Pheasants, Prairie Grouse And Puddle
Ducks
Provide Plenty Of Shooting On
The South Dakota Prairie
By Jerry Thoms
(Repeated with permission from
author)
Rolling hills, endless draws
and mile-long fields of
grain sorghum will hold
upland game birds, while
waterfowl will be found on
man-made dugouts and natural
sloughs.
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For gun dog
owners
interested in
hunting a
readily
available
combination of
plentiful upland
game birds and
waterfowl all in
one day and all
at one location,
there are
several top
destinations
throughout the
Upper Midwest.
One of these
places is in
south-central
South Dakota on
the Dick Smith
Ranch.
"Excellent South
Dakota Pheasant
Hunting: Also
sharptail grouse
and prairie
chickens,"
Smith's ad
reads.
"Yeah, we do
have some
waterfowl on our
ranch, but
hardly anyone
bothers to shoot
them because
most hunters
come here for
pheasants and
sometimes
prairie grouse,"
Dick Smith said
on the phone
when asked about
the prospect of
shooting both
ducks and upland
game on his
property.
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Though ringneck
roosters and
prairie grouse
(which include
both sharptails
and chickens)
are what Smith
features in his
advertisement,
the prospect of
working gun dogs
on puddle ducks
sounded good to
Curt Shreve and
Chuck Wilson.
Fort
Pierre
National
Grasslands
in
central
South
Dakota
has
250,000
acres
of
ideal
habitat
for
sharptailed
grouse
and
prairie
chickens,
and
the
area
is
open
to
the
public.
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Shreve, a
Large
Munsterlander
breeder from
Prior Lake,
Minnesota, and
Wilson, a
Llewellin setter
owner from Waco,
Texas, both had
wanted more
details about
this combination
hunt before
signing on.
Located a few
miles from the
little cow town
of Vivian
(population 148)
and in sight of
the east-west
running
Interstate I-90,
Smith's cattle
ranch is made up
of the usual
West River
(that's the
"Missouri
River")
landscape.
"On our
place, we have
mostly big
pastures up to
five miles
square with
rolling,
grass-covered
hills and long
brushy draws
covered by
buffalo berries,
kosha weeds and
prairie grass.
Across the
flatter land,
there are
half-mile narrow
strips of
waist-high
forage sorghum
for cattle feed
and along the
hills and down
in the bottoms
there are big
man-made dugouts
and even some
good-size
natural cattail
sloughs filled
with water this
year," said
Smith.
"You can stay
at the motel in
town five miles
away or right
here in the
ranch house,"
Smith offered.
"Either way,
once you're on
our property,
you can hunt on
your own or hunt
with my family
and friends.
"And, if you
want to, you can
try some hunting
on no-fee public
property such as
Fort Pierre
National
Grasslands just
to the north of
our ranch. Or
you can go to
some
hunt-for-free
Walk-In Areas in
our region of
the state,"
Smith said.
Shreve and
Wilson signed up
with Smith and
made the trip to
South Dakota the
last week in
October. Here's
how things went.
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