Seasons and Dates

The state pheasant hunting season gets under way the third Saturday of each October and runs through the first Sunday of January. The biggest majority of our hunting is done within this regular season.

Along with this season we offer the bonus of our preserve. While the preserve season opens September 1st, and we will book hunts in September if requested, we primarily use the preserve to offer hunters an early shooting time, extended bag limit and mixed bag hunts starting in October. Most often we use the preserve to start a hunt earlier in the morning on the day of departure versus waiting until the 10 a.m. start time for non-preserve lands. This allows hunters to get more hunting time in and still get on the road home or back to the airport to catch a flight.

Another perk of the preserve is the offering of winter hunts. Our preserve habitat is very conducive for wintering birds and much of the adjacent cropland is not, therefore this brings in hundreds or even thousands of wild birds from a mile or more around to find abundant feed and good winter cover.

So when the regular season shuts down we are able to offer hunts from January through March that rival the wild bird hunts of October and November. Each year more and more hunters are returning in mid-winter to remedy their cabin fever.

For specific information on small game seasons go to http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/hunting/Info/SGSeasons.htm