South Dakota

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Have ended up here late season the past few years. Early season for me is for grouse. Winds from 25 to 40 mph today made things even more challenging. Alot of the grass had been hayed, but birds were thick in the cattails. I shot at 3, killed 2 with a ⁶Fox SW 16 and Boss bismuth 5s. Hunting until next Friday.
Dog health woes continue, Fancy, my old dog, noticed her with a vaginitis , or maybe a pyometra, so started her on antibiotics with the approval of my brother, a veterinarian.
I'm a walking pharmacy, carrying a pretty complete medical kit for man and beast.
Willie has recovered from his collapsed lung, and Doodle from her pyometra resulting in an emergency spay.
Temps are plummeting and may have highs around 0 degrees. Oh well, that's hunting.

[Garry L Gordon]

Good luck Harold! The arctic freight train is coming. I hope you can keep those pups inside.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Yes, Garry,my F-150 super cab with 6.5 ft bed just fits into the garage of the house we rented with 6 in clearance. I carry 2 good electric heaters and heavy extension cord with me, dogs are toasty despite brutal temps outside. My 3 setters and Terry's lab a bit much for all 4 in the house, so I alternate bringing one inside my room to sleep.

[Garry L Gordon]

I just looked at the forecast for Huron—YIKES! A high of minus 2 on Wed with high winds (what other kinds are there on the prairie?!?)

You may need to borrow a single trigger gun from Harry G.:rotf::rotf::rotf:

Be careful. Weather like what is forecast can be very dangerous.

[Chris Pope]

We hunt the Eureka, SD area and they used to have a one doc practice in town with a woman who was a vet tech there most days. Last time I was there (for a cut that needed sutures) she asked if I wanted to "run a tab"? Thought she was kidding...nope. That's what I did. Unfortunately that practice closed.
I think the last time we had to visit a vet we went to Hosmer. There were two young women docs there. They would be out most of the day working large animal medicine on the cattle farms then return in the afternoon to suture hunting dogs. They were very nice and their prices were very cheap.
Good luck and watch out for frostbite (man and beast)- can happen in a hurry and you dont realize it with all the pheasant action!

[Ken Hill]

Harold,

Where’s all the snow? :) Looks like a good time to be there except for the very low temperatures. I made two trips to SD this year and only 1 day had 25mph plus winds. Hunting SD sure beats hunting KS.

Ken

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Willie chilling out after the hunt.

[Kenny Graft]

You are a trooper, Harold!!!! Hope you get good weather as best as possible....(-: SXS ohio

[Dean Weber]

Harold,
Be safe out there today. I declined my outdoor activities due to a healthy attitude towards the wind!

[Pete Lester]

A friend of mine lives about 90 miles north of Huron in Aberdeen. He said it was -16 there this morning without the wind.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Today was much colder than yesterday, got up to 9, but was sunny and wind had died down a bit, was actually more comfortable today. We kept hunts short, I only had one shot today and missed. Tomorrow will be a drive around day looking at covers and go to lunch at Manoli''s butcher/sandwich shop. Temps to drop tonight to -15 and highs of minus3.
Been hunting Waterfowl Production Area,, Crep,, and GPAs

[Daryl Corona]

Manoli's is awesome.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Manoli's is awesome Daryl, old time sandwich, butcher, liquor store that makes the best sandwiches ever.

[Daryl Corona]

Manoli's is awesome Daryl, old time sandwich, butcher, liquor store that makes the best sandwiches ever.

Next time we are together remind me to tell you of my first time at Manoli's. It was recommended by the town Veterinarian while he worked on my dog. A visit to Huron is just not complete without a visit there.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Manoli's. We each got a different sandwich and traded halves.
Minus 14 here today, with 20 mph winds. No, not hunting in this stuff, I m hard-core, but I don't have a death wish. My hunting partner Terry was a pilot on the North Slope in Alaska during the pipeline days, said that's the only place he has been that was colder.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Manoli's. We each got a different sandwich and traded halves.
Minus 14 here today, with 20 mph winds. No, not hunting in this stuff, I m hard-core, but I don't have a death wish. My hunting partner Terry was a pilot on the North Slope in Alaska during the pipeline days, said that's the only place he has been that was colder.

[Wes Stueber]

Good luck, Harold! The dogs and I are heading out to SD next week, IF the weather moderates a BIT....!

I always like to finish up the bird season out there - IF doable..!!

(Good looking sandwiches..!)

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Waited until it got up to 10 degrees today. Wind came from the south raising temps a bit. I only had 1 shot with the Fox 16 and made it count. Terry shot at 3, got 2.

