There is a disk jockey in Sioux Falls I’ve never met, that frequently does a passably good imitation of me. He calls himself, Nooley Dean, my brother, and while I get to hunt everywhere, he follows the dark side, hunting turkeys in pens at Worthington, MN, beef cows in an Arlington, SD feedlot, and Canada geese on Covell Lake in Sioux Falls. Anyway, one of Nooley’s favorite expressions is “keep the getaway car running so we can get out of here quicker than it takes to hide a dead hen pheasant.”
It’s a safe bet there’ll be a few dead pheasants hidden in South Dakota fields on the first weekend of the season, though most will be an honest mistake. The traditional pheasant opener falls on the third Saturday in October, but the real season opens in mid-November and the hunting gets better in December. That’s when the crowds go home and the real pheasant hunters come out to play.
Opening weekend is more of a, well, a celebration that brings hunters from all over the world. I’ve spent opening days wading through snow, though not since global warming, and some when we sweltered. Three years ago, it was hot and humid. That opener resulted in the death of about a hundred mostly out of shape hunting dogs. On that same day, 25,000 hunters passed through the doors of Cabela’s in Mitchell, and more than 150,000 entered South Dakota’s fields, dropping $100 million dollars into South Dakota’s economy. On that same day, the World Series played to a paltry 55,000 in Yankee Stadium, proving pheasant hunting is South Dakota’s pastime.
Each fall South Dakota hosts the rich and famous. Sports stars, military figures, movie actors, even Vice President Dick Cheney and a bunch of Secret Service agents who never learned to drive gravel roads. At last count, they’ve rolled a Ford Expedition or two as well as breaking collarbones while making sure the VP wasn’t bothered by common folks while shooting ringnecks. I can’t help but wonder how Cheney would do if he had to slog it out on public land. That would be a good experience for any politician; one that might change their view on the management of federal lands.
On one memorable opener, a news reporter saw a familiar face at a Winner, SD gaming table. Each time I think about it, I recall South Dakota’s tourism slogan, “Great Faces, Great Places.” This took place before the state legalized gambling and the great face in an illegal great place belonged to South Dakota’s then-Attorney General. The reporter “outed” the AG, though it wasn’t quite like outing a CIA agent. But gambling’s legal now and every drinking establishment and most convenience stores hang up their “Casino” signs even if they have only a few video slots inside. However, you’re a real gambler if you think you’re going to make any money by feeding quarters into them because they support state government.
Every small rural community holds a dinner or two for pheasant hunters. Some staged by churches, others by local civic clubs, and some are even part of pheasant fundraisers. No matter, you dine on rubber chicken, ham and more varieties of Jell-O than you thought possible. After all, this is South Dakota where they watch those Bill Cosby commercials. Many small communities depend on the pheasant hunting industry, and though I hate to use that term, “industry” it is, because anything that puts 150,000 people in rural areas for a weekend or more results in a lot of money spent. Since the future of this industry depends greatly on landowners and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), I’ve long thought state government should have a plan in place for the likely disappearance of the CRP program. Imagine what you could accomplish for a halfpenny or so of sales tax. Gosh, that might even have the SD Retailers Association supporting GFP instead of trying to weasel out a portion of online license sales. You could replace a lot of CRP with a program like that.
As for CRP, most state officials are pessimistic regarding its future. The story is sad, but simple. The agri-business industry, has more seats at the decision table, and they are planning to essentially kill CRP by going through the backdoor. The plan is straightforward; eliminate CRP by making sure the farmer can earn more via subsidies by plowing and planting than by putting idle land into grass. Once the public understands that the Farm Bill might pay a few farmers, they’ll be disappointed to learn that it’s rapidly becoming a gigantic agri-business welfare program with the money ending up in the pockets of those who espouse the loudest, big government and the virtues of free enterprise. As a result, each day, more prairie is broken, and if anyone thinks the farmer benefits, they’re wrong. Just ask who has the biggest stake in an economic force play that puts every square inch into row crops. Big Ag doesn’t care if wheat drops to a couple bucks a bushel. It is a national shame that America’s farm belt is being ripped up with a program such as this, while the agri-business crowd practices their version of a rip-off!
“CRP is the foundation for our pheasant population,” says Tom Kirschmann, the state’s pheasant biologist. “If we lose it, we lose most of our birds.” Though elected officials usually loathe the idea of any kind of tax increase, I think there would be general support for a small state-imposed sales tax to insure the future of pheasant hunting. I’ve also long believed that landowners who practice fee hunting would be wise to offer residents late season pheasant hunting at a greatly reduced price…perhaps on the ratio of the cost of a non-resident hunting license and that of a resident. And if they bring kids, let them hunt free. You can expect there are those on both sides of the fee hunting issue that would oppose such an effort, but it’s better than we have now.
