South Dakota Upland Hunt

[JJ1179]

Looking to put together a pheasant/upland game bird hunt in South Dakota next year. Looking for any recommendations, suggestions, or outfitters that you might recommend. Thanks!

 

[thegrouse]

Mix in a day of fishing on Lake Oahe, it is always a blast.

 

[Sea Rover]

Unless you have a group of 8 or more you won’t get a call back. Been there done that.

 

[JJ1179]

Well that sucks…

 

[KurtR]

That’s not true I guided pheasants for 15 years took out lots of groups of 4.

Oahe wings and walleyes in akaska . Right on lake Oahe if you come at the right time fish in the morning hunt the afternoon.

 

[TimberRunner]

Freelance it. SD has a great app with integrated GPS. Scouting and finding public lands is enjoyable. Sure, the public ground gets pressured later in the day, but there's roosters out there. Just have to put in the miles. Of course having several guys and a few dogs help.

Finding a small town bar for a 1-2 pm lunch is great too. Get off your feet, give the dogs a break and then hunt ground again until dark.

 

[bdg848]

We went to the Lake Oahe area three years ago hoping to possibly get some bonus sharptail grouse and huns while primarily hunting pheasants. We went without any guide service. Almost everything that was public or public access was completely grazed to the dirt. Honestly, some of the worst quality habitat I've ever seen. I've literally seen better pheasant habitat in some central Illinois counties and pheasants there are an oddity. Basically, The only place we found any birds was river bottoms that had lots of cattails and brambles and crap. We killed three or four birds in four days because they were SUPER jumpy and would fly HUNDREDS of yards ahead of us. The ones we killed were the result of the hardest cattail stomping I've ever done lol. Of course all the private land had nice tall grasses and school buses full of hunters and guides lol .

The locals said they were in a really bad drought and farmers had been cutting EVERYTHING for hay. That was our problem and going too far west only made it worse. All the habitat from western Iowa through the eastern third of SD looked much better on the way out there. I'd say don't go too far west and/or call some DNR offices ahead of time to see how the weather has been. Don't be scared to completely change regions. Of course, if you go with an outfitter they will have good habitat available wherever you go so it won't matter. However, I've never gone pheasant hunting with an outfitter and I've always had a good time and when habitat is decent, I've always found plenty of birds. Doing the research and watching pay off is half the fun!!!

 

[KurtR]

Hunt either pheasants or sharpies trying to target both at the same time does not work very often around here . Getting a bonus bird while doing that is always nice

 

[TimberRunner]

We went to the Lake Oahe area three years ago hoping to possibly get some bonus sharptail grouse and huns while primarily hunting pheasants. We went without any guide service. Almost everything that was public or public access was completely grazed to the dirt. Honestly, some of the worst quality habitat I've ever seen. I've literally seen better pheasant habitat in some central Illinois counties and pheasants there are an oddity. Basically, The only place we found any birds was river bottoms that had lots of cattails and brambles and crap. We killed three or four birds in four days because they were SUPER jumpy and would fly HUNDREDS of yards ahead of us. The ones we killed were the result of the hardest cattail stomping I've ever done lol. Of course all the private land had nice tall grasses and school buses full of hunters and guides lol .

The locals said they were in a really bad drought and farmers had been cutting EVERYTHING for hay. That was our problem and going too far west only made it worse. All the habitat from western Iowa through the eastern third of SD looked much better on the way out there. I'd say don't go too far west and/or call some DNR offices ahead of time to see how the weather has been. Don't be scared to completely change regions. Of course, if you go with an outfitter they will have good habitat available wherever you go so it won't matter. However, I've never gone pheasant hunting with an outfitter and I've always had a good time and when habitat is decent, I've always found plenty of birds. Doing the research and watching pay off is half the fun!!!

That was a unique year.

2 years ago was also brutal. The winter kill was extraordinary. Stories of thousands of pheasants huddled up on the south side of barns dead. Made hunting hard.

It's part of it. Be back at it this fall.

 

[JJ1179]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll start doing some research.

 

[TandKHunting]

I have a slot during the beginning of December every year at my buddies pheasant operation. Typically limit out within a few hours. Not a bunch of wild birds. Mostly pen raised, but if you want a memorable trip shooting roosters....it's the place to be. Lots of spent shells and smiles. Lodging, steak dinners in town every night, smoke ya some cigars...shoot ya some trap right outside the lodge.

