Freelancing South Dakota Pheasants

I have said it before, and I will say it again. When there is snow on the ground and the sloughs are frozen, that is my favorite time of the year to hunt pheasants. This season we have had snow and freezing temps across the Midwest. So last weekend my father and I took advantage of the weather that has be absent the last couple hunting seasons to chase pheasants.
In an article, legendary outdoor writer Tony Dean said that South Dakota is the best place for hunters to pursue pheasants. With South Dakota having lots of pheasants and plenty of opportunities for hunters, I believe that Tony is right. My father and I both had a second five-day period available on our licenses so we chose to go back to Sodak.
Freelancing pheasants in South Dakota is like freelancing ducks in North Dakota. Basically there are birds all over the state and to be successful you have to be mobile. Knowing different areas is crucial, so we decided to hunt pheasants in an area we have never hunted for them in.
Our goal was to target cattails for the majority of our hunts. When the water beneath them is frozen, cattails provide excellent cover for late-season pheasants. Plus, it is cover that, for the most part, has just recently become accessible. I was hoping that hunters had overlooked these spots so far this season.
The two of us ended up hunting mostly Waterfowl Production Areas with the three labs we brought along. Waterfowl Production Areas or WPAs are public lands open to hunting that are purchased through Federal duck stamp dollars. These lands always have some form of water on them and are natural places to find cattails. Pheasant hunters have to remember that steel-shot is legally required on Waterfowl Production Areas.
My father and I ended up hunting Federal land, but the state of South Dakota has public land available to hunters as well. Most of the land I saw that was purchased by the state had food plots on it. South Dakota also has state funded Walk-In areas. These land plots are only accessible by foot, like the majority of public land. The state basically leases the land for the Walk-In areas from farmers, and opens the land up for public hunting. Pretty cool.
I feel that most hunters when freelancing just open up a public hunting map and say, ‘look at all the public land around here.’ Usually pointing out a few areas of concentration and suggest to others that they go there. These are places that I try to avoid. I don’t have any problems with putting on a few extra miles to avoid other hunters.
Blocking strategies for jumpy birds and dogs for finding birds that are holding are a must when hunting pheasants later in the season. We had the dogs, but we could have used some blockers. Still we were able to find a handful of roosters that were willing to hold in the snow and cold.
On our recent trip my father and I discovered that our new spot is a good one. It is always a pleasure to hunt with a good friend in a new area. Next season we are planning on going back and bringing a few more shooters. Now that we have hunted a few different areas, we know how to cover them the right way.
On the drive home from South Dakota I was pleasantly surprised by the number of pheasants my father and I spotted. We probably saw twenty-five birds feeding in cornfields while we were driving along I-90. The funny thing is that we didn’t spot a single one from the Interstate in South Dakota. I almost couldn’t believe that all the birds I saw were on the Minnesota side of our drive.

