Going south
 

South Dakota, of course. Drove 1200 miles Tuesday, feeling a little rough today. I took three birds, my buddy Terry got 2 a good first day. Also moved a big flock of sharpies.

Shot them with a 12 ga Ugartechea, wishing I'd brought a 20 ga, theses birds got up close. I hate carrying heavy guns, the Uggie is just under 7 lbs

Public or private land? Always wanted to check out SD.

Hey Harold...wow that rooster has a loooong tail in your picture did you measure it...Hope you guys are having a great time....ware are you?

Ira, we hunt all public land, WPAs, CREP, WMAs etc. Don't know anyone to get on private land, but there is no lack of ground to hunt. Probably moving a couple hundred birds per day, but most get up out of range--but not all. They are especially wild late season like this.
I got 2 roosters and buddy Terry 2 also. If you see places where you can shoot 5 per day, they are releasing pen raised birds to be able to do this.

Shooting Kent bismuth #4s

What?
 

I am offended, Harold...not true.

Not sure what you mean Dean, what's not true.

Wild Birds
 

All wild birds, Harold.

I hunt the same area in E/SE SD for 33 seasons now; best year in 18 years. The hatch was phenomenal, 97% of birds shot have been this years birds. First 6 weeks were 2, maybe 3 of us…last 6 weeks usually 4, 5, and one group of 6. Used up 4 licenses, 8 trips, mostly 4 days hunting, a few 5. Limits most days, mostly hunting private, 10% public? Lots of new public ground in my area, lots of bird production. Same with private, fair amount of fairly new CRP. Great carryover from last year…great hatch. My pup has had 40+ days between both Dakota’s…doing better than I ever hoped! Much fun!

Hi, Dean. I meant that at commercial pheasant hunting operations and high end lodges that they often have a limit of 5 because they do supplement the population. I put that in there because a friend told me they were able to shoot 5 per day, and that was because the birds were supplemented. They also packed your lunch, included dinner, etc.
You can even Google this to confirm it.
I know that's not your MO, and certainly not mine, I enjoy finding new covers and places to hunt by doing the work.
That's a great picture by the way, a stellar hunt. Looks like the weather is going to go in the crapper for a couple days, oh well , that's why they call it hunting.
Hope you can make it outsome more before the season ends.

All good Harold. Just messin’ with ya a bit. Perhaps the message should be….hunting very late season pheasants is difficult. Add public land with pointers and just 2 guys…..well, the odds just went down considerably.

I want to clarify my mention of pointers. As Garry Gordon says, “pheasants cheat”. Very few late season roosters hold for a point.

My buddy Terry does have a lab, and each day it has recovered a bird that my setters would not have found. Shot a bird yesterday that dropped both legs, flew across a slough and then died in mid air into heavy cattails. Leery about crossing a frozen lake, we tried to mark it and 2 hours later on the other side of the lake, told the dogs to hunt dead and Ski, Terry's lab found it.
No doubt labs are the best for late season and heavy cover. Maybe one day will have one, but already 4 dogs in the house.