2012 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

“Taking 4 limits on Saturday and Sunday was terrific. The number of pheasants in the gravel quarry was unbelievable. Pheasant hunting in Kansas has been horrible the last 3-4 years so it was quite a thrill to see so many birds in such a relatively small area.”
-Brett from KS – Pheasantville, Dec 2012

“We really liked the house and the opportunity to hunt new land each day at the end of the season.”
-Dave from CO – Brother#2, Dec 2012

“Had a really enjoyable hunt with plenty of birds to shoot . Birds were spooky but was an overall success.”
-Rusty from OK – Pheasant Valley, Dec 2012

“Sunday evening right at sundown, after walking all day, we had taken just a few pheasants. As we were loading the dogs in the truck pheasants were flying in to roost in the CRP. Watching them fly in was amazing. I have never seen so many hens and so few roosters. It was obvious the roosters have been hit hard but its still was amazing to watch.”
-anonymous, Grassy Haven

“On the final day we began hunting the small sloughs according to our plan. We hit the jackpot. It was a Television Moment. We all eight limited out in an hour and a half and we hunted only three small areas, two of which were holding hundreds (no exaggeration) of birds. Bottom line great hunting and wonderful people.”
-John from IL – Church Farm, Oct 2012

“Birds!! Oh yeah.. did I mention the birds..!!!
This was the second year for half of us hunting Church Farm, and though year one was good, year two was even better. We hunted good ground, shared in good times, and enjoyed watching the dogs work.
It doesn’t get any better than that.”
-Randy from WI – Church Farm, Nov 2012

“2013 will be our 30th annual pheasant hunt. It will also mark the seventh hunt with Almost North Dakota farm & our 10th hunt with South Dakota Wild.”
-Ross from TX – Almost ND, Oct 2012

“This farm is the best we've seen for habitat. The landowner/host works very hard at improving the cover and variety of habitat for birds. This place will no doubt improve in the next few years.
The host and hostess are superb. Friendly, inviting and comfortable atmosphere. Many hunts we can count on burning calories and losing a few pounds, but not here!
-Dave from WI – Watertown Roosters, Oct 2012

“Disappointed, shocked, amazed, fascinated, helpless. All words to describe the feeling when 100's of birds explode and there are so many roosters that you can't pick out one to shoot. It was an incredible, memorable weekend. The house is set up perfectly for hunters.”
-Jim from IN – Pheasantville, Nov 2012

“The service is great. I don't know what could be improved.
It takes the stress and worry out of planning a out of state hunt. “
Highlights: “As always the opportunity to hunt in the wide open country of south dakota with your dogs”
-Jeff from IN – Pheasant Valley, Nov 2012

“Excellent meals and accommodations. Great host that made us feel right at home.”
-Jeff from FL – Watertown Roosters, Nov 2012

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"Camaraderie, fellowship, great dog work.”
– Dave from Fall Creek, WI
Almost North Dakota – 5th Weekend 2011

“We enjoyed staying at Watertown Roosters; and I would not hesitate to go back in a heartbeat. I feel the accommodations were one of the highlights, especially when we were in Ft. Thompson the first two years. The quality of food and the abundance was fantastic.”
– Dennis from Carmel, IN
Watertown Roosters – 5th Weekend 2011

“All 4 of us (3 guys and 1 dog) had a great time. The property and accommodations were excellent and Dale/Debbie were great hosts. We found birds around water, in crops and in the grass depending on the time of day and circumstance. We had to work for our birds, but that is what makes a "wild" hunt so enjoyable.”
– Joe from Stevensville, MI
Watertown Roosters – 4th Weekend 2011

“Shot our limit in 2 and a half hours one day. --accommodations were great.
-enjoyed having the farm to ourselves
-booking was simple and easy
-Kimball was a very friendly town and was able to meet all our needs without driving to a bigger city.”
– Jeff from Vincenes, IN
Pheasant Valley – 4th Weekend 2011

“Our party enjoyed the hunting property and believe in better years (bird number wise) it will be an excellent place to hunt. The highlight of the trip, as always, was spending time outdoors with my father and father-in-law and seeing the dogs enjoy every minute of chasing after birds.”
– Steve from Andover, MN
Longtail Creek – 4th Weekend 2011

