Ultimate Guide to South Dakota Pheasant Hunting
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- Опубликовано: 16 авг 2021
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Who is Ron Spomer
For 44 years I’ve had the good fortune to photograph and write about my passion - the outdoor life. Wild creatures and wild places have always stirred me - from the first flushing pheasant that frightened me out of my socks in grandpa’s cornfield to the last whitetail that dismissed me with a wag of its tail. In my attempts to connect with this natural wonder, to become an integral part of our ecosystem and capture a bit of its mystery, I’ve photographed, hiked, hunted, birded, and fished across much of this planet. I've seen the beauty that everyone should see, survived adventures that everyone should experience. I may not have climbed the highest mountains, canoed the wildest rivers, caught the largest fish or shot the biggest bucks, but I’ve tried. Perhaps you have, too. And that’s the essential thing. Being out there, an active participant in our outdoor world.
All loading, handloading, gunsmithing, shooting and associated activities and demonstrations depicted in our videos are conducted by trained, certified, professional gun handlers, instructors, and shooters for instructional and entertainment purposes only with emphasis on safety and responsible gun handling. Always check at least 3 industry handloading manuals for handloading data, 2 or 3 online ballistic calculators for ballistic data. Do not attempt to duplicate, mimic, or replicate anything you see in our videos. Firearms, ammunition, and constituent parts can be extremely dangerous if not used safely.
Produced by: @red11media
Disclaimer
All loading, handloading, gunsmithing, shooting and associated activities and demonstrations depicted in our videos are conducted by trained, certified, professional gun handlers, instructors, and shooters for instructional and entertainment purposes only with emphasis on safety and responsible gun handling. Always check at least 3 industry handloading manuals for handloading data, 2 or 3 online ballistic calculators for ballistic data. Do not modify any cartridge or firearm beyond what the manufacturer recommends. Do not attempt to duplicate, mimic, or replicate anything you see in our videos. Firearms, ammunition, and constituent parts can be extremely dangerous if not used safely. 
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I love Pheasant hunting. The only place I've ever hunted pheasant has been in South Dakota. The hunt was usually linked to a business trip, but I always planned for a hunt. I'd bring all my gear with me (except for my bird dog) on the flight into Sioux Falls out of Atlanta and then I'd rent a car and dive up to Watertown. I've hunted private farms for free with CRP land, I've hunted farms where you pay but it isn't an outfitter and then I've hunted outfitters with a lodge. I've never had a bad time. One word of advice, if you hunt with a group and the drive is through standing corn grab the down wind outside edge of the corn. It's amazing how many birds you'll see that the guys in the corn cannot see. I actually got my one and only partridge from doing this too. An outfitter I really enjoyed hunting at is called Dakota Ringneck located just south or Watertown near Lake Poinsett. It is a top notch place and I would love to go back one day. I hope anyone going has a wonderful time. I know I always did when I went there.
When I was a kid, growing up, we had tons of pheasants across the country sides of Pennsylvania. Now they are all gone. I miss them.
Your a Setter guy! I knew there was a reason I liked you.
In 1960 I was in the 8th grade. Business associates of my Father came from Maryland and picked us up in the Minnesota Twin Cities in their Aero Grand Commander twin and we flew to Huron, SD. ... Season opening was at noon. We were met at the airport by a local farmer. We joined with other groups of hunters at his farm and "drove" the fields in a long skirmish line of shotgunners with no dogs. Flankers were on the downwind side and a bit forward of line. The roosters would flush directly away from us in a cacophony of noise and motion, then turn downwind and glide over those flankers. ... We drove one long field of corn stubble and the shooting was very good. Just on the other side of a barbed wire fence at the end of the field, was a raised railroad bed. Just beyond it near the right corner of field we were driving was a thicket of brush adjacent to a small pond. Two people on horseback walked their horses into that thicket. Just like Ron said, loads of roosters were in the cover near tgeir food source. They flushed in a seemingly endless flight like angry hornets coming out of a nest. It was simply incredible to see. It's been many decades, but I'd guess about 50 pheasant were flushed from that small bit of cover. ... I used my Christmas present Winchester Model 37, break open single shot .410 with 3" #6 shot. I easily got my limit daily. I have never seen pheasant in such great abundance since. It was the hunt of a lifetime for a young boy. ... Thanks for the great trip dowm memory lane Ron.
Good story, first time here and similar story that we went on a local farm ( he let us), up ahead about 25 roosters+ hens one after another flew from the crops to the water, I was in full sprint to get there.
