It galls me, a native Iowan, to recommend South Dakota as a destination for pheasant hunters, but we professional journalists are duty-bound to report the facts as they are. Not only does South Dakota boast an excellent pheasant population, the state offers several opportunities to combine upland hunting with waterfowling on the same trip.
In fact, since legal pheasant shooting doesn't even begin until noon (10:00 a.m. later in the season), a dawn patrol for Canada geese fits in perfectly with an afternoon of chasing roosters.
Travelers from states whose landscapes are cluttered with trees, lakes, hills, and foliage will have a hard time comprehending vast, gently rolling South Dakota, which is extremely long on vistas, very short on greenery.
The sky is so big, one awed visitor likes to say, it hurts your eyes. Under that blue dome, center pivot irrigators scribe huge, round wheat fields into the sandy ground, but little else seems to grow in the dry soil of its own accord. Yet for all its apparent barrenness, South Dakota virtually seethes with game; in the fall, flocks of ducks and geese trade overhead constantly, and it's not uncommon for hunters to flush pheasants, sharptails, and prairie chickens in the same field.
A good headquarters for sampling the state's abundant wingshooting might be Pierre, where visiting hunters can find great pheasant hunting south of town as well as pass-shooting for Canada geese along the shores of Lake Oahe to the north. Although top-notch pheasant hunting can still be had for the price of asking politely, leasing is widespread in South Dakota, especially south of Pierre in the traditional pheasant country of Tripp, Brule, Gregory, and Lyman counties.
Fortunately, one of the primary lessors of ground is the state itself, which rents some 400,000 acres of CRP land throughout the state for free public hunting in the Walk-in Area Program. Upland game biologist Steve Riley advises visiting hunters to bring a dog, since the walk-in areas often consist of whole sections planted to waist-deep wheatgrass, the kind of cover gunwise pheasants can hide in forever.
North of Pierre, says Riley, the best pheasant hunting takes place on walk-in areas or public lands, since most private land is planted to wheat and provides little in the way of cover. Choices abound for those willing to pay for their hunting, ranging from simple per-gun daily trespass fees to fully guided, multi-day outings complete with room and board. Wherever you hunt pheasants in South Dakota, be alert to the possibility of the odd Hun, sharptail, or prairie chicken as well.
Sprawling Lake Oahe is home to as many as 200,000 Canada geese from mid-November to mid-December, according to waterfowl biologist Ron Fowler. Goose hunting around Oahe is customarily a pass-shooting affair, with gunners waiting in pit blinds dug into the river bluffs. Some field shooting opportunities also exist among the corn and winter wheat fields around the lake.
While commercial goose hunting operations are common, waterfowlers looking to freelance have some options, too. One is to scout and pass shoot alongside the lake inside the "stake line," the boundary which delimits the Corps of Engineer's ownership of the land around Oahe.
A second alternative is to bring a boat capable of handling big, potentially rough water and hunt geese and mallards both over decoys. Most of the shoreline offers only sparse grass for cover, so hunters often use boat blinds or else hide their boats in a cove and lie on the beach under camouflaged netting. Oahe, incidentally, just happens to be one of the finest walleye lakes in the nation, so pack a fishing rod, too, in case the geese aren't flying.
When to go, who to contact:
Pheasant season begins on the second Saturday in October and ends in mid-December. Goose hunting opens around October 2 and runs through the third week in December. The best time to go is probably mid-November, when access to private ground becomes easier and goose numbers on Oahe peak.
Pay operations and day-lease hunting can be located through local chambers of commerce, and some farmers simply post signs along the side of the road.
Several outfitters serve the state, and the better ones have combined to form a self-regulating group called the South Dakota Professional Guides Association. Write to them at P.O. Box 703, Pierre, SD 57501. The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (523 E. Capitol, Pierre, South Dakota, 57501-3182, phone 605-773-3485) offers two publications of inestimable value to the visiting hunter: South Dakota Walk-in Areas Atlas and South Dakota Sportsman's Atlas. The Walk-in Areas Atlas changes each year as leases on private ground change, so be sure to carry the current edition.
Copyright (c) 1996 Philip Bourjaily. All rights reserved.
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