RSSCategory: SD

Will Ethanol Crush SD’s Pheasants?

Will Ethanol Crush SD’s Pheasants?

An article by the awesome Dennis Anderson in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (which again has by far the best bird hunting coverage of any newspaper on planet Earth) paints a picture of a very grim future for South Dakota pheasants – and by extension, pheasant and maybe quail pops in other ag states. The culprit: […]

January 5, 2012 | By | 2 Replies More
SD Hunt Report: Birds Galore, Part 2

SD Hunt Report: Birds Galore, Part 2

by Dan Craven [This starts with a continuation of Dan and company’s Saturday hunt. If you missed it, part 1 is here.] Farmers/ranchers out this way are moving towards “stripping headers” on their combines, which changes the game a bit in the agricultural fields. Strippers simply strip only the head off wheat or sorghum which […]

November 4, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
SD Hunt Report: Birds Galore, Part 1

SD Hunt Report: Birds Galore, Part 1

by Dan Craven [Dan is a Serious bird hunter who’s co-authoring our forthcoming book, Serious Pheasant Hunting, Book 1. He lives in Minnesota and goes to South Dakota every year to hunt birds, not just pheasants. Here’s the rundown of his recent trip. One word for it: awesome.] Thursday 4:00 pm – Depart for Bismarck, […]

November 3, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More
Iowa Tackling Pheasant Decline

Iowa Tackling Pheasant Decline

Word is the pheasant situation in Iowa is so bad that Iowa hunters are heading to South Dakota to hunt birds. But the silver lining may be not taking the birds and their habitat for granted. More below, from a couple Iowa papers. The Issue From the Knoxville, IA Journal Express: > With pheasant hunting […]

October 25, 2011 | By | Reply More
SD Not Buying More Bird Land?

SD Not Buying More Bird Land?

We’d bet that in terms of numbers of hunters and dollars raked in, South Dakota is the numero uno destination in the world for bird hunters (including waterfowl). Has to be true for North America, anyway. One reason for that is the sheer number of pheasants in South Dakota, which means lots of good habitat, […]

September 28, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Should Forecasts Be Banned: Part 2

Should Forecasts Be Banned: Part 2

Last week we published the first part of a point by point rationale for why bird forecasts are more bad than good, and should potentially be banned…or changed, per the below. Here’s the second and final part. If we’re missing something here or got our logic wires crossed, make sure you let us know. Also […]

September 19, 2011 | By | Reply More
Should Bird Forecasts Be Banned?

Should Bird Forecasts Be Banned?

Part 1 We get it. We get why everyone likes to read bird forecasts: We all want to know how good the hunting is going to be. Yep good, not bad. We want to be psyched. So there we are, stoked about the season, sitting in our rich Corinthian leather chairs (anyone remember that commercial?!), […]

September 16, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
More Deets on SD Pheasant Forecast

More Deets on SD Pheasant Forecast

To follow up on yesterday’s post, here are some good deets on the South Dakota count/forecast from an article at ArgusLeader.com. Highlights: > The decline from the 10-year average is 41 percent. But Travis Runia, GF&P senior upland game biologist, who prepared the report, noted that the past 10 years have been epic in the […]

August 30, 2011 | By | Reply More
SD Pheasant Count Way Down But…

SD Pheasant Count Way Down But…

…Hunting Will Still Be Good? The official South Dakota pheasant count is in, and it ain’t prettty: a 46% decline in brood numbers from last year. Before going any further, here’s our standard disclaimer about counts and forecasts: > Use them more of an indicator than as the final word. > Because you’re Serious, you’re […]

August 29, 2011 | By | Reply More
World’s Largest Pheasant Gets New Life

World’s Largest Pheasant Gets New Life

If you’ve perused any photos of South Dakota, no doubt you’ve tripped over at least one of the world’s largest pheasant, all 22 tons of it. It’s in Huron along Highway 14, right by the Dakota Inn. (Yes we do want to stay there one day and hopefully tip back a Rooster Lager for a […]

