South Dakota Pheasant Hunting

2011 Pheasant Season
Oct. 15, 2011 - Jan. 1, 2012

If there’s one common denominator in the pheasant hunting forecast business, it’s an obsession with the weather. Year after year, when the time comes to start making forecasts for the coming ring-neck season, the first factor that gets mentioned is the weather. In South Dakota the weather is always in the forefront.

In an average winter, 10 to 20 percent of the birds that make it through the hunting season die before spring. If you look at the populations from August through the following spring, normal losses are probably close to 50 percent. Pheasants can sustain those kinds of losses because, like most prey species, they are capable of producing an astonishing number of offspring. In those “normal” years, a good pheasant hatch will including seven to ten young birds for every adult. In other words, upwards of 80 percent of the birds bagged will only be a few months old. Reproduction is again the key to hunting prospects.

To estimate how successful reproduction has been, South Dakota conservation officers conduct summer brood surveys in early August. The numbers are usually tabulated by Labor Day, and pheasant biologists use them to make an estimate of what the population has done since last year.
Even in areas where the winter was most severe, quality winter habitat allows birds to survive. In most cases windbreak trees, planted in large enough blocks to prevent them from drifting shut makes the difference.

When hunting public land it’s up to the hunter to determine if they will have a successful hunt. Although Game Production Areas and Waterfowl Production Areas are managed for wildlife, the amount and quality of winter cover varies among them. The best bet is to look for tracts that have wide shelterbelts or terrain that could have provided protection from the wind.

Tentative 2012 Season: Oct. 20, 2012 - Jan. 6, 2013

For more information, see the Pheasant Hunting page or visit the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks website - www.gfp.sd.gov