Covey knows her stuff!! My uncle had a golden named Golda who worked like a bid dog in south LA on woodcocks and ducks. She knew the assignment
I hunted with you in late November of 2016 with your childhood friends. It was great fun and great to meet you.
Think it would be a great experience bird hunting in South Dakota. If you take a site seeing trip during the off season before you plan a hunting trip is a good idea. Seeing the areas first before you spend the time and money to plan any hunt saves being let down. Sometimes what you think isn’t what it turns out to be. This is almost required if you plan hunting public grounds on your own some of the time or all the time. I have done this for most of my attempted solo hunting and fishing trips. South Dakota is a long drive and between my home and there is a lot of good bird hunting before you get to South Dakota. It is pretty easy to hunt more than just one place on your journey. You could hunt birds going to South Dakota and going back. You have to pack up all the gear anyway; why not hunt birds in more places than just one. A lot of states sell three day hunting and fishing permits. I have done it; and it turned out almost too successful if there is a thing as having too much fun. ✨🚙✨🦃🦆🐻🦌🐟✨
I’ve hunted opening weekend in Platte, SD for the last several years. Great hunting! The Pheasants Forever banquet is also nice.
I'm happy to say our bird numbers here in south east iowa have been blowing up the last few years. Our quail numbers went down the toilet though.
This was really neat and helpful. Learning the upland game life and you sure steered me in the right direction
Great video, Ron! I’m looking to get into trying pheasant hunting myself, as I had a great time in Kansas just dove and duck hunting last year. Just not many pheasants around here in Missouri where I am, but the duck hunting is pretty good!
And as a duck hunter I enjoy some cold nasty weather too!
Just love pheasant hunting. It's the apex experience of bird hunting IMO. I hit SD and ND last year, going back again this year. I can't wait.
Great video and info Ron! I’ve always wanted to go to SD for Pheasant… as a born and raised Florida boy, SD is an alien landscape, but your explanation made total sense to me. Thank you for an honest common sense approach to helping others out! I’d live to ‘swap hunts’ if you ever wanted to get a big wild hog, or a smaller one… LOL! My hunt club allows guests, and I have some great spots.
Ron I've hunted blue grouse in Eastern Washington up in the blue mountains, that is some of the best eating I've had in a long time.
I love Pheasant Hunting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have shot pheasant's and quail's in Illinois an also in Virginia.
I had the good fortune of marrying into a Winner, SD family. Early on, the bird numbers were incredible. While they are still much better than other locations, the numbers have declined dramatically...at least in our part of the county. They've had a bad run of luck with bad winters, drought, and hail storms. In addition, the crops raised have changed quite a bit. There are a lot more soybeans where milo and sunflowers once stood. And, as mentioned, because crops stand longer they aren't as concentrated as they are in the later parts of the season. The best hunting is on low-pressure ground during late season.
Thank you, great overview of hunting SD pheasants!
Well done. I always tell people to come the first half of November. It's usually good weather and the crops are all out. For some reason the birds hold a little better right then for me also.
I like that you mention to walk the right cover at the right time, that's important. I've walked heavy cover that I know has been walked earlier but if you do so in the last hour of the day the birds will be moving back in to roost. The golden hour truly is golden when it comes to heavy cover and pheasants.
I'd add one thing to the talk about edges. Edges can be anywhere and sometimes they are in the middle of a field of CRP. Low spots and creeks can cause an edge or cover change.
And no matter what the plan is for a field once you get out there follow the dogs. Their nose overrules any plan.
Have not hunted birds in years due to living in Florida where the growth is ongoing. Used to have great dove and quail hunts until development took over. But Ron, all your videos have my attention. Thanks Ron
I am sorry to hear of your loss, but thanks for expressing it. We all are eager to console one another over the loss of a dog, but almost never do we express sympathy or concern over the loss of more and more acres of wildlife habitat. "Oh well, that's progress!" The conversion of open lands and good wildlife habitat to human habitat is the major cause of declining wildlife and our opportunities to hunt.
Next to deer hunting. Pheasant hunting is one of my favorite fall/early winter activities here in ND.
Excellent video and on a topic that doesn’t get as much publicity as the four legged antlered animals out there in the Midwest. My youngest brother and I love bird hunting and shotgun shooting more than anything else, even though I am digging archery 🏹 deer 🦌 season. It would be a dream adventure to get out to South Dakota for a pheasant hunt and small game slam. I would also love to do waterfowl there, turkeys 🦃, deer 🦌 and last but definitely not least a pronghorn hunt.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience (since 66’) with us.
Wow. Great information! Very thorough!
I hunted pheasant in Indiana around late November. I agree that it's a good time of year.
