doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kansas or S. Dakota this year ?

I am looking for advise as to where to plan our after Xmas hunt this year. Last year we hunted in Kansas within a couple of hours west and north of Salina with limited success. It was extremely cold and the last day we hunted up near Beloit and the high temp for the day was 3 above. Didn't see as may pheasants as expected and did stubble through several coveys of quail with no pointing dog. Hunted all walk-in public that had probably been hit hard at that point.
Our normal area in South Dakota just north of Kimball is not sounding good. Our rancher friend says stay home and his place is usually lousy with birds. We also usually hit several public areas with good results.
May need to branch out to look at other areas further north/east?
Any reports are appreciated.

WE hunted east of Miller with very limited success this year with our land owner having put out hens and roosters that he had raised. 8 of us got 45 with 5 days of pretty hard hunting. I don't think I could with a clear conscience recommend that you go to SD, at least to the areas in Hand county where we hunted. Mighty slim pickens.

Perry,
Thanks for the information on your trip. I have hunted just south of there and east over to Huron area in the past. Most of the reports I have been reading are not good. 20 years ago we hunted south of 90 down near Winner and may check on that area.
I talked to a guy at my trap club that had good success in Kansas west of Salina over Thanksgiving but he was guided and hunting on private land. The quail are a big bonus when going to Kansas.
The drive for me from Maryland is brutal either way 18 to 22 hours!
I could take the easy route and stay home and do more pen birds but 1 wild bird equals 10 pen raised! I sure miss the 70's and 80's when there wild birds here.

You only live once and don't get any re-do's.

Deciding on whether to go or not based on the number of birds you might (or might not) shoot? ...stay home and shoot pen-raised birds, or just go and have some fun in new country.

I agree with Cman. We have heard good and bad reports for the past 16 years hunting in SD and we still go, every year without fail. We decided a while back that numbers dont mean as much to us as the good times we have with a bunch of friends. I realize that this is not for everybody, but it sure has worked for us!! Our party has ranged from 6 to 12 and regardless of the number of hunters we still come away with birds and a heck of a good time is had by all!!

I'd say that the main thing is to be flexible: both where you go, and when. If you think 3 above in KS is cold and you're looking at a post-Christmas hunt, check the forecast before you head to SD! Much better chance of finding it at least that cold. And very possibly with a whole lot of snow.

I've been to Iowa twice. I can't really recommend it for people who don't have access to private land, because Iowa has way less public land (or private land open to public hunting--walk-in areas etc) than do any of the other top pheasant states. And I had to change the timing on both trips to avoid bad weather. And I had to pick another area to hunt in one case because they got over a foot of snow where I'd planned to go. I was going alone and hunting with friends down there, which allows for more flexibility than if you're putting a group hunt together. But given pheasant numbers these days, you need to do everything you can to stack the odds in your favor.

I lived pretty much Ground Zero of the pheasant recovery in Iowa, after CRP got going and the total harvest jumped from about 700,000 in 1984 (which would be outstanding today!) to nearly 1 1/2 million in 1987. Back then, if you had a good dog and the desire to do it, along with decent private land access, you could shoot a limit just about every day you decided to try. It's a far cry from that these days. But I've been down there on two short trips, 2 1/2 hunting days each time. (I can get there in an easy day, so the short trips work for me. Last time, I got out of there with a limit in the truck by mid-morning the last day. If I'd waited until the next day, I would have had to deal with freezing rain.) But I shot birds every day but one, when it was real cold and windy and the birds really spooky. And one other limit--that one off public land--in addition to the one I mentioned above. So I've had two really red letter days, been able to hunt with good friends, and watch good dog work--by mine and my friend's. I could shoot released birds a lot closer to home--and I do--but the wild ones are a different challenge entirely. I'll likely make one more trip this season--two if I'm lucky. Unless Mother Nature rules it out.

My pheasant hunting is done for the year. Now it is on to quail, my very favorite of all upland birds both the shoot and to eat.

Larry, what region or counties of the state are you hunting in?

I've been in Greene a lot and there are birds, but also heavy snow in some place that has flattened the cover.

Guys, thanks for all the information. Unfortunately, I am kind of limited time wise to the week after Christmas and know the drill with the weather. Also I only have one buddy interested this year and a 7 month old GSP that I will probably leave home. I have done 3 hunts in the past during the same time frame. One in Kansas and two in SD, last year Kansas and 2015 in SD were brutally cold but we got by. Usually late season SD the birds have been bunched up and we have done OK. This was not the case last year in Kansas, we had trouble finding pheasants and we wondered if the public areas had been hit hard. We found a lot of public walk-ins but many were very sparse for cover and we did a lot of driving/scouting for the places that we did hunt.
First day last year I stumbled into a covey with no dog and shot my first true double on wild quail in 30 years with a 110 year old Lefever and that's what makes it all worthwhile! Missed plenty of easy birds after that too!
At 54 years old I'm realizing that I will never shoot or need all of the doubles I have collected over the years. I'm thinking of starting to find takers to swap guns for bird hunts in different states as the hunts and experiences and more important that the guns. Not a big fan to the cushy pay to hunt experiences, nor do I have the budget for those types of hunts.

I had intended to hunt south of Iowa City on my last trip. That was before that region got a real dump of snow. Most of it may be gone now, I think. Rain took care of that. But I had a friend hunting deer in southern Keokuk County and he said the result was a muddy, sloppy mess. Even with 4wd they were doing their best to avoid the B roads.

Had decent luck north of Ames. Not much snow around there, unless they picked up some last weekend. But it sounded like the worst of that was more up along the Minnesota border.