Category: SD
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: […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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?!), […]
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 […]
…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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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, […]
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 […]
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:
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.
$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 […]
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, […]
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