That was very informative ron thank you
Very nice video! Thank you for sharing.
I love this dog 🤪
...not an experienced bird hunter, but you limited on 4 or 5 different upland birds!! That was God's gift to you on that day sir.
Don't I know it, Russell. A once in a lifetime event. I also bagged a fox squirrel and one cottontail that same day. We ate for weeks.
bird hunting is my favorite that and cottontails
Where I used to hunt pheasants as a teen, Is now housing tracts and strip malls.
You have identified the greatest enemy of wildlife.
I love making a good slow cooked pheasant stew. Onions, carrots, tomato, wine, a few herbs and a handful of sweet berries, get the whole gutted bird submerged in there and slow cook it overnight. Serve it on some crushed potatoes.
Sounds great!
Due to the drought many area are harvesting crops early. I agree nov is a good time to go.
I'll be out there somewhere this fall hunting with my Lewellyn setter Preacher. It'll be his first trip. 😊
Please do a video for the grouse hunting tactics! I'm heading to SD for the first time the end of October mainly for pheasants but I would love a mixed bag.
You'll likely stumble onto sharptails and chickens while pursuing pheasants. They'll feed in the same fields, but tend to roost in larger expanses of grassland. They also prefer staying in thinner cover where they can see trouble coming, thus they tend to flush sooner than pheasants.
I live in Virginia and I wish we had more options. Sure we have doves and ducks. I haven't seen a pheasant in 20 years if not longer. We do keep an eye out for grouse when squirrel hunting
Just finishing my few days here and it’s been mostly quiet, the dry season has affected the pheasants per locals info. We didn’t know but it’s mostly road hunting to find the birds unless you pay to go on a pheasant farm.
Here in RI, pheasant season runs from mid-October to the last day of February. But the DEM quits stocking them after January 1st. Hens are legal to take, and the bag limit is 2 per person per day.
i've had great luck around gettysburg area. have some friends with some great private ground though.
Hey Ron, really enjoyed this one! Do you think there's a ballistic coefficient for a flying pheasant, quail, dove etc? This one was full of great hunting knowledge and wisdom. Love to see more about birds, dogs and shotgunning. Thanks.
I'd love to hunt a few and put a good Louisiana Cajun pheasant dinner together !
Going this week to South Dakota, hoping to make pheasant and andouillie gumbo!
I would love to see a vid on 260 Remington!
We used to hunt chickens in kansas. We would try to hit them early in the morning in the field the farmer say they would be feeding in then we would try to wait for them to fly in. Sometimes they did and sometimes they were alrrady there when we showed to then we would try to sneak up on them. Most the time that never worked. They are very skittish. Its like hitting the lottery when you do shoot one. I think i have only shot 3 or 4 in my 45 years of life. This is very helpful info since i want to come to SD also some day. Hopefully within the next couple years.
I was there in the pheasant season a few years back. in the hotel there were signs saying "Do not clean birds in your room" Not realizing it was pheasant season, I could not understand why cleaning your parrots in you room was not allowed. Parrots like a nice light shower.
Ha ha! Good one, Red.
My dad grew up near Aberdeen in a town called Crestbard
Lemon and flasher nd up to elgin is GREAT area with lots of birds. I lived in elgin for 4 years and killed a good many birds with my ruger red label.410 and my 28ga
I live here and lately you can hunt comfortably til Christmas...
A cartridge comparison video for dangerous game handguns would be really cool. 460 mag, 500 mag, 45-70, 444 Marlin. Would certain calibers only be good for defensive purposes, or could they actually be used to take game? Which cartridges would you want for certain game?
Where did you grow up Ron? I grew up on a little pheasant ranch near White Lake. My dad started that back in about 84 and my brother still runs it today.
Be nice if you would do a video on how to find ruffed grouse
Good video and advice Ron from a fellow long-term pheasant hunter that grew up in the state. One point of clarification though is the state's Governor pushed the game and fish department to discontinue the preseason trend surveys starting last year that the agency had done for almost a century. So now there's no reliable early data for an out of state hunter to gauge the upcoming bird year. The governor instead has pushed funds into the tourism department for them to amp up pheasant advertising in the hope of attracting more hunters.
Rather mercenary, but ultimately harmless, I guess. Makes it more difficult for hunters to assess potential, but lures more $ into the state.
Perhaps but the SDGFP conservation officer buddies I went to college with say they relied on data from those surveys to assess status and trends of many species. I also saw a news story last week that last year SD had the smallest number of out of state hunters in a decade. Could've been covid but maybe also lacking the data to show a good reproduction year kept some hunters home since pheasants continue to be at low numbers (at least for SD) the last several years as the CRP program has waned.
