It's Rooster Rush! Pheasant Hunting Futures in South Dakota with Casey Weismantel

Today! This is the day we record our 250th episode. America! We're talking pheasants and pheasant futures in the Midwest and especially in the environs around Aberdeen, South Dakota, home of the pheasant sandwich. Our guest is Casey Weismantel from https://huntfishsd.com/ 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

It's episode number two hundred and fifty. Two hundred and fifty episodes of Gary Lewis Outdoorsman. If you've been listening that long, well, thanks for sticking with us. We hope we've made you laugh along the way a few times. And today we're going to talk to Casey Wisemanel from Hunt Fish, South Dakota. And so he's in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Their website, Huntfish SD.com. Thanks, Casey, for coming on the show. Let's get right into it. Let's go. And now here's Gary Lewis.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Next, next on Fox. But I understand him when I said he was cogent. He's far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he's better than he's ever been. Intellectually, um, analytically. Why a shotgun? Why a shotgun?

SPEAKER_03 1:06

You found a podcast where we talk about big game hunting around the west, around the world, and it doesn't get more wet than uh South Dakota. It doesn't get bigger than a big old rooster flying over you out of a cornfield in December. 60 miles an hour or however fast they go. Casey, wise mouth, thanks for coming back on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Thanks for having me back. I I didn't wear out my welcome, and I'm I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Well, the last time I had you on the podcast, that was December 10th, and that was episode 226, and we called it Rooster Rush. Yeah. And you always told me that December was your favorite time of the year to hunt pheasants.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Is it still? Hands down. Um, anytime after Thanksgiving, even if you want to include that Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family, but anytime after Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite time to hunt. Um there's there's a lot less pressure. Uh the birds are smarter, don't get me wrong. Uh there's a reason why they're still around. Uh, but those you're you're chasing after what we call trophy birds. Uh those big birds with the long tail feathers and the shiny, bright, shiny spurs, you know. Uh they're they're just a trophy, a South Dakota trophy. And uh, you know, when when you hit that late season hunt, it's it's cooler for the dogs. Uh it just makes everything so much easier for the dogs. Um, but that December hunt or Thanksgiving hunt, whatever you want to call it, late season, we call it. Um, if you can hit it, especially after the first snowfall, it's like hitting the reset button. Those birds just have no idea what to do. They don't know if they should fight or flight, and they just uh kind of sit there and try to figure things out for a little bit, and then they they start uh bunching up and and huddling up. So then you're hunting uh specific areas of cattails and and shelter belts and slew bottoms, uh, which are gonna be conducive to late season habitat for those birds, and uh, you know, it it just it really makes it into something special when you can hit those late season hunts.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Yeah, well, you showed me last year, and uh one of the things that you tell people is your bird dog deserves a great hunt. Yep, you know, and when you look at these a lot of these dogs, they live 10 to 16 years, and if you if you put off taking them to South Dakota, yeah, some of them never get there.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, some of them never get there. Uh, and and you're right, those dogs do flat out deserve a great hunt. Um, you know, and it's not so much the dogs, sometimes it's your hunting partner himself, right? Uh or sometimes it's yourself. I mean, if you keep putting things off and waiting until ah, you know, I'll get at it next year. Sometimes next year's not always around the corner.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

You know, um, my my wife, which you happened fortunate enough to meet, uh January 30th had uh uh a life-changing heart attack. Um she 49 years old, uh physically fit, um, great gal. Uh she suffered what they call the widowmaker, and uh, you know, it uh she she she was she was out, she flatlined, and and lucky enough they were to bring her back. And uh, but you know, it it's not so much always the bird dogs, it's sometimes it's the hunter. You never know whether you have another hunt in you.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

And and if you're gonna wait, you know, I I just can't stress it enough. There's there's no reason to wait. There there truly isn't. Good years, bad years, birds, no birds. Flat out, there's there's no reason to wait. And you know, I think I thank God every day that she's still here and and uh and is healthy and has recovered, but you know, you you look at life a little differently. You know, there's no reason why I'm gonna make my dog wait another year. There's no reason why me and my buddies can't get together this year, and and you know, it just you have to take the initiative and and make it happen.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

