doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com South Dakota Birds???

I don't think , hunting with a dog, that one should ever consider shot size 4 or 5. Sixes is the largest I want my dogs in front of . I know you may think me overly cautious, but it's tough loosing a dog to someone who is careless, maybe only for the first time in years.

That's an unhappy thought there, Daryl. There's little need in the South for four or five size shot for upland birds since we don't have pheasant or large grouse, but I did once have my lab shot by somebody else's son-in-law while shooting a wood duck hole. Sadly, the guy was an experienced hunter who shot a woody too early, and in the dark mistook my old yellow labrador, Suwannee, who was swimming to retrieve it for the escaping duck. It can most surely happen...Geo

Geo, you get what I mean. You mention the south, but here in the north with pheasants and sharpies, a shot size six is most effective and safer than larger shot for dogs. From Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, and Kansas I have taken hundreds of the above over dogs with 6 shot. Some shots, even with a 20 bore and 7/8 oz were surprisingly long, but never made unless there is daylignt under the bird. I have watched guys , some with autoloaders, fire multiples of size 4 or 5 shot at upland birds. Well, that's just my thought and experience.

A very bright man once said, I think it was here, "Its not how many its how"

The season openner, at least in the Huron area is pretty skimpy. I've never seen it this bad here since I started coming here 20 yrs ago. I thought it could be our specific luck, since our friend's farm leases are much reduced, but I'm hearing similar stories from others in town and at our hotel in Huron. Today is our last day of hunting and I'm not optimistic. I'm just planning to not overwork the dog and enjoy the time in the field with friends and family. My wife was working in Ft Wayne and decided at the last minute to fly over to Sioux Falls to see her dog hunt and drive back to Calif with me. It's her first time to SD and first time seeing our dog hunt wild birds. I'm having a good time regardless of bird count. But, I still wish it was a better yr.

Ouch!!!!
Chuck was the crops still unharvested near you or anything unusual due to the early winter weather that hit us last week???
I wonder how JBP is doing up there, hope he posts concerning his experiences this year.

Most of the corn and soy were still standing. Not too unusual for us. Our last day yielded 0 birds in the bag with having seen only a few roosters flush.

A week or two ago, there were some early snows. The weather seemed to be back to normal for the weekend openner.

Just back yesterday from Winner area with three great days and one of disappointment. Yes corn is still unharvested and some stands averaging over 8-9 feet tall! We pushed birds out of the corn and milo and had great success in the brush, cattails, ditches and high grass fencerows. Three days of limits with added grouse and chicken.... Tuesday fell off the table with birds flushing far ahead or running circles inside the corn. With rain and cold in the forecast for Wed, we packed Tuesday night and left early Wed am. Great hunt,dogwork,food,and weather! Kudos to Don Loftus of Elk View Kennels and his fine stable of bird dogs. Best Chef award again goes to Gus Candioto for a superb Beef tenderloin Bourgognonne (sp?)Next stop--Illinois river ducks/geese and Pope co. deer!
Best regards,
JBP

Thanks for all of the information Gentlemen and great pics!!!
I'm heading up there the week of Thanksgiving arriving on Wednesday November 25th. I have my hotel reservations in Winner, SD, which may be too far west of where I wanted to hunt. In the 2009 'Hunting Atlas' I selected a few 'Walk-in' areas closer to the Missouri River but we'll see. I could always cancel these reservations when I'm there if I find a motel closer to these 'Walk-in' areas or find and hunt private land nearer to Winner and my motel, a lot of options.
I just hope they know how to cook eggs like they do here in Pennsylvania.

Our group is going to start pheasant hunting next Monday near Draper, S.D. on private land. Last year we limited each day.

I'll post results next weekend.

JERRY