S. Dakota

talked to a lady today, she said the ring necks are making a comeback from the extreme cold they had last yr, they think in another 2-3 yrs it will be back the way it was.

The SD report said the bird count is 71% from last year
Last year we hunted 3 days with 10 hunters and got 30 birds a day
You can not get better than that

Where at in SD. We are headed to Winner, SD right now!

Presho

Public or private.

we are hunting http://ringneckshuntinglodge.com/
this is our third year in a row going
this place we hunt all wild birds I think it has 20000 acres to hunt

Yes you can.
3 of us hunted with Shattuck hunting in Gregory. Hunted a preserve with a 5 bird limit. 15 birds per day x 3 days, = 45 birds. Couldn't go this year due to a couple of surgeries eating up my vacation time. Definitely going back next year.

Problem with counting preserves into that 71% is preserves have to put out a pen raised pheasant for every pheasant killed at that their preserve, at least that's how i understand it. I just got back from a 6 day SD trip and battled the cold and snow all week on public land. Plenty of limits to be had without paying guides.

The place we hunt is all wild birds (which we will be there Sat) and I have hunt public land in SD and do just as good bottom line is SD is the place to go

Pen raised and released happens all the time.
Ask the locals.

My dad and I tried to hunt outside minneapolis last year 1st week of December and our hunt was cancelled due to outfitters in SD buying all of their birds. Have to keep the doors open when the birds are down!

You are exactly right about having to replace the birds. A 5 bird limit makes the overall cost of the trip a little more palatable.

Buddy I've hunted with for the last three years just sent me this. He has more bird this year than he did last year and hasn't had a hunt make it to noon yet without limits...and it's not legal to hunt til 10:00. I keep hearing how bad numbers are but sang sure haven't seen it on his place. 100% wild birds.

I'm more interested in prairie chickens and sharptail than pheasant which leaves me with a 6 bird limit per day. If someone has decent dogs and puts in effort, they can save themselves a lot of money by not doing preserves and pay to play. Plenty of public land that holds birds. And if it's a preserve and they tell you it's 100% wild birds they're lying. Because as many as they have to release, I don't think the birds you find on public land are going to be 100% wild much less where they were actually released from. But hey, the more people go the preserves, the more birds on public for me!