[Kenny Graft]

Good job guys....I hope to get out west this cumming fall/winter. Pups will be almost 2 years old then and ready for them wild roosters....(-:

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Wes, looks like the weather will be good for you next week.
Kenny, when did you get an English Setter, good looking dog!

[Stan Hillis]

Great thread and pics, Harold. Tell me more about that Fox 16. Looks to have fairly long barrels . . . 30"? I have a Philly Fox AE 16 with 30" tubes that I shoot very well with a Kick Killer lace on pad to get more LOP.

[Kenny Graft]

Daisy is a Ryman setter from Weisse kennels, she is now 11 months old. She was a replacement puppy for the one that passes from cancer that he got back in 2021. So, Dave received Daisy three years later than he had wanted and his heath caught up with him right then. He got Daisy this past March and then had a heart attack. Dave gifted her to me due to a 2nd heart attack about 8 weeks ago and his hard time recovering from it. Dave has two other dogs, and the young puppy was causing all kind of trouble. He has not been able to walk well, and the wife was at her wits end. Daisy is going to be a great dog; she is behind on training, but we are getting along very well, my other puppy Charie Rae loves her, and they have bonded like super glue! She is learning to be a good citizen, house broke and good in the car. Soon as the weather warms up, I will start yard training, it was -7 degrees her this morning in Ohio. I have spent the fall and winter of 2024 with puppies. This is the most important training time of there lives and I want to get it right! So, I did not do any pheasant hunting with them this season. We will be starting Daisy with pigeons this spring, soon as I can get some in my coupe and ready for training. Going to be a busy year training two puppies. I have 2 weeks booked in the UP for October the 18th thrue Novevember 1st. (-: SXS ohio

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Stan, pics are deceiving. It was originally 28 in, but someone had cut it to 26.5 in. Has a nice replacement stock k also with pad. A Utica Fox so chambers are 2 3/4.
Sitting here in the truck waiting for the 10 o'clock start time. Weather now up to 28 degrees but windy. Have seen at least half a dozen roosters flying into the grass from the cut corn, oh boy, but as they say roasted
ain't roasted.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Sorry wrong picture

[Wes Stueber]

Harold,
I just talked to the landowner and he said they have literally no snow on the ground in n/c SD and he's still seeing a LOT of roosters..!
The dogs and I are ready to head West shortly.
Good luck to you the remainder of the late SD season..!
Good looking bird dogs you have there.

[TOM DAMIANI]

Harold -You and your hunting friend are tsb]s that do the walk &the talk living the dream .

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Nope, no snow. Wind has been 20-40mph every day, so be prepared . Seeing lots of birds, they are just getting up out of range, often over 100 yds or more. A bird getting up heading south with a 25 mph north wind is quickly gone. We don't talk, no beepers or bells on dogs. Have my buddy's lab and my setters. Hunting good grass and heavy cattails, hunting a lot of WPAs.

[mikeschneider]

Heading back out there Saturday, forecast is for 30’s Sunday followed by 5+ days of 40 or better…even if the highs are 10 degrees under what’s being forecasted, that’ll be a nice way to end the season. Was there as recently as 1/14, birds are pretty plentiful and behaving fairly well…I’m 30 miles from Manolis’s, may have to
get a sandwich!

[Daryl Corona]

What area are you hunting Mike?

[mikeschneider]

Forestburg to Fedora, both sides of hwy 34….lots of public land in the area…this is my 32nd season hunting there…I own a 1/4 of WRP in that area, and mostly hunt private ground owned by 3-5 different farmers…an old farmer enrolled 9120 acres in CREP last year, all within a few miles of my ground. Gonna take another year for the prairie grasses to blossom, but a fair amount of sloughs and low ground on that land, hence the appeal of enrolling it into the program…been surprised all season at the bird #’s given the fact we got over a foot of rain in about 3 days around June 19-21st, and it was very cool at night…couldn’t have helped matters…but these birds are pretty determined critters!

[mikeschneider]

I use the SD 511 website to look at current conditions…there’s several hundred camera’s throughout the state giving nice views of the adjacent ground…ND as well…gives a decent amount of intel, including if the wheat is being harvested, what amount of water is sitting in ditches and fields, and also, if there’s snow on the ground…pics are updated every 15 minutes, I believe…

[mikeschneider]

