Pheasant hunting

Several co-workers and I went on our now-annual pheasant hunt again.  With groups between 5 and 22, we bagged about 300 birds over 5 days.  As always, South Dakota was epic. 


I have some video from one of the best covers we drove, a veritable tornado of birds came out of it but it's going to take me a bit to get all the firewire pieces together to post it.  Kudos go to Pete in the kennel on the truck, he ran into those cat-tail marshes so I didn't have to.   

Wind power may conjure images of Altimont pass in folks out here, out there things are bigger:
  That one turbine probably makes as much power as Altimont pass too.  When power is proportional to r^2, it'd good to go big on r.  I saw a few stretch semi-trucks go by with turbine blades, it looks like they're currently limited by what they can move down a road and under bridges.

Well done, Josh. What outfit did you go with? I have friends who go to S.D. once in a while on hunting trips.

Howard

Really Nice eating off that for a while

I don't go with an outfit, my dad and some friends in south dakota pool together to lease several thousand acres of hunting, and he owns a quarter section out there -the farm rental on which pays his share of the lease.  They used to be an 'outfit', and still have a preserve license, so they release about 600 birds a year and there are no limits on the preserve, but there was a fiasco with the guy they had managing it previously so now it's basically just a private playground.  If anyone knows someone who would like to run a couple hundred world class hunts with accommodations, I could set them up.  The owner of the preserve part (with the bunkhouses) would like to sell hunting, but he doesn't want to handle one off hunts himself and would prefer to lease it per season for a flat rate.  

If there was a lot of interest here, I could probably organize a hunt considerably cheaper than an outfitter.  

The diggs are quite nice too:



It's kind of surreal to be bouncing around in a place like that alone.

I'm an avid hunter, have been all my life.
But pictures of massed dead game assult every degree of common sense.
Pictures of massed dead game....are right out of the "market hunter" era of America-----the era that did almost extinguish most wild species.

This is NOT a morality post.   Just NOT.....

But we all know that no man should take more game than "he and his" can eat in one meal.....not ever.....never.

That would apply REGARDLESS what the law allows.

It's commonplace that a man who conducts his life ENTIRELY to the letter-of-the-law.....is perfectly capable of being a great social criminal.

There are guys out "taking" humboldt squid .... every squid weighing 30 pounds ... and any witness knows that that volume of flesh is not going to be eaten; therefore will become dogfood-or-worse.

Yes, yes, I DO KNOW that pheasants are raised and released.....and that this form of artificial culture of the birds guarantees that wholesale harvest of them (exactly as pictured) is really no more significant than the "harvest" of chickens and turkeys being raised for slaughter on farms.

I DO KNOW THAT.......but honestly I find it hard to reconcile that "knowledge" with the actual act, of sportsmen taking animals, in a number greater than "they and theirs" can consume in a single meal.

In fact I can't reconcile it.
I've tried and I can't.

Judd

Massive carnage!!!!

 Looks like fun, but who has the pleasure of cleaning and processing all that???  looks like mucho trabajo,

 Like your hat slung to the side East Bay Slayer gangland style...

BTW, I have your Camo Cowboy hat left in my ride, waiting to get out that way or someone who is going that way or visa versa or a proper box to come my way for shipping....

 

Oh, yeah, was wondering where that hat went. 

22 folks shot that big group of birds, it wasn't that many once it was divided up ~4 each.  At the end of the trip we brought back all the birds that were left in the freezers and had about 15-20 each.  The guys out there make the birds into sausage 200lbs at a time...  Also the 'don't shoot more than you can eat in a single meal' is pretty ridiculous when you consider big game.  My share of birds was way less than if I'd taken a deer. 

Maintaining a healthy pheasant population out there also requires removing as many roosters as possible before deep winter hits, that's the hardest time on the birds and roosters will out-compete hens for food and shelter, resulting in fewer hens and a smaller crop of chicks the next year.  It only takes a handful of roosters the next year, so taking them is only a positive thing for the resource.  The whole point of the last hunt of the year is to get as close to 100% cull on roosters as possible.  It's pretty cool how that works, I wish we had even one fishery that was as healthy and well-managed as the pheasants in SD are. 

Nice!  I like these hunting reports on here! Keep 'em coming!

PJ

Right on... P-spark.  Glad you had a great time.  Great pics!

I think JW needs to take a chill pill.

Hi Chuck.....

It IS right-on that he scored
It IS right-on that he had an awesome trip
It IS right-on....that I'm green with envy

Nooo...I'm not tense...
Nooo...I'm not jerkey...

But Chuck....aren't there things a guy just doesn't photograph?

Whaddya really think?

But Chuck....aren't there things a guy just doesn't photograph?

Whaddya really think?

Not trying to speak for the photographer, but there are people that win prizes taking pictures of starving children in impoverished countries.  Yeah, it is to invoke sympathy, but that disturbs me more than an ass load of dead birds that will be eaten ( I wish I could have some).

My 2 cents.  Awesome post!  I am not much of a bird hunter, but I have read articles about how amazing the SD pheasant population is. 

chill pill.

I like how you pulled that one from the ol' 80's HistoryFiles....*Chill Pill