|
SoDak Combo
(cont.)
Typical South Dakota Hunt
Start with an at-dawn bacon-and-eggs
breakfast in the ranch house with Dick
Smith, who will draw a map that starts
at the back door and guides hunters and
their gun dogs across the hills to the
north and west of the ranch yard.
Pheasants are the most
popular game bird throughout
South Dakota, with ringneck
roosters usually easy to
find in likely cover.
|
"Head for these hills to give some
prairie chickens and sharptails a
wake-up call," Smith said. "Expect to
see pheasants in these places along the
ridges, but remember, according to South
Dakota hunting regulations you can't
shoot roosters until noon throughout the
month of October," Smith cautioned.
"When you're over the hills, head
toward this 10-acre dugout," Smith
directed his hunters. "Come up from the
south and go over the berm with your
guns loaded and your dogs ready because
ducks usually will sit in the pond grass
close to the shoreline. You'll probably
flush some mallards, gadwalls,
blue-winged teal or wigeons. Shoot some,
then watch the rest as they fly off to
another pond either here or here or
here," Smith instructed the hunters.
|
|
"See you back at
the ranch house
when you get
here," Smith
concluded. "And
incidentally,
supper tonight
will be garden
salad, roast
beef and mashed
potatoes with
homemade apple
pie and ice
cream for
dessert."
A
variety
of
waterfowl,
including
mallards,
gadwalls,
blue-winged
teal
and
wigeon,
can
be
found
on
man-made
dugouts
and
natural
cattail
sloughs
in
this
part
of
South
Dakota.
|
Driven
Pheasants, South
Dakota Style
"I've heard of
party hunts for
pheasants, but
this is the
first time I've
ever seen one,"
said Chuck
Wilson after
walking with a
dozen other
shotgunners and
a variety of dog
breeds across a
quarter-mile-wide,
half-mile-long
span of property
made up of a
patch of
standing
sorghum, an
uncut hay field
and a
Conservation
Reserve Program
(CRP) stretch of
prairie grass.
"Probably 150
birds were
pushed out of
the cover by the
walkers who shot
at the roosters
in range, while
out-of-range
pheasants flew
down the field
and up to the
hunters standing
as blockers,"
Wilson
commented. "This
is like a
combination of
English rough
shooting behind
dogs that work
in front of
walkers and
driven pheasants
where beaters
scare up birds
that fly over
hunters waiting
at the end of
the field.
"It was a
little scary at
times, but
certainly very
effective in
putting a lot of
pheasants in the
air and
producing plenty
of shooting
opportunities,"
Wilson added.
Hunting
Public Land
For any gun dog
owner with a
desire to walk
really big
country for
ringneck
pheasants and
prairie grouse,
there is Fort
Pierre National
Grasslands a few
miles north of
the town of
Vivian. This
250,000-acre
tract of public
property, open
to anyone with a
South Dakota
upland game bird
and waterfowl
license,
requires "foot
travel only"
from parking
lots along
gravel roads
that border the
Grasslands.
PAGE:
1 |
2 |
3 |