I wrote about this a few months ago, but the highlight of this season thus far occurred opening week in SD…I parked on one of the corners of my ground and walked west with my older lab, knowing she wouldn’t get too far ahead…took my repro 28 with some #5 lead loads, 1 oz, and started walking, figuring I’d flush a bird or two in the fuzzy ditches that were bordered by corn…nuttin doin after a mile, where some of that CREP began…small cattail slough awaited me in the corner of that CREP, so I drifted north of it, given the south wind…I turned into the wind, and as we got near the slough, Lena told me that there were birds in the slough…birds started flushing, mostly roosters…finally, one in range, think I took 2 shots, and down it went…Lena delivered it promptly…I was pumped! Started walking west, and soon I crested a mild rise in the field, and saw more cattail sloughs…small…perfect! We did the same thing, drifted north by 80 yards, and turned into the breeze…I watched Lena, and could tell she was excited…soon after, a few roosters flushed, the first went down and the second I missed; I knew the first wasn’t a dead bird, but luckily the slough was the size of a 2 stall garage, with little vegetation surrounding it. About 5 seconds after reloading, a cock flushed and headed west, which fell about 30 yards from us, and was dead…Lena went to that bird, so I watched where the first rooster had fallen; sure enough, he attempted to escape on foot to the East, and with Lena to my West, returning with that other bird, I promptly finished the cripple off. It was barely 10:30, I had my limit…much fun! I hadn’t hunted pheasants with that Repro yet, just prairie grouse and huns…it was a real highlight of this season, and my entire hunting career!

[Daryl Corona]

I wrote about this a few months ago, but the highlight of this season thus far occurred opening week in SD…I parked on one of the corners of my ground and walked west with my older lab, knowing she wouldn’t get too far ahead…took my repro 28 with some #5 lead loads, 1 oz, and started walking, figuring I’d flush a bird or two in the fuzzy ditches that were bordered by corn…nuttin doin after a mile, where some of that CREP began…small cattail slough awaited me in the corner of that CREP, so I drifted north of it, given the south wind…I turned into the wind, and as we got near the slough, Lena told me that there were birds in the slough…birds started flushing, mostly roosters…finally, one in range, think I took 2 shots, and down it went…Lena delivered it promptly…I was pumped! Started walking west, and soon I crested a mild rise in the field, and saw more cattail sloughs…small…perfect! We did the same thing, drifted north by 80 yards, and turned into the breeze…I watched Lena, and could tell she was excited…soon after, a few roosters flushed, the first went down and the second I missed; I knew the first wasn’t a dead bird, but luckily the slough was the size of a 2 stall garage, with little vegetation surrounding it. About 5 seconds after reloading, a cock flushed and headed west, which fell about 30 yards from us, and was dead…Lena went to that bird, so I watched where the first rooster had fallen; sure enough, he attempted to escape on foot to the East, and with Lena to my West, returning with that other bird, I promptly finished the cripple off. It was barely 10:30, I had my limit…much fun! I hadn’t hunted pheasants with that Repro yet, just prairie grouse and huns…it was a real highlight of this season, and my entire hunting career!

Yep, somedays you just hit the hunting jackpot. Great story Mike.

[Wes Stueber]

I'm heading out on Monday early and hope to finish up the SD pheasant season again!

Nice last week weather forecast.

Best of luck to you guys & your pups!!

[Wes Stueber]

Fine story, Mike! Those days are never forgotten, even by Lena.

You gotta love those WILD roosters..!!

(I agree w/ you about the SD 511 site w/ the cameras.)

Thanks!

[Harold Lee Pickens]

FAILURE TO FIRE!!
Had three of these today, using two guns i had carried and shot this week. Started into a WPA and had a rooster get up in front of me, pulled the front trigger and click, light indentation on the primer. Dropped a new shell in and another one got up and again click.
I carried and shot this gun yesterday, a Ugartechea 12, no problem yesterday. Shooting Kent Bismuth.
Went back to the truck, grabbed the 16 Sterlingworth an Boss Bismuth, later missed a bird that got up in back of me. At the end of the day, cutting thru cattails on the way to the truck, a rooster got up fight in front of me, easey-peasey, front trigger and click, light strike on the primer, missed when I finally grabbed the back trigger.
Very frustrated, back at the truck ran shells thru both and worked just fine. I'll be gun shy tomorrow when birds get up.
(No, I haven't sprayed oil in the firing pin holes, or trigger slots. But will spray a degreaser/gun scrubber thru them when I get home--tomorrow is last day.

[Wes Stueber]

I feel your pain, Harold! Last year I took a gun out and flushed a rooster right away and when I pulled the trigger, it didn't fire..! I was shocked and then shot the other barrel first. Light firing pull indentation on the first barrel.

I did not trust it after that and went back to the truck to switch shotguns out. No problem w/ the other one. After I returned home, I sent it out for checking and repair. Since then, I do NOT trust it anymore & it sits....

Hope you had better luck today?