If you decide to grind it out on public, your best chance is hunting gravel roads an hour or two before shooting hours close during the evening. Roosters start leaving cover and head for gravel roads in the later afternoon. Most of the public land will be shot to all hell after opening weekend and won't hold much for birds. And even if they hold birds, most of them will run or fly 100 yards out as soon as a vehicle stops or a car door slams. I grew up hunting pheasant on gravel roads with my dad here. It's not easy, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you are a local. A preserve with wild and pen birds is far more enjoyable.

605-593-2945

Call me anytime. I would be happy to have you guys along for a memorable South Dakota bird hunt.

We can even take some birds to my go to taxidermist and get ya guys some memories for the wall.

 

[jmez]

Those private land hunters are also shooting released birds. Very few truly "wild" pheasant hunts.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2024 using Tapatalk

 

[justinspicher]

I’ve been going up with a couple of buddy’s the past few years, hunt public land. It’s always been a good time. We spent the night at some little hotel in the middle of nowhere and go home the following evening.

 

[Zbot]

I have a slot during the beginning of December every year at my buddies pheasant operation. Typically limit out within a few hours. Not a bunch of wild birds. Mostly pen raised, but if you want a memorable trip shooting roosters....it's the place to be. Lots of spent shells and smiles. Lodging, steak dinners in town every night, smoke some cigars...shoot some trap.

605-593-2945

Call me anytime. I would be happy to have you guys along for a memorable South Dakota bird hunt.

We can even take some birds to my go to taxidermist and get ya guys some memories for the wall.View attachment 769020

This is very tempting.

 

[TandKHunting]

Those private land hunters are also shooting released birds. Very few truly "wild" pheasant hunts.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2024 using Tapatalk

You can't sustain wild birds with hunters pounding the same fields every weekend. Every outfitter supplements with pen raised birds. I would still rather hunt a preserve though....because I like shooting tons of shells.

 

[TandKHunting]

This is very tempting.

Anyone on Rokslide is welcome to join me. Just don't Dick Cheney my ass.

 

[KurtR]

You guys should have seen the glory years of 05-10 . The hight of crp along with the drought that had the river way low and miles of shore line over grown. It was so thick you couldn’t hunt it we tried to pack ladders to deer hunt didn’t work. Tried using the boat from the river didn’t work. Miles of un disturbed habitat.Thousands of grouse and pheasants every night flying from down there up to agg fields . Looked like mallards going out to feed we would pass shoot a lot. That’s when I was really guiding a lot 60 plus days. Big groups little groups didn’t matter most days done by 2 or 3 and not a single pen raised bird needed to be put out. Then poof winter all gone. The river came up in three weeks in what the Coe said would take years. Corn went all time high and every piece of ground got broke up. Thanks ethanol.

You can still go out and shoot a limit on public land with a little effort and a good dog. I don’t go until the water freezes and all the ducks are gone and deer season is over. After that getting on private isn’t to hard.

I travel every day for work and been dodging Chinese chickens like crazy going to be a good year numbers wise.

 

[thegrouse]

I have hunted the opener since 2002, I might have missed a year or two in there. The quality varies year to year with some years being much better than others. Last year was a bit tougher, but it is always great to get out on the Plains the 3rd weekend of October. One of the highlights of my year.

 

[JJ1179]

I have a slot during the beginning of December every year at my buddies pheasant operation. Typically limit out within a few hours. Not a bunch of wild birds. Mostly pen raised, but if you want a memorable trip shooting roosters....it's the place to be. Lots of spent shells and smiles. Lodging, steak dinners in town every night, smoke ya some cigars...shoot ya some trap right outside the lodge.

If you decide to grind it out on public, your best chance is hunting gravel roads an hour or two before shooting hours close during the evening. Roosters start leaving cover and head for gravel roads in the later afternoon. Most of the public land will be shot to all hell after opening weekend and won't hold much for birds. And even if they hold birds, most of them will run or fly 100 yards out as soon as a vehicle stops or a car door slams. I grew up hunting pheasant on gravel roads with my dad here. It's not easy, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you are a local. A preserve with wild and pen birds is far more enjoyable.

605-593-2945

Call me anytime. I would be happy to have you guys along for a memorable South Dakota bird hunt.

We can even take some birds to my go to taxidermist and get ya guys some memories for the wall.View attachment 769020

Right on! I’ll shoot you a call and discuss. Thanks for the invite.

 

[KurtR]

If temps hold like they have been opening weekend will be another dog killer. People are not very smart and grab the dog off the couch and run them in 80 plus degree heat.