Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

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

As I sat on the porch at Big Blue Lodge, a full moon appeared on the horizon adding it’s  illumination to the light being dispersed by the millions of stars in the sky that night.

It was a stargazers dream, one that’s quite common in Nebraska and one that few people living in the large cities on either coast had ever had the opportunity to gaze upon.

As daybreak finally arrived and the sun popped up over the horizon, we were greeted by 50-degree temperatures with an afternoon forecast predicted to reach up into the 70’s.

And what’s so great about that? Well, we were about to head into the field to hunt pheasants at the Nebraska Governor’s Hunt in November, the time of the year when folks up north are usually wearing stocking caps, gloves and long johns were in order, not the short sleeve shirts and tee shirts that we were wearing.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors, and the hunting only made it better. It was one of those perfect days in the outdoors, one of those days you’ve always dreamed about.

The Governor’s Pheasant Hunt is a team event with five members on a team.  It’s a one-box hunt, which means that each team receives 25 shells in order to bag their 15-bird limit.

Shells can be divided up amongst the team members any way that they wish and the team that checks in with the most birds shot using the least shells is declared the winner.

Teams are assigned a guide, scorer and are allowed to have two dogs on the ground at one time.… Continue reading

No doubt, you’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle, strange things happen there and it’s one of those places you really don’t want to be.

Well there’s one “Triangle” that all outdoorsmen and women would love to be and that’s the Pheasant Triangle in South Dakota.

Located in South Central South Dakota, this area has the habitat and crops that make it a Mecca for not only pheasants, but also for deer, grouse and turkey.

Hamill, South Dakota is located right in the middle of the triangle where Steve and Donna Kubik own and operate Antler Ridge Lodge.

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of hunting pheasants with the Kubik’s during the South Dakota Governor’s hunt and was really impressed by not only the pheasant hunting, but also the facilities and the area itself.

Last Spring, Team Outdoorsmen Adventures member Tom Mitchell and I had the privilege of hunting and filming a spring turkey hunt at Antler Ridge.

When we drove into the place, there were antelope along the road, pheasants everywhere as well as deer and turkeys, I just knew that this was a place that I wanted to be.… Continue reading

GREGORY, S.D. – Rows of milo and corn seem somehow out of place in the foothills below the Butte Mountains.

But try to tell that to the thousands of ring-necked pheasants that call this mixture of native grasslands and farm crops home.

Several were taking to the air right now and, with camera in one hand and gun in the other, I was at a loss for what to do.

As usual, I didn’t get the best effort from either.

“Who cares,” I thought. I’m just going to soak up the beauty of this land on an October afternoon on the Diamond A Ranch 14 miles north of Gregory.

A 2,000-acre hunting preserve owned by Jim and Andrea Olson, the Diamond A is not a diamond in the rough. It is a splendid, well-appointed preserve awash in wild pheasants, turkeys and deer.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., and I met Gary Kubicek and Bill McPherson, both with Country Vet pet foods out of Sioux City, Gary’s brother-in-law Tom Jansen and his friend Kenneth Bird, both of Omaha, for a couple days of bird shooting.

We never did get more than a half mile from the lodge. We walked milo strips mostly and the birds were there.

It was the second visit to the Diamond A by Howey and me. We had hunted here last year, the first year of operation for Jim and Andrea, who farm near Homer, Neb.… Continue reading

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

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

Pheasants were boiling out of the milo field in unbelievable numbers.

Hunters cut loose, and the sound of 12-gauge shotguns reverberated across the landscape.

My shotgun hung over my shoulder on a sling, and I was performing rapid fire maneuvers with my Nikon in motor drive.

I had photographs of birds falling, birds getting up, dogs running across the field, hunters in the foreground, hunters in the background.

You don’t run into many moments such as this so a photographer has to “make hay when the sun shines” to quote an old farmer’s saying.

But enough is enough.

A big rooster was flying hard and fast right in my direction.

The camera dropped on its lanyard to my chest, and I unhinged the shotgun swinging it to my shoulder and passing the muzzle through the bird’s flight. I fired, and he folded.

I pumped another load into the Benneli and swung on another rooster and repeated.

Two down.… Continue reading

For those of us that have been waiting all year for pheasant season, well, it’s here!

Reports indicate that the pheasant outlook is good with those states that have a lot of habitat really crowing about their pheasant numbers.

Over the years, I’ve hunted with hundreds of hunter and was surprised how some of them hunted and amazed by others at how well they would look over the situation, hash things over, approaching each field differently.

Here are a few tips that I’ve learned that have helped me to become a more consistent early season pheasant hunter.

• Once you arrive at the field that you plan on hunting, keep the noise down to a minimum as all wild game has a very acute sense of hearing.  This means, don’t slam your car door, keep the noise to a minimum.

• If you use a whistle to control your dog, don’t keep blowing the whistle, as this will surely put the birds on alert, the last of a loud whistle is a foreign sound. If you use a whistle, try using a hawk call as this is a familiar sound and many times when the birds hear it will cause them hunker down, allowing you to get closer before the bust from the cover.

• Let your dog do the hunting and follow him wherever he leads you, as his sense of smell is the key to locating the birds.

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

To many, the final day of the regular pheasant season means that there’s a long time before they and their dog will have the opportunity to hit the field in pursuit of the Ringneck.

But to me and many others, it’s an indicator of what we’ll see nine months down the road.

If we see very few birds, especially hens, we know that it may very well be in for a tough opener next season.

On the other hand, if you see thousands of birds, a vast majority of those hens, baring any unforeseen tragedy, it means that the opener will be fantastic.

Well that’s exactly what Team Outdoorsmen Adventures member Larry Myhre, Sioux CityIowaTom Mitchell KELO-FM Radio, Sioux Falls and I ran into when we hunted with our good friend Cody Warne, Warne Ranches, Pierre, SD.

When we met Cody just outside of Pierrehe was optimistic, as he always is, telling us he had a good bunch of pheasants on the ranch and that we might even get a shot at a few ducks and geese.

As we followed Cody out, I and my cameraman Kyle Nickolite, Yankton, SD talked about how we wanted to hunt these birds as we knew they would be bunched, spooky and airborne at the slightest sound. We thought we had a pretty good plan until we headed out into the field!

When we made our way into the filed, it was obvious, that the habitat on Warne Ranch was established for wildlife, it was ideal, with lots of shelterbelts, food plots and wetlands areas.… Continue reading

PIERRE, S.D. — Just when you think you have seen more pheasants in one place than you will ever see, you show up at Cody Warne’s ranch and see what real pheasant numbers are all about.

Just take a gander at the photo at the top of this page.

Consider that this is just one small field among 2,400 acres of chest high prairie grasses, and endless food plots of milo, millet, corn, sunflowers and alfalfa.

Throw in a bunch of shelter belts and and something like 26 artesian wells for water and you are beginning to talk about real pheasant habitat.

In fact, the duck hunting can be just as good as the pheasant hunting.

That’s what Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., Tom Mitchell of KELO-FM radio of Sioux Falls and I learned recently. With us was Kyle Nickolite, Vermillion,who filmed all the action for Gary’s television show “Outdoorsmen Adventures.”

We met in the old barn which Cody has remodeled inside to serve as a hunt headquarters. First thing I noticed was the several mounts of big buck deer hanging on the walls. Next was a long counter on which hundreds of sheds about two feet deep rested.

I looked out back and saw about a dozen pheasants roosting on big bales in the corral.

It was starting to look like my kind of place.… Continue reading