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Hunted for 3 days last week. First time back that way in 3 years. My, my how things have changed!

We've been pheasant hunting the same several farms for the past 12 or so years,all for a handshake and some pastry from our home town. This year, 3 of the places we stopped at are now $100 per day, per gun and 2 places that were 100-200 acres of CRP now look like golf courses, all mowed down. To make matters a bit worse, deer hunting was still going on and we could not get on a few places because of unfilled deer tags. We did get lucky and found a couple of new farms that had good populations of birds in addition to places we have hunted in the past.

The bird numbers were down in our opinions at least 50%. Still good numbers of birds, especially compared to here in WI, just not what we have been used to seeing. What we saw was this:: if there was food and cover, there were birds. Too bad LOTS of cover is gone. All the ditches were mowed and most all the CRP was gone.

The weather was great, mid 20's to lower 30's, the company was great, the shooting maybe not so great. 2 of us were using 16ga guns and the other 2 guys other gauges. I was using my Cheddite paper hull, roll crimp loads with copper 5's and 6's and they worked great.

We had 4 hunters and 2 dogs, one 3 year old Wirehair and one 5 1/2 month old Fox Red Lab. My 10 year old AWS Dixie has junk hips, is only good for an hour or two of hunting every other day and had to take a pass this year. That was tough for both her and myself. A total of 34 roosters were shot in 3 days of hunting.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the light go on for my brothers pup. After the first day he was quartering back and forth like a pro, flash pointing, flushing and retrieving. WAY COOL!!!

We always have a great time hunting in SD, just have to remember things just don't stay the same and you have to be flexible.

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Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2168 Location: Florida

Beautiful pup ! Great story , thanks for sharing .

Joined: 14 Oct 2016 Posts: 8 Location: texas

Great dogs , very nice pics, thx

Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1696 Location: Minnesota

Great pics!Thanks for sharing. Love the fox red color-never seen one before. What part of SD do you hunt? I don't think I usually SEE 34 roosters a YEAR in MN, much less shoot that many. Looks like you had a great trip overall.

Joined: 14 Sep 2016 Posts: 68 Location: KC,MO

Lovely Yellow Lab. Where'd he get him?

Guest

Great trip, Rudy!

our trip to Standing Rock this year was an exploratory kind of trip . Nick had some wind of a nearby Rez , and fact finding was part of the plan no matter how you cut it , SR just isn't that interested in you being there . Licenses were up to 240 for small game / pheas / grouse , seasons weren't posted on their web as of 2 wks prior to opening etc . Bag limits down to 3/day . The 3 of us may have been the only guys hunting birds there . Birds were ok although WARY !! We just got the plan down on the last day . We just happened to stumbled on a Big Game deal upon visiting the other Res . We also lost some of our go to places , although invited to hunt there , would have cost another 240 or so for the SoDak license . The stay at Moo is always the BEST ,even though it's the only game in town . Don't get me wrong , I wouldn't miss any opp to go out there , but it is also on that slippery downhill slope !

You guys did great and shot a really good number of birds. Always fun to see a new pup hunt so well.

Hey Rudy
Sounds like a great hunt! I may have to make a trek west again one of these years.
Your brother wouldn't have happened to get his lab from Gafke's gun dogs by chance?
I have fox red, Ru from Gafke's. She looks exactly like your brothers.
Good job on the pheasants and have a Merry Christmas
Dave

Hello swish,

My brother got his pup from these folks---

http://www.waterdogspecialties.com/index.php

It's his second dog from them and so far both have been outstanding dogs.

Nice.They look to have a good kennel. My yellows sire is from Torg's Labs in MN.
It's crazy how much they look alike.
Thanks for the info.
Yous all done hunting in WI? I'm going to try for some grouse tomorrow, before all
the festivities start!
I have a new model 12 to try out😛