Late Season Pheasants By Gary Howey
Late season pheasant hunting is a great sport; sometimes, one requiring a real love for the sport.
During the late season, the weather can be down right nasty as I found out last week on a hunt we filmed near Watertown, S.D.
Over the last several years, a group of us back home in Watertown, S.D. try to get together to do a pheasant hunt and this year; we just happened to pick a day where the weatherman predicted a temperature of -12 with a wind chill, a brisk –21 degrees.
Well needless to say, because of the many things going on during this time of the year and the colder weather, we ended up with just 3 hunters on the first day of the hunt and four on the second.
Chuck Stone & John Wilson joined us on the first day with Chuck Stone, my cousin Joe Jipp and Larry Munger joining us on the second day.
With the cold temperatures, we didn’t get too excited about going out, hoping that it would warm up a bit, waiting until one o’clock before hunting our first field.
With the smaller group we were hunting with, we’d have to change our hunting tactics, hunting smaller patches then we had the year before when we hunted with a larger group.
We’d be hunting smaller grass strips, sloughs along with a few rows of unpicked corn.
On the first drive, since Chuck and I had dogs, we’d push through a slough towards a stock dam where John would be strategically waiting for those birds that ran ahead of us or flushed out the end.
As it often happens this time of the year, several birds blew out of the cover well out of range as we worked our way through the slough.… Continue reading
South Dakota It’s all about the pheasant By Gary Howey
Anyone who’s traveled through South Dakota during the fall can tell you that the colors are beautiful this time of the year. The breath taking yellows and reds of the trees and bushes will jump out at you as they begin to appear when temperatures begin cool down.
Another color that can be seen everywhere this time of the year can be found on caps, shirts, dog collars, vests and even sport jackets. Its hunter’s orange, no matter where you’re at, you’re going to see it on just about everyone, everywhere, in convenience stores, restaurants, motels and of course in the fields.
Making our way north towards Pierre, hunter’s orange became much more “visible”, becoming the prominent color as we headed into some of the finest habitat to be found in the nation.
As we came closer to Pierre, the plantings for pheasants became more evident as numerous food plots, CRP plantings and tree plantings dotted the landscape.
The South Dakota Governor’s Invitational Pheasant Hunt is an annual event drawing people from throughout the U.S as well as over seas to the state.
This event brings business leaders, entrepreneurs, and state officials together to not only highlight the great pheasant hunting in the state but also to feature the many advantages of developing, moving or expanding a business in South Dakota.… Continue reading
Proper Care for Your Hunting Dog During Hot Weather By Gary Howey
Well it’s that time of the year again, the time between summer heat and cool fall weather when many of the hunting seasons are opening up.
Last weekend, which was uncomfortably warm, we were out on the Grasslands south of Pierre hunting grouse.
It was down right hot as we covered a lot of ground trying to film a show and get a shot at a grouse or prairie chicken.
Half way through the walk, I had warmed up way beyond being comfortable and my dog Mo Jo had to be a whole lot warmer as he covered twice the ground that I had and did it while wearing a fur coat.
This time of the year, when hunters really need to be aware of how quickly a hunting dog can overheat.
Since dogs don’t sweat, the only way they can cool off is by panting, which isn’t a real effective way to disperse excess body heat.
Most hunting dogs love to hunt and will run until their wheels fall off, literally running until they drop from heat exhaustion.
A few years ago near Winner, S.D. hunters lost over dozen dogs from heat exhaustion.
I know what you’re thinking, how can anyone run a dog that hard, well it’s really not that simple as hunting dogs are trained to hunt and they’ll do it until the bitter end.
You can put water in front of one and if there’s something to hunt, he’ll hunt instead of drinking water.
This is why it’s vitally important to make sure your dog is hydrated, getting plenty of water and resting on a regular basis.
When I’m hunting during periods of hot weather, I always carry a squirt bottle of water in my hunting vest.… Continue reading