Local sportsmen return from South Dakota
by Tony Sanders, Tony Sanders Outdoors
posted November 19, 2007
Local sportsmen Tony Sanders and Jerry Shelby took a group of eight others to the Mecca of Pheasant hunting, South Dakota. The group, representing four states started gathering in Canova, SD at the Skoglund Farm on Thursday.
Most of the hunters, ranging in age from 18 to 70, were gathering for their first pheasant hunt; and for all but Sanders and Shelby, the first trip to SD. The Skoglund Family has been hosting pheasant hunters since 1957 and this year would be one of the best.
The hunt wasn’t scheduled to begin until Friday morning, so some of the group engaged in road hunting. This is an allowable style of hunting in SD where you drive down the numerous roads of rural SD looking for pheasant roosters to show. You then get out of your vehicle and try to flush them where they can be harvested. In SD, roadway shoulders are considered public hunting land. While this can and did produce several roosters, it was certainly not why the group was there.
The dawn Friday was brisk and severe clear. There was virtually no wind which is a rarity on the plains. The hunt started promptly at 10:00 am which meant Mr. Skoglund had to only remind us when hunting began for three hours (imagine your children asking “are we there yet”).
SD pheasant hunting is typically accomplished by walking in long lines forcing the birds to either run or flush. At the end of the drives are blockers. When the birds see the blockers, they must make a decision to either run in another direction or flush; with this group of sharp shooters, flushing usually meant they were added to the daily bag of the nearest hunter.
The daily bag limit in SD is three birds per day. Our group’s bag limit was 42 this first day. The first drive was through knee high grass that netted approximately five birds. We then moved to our next drive by breaking up into two smaller groups and working through some grass and tree shelter breaks. This produced several more birds. We then worked several other fields all of them producing a few birds for the bag limit. Then four birds made the mistake of standing on the side of a shelter belt and not trying to hide as we approached. The group again split up and worked this shelter area garnering six more roosters giving us a total of eighteen birds before lunch.
After a filling lunch prepared by Mrs. Skoglund and her assistants, the group headed to a field with a ½ mile stand of Sudex (a tall, sorghum like cane). As we approached the drive, the anticipation was growing as several birds flushed as we were getting set. Within a few yards of the beginning of the drive, the pheasant hunter’s cry of "rooster, rooster, rooster" with the sound of number 5 twelve gauge loads being fired began to ring out. These were followed closely by either rip roaring laughter or praises of a good shot. After just a few feet, the anticipation level of the group was off the charts.
The drive continued with each few step producing a flush and several dollars of ammunition being expended. Before long, the Sudex was taller than the hunters and all that was visible from a blocker’s point of view was a flushing bird followed shortly by a tumbling act as it fell to the ground. This continued for the next hour as the group slowing inched its way along the drive. It ended at 3:00 PM, an hour after it began, in a hail of gunfire as the roosters that were hemmed into the final few yards of Sudex decided to flush, with all the hunters in the general area.
As we tallied our total for the drive, it was becoming evident that we would be close to the limit. When the final hunter rounded the corner, he emptied his vest of three birds that put our total harvest on the drive at twenty-four birds. This drive plus the eighteen from the morning gave us the bag limit for the day. Paul Skoglund, an Agriculture High-School Teacher in Minnesota and the son taking over the hunting business, announced we were officially finished for the day and that they had never had a group limit that early. We all knew that it was a special day capped by a drive we could only imagine.
The group after the final drive of day 1 with all three dogs used in the hunt, Gypsy, Cricket & Lady.
Starting at Left: Gypsy, Cricket, Jerry Shelby, Mr. & Mrs. Skoglund (Host); Paul Skoglund (Guide), Tony Sanders (and a shameless plug for his radio show)
As we all stood there posing for pictures, the enthusiasm was something I had not experienced in a long time. We all feel the excitement when we harvest a large buck or land the lunker fish; but limiting out after only four hours of hunting and then accomplishing this as a team of guys gathering so far from home, was really special.
While I would like to say the rest of the hunt went as well; it would be virtually impossible to duplicate the success of our first day. The rest of the hunt was fruitful, just typical SD hunting consisting of lots of walking and systematic harvesting of pheasants. With all things being equal, harvesting wild pheasants in America’s heart land has to be one of best adventures you can undertake.
First day bag. Hunters starting at left: Kyle (Sunshine), Harry, Tony, Jeff, Charlie, Mr. Skoglund, Johnny, Jep, Ron, Jerry (Big Daddy), Jerry & Tim
While the majority of hunters are middle aged white collared professionals, two of the hunters were unique. Jerry’s Dad, also named Jerry (but called Big Daddy by the group) was 70 and, after a lifetime of hunting and fishing, was experiencing pheasant hunting for the first time with his son. The youngest member of the group was my son Kyle (called Sunshine by Big Daddy). At 18, he has a lifetime of hunting and fishing ahead of him but was also experiencing pheasant hunting with his dad for the first time. The rest of the group, Harry, Tim, Jep, Jeff, Ron, and Johnny all experienced a hunt that will be remembered until their days are used up. We were very grateful to the Skoglund family for opening their home and their hearts to our group. I could not recommend an outfitter any more highly for pheasant hunting in SD.
| Dining Out | Business | Movies | Focus | About Us |
| Church | Living Well | Memories | Outdoors | Real Estate | Student Scene | Travel |
