SD on farms where you have the 3 bird limit, you hunt with 10 to 15 people, you manage your own lodging and food as well as transport around the area, getting to hunt only in the afternoons - for me, the cost to do a three day 3 bird per day hunt was about $2000-$2200 and then there is the hassle factor. For this hunt, we hunted morning and afternoon, and all we had to do was get to the Pierre SD airport from wherever - they did the rest.

It was worth it for me at least.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Buff,


It was worth it for me at least.

^
That is the most important thing!

BH63

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Ross,

Thanks for posting! Great report and pictures.

Was wondering when your were going to come back with a report! Been a while. Glad you and your son had a good time.

We are away end December in UK chasing pheasant and partridge! I notice you opted not to go for tie and tweeds !!

Cheers and thanks again. Nice report.

Charlie

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Great hunt ,everything looks perfect congratulations.
Cheers Juan