So a funny thing happened to me this year I that I didn't see coming. A friend of mine said that he had uh a special collection of books that he was going to bring to me at dinner. And so we we met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and his wife and his daughter came and they brought four cardboard boxes full of fishing and hunting books from the early 1900s to the 1950s. And what was interesting about these books, it's not like I needed more hunting books, right? Look behind you. Yeah, all this stuff behind me, right. Um but these belonged, these books belonged to Ray Ha Holland, who was the editor of Field and Stream magazine. These were his personal collection, yeah, and many of them were signed to him by the authors. Some of them were Ray's personal books that he had signed himself or that his sons had signed. And so I've been reading through these books and I've been learning some things about bird hunting that I didn't think I was gonna learn, like learning how I'm supposed to train my dog. And this is from people who were writing a hundred years ago. And so I, you know, I missed some of these things. Um there's some of the stuff about you know where you walk in on point, you know, if you're you walk in on point on chucker on a hill, where you where you hope the dog is going to be and where you walk in relative to where the dog is. But even funner than that was the specific information about where the first pheasants were planted in North America in the 1880s in Oregon. And I can go hunt that ground today when the season opens, yeah. And this place was popping, popping with pheasants in the 1890s. Yeah, yeah. Just pheasants all over the place. People shot hawks back in those days. That was one thing. Um they were pretty good at pretty good at trapping coyotes and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. But but you know, when a bird is introduced to new habitat, sometimes they just explode, you know, onto the onto the scene. And that's what pheasants did in Oregon. And from Oregon, they spread all the way across the country. They were also brought in almost at the same time to on the east coast. And when they hit North Dakota, South Dakota, they found country they really liked. Yeah. And country that's still good today.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yep. No, we're we're fortunate where we're at. And you know what? I wish that population that exploded. I wish that could happen everywhere. I I truly do. Um, we're just seem to be very fortunate for what we have in our backyard. We definitely don't take it for granted. Uh, there's a lot of work and a lot of effort on our behalf here to make sure that that habitat is sustainable, uh, not only for hunters, but for bird production. Um, a good friend of mine, uh former farm farmbill biologist, uh, pheasants forever biologist, Emmett Lanahan, you know, we were hunting one time on some Aberdeen Pheasant Coalition land, uh, which is the precursor to the Pheasants Forever Path program. Uh, Path program was modeled after the Aberdeen Pheasant Coalition, but we were hunting a spot one time and we blanked. We didn't get it, we didn't get any. We didn't see a single one. And I was I was discouraged. I'm like, you know, am I, what's the deal? You know, this is supposed to be primo stuff, right? He's like, case, it's not how many birds you harvest off of the land, it's how many birds you raise. And I'm like, oh, okay, that that just took the coin and flipped it on the other side, you know, and I'm like, oh, that makes perfect sense. You know, it's you know, if if you have habitat, you'll have birds. If you don't have habitat, you you just you just flat out don't have the birds. Yeah. Um, weather, weather can change those patterns consistently up and down, you know, the peaks and valleys, but habitat is what sustains those numbers throughout the longevity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

We're really gonna be suffering. I think I haven't talked to the biologists yet this year, but we had really low snow pack. It's almost gone, it's pretty much gone now. And um not much rain in the springtime. So yeah, we had a lot of weeds here at my place, but we didn't have the tall grasses growing out on the landscape, you know, and you want the tall grass and you want the bugs.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, bugs, especially. Yeah. You know, and and here we've been pretty fortunate. We again, sadly, and and me and my wife are snowmobilers, we love to get out and ride, but last year, uh again, we didn't even we didn't have enough ride, uh, enough snow to ride. We didn't even start the snowblower last year. Oh man. And and again, that's probably the third year in a row now, which is great for the pheasants carrying them through the winter uh because they're not stressed out. Uh they can find that food, they can they can scratch on those hillsides and and get that food, but you know, it's it's it's a little discouraging because we you know you need moisture. You you always need moisture, you know, water's life, right? And uh, but the springtime we've been sitting really good. We've been catching rains right when we need them. Uh things are just thick and green and lush. Um bugs are there. Um, so so again, we're sitting in that that best case uh scenario like we have had in the last couple years, you know, just when you think you you can't improve on last year, you do. And and that's what we're hoping again this fall is that we improve on last year's numbers. Okay, well, I like it.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

So what's happening in your world probably, I'm just guessing now, um there's probably a lot of little birds hatching out right now. Are you seeing babies?

