SouthDakota Pheasants

[WV Hunter]

Good Morning bird enthusiasts! I have a few more weeks of vacation to burn and was thinking of heading to SD with my pups for pheasant. I’ve never been pheasant hunting and have only chased grouse and woodcock here in WV and in Maine.

I’ve heard SD was under water for much of the year and the hunting has been tuff. I’m hoping someone can give me an idea of the vicinity I need to be looking at to find birds on public land. Just like everyone else I don’t want your honey hole (grin) but a county or area to start would be awesome. A friend used to hunt in the Mitchel? area but he said he wasn’t going this year because of the flooding. I hear Pierre mentioned on podcasts but my guess is every other fool like me heads there because it gets mentioned so much.

I got 2 Pudelpointer pups that are ready to roll and a wife that’s ready for a week without dogs. Help a fellow out

 

[rwc101]

Anything between Mitchell and Pierre should be good. I'd look at the hunt atlas to find the most remote public access areas and be prepared for lots of driving between spots. This year was harder to hunt because all the vegetation growth due to the wet season. Gave birds a head start on running/flushing.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Shoot me a message and I can give you all the info I have, a phone call may be the easiest to point you in the right direction this year

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Wish I had a few more weeks of vacation to burn, or just a few to begin with, haha. Good luck!

 

[Threedognight]

We got back last week from SD. Lots of corn up yet, be sure to find a nice grass area to hunt the last hour of light. Birds are staying in the corn during the day, but you can find one loafing around if you’re quite. Best yet find the corn field that is just finished coming off, fresh birds in the closest cover.

 

[Wild Bill]

We got back last week from SD. Lots of corn up yet, be sure to find a nice grass area to hunt the last hour of light. Birds are staying in the corn during the day, but you can find one loafing around if you’re quite. Best yet find the corn field that is just finished coming off, fresh birds in the closest cover.

^^^^^^^ This.
It's been tough finding birds this year due to crops still in. It's pretty much an issue across the entire state.
Like he says, if you can find good cover and a field being picked nearby, there will be birds in there. A couple weeks ago I had that exact same scenario take place and had probably 200 birds in a field all to myself. Too bad they were essentially in one giant group and all couldn't get to close to them without the whole gang busting out. Did get a couple stragglers.
Walk quietly during the day and you can usually scratch out a couple birds from good cover.

 

[wytex]

I have a good friend that spent Thanksgiving in Pierre. They had a real blizzard up there. He told me, when asking about pheasants, they have good numbers around Pierre but not like just to the South in Winner.

He did bring us a big bag of Walleye fillets from up that way.

 

[chadv]

Id stay away from Winner just due to the no public land issue. Ive had a very good year hunting only public land but it averages about 1 bird every 45 minutes to an hour starting at 10 am. I started the year east of Mitchell but have moved to different areas as these birds have been thinned out and educated. If I was going to stay in a hotel any where id go west of Aberdeen. I was up there deer hunting and was surprised at the #s. Plenty of chickens up there also as a bonus (prairie chickens).