Great video, one of these days I’ll get to SD, love hunting pheasant but here in Northern California they are gone, starting in the 90s they began disappearing, not sure what caused it but I suspect pesticides and the way farmers lazer plane every last inch of land.
Bottom line is habitat loss, Bruce. Clean farming, housing and the house cats that come with it, highways... Pesticides reduce insects chicks need. Herbicides reduce nesting, and escape cover, weed seeds. SD pheas. numbers had plummeted to 1 million birds in the late 1970s, but once millions of acres were planted back to dense prairie grasses, they bounced back to well over 12 million.
Love your videos Ron. …. So here is a question you’re not expecting. Having spent so much of your life outdoors … have you encountered a Sasquatch (Les Stroud has and spoke of it) ? Also have you seen a UFO ? I suspect 90% of ppl spend their lives in cities and indoors ! I am serious and would love to hear your answer.
Oh to be in the UK for my Pheasant shooting.,for the most, fastest, highest birds I've ever seen !. Unbelievable.
I'm thinking mid to late December, I've had great luck that time of year here in Ohio. All the lite weights are out of the way by then.
Good luck!
Here in eastern pennsylvania the state puts out pheasant on 1 of 3 possible days during the week . My retired father in law has it down to a science and calls me to come out . We have to go the day they let them out because we don't have a dog and after the first day the dogs have them chased all over .
Last year (2020) was one of the best pheasant hunts for me around the Aberdeen area. First time I have ever shot 3 roosters in one shot. Wasn't skill, pure luck. Only took about three hours a day to get my limit with no dog.
So when r you Ron going on a South Dakota bison hunt!? Would love to see that video
If and when he draws a tag in the very difficult and limited lottery we have here in south Dakota
Nothing on the horizon. Shot a ranched bison in SD years ago, but never a wild one.
I think you would be interested in Stephan Rinella's book: American Buffalo, His was a wild hunt in Alaska.
He shure asked the rite person for info master pheasant hunter
Careful Ron don't give away our secrets lol
Oops. Too late!
@@RonSpomerOutdoors 🤣🤣
Idea for a video. The Dakota calibers, are they any good or does the limited selection of bullets loaded hurt their performance.
The line of proprietary Dakota cartridges based on the 404 Jeffery case of 1904, (not '09, according to my well informed friend Phil) are short-fats that inspired the Winchester WSMs and Remington SAUMs. I hunted Africa my first time with a 330 Dakota and found it excellent at terminating everything from duiker and steenbuck to kudu and eland with 210-gr. Barnes X bullets. Speaking of bullets, there is no limited selection for Dakota cartridges. They use the same bullets available for all other cartridges of those calibers: .284, .308, .338, .375, .423, .450. I believe there was a .416 Dakota for a time, but it was discontinued. Most Dakota cases are 2.5" to 2.9" long. The closing of the Dakota manufacturing facility in Sturgis, SD, after the "fall" of Remington was a sad day for rifle aficionados.
I grew up with REAL pheasant hunting in Pennsylvania. Sometimes we took a mutt along to look for downed birds, but mostly we just walked them up. These wild birds were smarter than turkeys and would run ahead of you if they could. By noon the first day you had to step on them, literally. It was enough to give you a heart attack. They are totally gone in PA now. Restocking has failed. I was on a State Game lands sitting on a steep wooded hill bowhunting. All of a sudden I heard shorts down in the swamp and large brown birds started dropping in the woods around me. They were stocked birds and were hitting the trees because they were too stupid to fly around them. I feel sorry for the kids now days, they really missed out.
In SD - the problem is getting your three birds too quickly !!
Even on public ground !!
You need a good dawg.
A good one.
Pay the 600 $ to 1000 $ bucks.
That will be less than 100 $ a year for the dawgs life.
Wow. Did not realize the Black Hills had Pheasant. I am going to try that. When I was a teenager I used to go out by myself with no dog and often times still had success. I am sure I walked past a lot of birds with no dog, but I was wondering what your opinion would be of hunting alone with no dog. Would I be wasting my time? Will that work in in So Dak?
Sorry if I gave imporession pheas. were in the Black Hills proper. Should have said near as in lower elevations with some grain fields around Belle Fourche and SE of Hot Springs. But yes, you can walk up roosters without a dog. Just push cover toward pinch points, i.e. naked fields, lake edges, etc. Stop and go in heavy cover to make birds nervous so they flush. We used to stand and listen for them running in the weeds, then rush toward them, stop again. They get nervous and flush.