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Oh, yeah, yeah. We're already seeing broods on the ground on the roadside, pecking and scratching, following, following those hens in and out of the grass. Um and they're funny because they they they they have no coordination at all. They wobble around like ping pong balls, you know, and uh in and out of the grass. And and you know, when you go by them at 60 mile an hour in a vehicle, that that wind or that force of the wind just just rolls those little buggers right into the grass, you know, which is a good thing, I guess. But uh, you know, it it is comical that you know when you see that hen, there's there's usually a brood, a brood following. I've seen small broods as one or two, and I've seen larger broods that uh you know you can't count them that quick, but it looks to be about a dozen. So, you know, I it it's the the the little ones are on the ground, uh they they are uh you know hiding out in that tall grass along those roadsides, and and uh again, we're we're expecting uh to see some good numbers.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

So we were in um South Dakota in Aberdeen for three days last December. So it was the first week of December when my group was there. Yeah, and we had good hunting um all three days, and as we were leaving, we're just driving past these fields, and now we're tuned. Yeah, we know exactly what we're looking for in habitat. While when we arrived a few days before, we're just we're just kind of following your lead. Yeah, you tell us where to go.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, but it is weird, you you do develop that that insight. Um, you know, when you're driving down the road, you're as as you pass this field and you see that corner post, that fence line, right? You just kind of have this natural progression to look over your shoulder and to see if there was a bird on the back side of that fence. Like that's what you're talking about is that's what we were doing. Sometimes you you feel it before you even see it, and usually when you feel it, it's there. And uh you can you got you kind of get in tuned on on what habitat does look ideal, and if it looks ideal to us, chances are it really looks ideal to them. And uh and to find those birds, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

When when we have gone to Aberdeen, and I I've been there what three times now? Yeah. So um I've always flown to Aberdeen. What's another good way to get there?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Um a lot of people drive, um, you know, depending on where you're coming from, you know, and how far away some guys will drive in. Um and and there's nothing wrong with that because sometimes they'll bring the gear, they'll bring the dogs and and such, you know, they'll they'll really make a put together a trip. Um, you can fly right into Aberdeen, of course, uh, or a lot of people will fly into uh Sioux Falls or Fargo, which is about three hours away. Uh Fargo is northeast of us, three hours. Sioux Falls is southeast of us three hours.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Um you can fly into there, you can fly into Pier, South Dakota, the capital. Uh that's about three hours uh southwest of us. I always jokingly say Aberdeen is three hours from anywhere else you'd ever want to be. So um in South Dakota's terms, your coffee's eh it's it's probably lukewarm by the time you arrive there, but it's drinkable nonetheless. But uh, you know, you can you can definitely fly right into Aberdeen. Um there's car rental places, uh hotels, all the hotels in Aberdeen allow dogs, which is great because we know what uh there's hunters out there that just flat out won't travel without pepper, or won't travel without their their companion. And uh we we obviously want to accommodate that. But there are people that'll come in and and you'll see the truck, the the three-quarter ton Ford pulling a dog trailer, and uh they're geared up, and uh those guys know how to travel. And uh depending on how far away you are, might be uh might make the decision on how you arrive here. Right. Yep, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

You've got options. Okay, so um since we talked last, um I learned how to reload for the 16 gauge, yeah. And wrote a story for handloader magazine, and I think it's been published now.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Oh, you'll have to send that to me.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

I have not seen it yet. I am I'm always the last one to get my subscriptions for whatever reason, but I think I think that one's been printed. And so loading for the 16 gauge, and I went to my friend Matthew to his place, and he's got more reloading for shotguns than anybody I've ever seen. And so we ended up loading a half a dozen different loads, and then I used that old Western arms to kill a turkey in April, and I think I sent you the picture on that.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

What I learned about that gun is the barrels aren't regulated.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

What's that mean?

