# mid west Pheasants hunting



## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Anyone on here hunted SD or North Dakota for pheasants / Possibly rented an old farm house- Motel 6- done the public land hunting ? If so any thoughts of wisdom you could provide besides "Go BACK don't go there"
In all reality this is not my cup of tea but I have been sort of put in charge by 3 older brothers and a nephew who want to- just trying to make it an enjoyable time for them. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

My first question is, what is your budget?

I have hunted SD numerous times, but never done the public land deal. My recommendation would be contact the SD Game and Fish and find out when they produce their pheasant hatch count numbers. This is a breakdown of every county in the state and the number of birds that were counted - this will give you a good idea of the counties to focus your attention on when finding public land to hunt. Also, talk to the biologist and ask him/her questions about which landowners could be approached for access and what public access places would be good to hit up (lots of public ground can be found around waterfowl hunting areas - make sure you have steel shot). SD's economy gets a huge amount of money from nonresident hunters and are very willing to help nonresident hunters.

I would recommend going earlier in the season if you are doing the public land deal, the birds will be very educated if you wait until later due to the amount of hunting pressure. Also, the state of SD owns the right-of-ways along almost every road... meaning you have about 25 yards off of each side of the road to hunt. SD purposely leaves the weeds and cover higher along the roads for various reasons, but a lot of nonresident hunters can be found hunting along the road. 

For simplicity, I would stay in a hotel. From my understanding, ND receives less nonresident hunters compared to SD.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

South Dakota (and the other midwest states) publishes a book each year, that has maps of all the lands enrolled in the public access program. Maps go by county, and show you lands where Fish, Wildlife and Parks have negotiated public access. It is a really cool program. With Google Earth, you can then go and take a look a these fields to further scout them. South Dakota has millions of acres in this program. I think Nebraska has like 4 million acres in it. Some are just quarter sections, some are just the pivot corners, others are larger - 6-8 sections in each chunk. There are slight variations in which lands are available from year to year, but not much. Most are on 5-10 year agreements. So if you get last year's map book, it will work well enough. 

I've got family that hunt around Hot Springs, SD every year and do really well. They built their own vacation home there and use that as a base. But most of the local motels welcome pheasant hunters (and their dogs). Many local dive motels have little kitchens set up as well so you can do your own cooking if you want. Jeff is right though. South Dakota realizes and welcomes the impact that hunters have and will help you out quite a bit. Contact them and they'll probably send you a packet of helpful information about the whens and how tos and even the biological information Jeff talked about, showing where the birds are doing the best.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

In most states you have to leave proof of species and sex connected to the breast meat. Most hotels have a large freezer for everyone to share. The game warden comes by and checks these and may also check your hotel room. My bro in law got a ticket because he boneless breasted out the meat without proof. Here is a solution: 

Bring some gallon and quart size ziplock bags and freezer tape. Cut the breast out while leaving one wing attached (pair of tin snips come in handy for this if you are a rookie). Put the breast in the quart freezer bag with the wing hanging out, seal and tape the bag tight around the wing bone trying to seal up the meat the best you can-several wraps of tape will help. Place three of these in one gallon ziplock freezer bag and seal it up. This protects your meat for freezing and keeps you legal.

Bring boot dryers, spare boots, a spare shotgun, and lots of ammo. Lot's of country to cover so hit the ground running, check out as many public access spots that you can, some are amazing, some ok, and some aren't worth the time.

Send me a PM if you want more info


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## slapwater (Jun 18, 2009)

I met a friend in Nebraska last fall to hunt for a couple days. We stayed in a motel and hunted the public access CRP that the other responses mentioned. We had a great time. Lots of birds. It is challenging because some of the fields are awesome and some are total duds. We did spend a good amount of time just driving from field to field but we spent enough time hunting for me to miss a whole bunch of birds so I was happy. I'd do it again, in fact I think we'll do it again this fall. 

With that said, if I had the money I would totally do one of the DIY places that give you a place to stay and exclusive access to a bunch of great property but don't require a guide. It would cut way down on driving, make hunting much simpler and just be a lot of fun. A lot of those places have ponds and marshes that make for good duck hunting once you fill your limit on pheasants. They are a little pricey though from what I have seen.

Finally, do you have a dog? If not, I would recommend you go to one of the guided places. We hunted over my buddies dog and I'm positive we would have not had near the success we did without her. The grass is too tall, the fields too big, and the birds to smart. I had a number of birds hold tight until I was about to step on them. I would never have known they were there without the dog.


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## Iron Bear (Nov 19, 2008)

I've heard that the hunting in the Midwest sucks due to pesticides and intensive farming practices maybe even global warming too. 

Just ask Lonetree.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

...


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Thanks- for the info- APPRECIATE IT - money really isn't a problem though I like saving a penny as much as anyone - I really like hunting and not just killing- I have been on 3 states mailing lists for public land- block management etc. for a couple of years. I have a couple of contacts in ND - some pheasant hunting - more sharptail , which is fine with me. Certainly will take and use the info you have given- Time to get it all together -finish up the home work and pull the trigger.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Here is a video showing the method that we use to keep a wing on, I believe Airborne alluded to this in post #4.





 - just cut one wing off and you are ready to go.

You can also take the leg meat and cook it up, instead of just throwing it away. BBQ pheasant legs are awesome! Last night I looked through some of hunting pictures and journals, I have hunted close to 30 days in SD over the years and have shot my limit every one of those days on pheasants. About 1/3 of the time I also shot my limit of sharptails. There are just a lot of birds up there. Enjoy the trip!


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