Any tips for December trip?

[Wild Thing]

I'm going to take my 8th grade daughter on her first trip to the prairie Dec. 2-4. We have our WIA book and our lab and we are just going to freelance to save some dollars.

Any tips on where we might start? Any places to avoid? Hoping the swamps will be froze up by then.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

[reddog]

Look at the density map on the GFP HSOforum. It will show your bird numbers and also hunter numbers. I would avoid the areas with high bird numbers and high hunter numbers..

If you have a Garmin vehicle gps, upload the WIA maps right into your unit. It is a real sweet way to navigate.

In order to tap into the bulk of the remaining birds that are out there during shooting hours, you will need to find water of some kind or wait till the last hour and hunt roosting areas. Every bird I got up and shot at was water related somehow.

I gained permission on a 160a picked sunflower field today, with a 20 acre patch of mixed weeds and cattails and water about 8 inches deep. I wondered why the farmer grinned at me when he asked how many guys I had with and I told him I was alone. You cannot believe how many birds 20a can hold and how wild they are under these conditions. I walked out of there with a goose egg, but I enjoyed every second of it. There was another 15a waterway that looked like tremendous cover in the same field, but it had no water..... and no birds also.

[rundrave]

here are some late season hunting tips for you. Keep in mind that a majority of my hunting is done on public land also and I do well.

Most of the fair weathered hunters will not be out, in fact most of them are probably already done for the year. You won't have much competition that late in the year if any at all, but if the weather stays mild might have to drive by a couple that are already being hunted. There is plenty of public land around the state to make a full days hunt out of.

When you approach an area be sure to keep the noise to a minimum. For example when you close vehicle doors be extra quiet. Keep talking to a minimum and try to have a game plan mapped out before you start walking.

The bird are going to be jumpy and several will clear out all at once, often way ahead. Don't let that discourage you as when the snow is on the ground birds will often sit very very tight.

I shoot a 3" #2 steel shot and it does great for me. Make sure you are able to make a good shot as they get pretty tough late season and more often than not are a little harder to knock down if you let them get out there a little further.

Don't be afraid to hunt the little areas, that often get passed by.

Good luck to you and your daughter.

[Wild Thing]

Thanks for the information, guys!

Still trying to sort through other reports I'm getting about where bird numbers are way down, etc. and how far to go. I've seen reports from the same areas with some saying it was great and some saying terrible.

Hard to say until we get out there I guess, but trying to narrow the odds in our favor any way we can.

Thanks again!

[Squidly]

Heading out in about an hour for a weekend hunt. Also hitting public areas. I'll let you know how i do.

As for reports, a lot of mixed results from what I have heard. The GFP will never tell the truth about bird numbers, but over the last 3 years I have seen numbers decline drastically due to the last 2 winters and massive loss of habitat. There are still birds to be had, but the hype you see on TV is reserved for game farms and guided private land with released birds.

[rundrave]

I have walked a lot of the public areas near Yankton. I don't know why they don't seem to hold any birds. There are some nice pieces of property down there I just never had any luck down there.

Good luck

[Squidly]

No, not many birds down here. There are pockets, but mostly on private land.

Do most of my upland either around Winner or north of LA.

In truck now about 5 miles from my destination

[Squidly]

Right around Plankington, 5 areas down, not even a hen....

[Squidly]

Well...

Imagine a trapezoid drawn from Highmore to Miller to Plankinton to Kimball. Thats where I would concentrate efforts since that area seemed to have the most birds by far. Not much for public ground but gotta take the bad with the good. They are getting snow there tonight so it will make the hunting even better. Good luck!