back from south dakota
back from south dakota
Well im back and what a trip, it was nothing like i expected. So being here in the south im mostly used to quail...im thinking the dogs going to run the field pin the bird down and im going to go out and flush the thing and shoot it. Far from it!!!! I can't believe how those thing run and fly. I was hunting public land and some private land and as soon as you hit the field the birds were moving they weren't holding for anything. everyone was behind on cutting the crops so all the birds were still in the corn and sorghum which made it really hard to run a pointing dog through and point pheasants. it was hot we hunted in T shirts most of the times...i saw hundereds of birds and shot at a lot more than we hit!
at first i started doubting my self if i should have brought young dogs on birds like this it was nothing like poiting quail and grouse. 1.5 year old liver female had one pointed and i went out and it ran a circle around me and the dog!
But in the end my male who is a little over 2 started picking up on it real well i actually got some nice shots over him. And they did great on the retrieves we would have lost a few birds if it wasn't for them...
my first bird shot this one on public land out around Sioux Falls on Friday before heading out west on Saturday morning all the other birds came from out there.
at first i started doubting my self if i should have brought young dogs on birds like this it was nothing like poiting quail and grouse. 1.5 year old liver female had one pointed and i went out and it ran a circle around me and the dog!
But in the end my male who is a little over 2 started picking up on it real well i actually got some nice shots over him. And they did great on the retrieves we would have lost a few birds if it wasn't for them...
my first bird shot this one on public land out around Sioux Falls on Friday before heading out west on Saturday morning all the other birds came from out there.
Re: back from south dakota
Great pics Luke. Glad you had a nice trip. Good looking dogs you got there.
Re: back from south dakota
good looking pics man...i wanna go out there one day
Re: back from south dakota
Awesome stuff man!! Sounds like a great trip! I'm guessing you'll be wanting to go back?!
Re: back from south dakota
Yes i want to go back! I'd leave right now if i could...i want to go get on some shapies and chuckers now!
Re: back from south dakota
How far west did you go? I'm heading out tomorrow morning from Ohio to the Mitchell/Huron S.D. area. This is our first time out to S.D., we hunted Iowa before, but everyone said to go to S.D. I'll be hunting starting monday morning. Did you move many shaptails or huns?
Re: back from south dakota
Shhhhhh, I'll tell you a secret if you don't spread it around.
Pheasants will hold very well for a pointing dog if the cover is dense enough. Where I hunt its very common for my dog to have 30 to 50 points a day and I have seen days when she had over 80 finds.
You need to hunt Pheasants were it is wetter, then where you went.
You owe me a bottle of good single malt scotch. .....Don
Pheasants will hold very well for a pointing dog if the cover is dense enough. Where I hunt its very common for my dog to have 30 to 50 points a day and I have seen days when she had over 80 finds.
You need to hunt Pheasants were it is wetter, then where you went.
You owe me a bottle of good single malt scotch. .....Don
I'm always happy when I make it thru another bird season with my dogs, my gun and my truck.
It's an added plus if I manage to keep my wife, my house or my job.
It's an added plus if I manage to keep my wife, my house or my job.
Re: back from south dakota
Thanks Don....the cover we were huting was bascially still standing crops and just cut crops....they ran like crazy....most of the points i got were in very thick grass or in ditches....there just wan't a lot of that where we were.
Re: back from south dakota
Just cost me gas and hotel food....I would not pay to go hunt with an outfitter....you can find farmers who will lease their land out for a couple days at a time though....we were there to hunt public land and i have a co worker in Sioux Falls that let me stay with him one night then we went out to Presho and hunted his friends family land. then me and my 2 buddys just stayed out there and hunted public land and found a farmer who let us hunt his land.
Re: back from south dakota
It was hot out there?
I'm heading up to Gregory in about 10 days. We were planning on freezing our butts off!!
I'm heading up to Gregory in about 10 days. We were planning on freezing our butts off!!
http://www.socovs.com
DC AFC Valley Hunter's Southern Comfort CD MH NA NAJ, UT Prize II, "Shooter"
DC GCH Lagniappe's Chosen One MH, "Buffy"
DC AFC SoCo's Enchanted One JH, "TomBoy"
CH SoCo's Independence Day SH, "Patriot"
SoCo's Twist of Fate JH, "Emma Jane"
DC AFC Valley Hunter's Southern Comfort CD MH NA NAJ, UT Prize II, "Shooter"
DC GCH Lagniappe's Chosen One MH, "Buffy"
DC AFC SoCo's Enchanted One JH, "TomBoy"
CH SoCo's Independence Day SH, "Patriot"
SoCo's Twist of Fate JH, "Emma Jane"
Re: back from south dakota
I just got back from SD this weekend. We had 2 days of the warm weather and then it got cold. Hunting around Sioux Falls is not bad. The last day we hit a few spots and saw plenty of birds.
Re: back from south dakota
While we were there it was in the high 60 to low 70's we headed back home last Tuesday and it was getting dark and colder it was right before the snow blew in.
- Greg Jennings
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Re: back from south dakota
What we discovered in ND was that you, the dog and the other hunters/teams have to work as a team to herd them to the edges or, better yet, corners of the cover. Then, it's flush or walk out on bare ground.