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Meaning you shoot the left barrel, it's not gonna hit the same place that the right barrel hits. Oh, really? Yeah. So actually, when I point that gun with the left barrel, I am dead on. Okay. When I point the gun with the and I shoot the right barrel, I am off by about two and a half inches. Wow. Yeah, and that can make a difference when you're swinging on a bird. The the first bird that I killed with it was a rooster, and it was just like a week after I had left Aberdeen, and I get to the end of this the my walk that I'm supposed to make, and this this rooster comes up away from my dog. My dog flushed it, and it's going left to right, and I swung really hard on it and and killed it. But if I remember right, I might have killed it with the left barrel. I might have might have been the second shot.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

When in doubt, send them both.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Whatever it was, that that bird went down. But it was very satisfying.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I always say people who make ammunition gotta eat too, just keep pulling the trigger.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

Well, a lot of us have way more ammunition than we ought to. That's true, you know. And if you unlike toys, if you have ammunition left over when you die, you you played the game wrong.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yep, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, you don't get to take those with you, so you might as well use them while you're here.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Well, I'm glad you're getting some use out of that. Like I said, I I picked that gun up and uh I just I'm I'm not a I'm I don't shoot side by side, I'm more of an over and under guy. Unless you could take that thing, flip it over on its edge. Yeah, gangster. Gangster style. Gangster style, yeah. But uh, you know, I'm I'm glad. I'm glad you got getting some use out of that. It goes to goes to a good guy.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

So I've been writing a series for rifle and handgun magazine on horse pistols.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

So then I'm trying to show you one here. This is a dragoon. Okay. So this is a replica of a colt that was made in about 1850, 1851, and they actually rode on the saddle. So you would want two of them because they weighed four and a half pounds each. Wow. And you would put the holsters on the saddle, and then generally those soldiers were imagined to dismount and fight on foot. So one cavalryman is gonna hold four horses, his own plus you know, three others, and then three are gonna go to the fight. Wow. And so they they would all have at least two of these guns, which was a major improvement over shooting um you know, a single-shot muzzle loading rifle. Yep. So anyway, it's been fun to learn about these. And they're a real threat beyond 100 yards. And um, when I was shooting the walker, I could hit a man-sized target very easily at 120 yards.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

We were at a we were at an outdoor writer's conference one time. I think it was either a glow or Poma, one of the two. And they had quick shooting, uh, quick draw, quick shooting there. And uh these guys were you know semi professional and you know, we're going up against them. And there you're shooting uh wax bullets at at targets.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Are you shooting at a big like wax, uh, a big steel?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

gong well yeah kind of you you you have the the silhouette of a of a of a of a cowboy okay and then you have a an area about the size of yay okay that's that's lit up that's your target and and you know that's what you're trying to hit at you know however many paces right and I'll be damned if I didn't I didn't take down one of those cowboys and and out drew somebody but I was I I thought I was throwing lead in the air and he's like oh actually these are just wax bullets you're not gonna you could shoot yourself in the foot and it it might just sting as all I'm like okay well that sounds good but uh no it was a lot of fun you know there those those are definitely I I don't know how back in the day in the wild west those guys ever hit the broadside of a barn but well a lot of them didn't yeah that's there was a lot of bad shots yeah yeah that's probably why they some of them got to live as long as they did yeah um I I've seen some cowboys who were terrible terrible shots and uh I I don't think I can tell the stories yet I've seen some hunters that are that way too yeah for sure um when I when I started getting some pistol training and that sort of thing and seeing the other people that um take these classes you know everybody has to s everybody starts at zero right and but but some people never do take the classes and they can't shoot very well and it kind of gave me the idea that in a gunfight the the more distance you can get between yourself and the other guy the better off you are and and at fifty feet he's probably not gonna hit you.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

You hope his barrel aims to the right like you're saying by yeah yeah um other stories I've been working on I just wrote uh for salmon trout steelheader a story on lake trout fishing and then Oregon Hunter magazine a black tail deer hunting and then a story on driven pheasant shooting oh yeah do you guys have you guys ever do anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Is that like uh explain that to me I think I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

