After staying on the farm and finishing up the harvest, I spent the opening of the SD pheasant season with family and friends in pursuit of the beloved ringnecks. Never have I seen pheasants to the degree I saw them this year.

There were 14 hunters in my uncles party. The season opened at noon on 10/18 and each hunter is allowed 3 pheasants, so the party limit was 42. After walking two areas, we had all the birds allotted. You could tell the past few winters had been mild and that there was plenty of cover, because the bird numbers were high. That night in town, almost all those we talked to reported similar success. If you would be interested in hunting, you can find out more information here. http://members.tripod.com/~LaBrie_Hunting_Lodge/


Dad, JD and I after a few hours hunting.

Hi there,

Do you guys only shoot the cock birds?
I assume they are all wild birds in the states. Or does anyone rear birds for release over there?

FB

FB,

In South Dakota, there are some game preserves where you are shooting released birds. There, you can shoot hens and cocks, and the limits are 5 birds/person/day. There is no "season" per say, as they can be hunted year round.

The statewide season opens on the third Saturday in October and goes thru the end of the year. You are only allowed to shoot cocks. The limit is 3 birds/person/day. A non-resident license is valid for up to 10 days.

Brad

Nine of us from PA made the trip again this year, our tenth. Hunted central SD, began hunting the first Monday, the 20th, and like others we limited out in a few hours.

Hunted through Friday, and while the weather was a bit warm, and the wind a little stiff at times, we had one great week. Birds aplenty.

Last bird of the hunt flushed out of a shelter belt on my right and was really air borne when I shot: thought I saw a hesitation in flight, but the bird dissapeared from sight, still going strong. At the end of the drive, one of the gals in the group who had a higher vantage point said, "your bird went down over behind the barn." Somewhat skeptical, I nonetheless got in the truck and drove around. Searching but not finding anything, I was about to leave when the rancher walked up and said, "the damndest thing I ever saw - watched the bird when you shot, thought I saw it quiver, then it flew straight over the barn, folded and crashed into the feed-lot fence." That was a half-section away, an eighth of a mile! "Don't know if he was dead when he fell, but he sure as hell is now," and he reached into his truck and handed me the bird.

An added thrill of this hunt - a double. And, over the years we've found that #5s on these wild birds is the shot size of choice.

Gamecock, where abouts were you hunting? Our farm is 30 miles north of Huron. You were right about the heat. I'm glad we filled out early because the dogs would have had a hard time getting through the thick stuff another 2-3 times.

Brad

Brad, East of Miller, South of Rees Heights.

We were lucky to have had 7 dogs along. Hunted them in rotation every 30 min. or so the first two days and kept squirt bottles handy. It was brutal for them. Read that several dogs died of heat exhaustion in central SD the first weekend.

Most durable of our dogs seemed to be a big, black lab. Didn't want to miss a lick.

best...glenn

My dad went out opening weekend (I was tied up, couldn't get out ) but he said the numbers were great. Nebraska opened last weekend and they decided not to chase thier last three quail (4 in the party) after lunch and just watched football all afternoon!

I'll actually be going this weekend (north-central, 3-hour drive from here) to kill bambi in the AM (hopefully) and then whack ringnecks all afternoon and all day sunday.

anyone have a montefeltro they want to sell??

das...how'd you do?