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South Dakota - Pheasant Hunter's Paradise


timb99

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This hunt was awesome. The weather cooperated. Cold, but no wind, which is remarkable for late December in South Dakota.

 

Enough of the birds were holding tight that we had no trouble limiting out. Friday, in 2 hours, Saturday took a little longer…6 hours, and Sunday I hunted from 10:00 a.m. until 11:45 and limited out again (SD limit is 3 roosters.)

 

My German Shorthaired, Katie, had numerous awesome points. Usually, they were hens, but two were on roosters and I closed the deal both times. Just wish she'd retrieve, but I guess I never spent enough time with her on that (she'll retrieve dummies all day, but put feathers on it???no way!)

 

One of her points was on a bird that one of our group had shot at, and dropped a leg but didn't down. It flew over a hill 300 yards away. Thought we'd never see it again, but later my dog went on point, and it was funny, the dog was literally nose-to-nose with this bird, and neither would move. Turns out it was the bird he had dropped a leg on.

 

The only time I've seen more birds was on a guided hunt at a pay-to-hunt place near Kimball, SD.

 

We'd get out of the car and close the car door, and see 50-60 birds flush 200 yards away, and we'd still get birds.

 

BTW, when I was about 12 years old, my Dad bought me a Savage-Stevens Model 311B 20 gauge side-by-side double-trigger shotgun. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it, and I always knew the gun was faulty. I took that same gun out to the skeet field the other day and someone pointed out it was a little short for me, so I added a recoil pad. Just for fun, I took that gun with me, and that's the gun I used to hunt this past weekend. Just goes to show…when you can't hit anything with your shotgun, it's usually the nut behind the trigger that's at fault.

 

Took some photos, but can't figure out how to put them in this post.

 

Tim

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Nice batch of roosters! I always talked about taking that trip with a few friends, but we always seem to get tied up with other things. I personally shot 20 birds this year in WI on stocked properties through a local club.

 

Limit here is 1 per person opening day and then 2 a day after that.

 

What is the SD limit per day on pheasant?

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TMAC

 

Limit in SD is 3 roosters per day, possession limit of 15.

 

Birds flush like grasshoppers up there. Hope you can give it a try some day. Worth it, I think, if you're a pheasant hunting afficionado.

 

These birds DO NOT behave like pay-to-hunt birds.

 

Tim

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I would love to see the big flushes of birds like I have seen on TV, and heard about from others who made the trip.

 

The birds I shot locally have been stocked each year for paying members of a club, its not a pay per bird. The club lets go 2 waves of 300 birds each year on private properties well before the season begins. $20 for membership and all current bag limit and hunting regs apply, cant find a better deal anywhere.

 

Early in the year they are pretty stupid, but by December they get pretty warey. I am sure not like SD or other places that have a solid native population.

 

Next year!!

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