Dave's Band

I met Dave Easton in the fall of 2000 at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks. Dave had a burning passion to pursue game in the outdoors and a Jeep. I had three-dozen mallard floaters and knowledge of waterfowl passed down from my father and relatives. Together we were poised to make a great team.
Dave grew up in Colorado were there was few opportunities for him to hunt ducks. His own father was more of an upland hunter who brought Dave to western Nebraska and local game farms to harvest pheasants. To this day I have yet to encounter an individual who was more excited to experience new ways to hunt and fish.
I was just a freshman and Dave was a sophomore. Before the duck season began on the prairie we had agreed that we would hunt together as much as possible together. Dave had hunted ducks the season before with a couple older guys in the Frat, who at the time rented a house off-campus. These older Phi’s were kind enough to allow the two of us to store our firearms and the decoys at there home.
It was a time in my life that I will always remember. I was 19 years old, living on my own for the first time, making new friends, just forty-five minutes East of some of the best duck hunting in the Central flyway. If I could re-live one duck season, it would be my first fall in North Dakota.
On weekdays Dave and I would leave the UND campus in the early afternoon, after our classes were completed. Once the guns were picked up, yours truly would be riding shotgun in the Jeep, while we coasted west down highway 2 towards the prairie-potholes.
Whether or not you that have traveled down highway 2 to from Grand Forks, I will give you my re-cap. You pass the Grand Forks airport, then the Grand Forks Air Force Base, Turtle River state park, and the ‘big fan’ bridge just before Petersburg. Once you cross the bridge have left the Red River valley and are now in the prairie-potholes.
Those afternoons Dave and I would just drive around and jump shoot ducks. Gas was cheap, and I had never seen any place like it. It seemed as though every slough contained birds. Coming from Minnesota where my childhood hunts were mostly filled with ‘empty skies,’ I thought that I was in paradise.
Dave, the Colorado kid, none the wiser, was thoroughly enjoying hunting plentiful game with a new friend. Every turn on those dusty gravel roads contained new experiences for the both of us. Species of ducks, first doubles, triples, leg bands and the bag limits that had eluded me through my early years of waterfowl hunting were found.
On the weekends Dave and I would occasionally wake up before daybreak and set out decoys on several small potholes that we had become fond of. We rarely shot our limits over these sets, but we enjoyed seeing the sunrises that many of our fellow college students missed.
Back on campus Dave and I would clean plump mallards, gadwalls, teal and the occasional diver in the girl’s bathroom of the Frat house. This is also where we cleaned the perch and northern we pulled through the ice in the wintertime. In the kitchen we would mix duck breasts with any spices we could find and share them with our Frat brothers.
Our good friend Phil Bettenburg occasionally joined us on our duck hunts and the three of us go on a fishing trip every summer to this day. In the latter years of college Dave and I discovered field hunting for ducks and geese, and many new hunting partners. Some experienced, some not. By the time we both graduated and parted ways we had learned a ton about waterfowl hunting through experience and others.
Towards the end we did not hunt as much together as I would have liked. Goals and opinions changed, and educations needed to be completed in the classroom, not just the outdoors. Everything is good, but I would not trade those memories of the carefree early years for anything.
On one crisp October afternoon Dave shot a nice drake mallard just west of Petersburg, North Dakota. I, being a good friend and the one with waders on, retrieved the bird for him. To my surprise it was banded! At that time I had only seen two other banded birds harvested.
That mallard was banded in North Dakota at the J. Clark Wildlife Refuge. It was 12 years old when it met its fate at the hand of Dave’s steel 2s. Traveling up and down the flyway on that old North Dakota bird, the Avise bird band is a great memento and a true jewel. Dave’s band now hangs on my lanyard, and I think about those days every time I glance down at it. Dave gave it to me because he says that he never cared as much about the band as I did. He was more into mental aspects of the hunt, memories and experiences.

A Dream Hunt

It was an unbelievable day. The snow was coming down sideways and the birds were committing suicide. I filled my Swan tag with a black neck collared bird that was sporting a Tarsus band to boot. I picked the bird out of a decoying flock that came in at first light.
Matt and I also shot about twenty snow geese, one of which was a yellow neck-collared blue! Since I had shot the swan earlier I let Matt claim the collar and leg band. On top of a limit of drake mallards I also recovered a Spoonbill for my bonus bird. The catch, the spoonbill was also banded! The leg iron on the spoonbill meant more to me than the collared Swan. The band on the spoonbill was so old I could only make out the “AD” of Advise.
I felt like I was on top of the world as I drove my brand new pick-up across the snowy cornfield. It was cold, but my body was nice and toasty with the feeling of accomplishment. As I stepped out of the truck into the decoy spread Matt showed me his bonus bird. It was a banded Greenwing Teal he bagged while I was walking back to the pickup.
Later we were sitting in a small diner in the middle of Nodak, decked out, wearing our lanyards in the joint, showing off the new bling. I was flirting with the cute waitress when I was awaken by my sounding alarm clock. Damn.
It was one of those dreams that are so real you have to check your surroundings when you wake. Needless to say, I was glad to find myself in my room, but discouraged that I had to be at work in a half an hour.
Since I was a young boy I have been having dreams about hunting. My most terrifying nightmares are also about waterfowling. Usually the nightmares are occurring on opening day of the duck season, and I am unable to hunt for various reasons. In these nightmares ducks are swarming me like mosquitoes and all I can do is sit there and point my finger at them.
I have a reoccurring dream about shooting a double-banded snow goose. The location of the hunt, the time of year and the hunting partners change, but it’s always the same bird. More specifically it’s a Ross goose with a twenty-five dollar “reward” band and the standard “Call” band.
I retrieve the bird and as I am walking back to my hunting partners I have a Kool-Aid smile on my face. I’m a nice guy, so I tell the boys, “I am keeping the reward band for myself and the rest of you guys can draw straws for the other leg iron.” Just like that, two hunting buddies become brothers in arms, connected through a bird, each of them having a band from the same bird on their respective lanyards.
From what I have read about dreaming the dreamer has little control of the events in the dream. Dreams typically deal with events that are occurring in the same time period in which the dream takes place. I dream about hunting more often before and during the waterfowl season. Dreams often include feelings and events that the dreamer has experienced in his or her life. I wonder what people who do not hunt dream about?
Scientists say we have many dreams throughout the night, but only remember very few of them. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is the stage of sleep in which dreams occur. If the dreamer awakes during REM they have the greatest chance of remembering their dreams. So if you are awaken you have a greater chance of remembering your dreams. I rarely wake up at five in the morning naturally to go duck hunting.
Native Americans believed that dreams were “visions” of what is to come. I hope I do not forget my gun next year on duck opener, but there are banded birds in my future.

