Huntin' Fool
Well-known member
Thinking about going in a month or so.
Any South Dakota pheasant reports?
- Thread starter Huntin' Fool
- Start date
blackbeard
Well-known member
What part of the state are you headed too?
Huntin' Fool
Well-known member
Mobridge area. Been there twice before.
blackbeard
Well-known member
I've heard good things, should get even better when more corn comes out. North Eastern sd
We'll be in Mobridge end of the month and then again in mid-November (which is our normal time frame - so the earlier season conditions will be pretty new to us).
Word on bird counts from our landowner friend is "better than last year, not as good as normal". Last year was decent, so thats a good sign.
I'll put a quick report up when we get back.
802flyfish
Well-known member
My buddy’s parents have a farm in the central portion of the state and they said it’s the best it’s been since 2015.
wihunter12
Well-known member
Heading out next week to Northeast portion of SD for ducks and pheasants, can't wait! Report from a friend in the area is beans are almost all out and corn is about 50% out. Warm dry weather through the weekend should keep the corn coming out at a good pace.
chadv
Member
Hunted the se corner for the resident opener and been out a few times since. Its "decent" is about right. Havnt seen birds in every field, all public, but able to get birds every day.
Mica Man
Well-known member
Driving through Montana right now headed to SD. Will give an update when I get back Thursday.
blackbeard
Well-known member
Good luck^^
SDbuckmaster
Member
Just got done with a 2 day hunt west river done by noon both days 4 guy limit
Mica Man
Well-known member
More birds than I could have asked for. Hunted different plots of private ground each day and everyone in our group shot limits. First time in SD for me and likely not my last.
Got back from SD yesterday. Mobridge area was excellent. Numbers were high and cover is decent. I’d say over 60% of corn is out and they’re making really quick work of the rest.
it hadn’t rained for a month until the other night so it is very dry. Most of our normal cattail sloughs are dry, and our landowner buddies have asked us not to park in tall grass/cornfield corners due to the fire danger. Not sure what that’s going to mean for the later seasons. One of these cattail ponds is usually about 25 acres and it’s dry as a bone (Although very squishy and quicksand-esque as you move in from the edges)
Birds were scattered a bit, which is expected given some standing crops and bluebird weather in the high 60’s/no wind. Since we rarely hunt early in the season it took some getting used to to find slightly different cover than our normal honey holes. Birds were still using the cattails, especially when pushed, but generally were in thinner grass patches near/inside cut corn or sunflowers. Quite a few points in the cut corn itself if it was dirty and weedy enough. Ditch hunting overgrown section roads at dusk was also very productive.
We spent some time West River on Thursday and Sunday chasing sharptails. Dry over there, also, but not as bad as the other side. I am a sharptail rookie, but numbers seemed great to me and they were holding well (which I understand is not common in late October and gets less common as the season Wears on). My Brit definitely prefers running the prairie versus pounding cattails.
Headed back in a few weeks. Might spend more time on sharptails depending on the weather.
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CPAjeff
Well-known member
Got back Sunday morning from South Dakota - bird numbers are up and the hunting was incredible! Looking forward to 2023.
warmer
Well-known member
Buy another 5 day permit and come back this year. SD would love to have you!
appaloosa
Well-known member
Leaving o Friday, glad to hear all the positive reports.
CPAjeff
Well-known member
I set my second five day block as the last week of the season. After seeing all the birds, and lots of later hatch roosters, I’m still debating heading back up!!
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