North for south Dakota Pheasants

[Greg Duerr]

Has anyone heard about the Pheasant hatch in North or South Dakota...........or even the Sharptails?

G

[JackinSD]

Originally Posted by Greg Duerr

Has anyone heard about the Pheasant hatch in North or South Dakota...........or even the Sharptails?

G

Game, Fish and Parks has not released their data for 2012 outlook. However, I can only imagine that the outlook for both pheasants and Grouse have got to be better than they were the last two years.


This past winter was extremely mild, to say the least, and it has been a very very dry spring and summer.

I wish I could tell you more, but I have only made a few trips into the area that I hunt. On those trips I have seen decent numbers. But, I don't hunt in the most pheasant populated areas.

[BillR]

Everything I have seen so far says the numbers are up.

[Greg Duerr]

Thanks for the feed back........................I live in Nevada and its about a 1300 mile drive..........I have not been back there in two years but the years I have been there is was great.............Hunting Pheasants and Sharptails is a lot different then Chukar. The first year I hunted Pheasants I came home with a lot of respect for the bird. You guys hunt in some pretty tuff weather out there..................I was there in the late part of October and there were some really cold days and some real wet ones to.

G

[JackinSD]

As GF&P puts out updates I will try to post a link here.

[JackinSD]

And here it is: SD GFP | Hunting | Small Game | Pheasants

[drbill]

I wouldn't believe those numbers on the pheasants. I live right between ranch (what I call western SD) and crop ground on the souteast side of SD and our pheasant numbers are horrible. I have people come and I "guide" them every year and I have had to tell them to not come. This spring I didn't see a single hatch in my neck of the woods. I finally saw some "pathetic" loners by my home later in the summer. Im sure my childrens outdoor cats "got" them. I may sound negative but I am stating a fact. I don't know what to believe from state officials anymore. Im sure in places they are fine but I would call a rancher that lives where you want to go and he will tell you the truth. Heck I have even tried just calling a store in the area and talk to the person who answers the phone. Our public gets hit hard. I think locals get to hit it before the out of staters but Im not sure. I used to be able to shoot them out my window with 22s. That is not happening, and it hasn't been able to happen for years. The bad winters and flooding springs have killed off most of them. I have a buddy/neighbor that raises them and sells them and he can't sell enough - what does that tell you. If you come to a certain place make sure you know there are birds. My friends that come like the social aspect and the dog working. I hope my friends dogs are in shape, if not their dogs will be by the time they leave.

I also do alot of work in Huron SD for some Hutterites ( that show is scripted by the way if you didn't figure it out and they get 100,000 dollars a episode) and when I shoot deer on their place I would walk into a slough smaller that a football field and hundreds of pheasants would come out. No crap. Not anymore. My deer chasers are not like they used to be by.

I won't even shoot pheasants around my place anymore.

When the corn comes out (and it will sooner this year bc of the drought) I will be able to tell you how bad it really is the week after.

I could be wrong about all this but I bet I'm not.

:(