MN Early Goose Opener

Labor Day, with most of my peers taking jet-ski rides around the lakes or at the MN State Fair, Matt Gouette and I were in south central Minnesota scouting for geese. We choose to scout and hunt a new area for a couple different reasons. One, the new area is about half the distance of our old haunts in western Minnesota and two I heard from my friend J.D. Westerholm there was a good amount of geese down there.
The stock market guru Warren Buffet says that it is impossible to tell what will happen to the market in the short run, and very easy to tell what will happen in the long run. That is how I feel about goose hunting in Minnesota. The night before the early goose opener in Minnesota, even with a lot of time put in scouting, I am still not sure what to expect the next morning.
Matt Gouette and I had found a lot of geese in the area we were going to hunt, but we could not get permission for the two cut cornfields the geese were using. Through talking with the landowner we did know that the fields were going to be hunted on opening day. So our plan was to set up in a field in the flight path between the roost and the two fields the geese were using. With the commotion of opening day we figured we could coax a few young Canada geese into our decoys.
As a backup, there was a small pond and a larger body of water we could hunt. Both of which were with in a half-mile of the roost the majority of the birds were using. Once again, due to the confusion of opening day we were confident that with decoys and calling we could bring birds into range in either of these spots.
So as we drove to the field on the morning of Sept 6th, the outcome was going to be anyone’s guess. Were other hunters going to blow the roost? Was there going to be pass shooters in the area? Wind, no wind, rain? In the long-term I knew that if I put my time in I was going to have some good days hunting Canada geese in Minnesota. As for the short-term we were about to find out.
When Matt and I got to the field we were going to hunt there was little sign of other hunters in the area. As we set up the decoys and brushed the blinds we only saw a few vehicles drive by. Most of which were cars so I assumed that they were not hunters. It was getting lighter out and I kept thinking to myself, ‘this could be good.’
Once the hands of the clock indicated that it was legal shooting time the geese were more easy go than easy come. Goose calls being played by hunters began to sound all around us as if they were to start on queue.
Still I thought that we had an okay chance of getting a few geese but once the shooting started I wasn’t sure. All the flocks we saw coming off the roost flew higher and higher as the sun rose. All of which wanted nothing to do with our decoy spread. We even saw one flock circle a decoy spread that was not far from us like ten times. Then once the group shot, not a single bird fell. Which tells me that they were possibly out of range. Still the birds were acting more like late season birds.
Matt and I were packing up the spread when a DNR officer drove up and checked our licenses and shells. He said that a few pass shooters had geese and the hunters in the cut sweet corn fields had harvested a few geese. The officer also confirmed my assumption that hunters had set decoys on the water the geese were using as a roost. They too had shot a few geese.
My first Minnesota goose opener in nine years was a good reality check for Matt and I. It did solidify my belief that goose hunting on opening day is a roll of the dice, and that still it is better to be out and about than sitting on the couch. All was not for not, we were able to switch areas for the Sunday morning shoot and set up on a water hole with no scouting hoping to ‘run traffic.’ We shot one goose Sunday morning, the only bird that came into the decoys or with in range the whole weekend for that matter. When the bird came in, it came in hard, cupped and committed.

