Find your own hunting territory off the beaten path to enjoy great shooting for ringnecks.
Sep 27, 2004
The prickly-pear thorns were beginning to take their toll on my buddy's Labrador retriever. She was beginning to limp noticeably, but it hadn't slowed her down much, and the Lab's enthusiasm suggested that it didn't bother her if we were hunting ringnecks in the wrong place. Instead of the more typical cornfields and cattails, the land about was dotted with cactus and yucca plants. To get away from the crowds, we wanted to hunt apart from the mainstream habitat. We succeeded. We were so far from other hunters that we hadn't heard another shot all afternoon.
"She's definitely on the trail of a bird," my friend said as he watched the dog, her wagging tail in overdrive. "That plum thicket ahead looks like the best hideout. Get ready."
With fresh scent driving her, the Lab charged in for the flush. You couldn't have scripted a better ending to our hunt. Two tie-dye-colored roosters burst from the dark interior and catapulted past my buddy, who caught them both in a rapid-fire pattern of No. 5s. Sunset ended our fun, and
although we were one bird shy of our limit, it had been a perfect afternoon.
That hunt took place more than an hour from some of the best and most famous pheasant-hunting territory in North America. Leased land, high-priced hunts and crowds of other wing-shooters had steered us away from easier pickings to hunt habitat off the beaten path.
Limits and nonstop action might not be guaranteed in such places, but you can find quality hunting by sidestepping the high-density areas where other hunters throng.
Good Alternatives
For more than a dozen years, while I worked for the South Dakota Department of Tourism, I spent winter weekends at sports shows fielding questions on a variety of topics. Right behind "When are they going to finish that monument to Crazy Horse in the Black Hills?" the most common question was "Where's the best place in South Dakota to get a limit of pheasants?" Most of those who asked were working-class folks like me. One guided hunt a year was a luxury; anything else had to be an on-your-own outing.
Instead of pointing the hunters in the direction of the Department of Game, Fish and Park's "pheasant county of the year," I steered them to areas that didn't make the list of top spots for ringnecks. The places I circled on the map typically had good quantities of public land, limited leased land and scattered densities of pheasants. I knew that by using a bit of shoe leather, they'd have a good hunt without having to take out a second mortgage or raid junior's college fund.
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