You Americans do make me laugh 😅 you need to come to England and try driven game shooting . It's amazing
Indeed it is amazing, but the Americans have the benefit of 2nd Amendment, space, public land where they can hunt and land owners who allow such things for a fee. Could you imagine the general public in the UK dressed in orange wandering around a wood. There would be more dead people than birds.
Thanks for your reply. I just find it interesting that you have all this space for a proper organised driven shot with challenging pheasants at challenging distances instead of walked up shooting pheasants up the arse at 10 yards.
Different strokes for different hunters, Robert. While shooting at a swarm of birds pushed overhead by beaters can be exciting, one then misses all the anticipation of locating the birds, the invigorating effort of walking, the thrill of the dog coursing and searching and slamming on point, the satisfaction of having unraveled the secret of the quarry's hiding places. In short, one misses the hunt while enjoying a shoot. That said, it is a long standing tradition in SD for many walkers to "drive" a field toward a line of blockers who get the pass shooting.
Ron, what is your favorite model and gauge gun for pheasants?
No absolute favorite, Lawrence, but I really enjoy O/U and SxS doubles in 20 and 28 ga. But I've shot extremely well with a Mossberg auto in 28 ga. Ruger Red Label 28 ga. been kncoking them down for me since 1996 when I addressed 25 roosters with that little Ruger and bagged 23 of them. Some didn't fall until the second shot, so I didn't shoot all that well, but still... That convinced me the 28 ga. was more than viable. I've probably used a 20 ga. Sigarms B. Rizzini Aurora Gold O/U to take most of my roosters in the past 6 years or so. I think the keys are A. Ideal gun fit. It has to come up like a thought abd point where you're looking. B. Throw a consistent pattern. The size and number of pellets don't seem to matter so much as putting an even spread on the bird's front half. I'll shoot 7 1/2s in early season, 6s mid-season, 5s late. Rarely go to 4s anymore. The key is catching the front half of the bird. Tail doesn't count! (I suppose after all this bragging I'll miss more than I hit this season!) But, seriously, this is how it's gone for me. I shoot better with lighter guns in lighter gauges with lighter charges of shot.
Ron.
I do a lot of clay target shooting. I find the sub gauges more fun to shoot. Bought a Remington premier in 28 guage and living it.
We're found to AS in October and bring it. Everybody else is trying to get me to bring a 12 gauge. Told them if they can put shoot me at trap, I will think about.
I’m curious as to what the fracking in South Dakota has done to pheasant habitat and numbers? From what little I’ve heard from friends there it ain’t good.
There isn't much oil drilling in South Dakota. I would say Sioux Falls urban sprawl has taken 100x more habitat than any oil.
there's like 10 oil wells in the whole state. In SD, the issues are urban sprawl near bigger towns and a trend of farmers tearing up tree belts and filling in potholes to grow crops on every square inch of land. No habitat = no birds.
If they don't start a good protection/conservation program, all the pheasants will be gone. That includes kicking developers out of your towns. We used to have a lot of pheasants here in Pennsylvania, and now they are gone. I know it's hard to believe, but it will happen.
I hunted pheasants in Buffalo Gap. I limited out every day within a couple of hours and even shot a double!. No one ever talks about this area?
Kit: shhhhh!
Going to move to SD in a couple months with 2 brittainys. Looking for a place south central SD. If anyone can tell me the best town to focus on would be great. I'm a retired gunsmith. I might fit in. i love grouse hun pheasant and waterfowl hunting. Allot of water in NE but less pheasants and upland. What to do? My only criteria is where is the best hunting? Open to comments
On our last day here but Huron seems to be the center of it all per hunting& visiting. We went north to Hoven which was better since it was near water..
@@jacobo9611 Thanks. I know every SD property for sale via Zillow etc. Started a few months back with a pin in the center of the state.............Huron. Looking south and east of there. Moderate sized tin roof natural gas heated house with a garage and fenced yard.
@@dougdenhamlouie nice, as for pheasants, we just stopped near the border and flushed 8 birds in a waterfowl zone… so meh might not come back for awhile
@@dougdenhamlouie also Huron has that prime time steak house, will stop again
Never heard of an "utimate" guide...must be a new thing
Of for pete's sake. I didn't even see that! Good catch, Kevin.
Peasant hunting is not allowed any more, darn stupid laws
One pheasant didn't like this video
This guys trying to get you to pay for hunting. Public land is great
I do think sometimes the nastier shitty day you can find is some of best days for pheasant
New subscriber here. Love your video! We have a similar RUclips channel if you want to check it out, "Hunt and Gather With the Chatters".