Hunted for 3 days last week. First time back that way in 3 years. My, my how things have changed!
We've been pheasant hunting the same several farms for the past 12 or so years,all for a handshake and some pastry from our home town. This year, 3 of the places we stopped at are now $100 per day, per gun and 2 places that were 100-200 acres of CRP now look like golf courses, all mowed down. To make matters a bit worse, deer hunting was still going on and we could not get on a few places because of unfilled deer tags. We did get lucky and found a couple of new farms that had good populations of birds in addition to places we have hunted in the past.
The bird numbers were down in our opinions at least 50%. Still good numbers of birds, especially compared to here in WI, just not what we have been used to seeing. What we saw was this:: if there was food and cover, there were birds. Too bad LOTS of cover is gone. All the ditches were mowed and most all the CRP was gone.
The weather was great, mid 20's to lower 30's, the company was great, the shooting maybe not so great. 2 of us were using 16ga guns and the other 2 guys used 20 and 12 gauges. I was using my 16ga Husquvarna 201 16ga and Cheddite paper hull, roll crimp loads with copper 5's and 6's and they worked great.
We had 4 hunters and 2 dogs, one 3 year old Wirehair and one 5 1/2 month old Fox Red Lab. My 10 year old AWS Dixie has junk hips, is only good for an hour or two of hunting every other day and had to take a pass this year. That was tough for both her and myself. A total of 34 roosters were shot in 3 days of hunting.
The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the light go on for my brothers pup. After the first day he was quartering back and forth like a pro, flash pointing, flushing and retrieving. WAY COOL!!!
We always have a great time hunting in SD, just have to remember things just don't stay the same and you have to be flexible.