“While bird populations are down we were able to shoot our daily limit for the three days. I have three dogs that hunted hard and were the key to finding birds. It was a great experience and wish
we were able to be in SD every weekend.”
– Craig from Onalaska, WI
Pheasantville – 4th Weekend 2011

“If this is a bad year for birds, we would love to be here for a good year. All were happy with the hunt, and the accommodations were outstanding.
This was the way we wanted a South Dakota hunt to be. Lots of birds and lots of shots with dogs working. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
– Randy from Milwaukee, WI
The Church Farm – 3rd Weekend 2011

“Richard said the bird numbers were down. However, it was our best year of hunting at the Church Farm. We saw large numbers of birds and limited out three of the four days and are already counting the days until we return.”
– John from South Bend, IN
The Church Farm – 4th Weekend 2011

“We had another super trip. Bird numbers seemed to be down but we had good shooting. My cousin Tim, who is always maligned by family members for his shooting made a perfect triple on the north end of the property.”
– Bill from Greenwood, MO
Pheasant Valley – Opening Weekend 2011

“Good hunting property with a good number of birds. Farmer was a great guy and gave us an excellent tour and then left us to ourselves as we preferred. Farmer also provided good input on where birds were at and gave us a heads up on when to hunt some trees when his cattle moved out of the area. Enjoyed having accommodations in town.”
– Dale from Shorewood, MN
Pheasantville – Opening Weekend 2011

“We've booked through SD Wild for several years now and have been satisfied with everything.”
– David from Waukee, IA
Watertown Roosters – Opening Weekend 2011

“Great hunt, the landowner was helpful and we limited out every day. The accommodations were good. The food and service at the Cresbard tavern was great. Got a lot of good dog work. I could not ask for a better experience. This is my first year hunting with my dog, seeing her on her first point and first retrieve was priceless. That was the highlight of my trip.”
– David from Centerville, OH
Brothers #2 – 4th Weekend 2011

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"Good hunting, good weather, good friends - what’s left…."
--Mike from Bemidji, MN
The Brothers Farm #2 – Opening Weekend – 2010

"The first night driving out to the property- first time in SD and saw over 100 birds that evening….. My brittany’s first year pheasant hunting- 9 points, 5 were roosters, 4 ended up in the bag! She did great. The lodging was more than we could have asked for- very comfortable, excellent….Overall great job, lodging great, just what we were looking for, land, lots of birds, unguided."
--Paul from New Albany, IN
Pheasant Valley – 3rd Weekend - 2010
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"It was ALL good, but each of us got our first pheasant; so that was probably the highlight of the trip, except maybe the sight of at least 200 turkeys in one bunch walking through a corn field."
--Sam from DeLand, FL
West River Bluffs – 5th Weekend - 2010

"Lodge is great - Hunting even better. Great hunt this year. All the crops were out and we saw hundreds of birds. Great accommodations and great hunting grounds.
--John from South Bend, IN
The Church Farm – 5th Weekend - 2010

"The landowners are great hosts and we had a wonderful time. They added DishTV to the lodge which was a nice enhancement to already fabulous accommodations. My black Lab (Pixie Doodle) had a wonderful blind retrieve on a wounded bird in very thick marsh grass. She tracked it for about 15 minutes before finally flushing and catching it about 75 yards from where we thought it should have been."
--Duke from Plano, TX
West River Bluffs – 4th Weekend - 2010
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"We had another great hunt. We saw plenty of birds and killed a few, but importantly, we left plenty for the next group too. It was a great trip and we definitely want to be back next year. There are two things that will be etched in my mind forever. One was the slough on the north part of the property. It holds an incredible number of birds. Watching them flush, the sheer numbers of them, is just amazing, but they are near impossible to kill. The second highlight was the unharvested corn field. It held vast numbers of birds. You did a great job and we are more pleased than you know. Count us as your happiest clients."
--Bill from Greenwood, MO
Pheasant Valley – Opening Weekend - 2010

