How can you lose in Winner, SD? Well…

One of the perks of hiring Rob is my new access to private land - and roosters that hold tight

For the first few years of our Uplanders Warehouse business, it was just Dixie and I running the show. We finally got to a point (about a year ago) where we needed some help, and we bit the bullet and hired our first full-time employee (Rob). I wrote a separate post about Rob earlier – introducing our newest family member – but after our recent trip, I feel more like a member of Rob’s family than Rob being a part of our family

Rob’s hire has come with some nice perks for me personally. First, there’s the private land he has access to here in Montana that I’ve been fortunate enough to hunt a couple times. Second, Rob grew up in Rapid City, SD. But Rob’s mom and dad grew up in the Winner, SD area – prime pheasant country. His grandma and several aunts, uncles and cousins still reside in and around Winner. So with my prodding, Rob was kind enough to setup a hunt for us. We took off last week for one last pheasant fling – closing out the season in style.

Rob and I (and 3 dogs) drove over to Rapid City and picked up his dad who was joining us for the trip. Our trio then continued on to Winner, SD. For a road trip the last week of December, the weather was incredible – dry roads the entire way, and hardly any visible snow anywhere. We’ve had a very mild winter so far in Montana, and South Dakota is having the same. We enjoyed unseasonably warm weather the entire trip. In fact, the thermometer was pushing 60 degrees during our hunt.

Obviously, the primary business around Winner is agriculture. But these days, most farmers and ranchers are setting aside some land – and evening working on habitat projects to attract pheasants, and subsequently pheasant hunters. Our first day in the field, we hunted some private land of a childhood friend of Rob’s dad. This friend runs a large cattle (black angus) operation, and has setup several of his fields with some wonderful shelter belts and CRP. The habitat was excellent – and I was licking my chops. There was so much ground to cover, that it basically took us the entire day to hunt through these shelter belts and sloughs. It was tough hunting though – all kinds of hens, but the roosters were no where to be found or even seen. 3 guys in Winner, SD, hunting some prime habitat on private land, and we ended up with a big doughnut. Zero birds in the bag. In fact, the entire day there were only 2 shots fired at long-range roosters. Somewhat disheartening and NOT what I imagined a South Dakota pheasant hunt to be – even a late season hunt. I did notice as we drove around that day – on the back roads and the highways – that there were no birds loafing in the ditches, on the sides of roads, etc. This seemed a bit odd as in all my prior visits to the Aberdeen area, there were always random pheasants visible from the road while driving around. Maybe all the rumors were true about the pheasant numbers being down after all.

Go check out Rob's cousin Joe's business - and book a pheasant hunt!

Day two of the hunt got a little better, but it still wasn’t the typical shooting-pheasants-in-a-barrel that South Dakota is known for – we had to work for it. Rob’s cousin (Joe) drove over from Sioux Falls and met us at the old family farm house that Joe converted to a hunting lodge. The house was built back in 1907 by Rob’s great-grandfather – and is the same house where his grandfather and mother both grew up. It’s now a fully remodeled, very quaint lodge that sleeps 9 and has heated indoor kennels for your dogs in a separate barn building. Joe showed us the lodge and told us all about the his Dakota Skies hunting business (go check is website out for more details and info on his hunting packages).

Joe’s operation is unique in that all of his hunts are guided on the 2,000+ acres of family land. No one else hunts it except for Joe’s customers. Most outfits depend on leased land – and depend on the cooperation of the farmer or rancher to manage the land for birds. In Joe’s case, all the land is family owned, and he calls the shots on what gets farmed, where the food plots, CRP, shelter belts, etc. get placed. He has built-out some impressive habitat and continues to expand with more shelter belts, and CRP. He’s basically farming for pheasants. While we got skunked our first day, with Joe guiding us around the family land on day 2, we managed to bag 7 roosters (2 short of our 3 man limit). Joe’s paying customers all fared better. Of the 100 or so hunters, and 200-300 hunting days, he says everyone limited out except one group that was less serious about hunting, and more serious about drinking. For liability reasons, Joe can’t charge for alcohol in his lodge, so he offers it free to all his guests (open bar). His angle on it is that you’ll either shoot his birds, or drink his alcohol – but no one is capable of both. He keeps track of his hunters success rate, and he says its amazing the kill percentage on the first day of the hunt compared to day two when the guys have had a bit to drink. The shooting accuracy drops sharply Joe also confirmed the bird population rumors. While his customers all did well, they had to work a little harder than in years past. But Joe also mentioned that several of his customers enjoyed it even more than years past because they got to hunt longer than an hour before they got their limit. Joe also mentioned a conversation with a local fish & game cop who told him the pheasant numbers in the Winner area were down about 80% over the prior year. That is a huge drop – and yet his business still thrives, based primarily on his land and habitat.

I only have direct experience with one other lodge/outfitter in South Dakota, but what sold me on Joe’s operation was the land that you hunt. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the accommodations – but the land was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed hunting it.

The trip definitely could have been better as far as the birds go, but everything else was top-notch. I was introduced to Rob’s extended family, got to eat his grandma’s famous enchiladas (definitely a highlight), and met some wonderful people. Hopefully we’ll make it back to Winner in years to come – I’m strongly considering making it one of Rob’s job duties