The majority of hunters, resident and visitors, do most of their pheasant hunting on the opening weekend. However, the serious hunters from both groups hunt as often and as late as they can. Even so, you shouldn’t miss opening weekend because there’s nothing in the world quite like it, and it takes place in nearly every small community in pheasant country. Many times it’s so festive that you can enjoy it without a shotgun.
The local television stations do their annual “night before the opener” story complete with pheasant footage from years ago, hunters coming down the ramp at the Sioux Falls airport, and of course, the obligatory scenes of camo and orange-clad hunters drinking beer in a smoky bar. Media does their best to portray hunters as sopping louts who will be shooting at each other the next day. And to add more insult, local policemen in some communities will stop every vehicle going too slow, too fast, with windows rolled down in the chilly evening air, or on something as insignificant as an officer’s whim. The result of each stop is to require the driver to subject to a sobriety check. In Pierre, our police chief said a few days after the opener that he wasn’t targeting hunters with a midnight roadblock on the Highway 14 Bridge that crosses the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre. And if you believe that, I’d like to sell you that bridge.
Countless communities call themselves the pheasant capitol of the world, and I guess they can lay claim to that title. Huron has a giant pheasant, and so does Redfield. Nevertheless, there are more pheasants in the Chamberlain area than anywhere else without having to erect a statue.
But amidst the carnival atmosphere, during that opening weekend a very high percentage of the annual pheasant harvest of 1.6 million, by far the highest in the nation, will take place. “Our opening weekend harvest should run about 300,000 birds if it’s anything like last year,” said Kirschmann of Huron. In addition, it might go higher than that because the pheasant numbers this fall should be the best in 40 years.
Certainly, the highest bird numbers will be in south central South Dakota, but Kirschmann said the availability of public lands in northeastern South Dakota, including the areas around Huron, Watertown and even in places like Marshall and Roberts counties, should provide great hunting. That’s also true of north central South Dakota as well as much of the area in the West River region, though there aren’t as many public lands in the west.
I’ll miss the opener this year, maybe the first one since 1968. Seems that weekend is the only one my brothers can clear to come to South Dakota to fish Roy Lake smallies and walleyes.
If you want to hunt on private land and don’t have a contact, you’d be wise to wait until later in the season, especially mid-November to the end of the season on the last day of December.
“The pressure really drops off then,” said Kirschmann, “and it’s a lot easier to find good private land hunting. Hunting on weekdays is a better bet than on weekends, and that’s also when the public lands provide great hunting, especially dry cattail marshes where pheasants tend to bunch up with colder weather.”
You work harder, of course, and you will do much better if you own a good bird dog. The late season birds are survivors and a lot wilder than they are earlier in the season. But it’s amazing how well you can do, even hunting alone, if you take your time in a marsh and just follow your dog. The trick is to stop often, for as much as several minutes. That’s because some roosters sit tight and let hunters go on by. A good dog usually finds those birds, and even if the dog happens to pass them on the upwind side, the pause tends to make them nervous, and you’ll often get close shots.
While some try to tell you that gun control advocates are the biggest enemy of hunting, others will blame the animal rights groups. Neither is correct. The biggest deterrent to the future of hunting is access to good private land. And who can blame a landowner for going along with fee hunting? In years past, the farmer watched the service stations, hardware stores, bars and motels cut a fat hog each autumn. Him? He who provided the land, the habitat, and made it possible to hunt pheasants, usually settled for a ham, block of cheese…or nothing. Is it any wonder they finally moved toward getting a piece of the pie? Yet, there are still landowners, especially in so-called “marginal” areas who do not charge fees, as well as some who are philosophically opposed to fee hunting.