In Europe they would employ you know a number of beaters and dogs to push the birds from one field maybe over the top of a canyon and there'd be shooters in the canyon and I've never I've never participated we don't do anything like that here um I've never participated in it um I've seen somebody do like a modified tower hunt where they'll take like a couple crates of pheasants out in the middle of a field and just let them open them up and then hunters along the outside will will uh make their best attempt but I I yeah I've never seen the driven hunts though very very sport about them yes the the people are probably gonna miss most of their shots and so those birds get a moment of adrenaline and then they're good. Bring them out to South Dakota we'll teach them how to when when um we plan a trip like this I look forward to the hunting yeah in South Dakota but I also look forward to the other things you the restaurants and and culture we went to a Thai restaurant one night there and then the last morning we went to a breakfast place and we're sitting alongside people that were hunting in in the fields that we were hunting nearby you know because you have this rule what is it 10 o'clock can't start till 10 in the morning yeah yep yep and that's just brilliant it's perfect i mean really it gives you a chance to tend to your dogs it gives you a chance to grab that extra cup of coffee it gives you a chance to fill the truck um you know go grab breakfast grab a grab a pair of gloves that you forget whatever I mean whatever you might need it gives you that extra little bit of insurance and and really you don't you don't need to start that early I think North Dakota starts at sunrise but I just don't understand why you'd need to start that early but no I like it I think it it really gives you an opportunity to get to know the town you're staying in and you're not in competition with the guy in room four to get out to the public ground you know at daylight.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Well and I've always said too you know when you can embrace that community culture always be mindful of who you're talking to as well um you know if you're filling gas and and a farmer at the gas station takes a shine to your dog you know just exchange information you know and just say hey uh you know I'm out here trying to put my dog on some birds or put my son or daughter on some birds you know can you point me in the right direction and you'd be surprised you know South Dakota hospitality goes a long way they they might point you in a direction and uh you know and take them up on their advice you know or or the waitress that's you know serving you your coffee she might know of a spot that their family owns or their husband owns and and they might give you a contact and that's the best way to build relationships is once you have those relationships established you know don't abuse them don't don't neglect them but uh use them to your advantage and stay in communication with those people because next thing you know you're planning that trip year after year year after year and you're you're bringing back some Oregon salmon and and uh and and giving it as a gift with a bottle of whiskey and next thing you know you you you have a your hunting locked up and established for the next five or six years.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

Yeah that is true that is true. Today I went to the Redmond Rodden Gun Club I took my granddaughter who's 13 years old we have a shotgun that fits her perfectly so she's big enough now to handle the recoil. And so she got to shoot at clay targets for the first time today and she broke a few nice she probably shot 75 rounds mostly 12 gauge a little bit of 28 gauge she got to shoot and a 20. Yeah and we stopped at the taxidermist store at taxidermist shop um Tim McClagan's McClagan's taxidermy and we went inside and talked to Tim a little bit and then I showed her a big rooster pheasant on the wall and I said now you hit some targets today you're actually good enough to kill this kind of a bird and so it kind of opened her eyes like oh yeah they're big. Yep absolutely you know I I was hoping that was why you're going there because otherwise it's hard to you know taxidermy those clay pigeons yeah yeah it was cheap though it's cheap well that's good I mean and you know I think the the sooner you can get somebody like that involved in the outdoors especially handling a gun and feeling confident uh the the better I mean really it's gonna improve their skills they're gonna enjoy it a lot more um yeah I shot like crap I know terrible today oh you did oh I did yeah that's that's surprising and I you know I'm only shooting these old shotguns now and I had a LC Smith and a JP Sauer and like one of them's 113 years old so I don't want to put too much abuse on these things and they're they're both double triggers. Okay and I realized that's not bothering me anymore. I've overcome that I used to be that I would always choke on that move into the second trigger but now my brain is not even that's all that's muscle memory now.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah yeah and but still I was not there was I was doing something wrong I was not breaking these targets like I wanted to you've seen me shoot really bad oh yeah if you think back that goes without saying you and I both have that membership but then there's days where I can't hardly miss too so yep no it it's it's fun to get out um you know I I was a trap coach for about three years with my stepdaughter and uh it's fun to watch those kids develop you know and when they're first starting they can they can't hit water if they fell out of a boat right yeah uh and then by their senior year they're in the mid 40s you know or or maybe even a perfect score of a 50 and and that's pretty cool when they see that self of that's that sense of accomplishment you know like hey I did this you know and and uh to see that progression grow and and and then it it just instills that passion in them as well so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Is it is it mainly about getting their feet right and their posture right or is it about the getting them to learn to follow through or that's it's a combination of all of that.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

