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It was a magnificent Fall afternoon, early November and the temperature was about 60.  Crystal blue sky as we drove down a two rut track through a sea of grass on the Ft. Pierre National Grasslands.  I held in my hands a book the size of a small town phone directory that directed us to ‘Walk in Land’, open to hunting.  And there it was, a yellow sign on a solitary fence post that designated the corner of a section.  This section of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) ground was surrounded by like ground with nothing to distinguish it from the surrounding lands.  There was a little swale and a few trees in one corner and the rest was just, well, grass.  Grass about waist high.  A good mile away was what appeared to be a half section of corn, brown and unharvested

 

‘Well’, I said to my three companions, ‘let’s walk out through this and then double back to that swale.”   And so we did.  My little Springer Spaniel, Margaret Thatcher, had not gone 30 yards when she suddenly started acting funny.  More than just birdy, she ran excitedly to the left 20 yards  and then back to the right 20 yards, acting birdy, but seemingly unable to pinpoint a bird.  Then the air was filled with birds, probably 30 or more.  All hens!  Someone called out ‘Hen!’ and so did I.  I looked at the birds intently as they flew out of range, and something was funny.  Those birds were not light brown like a hen pheasant they were more gray-white.  And then it dawned on me.  Those were Sharptails.  That was just the first of many South Dakota surprises.  We walked a half mile out through the sea of grass and flushed two more sharp tails out of range.

 

By then we all had a single thought.  That swale with cat tails and willows looked awfully inviting as pheasant cover.  We abandoned our walk through the grass and headed for it.  We agreed that two of us should take each end of the swale, which was maybe 70 yards in length.  I held my dog close knowing that with the wind was against us she would quickly move out too far.  20 yards from the tree line I released her and she charged into the brush.  In a heartbeat the air was filled with pheasants.  Mostly roosters, and more than I had seen in nearly 40 years since hunting the Michigan ‘thumb’ as a boy in the 50’s.

 

Shots rang out left and right.  A rooster crossed in front of me 25 yards out and my Parker came up and I nailed the bird cleanly.  The kind of shot you want to make when you sense all your friends are watching.  A second shot at a fleeing bird was not so lucky and I was left considering ill excuses.  But, 4 birds were down and a possible fifth.  Maggie quickly collected two and two more were picked up by gunners.  My partner said ‘I think I knocked one down in that heavy brush over there.’  I directed Maggie into it and she charged in like her namesake invading the Falklands.  After a minute of determined searching she emerged with a dead rooster.  Eight shots, five birds.  What an introduction to South Dakota!

 

This South Dakota trip had its genesis the year before on the opening day of pheasant season in Southeast Washington State.  It was an exceptional early October day. It started at daybreak hunting a brushy ditch and ended by climbing up a mile or more to the breaks of the Snake River then hunting up and down through the heads of brushy thorny draws.  We each collected our limit of three pheasants, something we had not done before or since.  As we walked the two miles back to our rig, our tired little springer got birdy one more time and flushed a solitary rooster.  My Parker tracked him as he flew away.  As I turned with a smile to my partner Joe, he said “I don’t know if I could ever get tired of this, but sure would like to try”  Without hesitation my reply was ‘We need to go to South Dakota’.

 

In a good year, Washington state harvests about 80,000 roosters.  South Dakota in a good year harvests 1,500,000.  In Washington state, like so many others, hunter access has gotten more difficult with each passing year.  South Dakota pays farmers for hunting access on tens of thousands of acres throughout the state.  Some of the ground is poor to marginal, other is quite good, bordered by cropland.  And yes, it is often hunted hard.  I have located ground and found other hunters preparing to hunt.  But if it is large ground, a section or more, it can accommodate several hunters and I go to the other end of the property.  After about the third week of the season, access to private, even posted ground is possible.  By knocking on the door and introducing myself as being from the ‘other Washington’ I have gained access to some very desirable and posted ground.  The general availability of huntable ground coupled with a an outstanding pheasant population make South Dakota a strong lure for the average guy who wants above average hunting.  100,000 non-residents hunted the state last year with about an equal number of resident hunters.

 

The Missouri River running North to South bisects the state.  The heaviest pheasant populations are in the Eastern counties, but I have found respectable populations 60 miles west of the river in the central portion of the state.  Moreover, sharptail grouse are fairly abundant in the counties that border each side of the Missouri.  It is not uncommon to find both species in the same locale.  The grouse will be in grassy areas and rely heavily on eyesight for protection.  The pheasant population will generally be in thick cover, brush and cat tails.

 

If you go

The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks website at www.sdgfp.info/index.htm has a multitude of information on species distribution, hunter intensity, harvest rates, and licensing information.  They will send you a pheasant packet with helpful information.  An out of state 10-day license costs $110.  The grouse season starts in mid-September , but the pheasant season usually starts the third Saturday of October.  Some things to be aware of:  Walk-in lands have been  restricted to residents during the first week of the pheasant season.  So if you go, plan to start the second Saturday if you do not have private ground to hunt.  Also, until the end of daylight saving time in late October, daily shooting beginns at NOON.  After the end of daylight saving shooting starts at 10AM.  My wife considers this quite civilized.  On the other hand someone who wakes a hour before sunrise can hardly contain himself and has been known to stake out a field 3 hours prior to shooting time!

 

Most motels, high end to low end are set up to accommodate hunters.  They usually have bird cleaning areas and a number of freezers to store your birds.  And they tend to charge reasonable rates.  But be aware, they often are booked up 6 months before the season.

 

For my first trip I chose the Pierre area.  The area was appealing for the proximity of the National Grassland, but also because walk in guide showed numerous parcels within a 30 mile radius.  I got a yellow pages for the area and picked a number of second tier motels.  One friendly proprietor had double rooms with two queens, a fridge and microwave for $45 a night and my dog could stay with me and my hunting buddy.  That was seven years ago and his rates have now drifted up to $70 a night.  Still a bargain.  He provides a place to clean birds (albeit not sheltered) and a bank of freezers in a garage to store the game.

 

The people of South Dakota are friendly and welcoming.  It is a sparsely populated state and it seems during the first couple of weeks of the season, cars from Minnesota and Wisconsin outnumber the locals.  So check out the specie distribution map, compare it with the walk in guide and pick a nearby town that has a couple of motels.  Then make some calls and start planning a trip.  It might just turn out to be the trip of a lifetime.

 

I mentioned surprises.  The next sharptail that got up in range fell to my shot.  The first day we hunted in shirtsleeves.  Day two turned cold and windy.  Day three was a white-out blizzard.  Day four was cold and clear and we hunted (and got stuck in the snow).  Day five was warmer, the snow began to melt.  On day six we finished filling our possession limit of 15 birds (3 per day) and packed up to return home with a few sharptails for good measure.  We have not tired of the experience!

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South Dakota Pheasants