Even so, while resident hunters drop in numbers each year, presumably because of the difficulty of finding a place to hunt, those who do their homework always seem to find such places. One is my friend, Dave Zentner of Duluth, MN. Dave is well known as one of America’s top citizen conservationists, is up for the Budweiser Conservationist award, and recently led the march on Minnesota’s state capital on behalf of hunters. He’s traveled to South Dakota each year for as long as I can remember to “get my annual prairie fix,” and to chase a few ringnecks. He does it the old-fashioned way. He knocks on rural doors, politely asks permission, and often gets the answer he wants. In fact, he returns annually to one farm in the north central part of the state, a place he found when he asked permission to launch his canoe to hunt ducks in a marsh. He and the landowner struck up a conversation; Dave got permission to hunt those ducks, as well as an invitation to bag a few ringnecks. He responded by offering some birds (refused), and took the landowner and his wife to dinner. In short, he formed a relationship that is now in its fourth season. Other hunters would be wise to emulate him. The truth is, many hunters are not willing to ask permission. However, they should if they want to find a place to hunt because it works. Hunters willing to ask permission learn something else. The same landowner who saved his land for good friends and family seems more willing to allow strangers on his land late in the season when their hunting obligations have ended.
Appearance helps. Look and act responsibly. Tell the landowner your name, provide him with an address, and assure him you follow the rules. Try putting yourself in the landowner position. Would you welcome a stranger dressed in shabby clothes? But how about a hunter who dresses well, seems concerned with taking care of your land, and treats you with respect? Which would you trust on your land? If a landowner says no, accept it, thank him anyway, and move on to the next place.
Asking permission in South Dakota isn’t just a nice gesture. It’s the law. The landowner doesn’t have to post his land, because under South Dakota’s trespass law, all private land is assumed posted. Suffice to say, if you want to hunt there a second time, you have to ask the first time.
When I was a young lad, almost every shotgun used for pheasants in the Dakotas came from the factory, full-choked. None of us realized then how much of a handicap that put us under. In fact, I was in my forties before I realized how much better I could shoot after switching to an improved cylinder choke. The best advice I can give anyone who has recently purchased a new shotgun is to screw in the improved cylinder choke and throw the others away, or at least hide them somewhere where you can’t find them. Most pheasants bagged actually fall within 35 yards, and that’s perfect for the improved cylinder bore. If you want to lose more cripples, and I can’t think of a reason why you’d want to do that, shoot at birds beyond 40 yards.
For most late season hunting, I use 3-inch loads of #3 steel, not because it will kill birds at longer distances, but because there’s more shot in the shell. That means dense patterns and clean kills. I also recommend, especially if you also hunt waterfowl, that you use steel loads, because switching back and forth between loads of different velocities is one good reason hunters miss more often with steel.
Good shooting glasses are necessary, even if you don’t normally wear glasses. First, there’s the safety aspect. A polycarbonate lens will stop a shotgun pellet and the alternative isn’t pretty. Equally important, a yellow lens provides more contrast, especially on cloudy days. I wear prescription glasses, and a few years back, Dr. John Bitz, a Bismarck optician, made me a pair of polarized glasses ground to my prescription for fishing, and a second pair for shooting. He suggested a rose-colored lens, and I’ve never been sorry. Even high gas prices look better when seen through rose-colored glasses. The lens protects my eyes, colors remain true and the contrast provided, cloudy or sunny, is amazing.
Good shooting gloves are necessary, especially when temperatures dip in late November. The best I’ve found are Bob Allen’s, and I prefer their insulated model. Cabela’s sells them. At about $45, they aren’t cheap but the leather is soft, supple, and you lose no feel. The problem with most gloves is that they’re so bulky; your index finger barely fits in the trigger guard. The amount of insulation in the Bob Allen gloves is just right and they keep my fingers warm down to about zero degrees. I wear them out in two hunting seasons, so I always keep an extra pair on hand.
Now let’s get down to the business of late season pheasant hunting. It can be done with a military-like assault with all parties coming in from opposite sides, or it can be a simple as one hunter with a dog. It goes without saying that you will find late season survivors (except when they are feeding) in the heaviest cover they can find. In South Dakota, cattail marshes are nearly always the best choice, and the bigger the better. However, don’t overlook smaller marshes that are isolated and near a good food supply. I have flushed as many as several hundred pheasants from a cattail patch that barely covered a half-acre.
However, the large marsh offers the best odds. In a smaller one, the birds will frequently leave it, but on the big one, they’ll more often fly to another area. I suspect the heavy cover is what causes some birds to hold in such a setting, and if you’re hunting alone, resist the tendency to hunt quickly. Instead, follow your dog, and above all, stop often. It’s that rooster that decides to hold tight in hopes you’ll pass on by that gives you the best shooting opportunity. Granted, most birds will flush wild, and you’ll earn any birds you bag, and that’s why I maintain the season might open the third Saturday in October, but the real hunting takes place in November and December.
We’ll have it always, as long as we have grass on the landscape.
