2007 SD Pheasant trip

Just got back from a great trip back to South Dakota with my Dad and a couple of other long-time hunting buddies. Limits were the norm, even after pounding the same ground for four days. Really enjoyed the progress my dog Tucker made every day, we don't lose many birds on his watch!

Have any of you switched from a pump gun to an O/U and thought your shooting improved? I bought a cheap O/U 2 years ago, and I feel like I've gone from zero-to-hero with it

That pic with the hen is Tucker's first caught-on-the-ground bird! Bad dog

Nicely done Pat! It's funny you mention that.. I shoot awesome with a pump, but I've spent so much time with an o/u on the skeet fields that I'd rather shoot one anyday

I guess I'm gonna have to raid your freezer and steal some pheasant..

Nice! What towns were you near? I spend a bunch of time out in that area for a railroad project I'm working on. It kind of looks like the Pierre area, but all of that country looks pretty much similar....

Neal

Thanks for sharing Pat! I have some buddies who try to talk me into that trip every year. Tucker looks like a fine young dog....and you sound like a proud papa.

I consider getting a fancy O/U every year, but my Auto 5 has been with me from the beggining...it's part of my body. Plus I prove to myself every year that I need that 3rd shot...call it a handicap.

Ike

I feel like i can't get rid of my BPS. Its my harvest gun. That being said i shoot a ton of quail with my O/U 28ga and have been getting better with my 20ga O/U

We did a brine recipe and bar-b-qued up the boned breasts with rosemary, and it was the most tender pheasant i've ever had.....so T-Bird, my freezer is off-limits

We were in the NW corner of SD Neal......hmmmm, sounds like you should have some contacts back there

Ikiss: No kids to gloat over for this hunter, so the dog gets the royal treatment......I dread him getting all tore up back there cause I'd have the wife's boot giving me a rectum exam when I got home.

D3Smartie: I've never shot an Auto, but I have a BPS 10-gauge that I love for geese. I'm wondering if I haven't destroyed my modified choke in my ole 870 shooting steel through it, given the better success I've had with the O/U. Looking forward to your feathered exploits this year, you post cool pic.'s

I knew I forgot something! Forgot to swing by Buckley and pick up the Jeager-meister!

How many shells did you burn though, Sport?

Nice birds. My family is from Pierre originally. We try to go back every year. I have been shooting a side by side 20 for over 20 years. My friends went birding with me last year with their semi 12s and decided to swtich to o/u's.

Lots and lots of shells! Shells go bad in a month if you don't use 'em donchaknow! The steady 30 mph wind 3 outta 4 days helped too, but I like the noise

YA--whatever

Just the opposite. I went from my old and trusty 870 Wingmaster to a Browning Citori. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that over under. Never did fit right.

Eventually, I traded that gun in for a Remington 11-87 SPS Super Magnum and went back to my good old killin' ways. Er, at least I could smash up the blue rock pretty well that Stam was huckin' last year at his party!

For some reason, the Remington guns fit me really well out of the box. Not so well with the Brownings. I'm sure I could have spent all the money and had a gunsmith re-fit the gun for me, but that seemed kinda foolish.

Glad you had a good hunt this year. Going to SD to pheasant hunt is definitely on my list of things to do before I die.

Looking at your post *almost* makes me miss Walla Walla. Almost. 5,000 acres of private asparagus land to hunt and my golden retriever. Many a bird died in my yoot!

Should we call you Earl?

It's funny, my "list" started getting short pretty quick after I asked for a divorce. I guess I'd better start a new one.

I started tagging along the banks of Dry Creek out of Walla Walla when I was 5, passed hunter education in the second grade, and started carrying a Model 12 16-gauge......man there were a pile of pheasants back there in those days when the prisoners were raising roosters!

You ever go back there Michael? They've got a conservation easement and plantings going on, seems to be really helping out....good #'s this year.

How did your bird opener go?

Bite ME!

No, not to hunt pheasants. I've kept my deer/turkey options open, but that's about it. Just about all the land I used to hunt has been converted over to grapes. Dog died a few years ago and hunting without a dog is borderline retarded. I would never own a dog in the city. Just to cruel to the dog.

Heck, I'd almost be scared to drive out to Dry Creek. I bet it's 99% grapes now.

I'd be curious to know how the bird population is doing over there. It was really going down the crapper when I lived there (mid to late 80's). I did see quite a few birds around the state line area and on in to Muddy-Frogwater befor the season started. Some birds out in the College Place areas.

Just seems like more prime bird habitat is gone and missing now. Sure hope the remaining farmers are doing their part to keep the habitat in good shape for the birdies.

good hatch over there this year...