South Dakota Pheasant Hunting With Chad Allen Rischar – Part 2

South Dakota Pheasant Hunting with Chad Allen Rischar – Part 2

Chad Allen Rischar from northeast Florida recently shared some great tips on how to get started with your DIY western ring-necked pheasant hunt.  If you missed it, Part 1 included some very helpful information about Chad’s background, how he planned the trip with his friends, and an incredible YouTube video highlighting his 2015 South Dakota Hunt. For those who didn’t catch Part 1 of Chad’s blog, Click here – you’ll definitely want to check it out.

Chad has more information to share with you and here are some further tips on gear, hunting dogs, advice, and future trip planning that will help shorten your learning curve and get you on the road to your western pheasant hunting adventure of a lifetime.

What piece of gear has been the best investment?

A firearm you can trust and you are comfortable shooting and shouldering.  I rucked a 20 plus year old Remington 11-87 12 gauge for this trip.  Was it the Browning Maxus or sweet O/U you see on the cover of magazines- no.  However, I shot my share of roosters, and that old semi-auto satisfied my needs.  In my opinion, if you’re constantly worried about owning the best gear available, you might not be able to afford east to west trips.  Rock what you got, but always wear solid boots. South Dakota pheasant hunting requires significant walking in a variety of terrain. Don’t let your boots ruin a day in the field.

What did you learn about hunting with dogs – how did they do?

The dogs were simply amazing, and I mean pleasant to watch work and fulfill their pedigree.  They weren’t, and will never be, seasoned pheasant dogs, but they reside in Florida- so let’s be realistic.  Watching the dogs work independently and sometimes as a team was a spectacle.  If you don’t appreciate sporting dogs, I suggest you shy away from wing shooting and enjoy your solo time in a tree stand.  Honestly, the dogs were at home in the prairie grass and row crops.  Noses to ground, checking back in occasionally, and that heart stopping seconds of the point.  Tail stretched out, stone-cold point, and pure breed heritage of a sporting dog was why we hauled them a few thousand miles from home to hunt with our team.

Trust the dogs or regret it.  Respect them like you respect your hunting partners too.  At the end of each long day, each dog was treated like royalty.  Fed, groomed, paw treatments, and promptly put to bed.  They were the key to success far and above our shooting percentages. Each morning, each handler/owner examined the dog and checked paws and noses. An assessment was made and the order of hunting based on condition. Extreme care was taken to ensure that each dog was healthy to hunt each day.  Fair warning here- their inherent drive to hunt is so strong that  sporting dogs will wish to hunt even if they’re worn out and even lame.  Don’t let that happen, be judicious each day, and scrutinized their overall condition as the trip progresses. What  advice would you give someone who is just starting out, dreams about doing a western hunt and is still putting the pieces together?

Organize your priorities for the trip and think through your overall options.  If you can afford a $1,000 hunt trip and everyone agrees to that budget, don’t start ramping up the costs.  Build a spreadsheet and agree/commit as a group to the consent budget.  Please don’t earn some side money and expect everyone to do the same- that’s not a gentleman approach to planning and executing a trip.  If you decide to splurge on shells, gear, and the very best upland available  clothing that’s your decision. Gear doesn’t always increase your success and I will stand by used wool checkered shirts and clearance base layers with a smile on my face and and an upland vest of roosters vest like a Boss.  It’s not all about trip costs, but always remain respectful of the collective budget.

Plan your meals and cook in advance.  We decided to pack food and snacks within reason.  Did we break out a stove on the journey from Florida to South Dakota heck no.  Did we organize our stops, vet the options, stop for ice cream (Randy Newberg would be proud of us) and eat cold cut sandwiches and beef jerky-  Hell Yes!  Foremost though, we divided up cooking responsibilities well in advance and we ate like champs in the humble cabin of Ramona, SD. Honestly, we ate well and shared cooking and cleaning responsibilities.

Aim small-miss small is a known phrase in hunting and target shooting sports.  Akin to that phrase, aim for an achievable hunting trip and get after it.  You can plan your life away, but you won’t realize a east-to-west or even a west-to-east trip if you don’t have realistic goals.

What trips, close to home or out west, are you thinking about doing over the next 3-4 years?

My current working strategy is to repeat this trip again and again until it’s not pleasurable anymore.  Then we’ll re-convene and develop a new approach and wear that strategy out.  It’s public land and private land hunting at it’s finest.  I’ve been fortunate to hunt Coues in Arizona, pursue three species of quail in AZ , and appreciate big game and small game hunting throughout most southeastern states.  Fuel up a Suburban, load up a few worthy bird dogs, and count me in for a trip to SD.  Pheasants are the state’s number two economy, with number one being row crop agriculture- gotta respect that!

Chad Allen Rischar is a Southeast Chapter Board member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and resides in Northeast Florida. He’s a generalist hunter, angler, and outdoorsman. As a scientist, natural resource manager and conservation advocate, he appreciates the inherent value of the out-of-doors and is seeking to improve the well, not just the pump. Chad can be contacted at Florida.BHA@gmail.com