You have to start with the feet and and and the and the posture and then you then you start trying to build muscle memory you know cheek placement every time every time you know muscle memory and then it then you develop that follow through because otherwise it's just point and shoot and hope to God you hit something right but yeah once you develop kind of those three three four steps you know it it takes a little bit to to to establish that flow right uh but the ones that can pick that up usually do exceed pretty quickly yeah yeah I think I've got to spend a few sessions before October myself it's funny you say that though too about you know muscle memory and and and establishing your your gun right I'll I'll catch myself you know playing around with different guns throughout the year you know I like to start light you know uh usually early season is close to the birds close to the dog later season you gotta you gotta send them a telegram you gotta reach out and touch somebody you know and and it's funny because I might switch to like uh you know my my over start with the over and under usually switch to the auto or something like that you know and and uh but then when you when you mix it up and go vice versa or might even god god forbid throw a pump shotgun in there that's to me that's hilarious to watch I'm the I'm with an over and under over there trying to pump that damn thing up and down and and I gotta really oh that's right this is the over and under not yeah it's it's everybody has their excuse that's that happens to be one of mine so I forgot which gun I was shooting today.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

So yeah okay and so South Dakota has a three bird limit. Yeah and you can you can be limited out pretty quick some days.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

You can um you know and and there's advantages and disadvantages to that and you you kind of wonder disadvantages why you know you know the advantages of doing really well is you you know you save some wear and tear on your dogs wear and tear on yourself kind of frees up the afternoon to go explore maybe experience some culture and and what the city has to offer you know and then the disadvantage of being done that early is you're you're flat out done that early you know you know you you want to enjoy that experience and extend it but uh um you know there's pros and cons to both sides of that and and I just I don't really care whether we're done early or done late I just want everybody to be safe you know and and I love to see somebody somebody bag that first bird man I I just enjoy that more than anything because I remember my first one like it was yesterday uh a crossing pattern over a crick bottom left to right I dumped that bird and it landed right in the middle of the crick and I'll be danged if uh a golden retriever didn't go retrieve that bird and he knew who shot it and he dropped it right at my feet and to me that was like oh man done deal I need a gun I need boots I need shells I need a dog and just everything along those lines of you know establishing that instilling that passion but it's isn't that interesting when you have a dog that knows what's going on and and when I've had a couple of times maybe three times that I can put my finger on where the dog knows I'm killing all the birds except now this guy has just killed a bird and the dog will retrieve that bird to that man. Yeah and I think oh this dog is picking up way more than I think this dog is hunting us and it knows that he hasn't been killing birds but now he has killed one and and now she's bringing it to him it's very we we participated with uh a youngster uh two years ago and uh he was tr he was trying his hardest to bag that first bird right and we were punching holes in the sky like there's no tomorrow but we just couldn't bring couldn't scratch a feather and couldn't bring one down and then he finally did you know finally and then it's just like like uh you know that that light switched on in his head and he realized okay this is where I need to aim this is how it'll happen this will all come together but the dog was the one who completed that process you know and and retrieved that bird and actually brought it back to my wife who was standing right next to him and then she handed him the bird she's like here you go sir here's your you know your first South Dakota rooster and he was just beaming for he could have quit hunting right then and there he bagged his first bird done deal I'm done for the weekend and then we're like oh no let's let's go see if we can get a limit now you know I mean just keep pushing harder and harder but that dog that dog knew before anybody what was going on yeah to see that happen is pretty cool. Yeah yeah okay if somebody wants to plan a hunt South Dakota this year what's the first step uh first step just kind of you know get get your get your hunting party together first you know find out who who is able to come who is who wants to come along make a list make a list uh get your dates available and then contact the community um we have a website it's probably the most engaging outdoor related website as far as hunting goes uh huntfishsd.com uh we honestly can't make it any easier for you other than shooting the birds for you um but if people can go to that website there's there's public hunting information there's self-guided hunting information on there there's fully guided there's preserves there's guides outfitters hotels restaurants i mean really everything you would ever want to plan a trip and if you're still unsure you can request a free hunting guide and we will flat out mail one right to your doorstep um you know and if you need help with planning you know like hey I I only want to do self-guided let us know and and we'll circle the ones that do just self-guided we'll circle them for you we'll do a lot of that homework for you but just reach out to the community you're looking to go to get that information uh reserve that hotel room and then just bring you know come on out run what run what you brung and and come on out and South Dakota is wide enough we have plenty of areas where you can go hunt and I guarantee we'll wear out any dog you can bring out it's you've seen it Gary you've seen it firsthand you know what what the day brings you know you could have a nice easy hunt uh or you could be up to your shins in in snow and cattails you decide but yeah um you know every every situation is different but you know just do your homework request that information go to the website fill out a form and and allow those allow those guides and outfitters to contact you and earn your business yeah instead of you just handing them here you go here you go let them let them compete for your business you know put yourself in the driver's seat for a little bit and then once you establish those relationships don't let them go keep keep those relationships established yeah and and now when I look through your list of hunting outfitters I I see my friends.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