"As always, the landowner went the extra mile to insure that we got into a lot of birds, and had plenty of land at our disposal. Great hunt. Most of us see each other only on this trip. We are primarily interested in a hassle free trip, and once again South Dakota wild came through."
--Ross from Plano, TX
Almost North Dakota – 2nd Weekend - 2010

"Birds were pretty skittish, but that’s what pheasants do. We have pointing dogs and the birds that held, held really tight…… We hunted almost 100% in the sloughs and saw a lot of birds. It was pretty much a man and his dog and we were very pleased to take birds hunting on our own. All went very well. Was what we were told and expected."
--Ted from Appleton, WI
The Brothers Farm #2 – 8th Weekend - 2010

"We had a great hunt, birds were plentiful and the land owner went out of his way in show us his property.We saw thousands of birds each day!!!"
--Rick from West Salem, WI
Almost North Dakota – 8th Weekend - 2010

"Good housing - food at bar was good - people were helpful and friendly - we enjoyed being outdoors and the dogs had ample chances at birds"
--Craig from Onalaska, WI
The Brothers Farm #2 – 7th Weekend - 2010

"Wonderful experience over all. The South Dakota Wild part was excellent!!!! First contact with farmer was excellent and when we met he took us around the entire property making suggestions and ensuring we understood where we could and could not hunt. Accommodations and the people of Cresbard were also first rate. Enjoyed their hospitality! Thanks for a great hunt."
--John from Collinsville, IL
The Brothers Farm #2 – 4th Weekend - 2010


"Awe struck at the amount of wild birds. Absolutely GREAT!
It was one of the most amazing hunting trips ever."
Taro Sakita from Seattle, WA 2010

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"The wet conditions proved to be a problem. Both corn and soy beans were still up and the birds had so much cover they could out run us 5 hunters and 3 dogs without even flying. Still, we had a great time and Sunday joined forces with the farmer and his team of 4 hunters. That made the difference. We were enough people to cut off the birds and get them flying. The land was great and I am sure hunting will be great in a few weeks time when the soy beans are in and strips of corn are left standing."
-- Henrik from Eden Prairie, MN
Almost North Dakota - Opening Weekend 2009



"Lots of birds in the CRP fields that held well for my dogs. Lots of points and lots of opportunity to get birds. I love the concept of the self guided hunts."
-- Kevin from Arlington, TX
Aberdeen Acres - 5th Weekend 2009

"We have been very satisfied with the service we've gotten the last couple years while contracting through South Dakota Wild and really enjoy hunting Aberdeen Acres the last 3 years. I think SD Wild has done a nice job with everything, communication is good, info that we receive ahead of time is good and the farms we've hunted the past few years have been good."
-- Dave from Waukee, IA
Aberdeen Acres - 6th Weekend 2009

"Filled out in a couple of hours opening day!"
-- Mike from Hudson, WI
Brothers 2 -- Opening Day 2009

"You all were helpful as we planned this trip. We were going in blind, but have no complaints that you could have controlled. As expected, we saw many birds and had a good time hunting them. We can only imagine how different the hunt would have been with less water and less standing corn. In talking with the landowner, this was surely an unusual year in that respect."
--Jeremy from Mount Pleasant, IA
Brothers 2 - 7th Weekend 2009

"We like your service very much. We'll be contacting you to either to reserve the same Brothers Farms or different farms for next year. We enjoyed the hunt. Thanks for your efficiency in making the arrangements." --Leland from Tampa, TX
Brothers 1 & 2 - 3rd Weekend 2009

"Lots of birds, Excellent cover to hunt. The land owner did a very nice job of showing us around.
Very nice guy and he had plenty of stories to tell us."
-- Terry from Chetek, WI
Brothers 1 - 4th Weekend 2009

"The weather was cold, but not unbearable. Just a small amount of snow on the ground. As expected, the birds in December were plenty wary of us, and would tend to flush well out of gun range. However, we certainly did flush birds within shooting distance. 3 out of 4 from my hunting party had never hunted in South Dakota before. They could not get over the number of birds we saw along the road ditches, roosting in trees or sitting on hay bales. Also, we got into 3 groups of birds in the heavy cover, and must have had 30-40 birds get up at once. The property was well marked out for us, and maps were good. Overall excellent cover, and we saw plenty of birds."
--Joe from Rolla, MO
Brothers 1 - 8th Weekend 2009

