South Dakota Fail

[Fatcamp]

Pheasant hunters is what I am referring to. It's like an invasion.

I just find it odd that funds from hunters are actively eliminating native species to boost the population of an introduced one. Either way, nothing I say or do will affect SDGFP one little bit. They will just do what they want and I will adapt.

 

[Fatcamp]

I think it is great. It will add significant value to a variety of birds, not just pheasant. I am not a skunk or raccoon fanboy.

Who is the orange army you are referring too? Are you referring to hunters, protestants or Republicans?

I get hunters, and I get Republicans, bit why would I be referring to Protestants by saying "Orange Army"?

 

[WCB]

So, how do we feel about the Predator Nest Bounty Program? $1,000,000 spent to kill native species so we get more ditch chickens? I think it's a fail but the orange army probably thinks it's great.

If those species are at threshold that can take the pressure, targeting predators around the time of nesting or dropping fawns/calves, has been proven to increase survival of young. The program also states it is used in relation to waterfowl also...so not just pheasants. I think $1,000,000 (2020 cap of $250,000) may be better spent on habitat. It is too bad hunters normally won't help unless they get something out of it.

My Grandpa owned a very successful Pheasant guiding business in SD from 1985 up until a couple years ago. I enjoy hunting them at times. But, If you want my real thoughts on Pheasants...I wish even half the money spent on Pheasants went to research and habitat to Sharptail, Sage Grouse, Prairie Chickens and other natives. However, a lot of what is good for Pheasants are good for some of those species along with countless others including the natives that are being shot in the bounty program. IMO if there weren't Pheasants 10s of 1,000s more acres would be row cropped and a ton of native species would be negatively effected.

 

[Fatcamp]

If those species are at threshold that can take the pressure, targeting predators around the time of nesting or dropping fawns/calves, has been proven to increase survival of young. The program also states it is used in relation to waterfowl also...so not just pheasants. I think $1,000,000 (2020 cap of $250,000) may be better spent on habitat. It is too bad hunters normally won't help unless they get something out of it.

My Grandpa owned a very successful Pheasant guiding business in SD from 1985 up until a couple years ago. I enjoy hunting them at times. But, If you want my real thoughts on Pheasants...I wish even half the money spent on Pheasants went to research and habitat to Sharptail, Sage Grouse, Prairie Chickens and other natives. However, a lot of what is good for Pheasants are good for some of those species along with countless others including the natives that are being shot in the bounty program. IMO if there weren't Pheasants 10s of 1,000s more acres would be row cropped and a ton of native species would be negatively effected.

All good points. Access to landlocked public acres or control of invasive species are other opportunities for SDGFP to spend money other than on ditch chickens. Like I said, they don't listen to me.

 

[Mosby]

I get hunters, and I get Republicans, bit why would I be referring to Protestants by saying "Orange Army"?

I am a history buff, Catholic and my mother's family on both sides came from Ireland. The Orange Army has a different meaning to the Irish. From wiki:

What is the orange army?

The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland. ... Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691).

I was just playin.

 

[Wireman07]

Love SoDak, born and raised there!

 

[Fatcamp]

I am a history buff, Catholic and my mother's family on both sides came from Ireland. The Orange Army has a different meaning to the Irish. From wiki:

What is the orange army?

The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland. ... Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691).

I was just playin.

Well, shot. Learned something new.

 

[SoDaky]

Amen Kurt,amen.
Don't like SD management,the solution is simple,stay the hell away.

 

[Tksd]

Regardless of you opinion on management, brood counts, or native species.
In order to help the pheasants and every other species in the prairie pothole region we need to get more crp back into the farm bill and on the ground. Period no other topic need be discussed.

 

[Mosby]

Regardless of you opinion on management, brood counts, or native species.
In order to help the pheasants and every other species in the prairie pothole region we need to get more crp back into the farm bill and on the ground. Period no other topic need be discussed.

Good point. If you have lots of CRP you normally have lots of birds. Genius.

 

[PA Hunter]

I think the key thing is the money. A lot of farmers decided to withdraw from crp when corn prices were high, which caused a loss of a ton of habitat. With less habitat, pheasant numbers dropped. With less places to hunt and less pheasants, revenue (from licenses) for state run programs was lost. We won't have more habitat without more money to make it worth it to restore some fields to prairie again.

I am completely guessing on this, but advertising then (2008ish) was probably easier. There were fewer sources where people consumed media or advertisements. All you needed was an add on outdoor centered tv and in outdoor centered print materials. Now advertising is needed in all of the old sources plus social media. Adds for social media also usually need more work behind them. If they don't catch the eye people will scroll past.

You do bring up a good point though, before the habitat was lost it sold itself. Everybody knew SD was the best place to scratch out a limit of pheasants.

I think SD still is still a quality "product", and will easily "sell" if people come out and experience it. People were turned off from the brood count, and didn't come out. Though if they had bought the license and came out for a few days they would have likely had opportunity to shoot a limit everyday, assuming they put in the work. In Brookings I can drive within forty minutes of town on public ground and have a good chance at shooting a limit after class. According to the old brood counts this area doesn't have a good density of birds, but its still plenty enough to hunt and be successful.



It is by far still worth a trip. There are a crap load of pheasants here. The brood surveys gave people the idea there wasn't birds so they didn't make a trip, but there is still a sh*t load of birds.

I am not sure what South Dakota politicians you are referring to. Our governor hunts, and is very vocal about trying to promote hunting in the state.