August 24, 2011 | By | Reply More
Last Day To Help Pothole Pheasants, Ducks

Last Day To Help Pothole Pheasants, Ducks

Take 5 Seconds to Send an Email Pheasants Forever is asking hunters to send a quick email to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help conserve pheasant and duck habitat – and today is the last day you can do it. Brief FWS overview: The Service is proposing to establish the Dakota Grassland Conservation […]

July 25, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Pheasant Hunters Trending Down in SD: Why

Pheasant Hunters Trending Down in SD: Why

Here we go again, another report about the number of bird hunters trending down. But this time it’s in a newspaper in the bird-hunting stronghold of the U.S. – South Dakota – which makes it worth comment. An editorial in The Daily Republic newspaper wonders why the numbers are trending down. For us, the answer […]

April 13, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Tip: Map Books to Find Public Land Pheasants

Tip: Map Books to Find Public Land Pheasants

Even if you followed Pheasants Forever’s recent Rooster Road Trip – in which PF staffers hunted only public land – you may have missed this great follow-up video. In it, PF’s Andrew Vavra talks about the reference books/atlases he and his pheasant-busting compadres used for finding the spots they hunted, and where to obtain said […]

December 21, 2010 | By | Reply More
Interview With the PF Road-Trippers, 2

Interview With the PF Road-Trippers, 2

Here’s the final part of the interview with Pheasants Forever’s Bob St.Pierre, Anthony Hauck and Andrew Vavra re: their rooster odyssey: driving 2,200 to hunt five states in 6 days (that’s Serious!) – aka the 2010 Rooster Road Trip.

December 15, 2010 | By | Reply More
Interview With the 3 PF Road-Trippers

Interview With the 3 PF Road-Trippers

Part 1 Who says you can’t find pheasants on public land? After Pheasants Forever’s recent Rooster Road Trip (RRT), the answer should be “nobody.” In case you missed it, the RRT was PF staffers Bob St.Pierre, Anthony Hauck and Andrew Vavra driving 2,200 miles in 6 days to hunt five states: North and South Dakota, […]

December 14, 2010 | By | Reply More
Short Rant: Why Are There Pellet Injuries?

Short Rant: Why Are There Pellet Injuries?

Check Out This Video We were surprised to read about how many “hit by a pellet” incidents there were in the opening week of pheasant hunting in North Dakota. Not a ton, but any more than zero is disturbing. With a lot of hunters in public hunting areas – particularly when it’s the first time […]

October 28, 2010 | By | Reply More
South Dakota Pheasant News Roundup

South Dakota Pheasant News Roundup

Conditions, $1 Mil Bird, Exotic Dancing, Trivia Oddly, there haven’t been many reports about early-season hunting in the pheasant capital of the world, maybe because early conditions aren’t ideal. But Google and ye shall find. Let’s start with the conditions, from The Daily Republic:

October 21, 2010 | By | Reply More
Sleeper Pheasant States

Sleeper Pheasant States

Brian Lynn at Outdoor Life recently posted an interesting follow-up to Pheasants Forever’s 2010 Pheasant Hunting Forecast, titled Sleeper States: Beyond the Pheasant Forecast. Full post here, some highlights below.

September 21, 2010 | By | Reply More
Helped By Bad Weather, SD’s Pheasants Above 10-Yr Average

Helped By Bad Weather, SD’s Pheasants Above 10-Yr Average

$220mm Train Keeps a-Rollin’ Could South Dakota’s pheasant population really be better than the average pops over the last 10 years? Apparently so, according to a well-written article by John Pollmann for the Sioux Falls, SD Argus Leader – and it seems to have improved partly due to bad weather. Seriously. Before getting into some […]

September 15, 2010 | By | Reply More
PF’s 2010 State by State Pheasant Forecast

PF’s 2010 State by State Pheasant Forecast

Pheasants Forever’s state by state (not all states) Pheasant Forecast for 2010 is out. Some of the state info is helpful, some not. Would be great to have it in graph form to see trends. Anyhow, here’s the overview plus the links for each. “Pheasant numbers appear to be holding steady in the Dakotas, Kansas, […]

September 13, 2010 | By | Reply More