DRC

To be honest, it there was a jury full of ducks and geese; I would probably be on death row. The last couple of years I have been lucky enough to hunt waterfowl in several states and Canada each season. In doing so I have hunted with lots of different people using lots of different techniques. Coming home and hunting around my home state of Minnesota using new techniques is challenging and exciting.
I believe that Minnesota waterfowl hunters have more all-around knowledge and hunt harder then hunters from many other states. Minnesota waterfowl hunters must be continually learning and trying new things to be successful. This innovation results in many leading edge products being born in Minnesota.
The short-reed goose call may not have been born in Minnesota, but it certainly has evolved here. Not only is Minnesota home to some of the country’s best goose callers, there are many call-makers that file their taxes within in our great state. The newest call company, Death Row Calls, is quickly making a name for it’s self in the field and on stage.
I imagine that it was a sunny day at the Gamefair when a blonde-haired, younger guy from Thief River Falls stunned a quite audience by winning the 2007 State Goose Calling Championship. I have to imagine because I was not there, but when I heard the news through the grapevine I was excited.
That guy’s name is Cory Loeffler, and for those that know him it should have come as no surprise that he would be crowned state champ. I have known since Cory through calling contests since the fall of 2004. Cory has been collecting plaques and beating this author in calling contests up and down the Red River valley since then.
The thing that surprised me was that Cory won the state championship that day with a call from his new call line, Death Row Calls or DRC for short. Cory had started the new call line in the early part of 2007 and I was impressed by the calls when I first got to try one the second weekend of the ’07 Gamefair.
Not only were the DRC calls displayed on stage during the Gamefair, Cory, being a smart entrepreneur, had a booth at the popular event. When I had the opportunity to congratulate Cory in person, the DRC table was littered with plaques collected by the DRC crew that week. Around the DRC shop in Thief River the guys like to joke that the Death Row Calls line should have gotten an award for being the ‘rookie of the year.’
In it’s first year of existence the Death Row Calls line has won nearly 30 calling competitions. Besides the Minnesota State goose, callers won the North Star Two Man duck and goose with DRC calls. The North Star is a major calling competition held annually in Minnesota, usually at the Gamefair. Competition callers come from all over the country to compete in this event.
I am the kind of waterfowl hunter who likes to wear my passion for the sport all year. At any time you can catch me wearing apparel from various outdoor product manufactures. Another thing Cory has done right is design and print shirts and sweatshirts that are stylish. Believe it or not, goose calling is becoming a Fad with the younger generations.
I would like to end this column with a quick story. Contrary to popular belief, many of us who travel and compete in various calling contests across Minnesota get along very well. I met Cory Loeffler backstage at a calling contest. Although he is mainly a goose caller, once we were both waiting behind the scenes for a duck calling competition. I was surprised when he told me then that it was going to be the first time he had competed at duck calling. We joked around a little and I ended up finishing in second place. Cory says that if you don’t know how to call, you shouldn’t make calls. That day he took first in his first duck calling competition.
If you want to learn more about Death Row Calls feel free to call Cory at the DRC shop 218-686-6617. Or check out www.deathrowcalls.com.

Suspended Crappies

It’s all down hill from here. Not really but soon the summer sun will heat the waters of Minnesota lakes and the fish will go deep. Walleyes, found in shallow water until mid-June will be tough to find, and big schools of largemouth bass will move in search of cooler water. This is when I switch my focus to panfish.
For the next couple of week’s crappies will be my fish of choice. In Minnesota crappies can be fished for and caught all year round. I find that fishing for them post-spawn is more of a challenge. Early in the spring one can simply tiptoe down my dock and my neighbors and catch a few crappies straight jigging with a minnow. I wait till these fish go deep to pursue them.
Traditionally, crappies with their “paper mouths” are a challenge to catch and these fish make excellent table fair. They are pleasure to land and consume.
While fishing the other day I noticed a school of crappies swarming the surface of the calm water on the lake I was fishing. I should have switched tactics and presented theses fish with a jig. However, I am hardheaded and I wanted to fool one more walleye while the fish were still hanging in shallower water.
Some people fish for Crappies using a minnow and a plain hook. Personally, I use jigs or jig heads tipped with minnows. I have found that a 1/16-ounce jig tipped with a fathead minnow works the best. The largest jig size I would use for Crappie is 1/8-ounce. As a rule, I usually say the smaller the better, this allows for a slower presentation. Some fishermen swear by tube jigs, twister tails and flu flu’s. All these are added attractants, which I find myself using only when I run out of bait.
Crappies are a suspended fish by nature, hanging on the edge of weed lines off the bottom. Crappie strike upward, like the majority of fish. This makes it crucial for fishermen to present their bait or jig above the fish. If you are fishing below them, or at their level, you might as well be sitting at home playing video games.
I have found that Crappie hit slower presentations the most, often times on the drop of the cast. The best way I have found to place the jig at the right depth and speed is using a slip-bobber. If I find a school of Crappie suspended five feet from the surface of the water, I set my slipknot at four feet. With a 1/16-ounce jig head tipped with a minnow, I will cast ten to fifteen yards. Once the slipknot has reached the bobber I slowly reel the set-up in.
Not only does the slip bobber allow the less experienced fishermen to place the jig at the proper depth and speed, it also helps with the hook set. When jigging without the bobber I find the majority of fishermen pull the jig out of the fish’s mouth, or set it after the fish has spit it out. The bobber seems to allow the perfect delay for an accurate hook set. Of course, using the proper equipment helps as well. Ultra light rods and reels are essential to feeling hollow strikes while panfishing.
Mastering the technique is unfortunately easier then finding the fish. It is important to first scout out beaver dams, sunken islands and channel openings when searching for schools of crappie. Look for them to be in roughly ten feet of water suspended five to six feet from the bottom.
In my youth my cousin would always bring along a few Daddy-longlegs spiders when we went out panfishing. When we got to suspected areas he would toss them on the calm water. The spiders would run for shore and we would locate schools of crappies by the fish attacking the spiders on the surface of the water. When fishing, sometimes you have to think outside the box to be successful.

