Last Week in South Dakota

[Top Gun]

Here is a report and some pictures from our duck hunt in NE South Dakota last week.

We found large flocks of mallards and geese feeding in picked corn from the first day we arrived but had trouble finding landowners or getting permission to hunt. Many times there were cattle feeding in same fields so hunting there was not possible. Because of the changing weather patterns early last week we missed a couple of golden opportunities by waiting till morning to hunt a field that was full of ducks the previous afternoon. The birds changed patterns overnight or the pothole they were roosting in froze up and they moved to bigger water.

After the cold weather moved through mid-week the numbers of ducks and geese increased each day and it seemed that there were flocks in air all day long going back and forth to open water on the lakes and fields nearby. We were finally able to establish a feeding pattern and hunted picked corn friday and saturday. We didn't get geese coming into our spread but the duck hunting was awesome. Flocks of 100 - 150 mallards coming into the decoys about every 15 - 20 min. for over three hours. There were thousands of geese - mainly snows and blues - flying in every direction that put on a show for us to watch between flocks of ducks.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/Steve-Paulson/DSCN0499.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/Steve-Paulson/DSCN0515.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/Steve-Paulson/DSCN0508.jpg

Did I mention we did very well with the Pheasants too!

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/Steve-Paulson/DSCN0475.jpg

It was a great trip with many great memories.

[Tyler Holm]

Glad to see you found success with both ducks and pheasants. Right now is the perfect time to have great hunts on both species. Nice work

[rundrave]

that pheasant picture is a classic AWESOME!, the sky, the field, dog, birds. Looked like one awesome day to be out......why do I have to work...

good post sounds like you had a blast

[Flick]

Looks like good hunts, we smoked em pretty good. Four of us killed 51 mallards fri-sun, ill try to post up some pics. How do you like your M2 or M1? I'm thinking of getting one, let me know.

[Top Gun]

Flick - It's an M-1, I've had it for about 5 years and really like it, no problems at all. I'm thinking about an SBE camo just for waterfowl and keep the M-1 for pheasants it's nice and light and I like the way it handles with the 26" barrel.

Looks like your group really got into the ducks too - good work! It's really a blast when you get everything right and they come ih the way they were last week.