South Dakota Pheasants

[Kyle]

I leave tomorrow night for my first ever pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota. I have hunted Iowa and Missouri for pheasant and quail since I was 12 and have always heard about the vast numbers in SD. I can't wait, but don't really know what to expect. In Iowa we hunt all day to get our 3 birds most days. In SD you can't start until 12 and most say you are done in an hour or two. Anyone been to SD and have any stories they would like to share? Also going to be stocking up on some pheasant tails and feathers.

Kyle

[slider]

Kyle I have hunted South Dakota before and it will spoil you. Ive hunted all the pheasant states and south dakota is the very best I don't know about hunting fore an hour or not but I have limited in about 2 to 3 hours before. The best part about south dakota is if you don't have a place to hunt you can hunt the ditch line. Be sure and read the regs so your legal. Good luck and I can't wait to hear a report, my trip fell threw this year. Slider

[Jeff Olson]

Kyle are you still out there and if so how did your trip go that year? Im am from wisconsin,but moved to hollister this spring, and was courious if guys around here go to sd for pheasants also? I have been going for 25 yrs now and really enjoy it! im heading out fri am for the sat the 20th opener! private land usually is very good and public is ok.(usually all day to fill your limit) of coarse a good dog really helps! I hunt about 50-50 private-public. I will post my results in a couple weeks and welcome all others to post to compare notes. also I have always saved the tail feathers for my sister for her flower shop business,but she has now closed the doors so if anyone would want some for fly tying or anything, let me know on here and I will be glad to give them to you! I hunt in the aberdeen area for 1 week and then in the miller,sd. area for the 2nd week.2 different groups of guys. good luck to all !

[Phil Lilley]

I'm am interested in ND hunting too. I've resisted going up there - always hunted in SW Kansas but the bird population out there have been extremely low the last couple of years. I have a son-in-law that really wants to go hunt pheasants so we may have to look into going up there.

I've resisted because I know once you hunt in those conditions (lots of birds) it's hard to hunt anywhere else, although I do like the hunt more than just killing birds. But it is nice to SEE birds.

[Justin Spencer]

Kyle are you still out there and if so how did your trip go that year? Im am from wisconsin,but moved to hollister this spring, and was courious if guys around here go to sd for pheasants also? I have been going for 25 yrs now and really enjoy it! im heading out fri am for the sat the 20th opener! private land usually is very good and public is ok.(usually all day to fill your limit) of coarse a good dog really helps! I hunt about 50-50 private-public. I will post my results in a couple weeks and welcome all others to post to compare notes. also I have always saved the tail feathers for my sister for her flower shop business,but she has now closed the doors so if anyone would want some for fly tying or anything, let me know on here and I will be glad to give them to you! I hunt in the aberdeen area for 1 week and then in the miller,sd. area for the 2nd week.2 different groups of guys. good luck to all !

I hope he's not still out there, looks like this thread started in 2010.

[Phil Lilley]

Wow... didn't see that!

[ness]

I'm am interested in ND hunting too. I've resisted going up there - always hunted in SW Kansas but the bird population out there have been extremely low the last couple of years. I have a son-in-law that really wants to go hunt pheasants so we may have to look into going up there.

I've resisted because I know once you hunt in those conditions (lots of birds) it's hard to hunt anywhere else, although I do like the hunt more than just killing birds. But it is nice to SEE birds.

I've got access to 4-5 farms up in SD but have never made the trek up. Just too hard to get a block of days big enough to make it worthwhile, and my hunting buddies are too cheap to make a trip like that anyway.

I was reading a post on another forum and a guy that was out prairie chicken hunting in KS saw a lot of pheasants on WIHAs. Don't know where it was, but it was CRP and there were chalk hills in the photos -- like you'd see in Gove/Trego counties. So, I suppose that's a positive sign.

Something else came up too. My older Brittany (12) has been showing her age the last year or so, but I figured she'd still have another year, maybe two left to hunt. The last couple months she has gone mostly blind though. She can get around if it's in bright light, but I'm afraid her time has come. I'm gonna get her out to hunt a preserve near here soon, and that'll probably be it for her this year.

[Quillback]

I'm heading up to Mobridge SD next week, if all goes well I'll hunt Monday through Friday. I plan to hunt public land so we'll see how it goes. Never been to SD before, but it's always something I've wanted to do. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Jeff Olson]

hey guys, sorry for any confusion on my wordage to Kyle,I meant if he is still out here on this website if he liked SD as much as I do ,he could still be out there,LOL. anyway,Phil I have wanted to get up to ND also to hunt,I think with some scouting a guy would do real good because unlike SD if the land is not posted you are able to hunt it,as where in SD you need to get permission and that can take quite some time to find out who owns the land. I have mainly wanted to go to ND to hunt waterfowl ,but I hear there are some real good areas for pheasant. Quillback,I used to hunt out of Mobridge about 10 yrs ago,nice area ,different terrain to hunt ,check out the raviens along the missouri river banks, they can hold alot of birds. but you will have to check on some of these areas as some are on Indian corp land and you used to need a corp land license? not sure if it is still that way. also something to keep in mind is there is some real good walleye fishing on the missouri river right there in Mobridge. oh,and be ready to shoot some sharp tail grouse,there used to be alot in that area. and are included in your license.

[vacation]

Hey phil, I have hunted iowa my whole life for pheasants and can tell you the population in s. iowa are down and have been for years.

if you and jimmy want to go to south dakota, text me and i'd go to (split gas 3 ways)