SD pheasant take two

[nhachman]

Booked the lodging and headed back up to SD early tomorrow morning for my first late season hunt. It's just me and a hunting partner with our 6 dogs. The weather forecast isn't as bad as it could be, in the high 20s to low 30s Friday and Saturday with clear skies. I'm taking my camera and hoping to capture some nice dog work on birds that I hear should be concentrated in the thicker cover and holding tight for the dogs.

[kcbullets]

Just hunted SD last weekend. We had six in our group. Had a good time and seen a lot of birds, but they were jumpy. Temps were 3 degrees on Sunday with wind chill minus 15 and Monday 0 with little wind (in morning). Both days the birds were a little jumpy, but we did find a few that held. All in all, a good trip. Good luck on your trip.

[nhachman]

That's pretty much what we experienced. The birds are easily spooked and it was difficult even getting within a hundred yards of them before they'd flush. We saw tons of hens that would hold in big groups that all got up together. Managed to shoot a few that sat in the tree rows on the edges of corn fields. Two of us ended up with 7 birds total in 2 days hunting. On Saturday evening we drove a road we had never been down before, but was in the area we normally hunt. We saw literally hundreds of birds on the road, in the corn field on one side, and flying into and out of the CRP and shelterbelts on the other side of the road! As we kept driving they just kept flushing. Hopefully many survive the winter and it makes for a bit more of a rebound in population in this area next year.

[deseeker]

Nick--It's tough with big bunches of late season birds--just too many eyes and ears checkin' for hunters & preditors :roll: . I'm bettin' you and the dogs still had a great time. That one rooster on the tailgate looks like it has pretty decent tail length Since the corn prices are down, maybe some of the ground will go back to CRP---then you'll really see birds again
What part of SD were you huntin'?

[nhachman]

Yeah, we still had a good time. That one rooster you noticed was a very nice bird, and has a lot of meat on him. If I didn't just drop off 5 birds and a coyote at the taxidermist I'd have saved him to get done too I did hear of a few farmers in the area considering re-enrolling a lot of acres back into CRP since cash rent is going down with the corn prices. I also heard someone up there say that they couldn't get all the corn shipped out since the oil business is buying up all the train car capacity. We hunt mostly in McPherson county.

[gonehuntin']

I did hear of a few farmers in the area considering re-enrolling a lot of acres back into CRP since cash rent is going down with the corn prices. I also heard someone up there say that they couldn't get all the corn shipped out since the oil business is buying up all the train car capacity. We hunt mostly in McPherson county.

That's good news. Hope it continues. Going to be a lot of corn rot this year. That's why there's so much in the field's yet.

[Wyobio]

Yeah, we still had a good time. That one rooster you noticed was a very nice bird, and has a lot of meat on him. If I didn't just drop off 5 birds and a coyote at the taxidermist I'd have saved him to get done too I did hear of a few farmers in the area considering re-enrolling a lot of acres back into CRP since cash rent is going down with the corn prices. I also heard someone up there say that they couldn't get all the corn shipped out since the oil business is buying up all the train car capacity. We hunt mostly in McPherson county.

And now the low price of oil is going to end the boom in ND. I am old enough to remember when everyone predicted the end of high commodity prices after the 1980's bust. We seem to be going through the same cycle, with people equally surprised when the markets spike or crash. I just hope too many farmers did not go into debt buying expensive equipment.....

[ezzy333]

A lot of the farmers are storing their corn and that will probably bring the price back up. Not sure what Gonehuntin is talking about when he says corn rot and that is why so much is still in the fields. Clue us in on that

[gonehuntin']

The farmers are leaving it in the fields yet. We have tons of it around us. It is getting pinky now. They have no room to even pile it at the elevators now so have told the farmers they don't want it. Leave it piled and it rots. Railroads can't move it because they have converted to coal cars and tankers. Farmers are screwed this year. So the farmers tell me anyhow.

[nhachman]

Every elevator we passed on the drive had at least one if not two of those HUGH piles of corn on the ground covered in tarps. I'm talking about 200-250 yards long, 80 wide, and 60-70 feet tall. There was not any standing corn left in the areas we hunted, though some looked to be very recently taken out.

[ezzy333]

Every elevator we passed on the drive had at least one if not two of those HUGH piles of corn on the ground covered in tarps. I'm talking about 200-250 yards long, 80 wide, and 60-70 feet tall. There was not any standing corn left in the areas we hunted, though some looked to be very recently taken out.

There are millions of bushels being stored in local elevators as well as on the farms. Probably a great deal less being shipped this year compared to years past. Regardless corn does not rot when left in the field. That was common practice a few years ago when there wasn't any local storage available. Of course, back then, we never started picking till Nov. 1st or there a bout, and it wasn't too unusual to get snow drifting in to where we had to wait till spring. But the corn will be fine as long as the stalk stays strong enough to stand. Soybeans are a completely different ball game and you can lose a lot of them over the winter.

Ezzy

[gonehuntin']

I'm no farmer Ezzy, that's just what one told me. I do however, remember when all of those ducks died from eating moldy corn by that feed yard so had no reason to doubt it. When we we in ND a month ago, the corn on the stalks was soft and mushy.

[Sharon]

We have the other problem . Can't harvest because of an early winter.

"Because of a wet, cold spring and a so-so summer, the soybean harvest is late, a good chunk of the winter wheat may never get planted, and some farmers may gamble on not harvesting their late-planted corn until spring."

http://www.lfpress.com/2014/10/24/farme ... ill-spring

[Windyhills]

I did not see any corn left in the fields in my recent SD trip. Lots of it chopped and not plowed under though I sure like that! I wasn't too far from an ethanol plant most of the time however.

Bird #'s OK and I ran into a higher percent of roosters than I usually see this late. Only place where I saw large numbers was on a refuge that just opened up, but numbers were still much less than the good days of the last decade.