Hunting is big business within the state, bringing in 683 million in 2016. Of this, 287 million was pheasant hunting, the next highest being deer at 160 million. This supports 18,000 jobs within the state. Outdoor recreation as a whole brought in 1.3 billion.

Economic Contributions

gfp.sd.gov

I concur last year was the first year I hunted pheasants in SD and I saw well over a thousand birds in one week. Now I only bagged 6 birds but they are there and in great numbers.

 

[jmez]

Even when numbers are down, pheasant hunting in SD is still stupid good.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

[Roksliding]

I concur last year was the first year I hunted pheasants in SD and I saw well over a thousand birds in one week. Now I only bagged 6 birds but they are there and in great numbers.

It is a great state, even the bad years you’ll still get your shots at birds..

Say if you don’t mind me asking, this being your first year going, why did you choose SD?? Is it cause you saw an ad or because someone told you it’s probably the top state for pheasants and public access?

 

[PA Hunter]

No not at all, i have been pheasant hunting Pennsylvania more than 40 years and i miss the wild birds when i was a kid. I still hunt here allot but stocked birds is all we have so i always wanted to try SD as i heard so much over the years. I watched allot of YouTube videos of SD and finally convinced a friend to go. My experience was great and i met a few very nice people so i will be back. I have been getting the SD atlas for a few years even they were nice asking for one on the phone. I must admit the people i met in SD are much nicer than around where i live.

 

[Roksliding]

No not at all, i have been pheasant hunting Pennsylvania more than 40 years and i miss the wild birds when i was a kid. I still hunt here allot but stocked birds is all we have so i always wanted to try SD as i heard so much over the years. I watched allot of YouTube videos of SD and finally convinced a friend to go. My experience was great and i met a few very nice people so i will be back. I have been getting the SD atlas for a few years even they were nice asking for one on the phone. I must admit the people i met in SD are much nicer than around where i live.

Safe to say you weren’t swayed by a magazine ad then! Now imagine If they took the brood count money and invested it back into the state and gave land owners incentives, it would be awesome!!!

Last year was decent, far from the best years tho. What part of the state were you near? I bet this coming fall is gonna be great if it dries up.

SD folks are GREAT!!! I have had one bad run in, in 15 years and it was a misunderstanding and a perfect storm.... and i can’t even blame the guy for what he thought happened. But I’ve been offered to hunt Private property numerous times and I have never asked once!! The people are just that nice... don’t know that you’d get the same kind of treatment if you had a Hillary bumper sticker.

quick story about the SD folks-

me and my friend who is a game warden (I’m an electrician) from Wisconsin were double dipping, (ducks and pheasants) We needed one pheasant to close out the limit. We didn’t wanna push a big field, so we decided to walk a ditch next to a cut corn field in opposite directions, I was coming back and saw him standing next to a pick up with someone talking to him, I thought oh great he is getting chewed out, nope come to find out this guy gave us permission to hunt his tree strip at dusk, typical tree strip hundreds of birds dumping out the end no shots, afterwards all 3 of us were shooting the shit and he gave us permission to stay at his apartment in town, told us the best place for a steak and whiskey just the coolest dude you could imagine, so he goes into telling us we are crazy for hunting ducks right now, best time is February (illegal) you don’t even leave the truck (illegal) you just shoot them in the head with a rifle (illegal) and send your dog you never have to get out of the truck!!! Without skipping a beat he looks at my friend and asks “so what do you do for a living” he hesitated and said I’m an electrician! Then the guy was like great I got a question about my shed wiring I nearly pissed myself!!!

on the ride to the tavern I asked my buddy, why he’d pick a profession he knew nothing about, and why he didn’t say he was a logger or something, my buddy said “what if he asked me a question about logging?”.... I said look at the scenery, how many questions about logging do you think he had?

 

[PA Hunter]

I was in Gettysburg SD and will be back this December. Yes i experienced the tree wind breaks with a hundred birds flushing and no shots. Thats a good story! I will be wearing my Trump hat asking permission this year.

 

[Roksliding]

I was in Gettysburg SD and will be back this December. Yes i experienced the tree wind breaks with a hundred birds flushing and no shots. Thats a good story! I will be wearing my Trump hat asking permission this year.

Ok sure! Never hunted that specific area, but I know where it is, I’ve hunted close to there, the mobridge area a long time ago, if I remember right I think I moved on because the bird numbers far out numbered the public land options.... probably has all changed that was a long time ago. I have a buddy that has a always open door and cold beer policy in gann valley south of you a little, but his dogs are assholes and I have to leave my pups in the truck and that’s a deal breaker.

Good luck to you this year!!

 

[SoDaky]

PAHunter agree on Gettysburg.Used to hunt around there a lot.Actually owned some great pheasant/deer land near Agar/Onida.Tremendous people,good bird numbers.We used to hunt a big chunk of public south of Paul Nelson Farms.Had a couple of interesting experiences there with convoys of 'black SUVs' when then VP Dick Cheney would be hunting at Nelsons.

 

[KurtR]

PAHunter agree on Gettysburg.Used to hunt around there a lot.Actually owned some great pheasant/deer land near Agar/Onida.Tremendous people,good bird numbers.We used to hunt a big chunk of public south of Paul Nelson Farms.Had a couple of interesting experiences there with convoys of 'black SUVs' when then VP Dick Cheney would be hunting at Nelsons.

for all the practice the secret service gets at stuff driving on gravel roads isnt one of them. They wadded a couple up in the few days we were down there working. haha

 

[PA Hunter]

If any of you guys want to team up for a day hunt I will be there December 8-12th with a friend, one lab and a Vizsla.