Yep yep and they become your friends absolutely yeah yeah okay so you get your you get your hotel booked you got your days figured out and if you're gonna connect with a guide or an outfitter then you get that taken care of the um the restaurants typically are open at like seven in the morning yeah we would we'd go to the same restaurant every morning you know as long as we could and then the last day I think they weren't open like maybe it was a Sunday morning or something.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yeah you know there's other things to do after the hunt you know there's some sightseeing a person can do there's some shopping uh we have a nationally relay a nationally ranked hockey team uh you know if you want to go catch an Aberdeen Wings hockey game and we did that the first year me and Sam and that was so much fun yeah and uh you know it's just a matter of getting out and and exploring and and getting out and uh and experiencing the community and the culture because like you said earlier you know tomorrow's never guaranteed and uh enjoy what you can because someday you know somebody else is going to have those magazines and uh you know it's just nice to know that those experiences can live on with somebody else. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Okay well tell everybody the name of the website again.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

Yeah uh so it's Aberdeen South Dakota our website is huntfishsd.com you can give us a call shoot us an email request a visitor guide and we'll be more than happy to mail it out um you know there's videos out there you can catch us out on Facebook social media huntfishsd.com and uh just really communicate with us back and forth we're here to help answer any questions you you have uh help spread the word and hopefully uh point you in the right direction put you on some birds and I'll see you in December yeah yeah have you got those dates yet I pretty much do okay pretty much I pretty much do pretty much somewhere between here and here right yeah between December 1 and December 7 yeah oh yeah sounds good yeah let us know and you know it maybe maybe we can even do a podcast when you get out here and uh and and let your viewers uh experience firsthand we can drop a tailgate and oh yeah and and talk and and that's the best way to do it yeah if the temperature will be a little bit north of what it was last time with that plan.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Yep yep absolutely okay yeah so appreciate your help and and like I said if anybody ever needs anything just have them reach out with episode number 250 this episode was brought to you by West Coast Floats and you can find their floats which are awesome for salmon and steelhead by going to their website westcoastfloats.com and you can go to our website GaryLewisoutdoors.com and find other episodes to listen to you can watch copies you can watch um episodes of the television show Frontier Unlimited and you can find our books our forage plans we have new t-shirts and sweatshirts you can click on the merchandise section and get a new t-shirt we have a special edition t-shirt that is Gary Lewis riding on a bear in Alaska it's shut up and fish we think you'll like this t-shirt it's on a special color and so we'll show it to you on Instagram if you like it send me a note GaryLewisoutdoors at gmail.com we're gonna catch you on the next episode thanks for tuning in I don't play with lions I don't play with tigers bears nothing with the wild I don't play with those I promise you I don't even do roller coasters I'm good