Pheasant hunting in the midwest

So who's been where? I'm talking my best friend into upland hunting. I've got two GSP so we were thinking public land to go hunt for a week. Or outfitters too

I use to deer hunt some on public land north of Saginaw Mi. We saw tons of pheasants.............Google..............

S Dakota has a fair amount of public land available. Contact the local area chamber of commerce out there and they can give you a list of areas open to public. Most hotels in the huting areas are dog friendly too. Used to be you could get a list of farms that would let you hunt and stay
with the family like a B&B but that was long ago.

Link to SD public hunting atlas:

http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/areas/maps/default.aspx

I have been to SoDak every year since 2009.

Past three - four years numbers have been on the low side, but SoDak remains the top state for wild pheasant hunting.

2013 in SoDak was the worst, however; it has steadily increased. If you have good dogs and work the area correctly you can get your limit.

Yeah forget Michigan if you want pheasants. We have few birds but not like 30 years ago. If you want to go to Michigan keep on driving on 75 until you cross a great big bridge then hang a left. Lots of woodcock and grouse for you to fool with.

For pheasants I like Montana because it's about as long a drive for me as if I went to IA, KS, SD or NE, there are few hunters and I can also hunt sharptails and huns. Honestly, I'd rather kill a pair of huns than a basket full of pheasants but that's just me. I drive pass millions of birds driving through ND on the way to MT too but I just like MT best. Last year I killed birds in MT, ND and KS all on private land open to the pubic. Pick a state, do your research on where to hunt and make it a plan.

If your friends GSP's have never hunted pheasants before I hope they are smart dogs and have been hunted on smart birds before.

Great Point!

Killinstuff said:

If your friends GSP's have never hunted pheasants before I hope they are smart dogs and have been hunted on smart birds before.

Click to expand...

This is key...wild birds are nothing like the plantation raised, "liberated" birds here.

I hunt out of Winner S.D. Plenty of birds in the area and nice motel and good places to eat. I am planning a trip for this Nov.

In the last few years I've hunted SD, CO, NE, and KS for pheasants. Here's my take. SD is still pheasant Mecca but its become so commercialized that it's nearly impossible to knock on doors, and the public land gets hit HARD!! If you go through an outfitter or landowner who charges trespassing fees, you will have very good hunting, but if your just hunting state walk in areas, it's not worth it IMO. CO has a smaller Pheasant range than the other states but the hunting can be very good early in the season. Late season becomes very tough due to the approximation to Denver. CO public land gets hit harder than SD from what I've seen. Late season CO pheasants are some of the toughest pheasants I've ever hunted. The good thing is the birds get pushed onto private land, and the landowners are pretty good about letting you hunt their property. Knocking on doors can get you access, but make sure you bring a gift or spare a pheasant if you harvest one on their land. A buddy of mine takes the landowners he hunts regularly a smoked ham at the end of the season, and I bring home made smoked salmon gift bags just in case. That's a very good way to be invited back and even get more land opened up to you. NE has good pheasant numbers with lots of walk in property, and get hits modestly hard from what I've seen. The cool thing about NE is pheasant and quail populations overlap in many areas, so bagging both in a day is not difficult. In a western KS, there is huge amounts of walk in areas, the highest bag limit for birds, and modest pressure. KS pheasant range is well west of most the KS population centers, and many in CO won't purchase an out of state license when they have to drive through CO pheasant territory to get to KS. If I was driving from GA, and I wanted to hunt oublic land, IMO it's a no brainer. I'd hunt KS. With that said, IMO the real gems for public hunting wild pheasants in the US are MT and ND. In ND if the land isn't posted "no trespassing", you can hunt it, and in MT, your so far from the rest of the world there is little hunting pressure compared to other states. If I were making a trip specifically to hunt pheasants, I'd go to MT or ND. However, if I were driving from GA, I'd go to KS because it's so much closer. You can be in Western KS in a day's drive, where ND and MT are at least a 2 days drive, with Lewiston MT being close to 2000 miles...... With all of that said, the earlier you hunt in the season the better off you will be, especially if your dogs haven't had a lot of work on pheasants. With a good snow storm though, late season Pheasant hunting can be nothing short of spectacular. I wouldn't plan a trip hoping for a snow storm though.