Winter Storm Atlas really did a number on our bird population in South Dakota. I've only seen 8 grouse this whole fall, and pheasants are very much just in pockets. If you find them, there are a descent amount, but until you find them, you'll put miles and miles on (and your dog even more!) looking.
I've been hunting the north central part of the state the past two days as I was told there were birds there, crops aren't out yet, making it tough, but there are birds. My first day, I saw one pheasant, just after sunset. Yesterday, I saw several groups of birds along the road while driving, but at the end of the day I'd pretty much given up as I hadn't found where any combines were working to help me out in my quest. I decided to spend the rest of the day just looking around and finding the public areas - about mid-afternoon, I FINALLY found a combine working very near a small CRP ground so decided to see what there was. Casey did her job, and found the one pheasant that was in there, unfortunately, was way to overcome by the excitement and took complete leave of her senses. I knew she was on a bird as I couldn't get her turned around, nor could I get there fast enough. Bummer. Found another nice walk-in area and decided to see what there was, if nothing else, it would give me a chance to reel Casey back in. There wasn't a bird one (although Casey did 'flush' a rabbit!) so I shot the moon and the sun instead.
