South Dakota Pheasant Hunting

Oct 21, 2006

South Dakota Pheasant Hunting Noon opener - Hunters present, Steve, Gary, Dale, Ben, Tim, Andy, John and Cathi. Dogs:  Maie, Cabo, Zac and Buddy.

The weather was perfect!  Overcast, cool and dry. 

We were set up and ready to go for our first push by 11:55.  We hunted corn strips most of the afternoon and picked up 3 to 4 birds with each push.  We had many opportunities to get more pheasants, but hey! we were all a bit rusty to start.  But having those extra opportunities to shoot, helped get us tuned up quickly.  We finished up the days, pushing a couple of small cats. 

What was great about our pheasant opener hunt is that everyone got a chance to shoot at a lot of birds and everyone pretty much got their own limit.  Birds were steady all day. The weather stayed cool enough so the dogs were able to stay strong all day. Had our limit in 4 hours!

 We look forward to another big pheasant hunting day today!    

If you haven’t hunted many pheasants, then some of the suggestions below may be helpful in making your South Dakota Pheasant Hunt work for you.

First and foremost, know the South Dakota rules and regulations regarding pheasant hunting. Game wardens do show up and ignorance will not get you off the hook!

You can only shoot roosters when wild bird hunting in South Dakota.  However, you will find at times you can’t identify a rooster or hen, due to lighting, direction, etc.  Therefore, always call out, hen or rooster if you can see what it is for the benefit of your pheasant hunting party and to ensure you don’t let a rooster get by or that you end up shooting a hen. 

Give the pheasant a chance to get out a bit. Shooting a bird at close range gets counted as part of your limit, but most of the time it ends up being unusable/inedible.

Decide before you start the day if each hunter will shoot their own limit or each hunter will work to get the groups limit or do a combination of both during the day. The limit is 3 pheasants a day.

Remember to carry water for you and your dog in the field.

We started to carry with us wire cutters after one of our dogs got caught in a snare trap.

Take care of yourself!  This is your ”day in the field”!  If you are tired, rest.  Cold, warm up.  Hot, cool down.  Hungry, eat. Thirsty, drink.

Maintain control of your dog.  Pheasant Hunting Dogs are brought on the hunt to find, point or flush and retrieve our birds. Out of control or aggressive dogs can ruin the hunt, a great dog can make the hunt!

Even great hunting dogs can make mistakes. Correction is expected, but excessive punishment is never acceptable.

Even the best hunters may not shoot so well some days. It’s easy to blame the dog, others in your party, your gun or whatever. If this is truly the case, try to resolve the problem.   Otherwise, let it go!!!  There are always other opportunities to shoot your limit in South Dakota.  Always remember that a tough day in the field is still better than a good day at work!!!

John and Cathi Jensen, Maple River Pheasant Hunts, Frederick, South Dakota.  www.mapleriverpheasanthunts.com

At Maple River Pheasant Hunts, we want every hunter to have a great hunt, but never at the expense of the other hunters or dogs in the field. Therefore, we expect that everyone that hunts with us, abides by specific pheasant hunting safety expectations.  Some of them are quite elementary, but we believe that it’s always good practice to review and agree to abide by these expectations before starting in the field.

1.  Blaze orange vests and/or hats are required.

2.  We ask that hunters wear some kind of eye protection which can include: sunglasses, perscription glasses or shooting glasses.

3.  No loaded guns in the vehicles. Guns may be transported uncased in South Dakota.

4.  Know where your gun is pointed at all times (while loading and unloading, carrying, shooting, etc).

5.  Gun must have the safety on at all times except when shooting a bird.

6.  Know where everyone in the field is at all times.

7.  No shooting pheasants on the ground.  Birds must be airborne. This is also good sportsmanship.

8.  Do not shoot low flying pheasants. Wait until birds are well above everyone’s head before shooting. 

9.  When surrounding/driving birds, wait until birds are away from the group before you shoot.  Never shoot into the group or at your blockers or drivers.

10.  Alcohol is not allowed while hunting.  You will have plenty of time afterwards to celebrate the day’s accomplishments. 

 John and Cathi Jensen, Maple River Pheasant Hunts, Frederick, South Dakota www.mapleriverpheasanthunts.com