Bass Basics

The first step I took as a fisherman was from catching sunnies off the dock to casting for bass along the docks. It is true that bass are a sunfish, so in theory this is a logical step. Most of my friends, like me, first started serious fishing for bass and then transitioned into walleyes.
Early in the year bass can be found in shallow hard bottom parts of many lakes. These are the spawning beds that the bass use. Bass can be caught in these areas by casting many different types of presentations. I have had the most luck using white or chartreuse spinner baits with fast retrieves. The hard bottoms of these locations are key for finding fish; a good spot to start is sandy bottoms or bulrushes.
Once the water warms up the bass will move into deeper cooler water. Under normal conditions in the mid-west this should occur in early June. Bass can be caught in 6-10 feet of water casting shallow diving crank baits and spinner baits. Small spoons and live bait presentations can work too.
Through July bass will move deeper but can be fished using the same methods. I have had very good luck catching largemouths with leeches while walleye fishing in the dog days. In fact some would argue that live bait presentations might be the best way to catch bass. Longtime guide Marv Koep of the Brainerd Lakes area swears by fishing with redtail chubs in 8-12 feet of water. The largemouth bass after all is in the Panfish family and I do not know of a better way to catch panfish then with a bobber.
Schools of Largemouth Bass and that contain larger fish are most commonly found in deeper water. The exception is that some fish find shade under docks and boats. Bass find these places to be ideal for eating bluegills as well. I have found casting spinner baits in these areas is the best approach. Spinner baits are the most versatile lure on the market; you can fish them deep, shallow, and they don’t usually hook up on weeds and docks. My buddies and I refer to this approach as “bass-mastering it.”
On lakes with softer bottoms lily pads also provide shade on sunny days for largemouth bass. Spots where the lily pads end, and drop offs begin are good locations. During the day try casting weedless spoons and top water lures into the lily pads. The key with top-water is to have a very slow retrieve. If you bring a top-water lure over the drop off make sure to really slow it down once the lure has moved past the weeds. You want to give the bass the impression that the lure ventured into some place it shouldn’t have.
If you don’t have success in the lily pads then go back along the same shoreline and fish the drop off. I like casting crankbaits that dive quickly like the Rapala fat-raps and rattle-traps. Cast the lure on the edge of the lily pads so it cranks down the drop off on the first part of your retrieve. Different colors work in different lakes during different light conditions. A good color to start with when using crankbaits for bass is crawdad.
In northern Minnesota Smallmouth Bass can be caught by casting the same lures along rocky drop offs. These spots can be identified by steep shorelines. This is where the smallies go to feed on crawfish. For lure color my first choice always depicts that.
During mid-day and later in the summer Smallmouth bass can be found around rocky humps. These humps can be found anywhere from 25-15 ft of water depending on the lake and weather. I cast or drift with 1/4 oz jigs tipped with minnows for these fish. By doing this I often catch walleyes too, or vice versa.
Fishing is all about mastering patterns. If you are not having any luck casting in shallows, try switching colors or presentations. If that does not work try different depths and different cover. When in doubt go back to fishing basics and try a bobber and a leech.