"We were hunting a strip of Milo when we had a group of pheasants flush. My buddy dropped two roosters with 2 shots. And the two dogs each fetched one bird and retrieved both to his hand. It was cool! Of course he was not the owner of either dog, but he was a good shot."
-- Dean from Pine Island, MN
West River Bluffs - Opening Day 2009

"This year the hunting was pretty tough. There was lots of corn still standing which made locating birds more difficult, however, that is what we like about hunting wild birds, the challenge. Even with the standing crops there were still plenty of opportunities for us. We do have a small group, so we have to choose fields that we can adequately cover, which there are plenty of on West River Bluffs. This is the fourth consecutive year we have hunted this property. The landowner and his wife are excellent hosts and we intend to return many, many more times if possible."
-- Duke from Plano, TX
West River Bluffs - 5th Weekend 2009

"My brother and I were walking along watching my son walk through a really birdy looking place. My brother say's, "I would like to see about 20 birds get up right in from of him." No sooner spoken than about 50 pheasants exploded from RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SON!! 5 shots, no birds. I love it. We had a good laugh and then went after them. The darndest thing then happened. As we were following up some of the birds and we were flushing them, birds from other places started flying into where we were. We were getting up roosters and gaining more than we were flushing. It was really weird but unforgettable."
-- Bill from Greenwood, MO
Pheasant Valley - Opening Day 2009

"The hunting was some of the best we've ever experienced. The bird numbers were high and we had plenty of shooting. Since there were only two of us we focused more on the draws and fence lines. The highlight had to be the number of birds we saw. I made it a point each night and day to drive around just so we could look at birds - it really didn't matter if we could shoot at them or not. My dad made the comment that he's never seen birds like this, not even in the heydays of Iowa in the late 60's. It was also fun to watch the good dog work, we had one experienced dog and one new to hunting. The experienced did an awesome job and the new one really learned a lot in the course of the three days. I was glad to see that we got every bird we knocked down, thanks to the dogs of course. The number of roosters we saw was overwhelming - I'd bet the first 20 birds we saw on the property were all roosters and most held within gun range, at least for the first day."
--Steve from Andover, MN
Pheasant Valley - 6th Weekend 2009

 

"Everyone in the group had a great time and were very impressed with the accommodations and bird numbers. The hunting was outstanding. We took 14 dogs, several were under 2 years old, and they had plenty of bird contact which was great for them. Unfortunately a lot of the crops were still in due to weather and made it a little tough to hunt, but we were able to do very well all three days and all of our dogs got plenty of bird work."
--John from South Bend, IN
Church Farm - 5th Weekend 2009

Much more of a challenge this year with so much corn standing. Bird numbers may have been down some, but it was hard to tell with so much standing corn. New tactics we tried for getting birds in the corn turned out good. The need to shoot better is a work in progress. WX for the most part was great considering time of year. Highlights were getting a bird limit for all four guys the last day, seeing all of the geese feeding in the Huron area the whole time we were there, large number of deer seen including a couple of very impressive bucks, time spent with old friends, stories told and new ones that unfolded."
-- Jeff from Palm Harbor, FL
Hillside #1 - 5th Weekend 2009

"Farm and Farmer were excellent. The weather cooperated and we saw plenty of birds. The only downside is that the corn was still in the field, due to the previous two weeks of rain."
-- Joe from Cheboygan, MI
Eureka Roosters - 2nd Weekend 2009

"We downed 30 birds and had lots of action every day. The land owner left some corn up for easy, easy hunting. The combine crew arrived while we were there, and that made for better hunting in the draws and brushy cattails, etc. We had a favorite cattail pond that we jumped every day (sometimes twice a day) and we got roosters there every single time. One day we felt like we were playing a video game we shot so much. We walked through another brushy creek side one day and saw tracks but no birds, then returned the second day and flushed birds from the moment we shut the car doors (probably 25 - 30 birds total). Excellent bird cover, conditions were cold but adequate. We all enjoyed this hunt very much."
-- Joe from Appleton, WI
Eureka Roosters - 9th Weekend 2009