[Kenny Graft]

FAILURE TO FIRE!!
Had three of these today, using two guns i had carried and shot this week. Started into a WPA and had a rooster get up in front of me, pulled the front trigger and click, light indentation on the primer. Dropped a new shell in and another one got up and again click.
I carried and shot this gun yesterday, a Ugartechea 12, no problem yesterday. Shooting Kent Bismuth.
Went back to the truck, grabbed the 16 Sterlingworth an Boss Bismuth, later missed a bird that got up in back of me. At the end of the day, cutting thru cattails on the way to the truck, a rooster got up fight in front of me, easey-peasey, front trigger and click, light strike on the primer, missed when I finally grabbed the back trigger.
Very frustrated, back at the truck ran shells thru both and worked just fine. I'll be gun shy tomorrow when birds get up.
(No, I haven't sprayed oil in the firing pin holes, or trigger slots. But will spray a degreaser/gun scrubber thru them when I get home--tomorrow is last day.

You need some Gun 21 Harold. Made for AR rifles, goes on wet and dries with no residue and makes everything slick and protected from rust and will not stain the wood stocks like grease or oil! It is truly amazing stuff. I know because I sell it and get the real-world reports back of how good it is! No one has said nothing but good things on its performance and makes the bores shin like super polish then nothing sticks to them. My original test was on a 410 that was really hard to clean after 100 rounds, now that guns cleans so easy. I will fix you up with a test bottle next time I see you...(-:

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Thanks for the tip, Kenny.
Headed home as I type this Terry driving.
Good last day, moved sh*t load of birds. No misfires today. Shot a staggered double with the Fox 16, and on the final hunt picked up my 3rd on the best shot all week.
Dogs are beat, high grass and cattails more in the domain of labs than setters. Looks like great week ahead for those going out. Good luck and post pictures.

[Dean Romig]

Y'all need to shoot your Parkers if you don't want misfires.... :nono:





.

[mikeschneider]

15 degrees and a bit of wind first thing here in SD…moved 65-70, mostly hens…lots of wind yesterday as I drove here…birds seemed to be hunkered down, roosters held tight, all flushes were pretty close…quick hunt…hens were a bit more inclined to flush, but they were bunched up….nice day. Stopped in Lennox, SD yesterday to see my 2day old pup…yellow female, 3 to pick from…fun stuff!!��

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Wow, a great day. Although we would see that many or often more birds each day, we had the opposite. Hens would hold over point, but roosters got up 50-200 yds out in front of the dogs. Very few roosters getting up in range, had to make shots count. Hope your week continues to go that good.
New puppy, that's exciting, would like to have a yellow lab female but 3 setters are enough for now. Got home after an 18 hour drive yesterday, and still putting stuff away until next fall.

[mikeschneider]

Last trip, about 2 weeks ago, birds were quick to vacate…especially if cover wasn’t heavy. I’m sure things will change as it warms up and wind subsides…

[mikeschneider]

53 today, wind gusting to 35, can’t hear birds flushing…took longer, had some sloppy hunting between birds 1 and 3…ended on a nice note, a double…goofed up on a potential double 25 minutes earlier and was kicking myself…staying positive is important for me, I can vacillate between darkness and light!

[mikeschneider]

Hunted with a group yesterday…not my cup of tea, but good guys, had good dogs, and were good shots…good day all in all…

[Wes Stueber]

Anyone have a rooster flush 40 ft. behind them this year? I had one I assume my two dogs passed over along a tree line in SD just before the season ended this year. Maybe we were moving too fast..?

I heard him flush, but I THINK he played this game earlier this past year?

Good season anyway!

[mikeschneider]

I had several of those! Usually there are multiple birds, scent aplenty, and I’m following the dogs…I’m chuckling thinking of at least 2 situations where I went too fast, usually after several hens had flushed, and the dogs are heading South, so South I go! Only to hear a bird flushing a bit North of me…yup, rooster!! One of those was during the last week of the season…had 3 days in the 50’s…another day or 2 in the 40’s…I’m 58, may never see another full season with no snow!

[Wes Stueber]

Mike,

Same conditions, exactly here! I had TWO such flushes on the LAST day, in fact!

I'm 76 and NO snow was nice once this season! I doubt I will ever see that again..?

Thanks for your reply.

[mikeschneider]

You bet, Wes…I made it a point to hunt small, even micro, covers this season, as I hunted solo much of the time…had a partner some of the time, but we usually were hunting solo, but in the vicinity of each other…been reflecting on the season a whole lot, it was fantastic! Not even thinking of birds bagged…good dogs, great scenery, great friends….and yes, good/great hunting…nothing I love more than logging the miles, following the dogs, carrying a gun that makes me smile…7 months til
sharptails and guns!!!!