FC Snips Spot-On Shooter SH
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=3149
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=3149
- gonehuntin'
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Re: back from south dakota
Many of the little SD towns have Chambers or Visitor Info. Centers with list of houses to rent. Four of us went this year. We got a house for $20.00 a nite per guy. We stayed nine days. Total cost, food, gas, licenses was $490.00 per man. We cook all of our own meals and hunt only public land.GSPgunner13 wrote:HOW MUCH WOULD A TRIP LIKE THIS COST?????
LIFE WITHOUT BIRD DOGS AND FLY RODS REALLY ISN'T LIFE AT ALL.
Re: back from south dakota
My husband, 17 year old son and I just returned from the Parkston, SD area (south of Mitchell). We hunted Wed. Nov. 5-9th. it was 70 degrees Wed. am, and 38 degrees Wed. pm. Then the winds kicked in and the temps dropped to about 29 degrees, so if you go, wear layers! And carry water bottles for your dogs!
Our trip cost us about $1100 for the 3 of us. Gas was "only" $2.19 a gallon, so to and from WI to SD gas cost $235 for our Silverado. Liscenses-$340 for 3 people. Lodging at the only motel (didn't know if I could name the motel by name ) in Parkston $70 a night($405 total)-continental breakfast and nice warm garage with sinks and freezers to clean and freeze birds. And then of course food. I brought some food from home because the room has a fridge and micro in it, and you can bring the dogs in the room! So all in all, the trip was affordable, and the liscense is a 10 day one, in 5 day increments, so we might go back during Christmas vacation!
We have 2 Wirehairs and an English Setter, and when we hunted the thick stuff in the "crick bottoms", or slews with cattails and marsh grass, the birds held. If we hunted "brome?" grass or ditches, they tended to run. We hunted mostly private land, I guess the farmers felt bad for a guy with a woman and a kid along, so we usually got permission.
Our son got his limit on 2 of the four days, so he was thrilled with hunting wild pheasants. We tried to put him in the best spot, and it worked. We didn't limit out, but saw enough birds to keep it fun. Ditches are produtive in the last few hours before closing, especially along a cut soybean or corn field. Those birds are tough, if you hit one, don't stop shooting, cause if they hit the ground running, your dogs are gonna have a long tracking job! We hunt grouse and woodcock in northeastern Wi every weekend, and rarely loose a bird. Unfortunately, we actually lost a few cripples because those roosters seem to 'vaporize' once they hit the ground. We boot our dogs because the burrs out there are evil! We also use a "skid plate" chest protector because there is barbed wire every where. Oh, and watch out for skunks! I spent an hour in the hotel bathroom soaping up one of our Wirehairs because she pointed one. Luckily she didn't take a direct hit, but...... whew-eee!
Bird numbers weren't what they were a few years ago, but we wanted our son to experiance wild pheasants in SD, before the population dips more because of the loss of the CRP program. They even hay the some of the minimum maintenance roads, so cover is sparse in some areas. All in all it was a great trip, go if you are able!
Our trip cost us about $1100 for the 3 of us. Gas was "only" $2.19 a gallon, so to and from WI to SD gas cost $235 for our Silverado. Liscenses-$340 for 3 people. Lodging at the only motel (didn't know if I could name the motel by name ) in Parkston $70 a night($405 total)-continental breakfast and nice warm garage with sinks and freezers to clean and freeze birds. And then of course food. I brought some food from home because the room has a fridge and micro in it, and you can bring the dogs in the room! So all in all, the trip was affordable, and the liscense is a 10 day one, in 5 day increments, so we might go back during Christmas vacation!
We have 2 Wirehairs and an English Setter, and when we hunted the thick stuff in the "crick bottoms", or slews with cattails and marsh grass, the birds held. If we hunted "brome?" grass or ditches, they tended to run. We hunted mostly private land, I guess the farmers felt bad for a guy with a woman and a kid along, so we usually got permission.
Our son got his limit on 2 of the four days, so he was thrilled with hunting wild pheasants. We tried to put him in the best spot, and it worked. We didn't limit out, but saw enough birds to keep it fun. Ditches are produtive in the last few hours before closing, especially along a cut soybean or corn field. Those birds are tough, if you hit one, don't stop shooting, cause if they hit the ground running, your dogs are gonna have a long tracking job! We hunt grouse and woodcock in northeastern Wi every weekend, and rarely loose a bird. Unfortunately, we actually lost a few cripples because those roosters seem to 'vaporize' once they hit the ground. We boot our dogs because the burrs out there are evil! We also use a "skid plate" chest protector because there is barbed wire every where. Oh, and watch out for skunks! I spent an hour in the hotel bathroom soaping up one of our Wirehairs because she pointed one. Luckily she didn't take a direct hit, but...... whew-eee!
Bird numbers weren't what they were a few years ago, but we wanted our son to experiance wild pheasants in SD, before the population dips more because of the loss of the CRP program. They even hay the some of the minimum maintenance roads, so cover is sparse in some areas. All in all it was a great trip, go if you are able!
"Dead Bird!! Fetch it up!!"
2 English Setters and a 'beasty boy' Wirehair pup in our family of hunters.
2 English Setters and a 'beasty boy' Wirehair pup in our family of hunters.