Thanks to the partnering of Little River Pheasant Hunts and TexasHuntFish.com (and to the upland hunting gods smiling upon me), I was lucky enough to win this fall's online raffle.  The congratulatory email from Diana Jamail informed me that me and my guest were entitled to four nights of accomodations, three days of hunting, meals, guide, dogs, and everything else that paying customers receive from Little River when buying an all-inclusive pheasant hunt package.  All I had to do was find my way to Stratford, South Dakota, and buy my hunting license.  And after speaking with Paul, the lodge guide, I learned I was welcome to bring along my young bird dog as well. 

I took that hunt on November 15-17 and thought I would report back to everyone.  As usual, I took fewer pictures than I wish I had, but I will do my best to provide a good description of our experience. 

My friend and former neighbor, Geoff (also aTexasHuntFish member), and I headed out on Nov 13th and finished the sixteen hour drive arriving late on the 14th.  Neither of us had ever hunted pheasants, but we both jumped at the chance to have our first hunt in one of the very best counties in the absolute best pheasant-hunting state possible.  We were NOT disappointed!

Little River is a hunting preserve, but you can throw out your notions of what a preserve hunt is like when you get to Little River.  This is NOT the kind of place where you buy ten birds and the lodge releases them an hour or two before you head out to hunt them down.  At Little River, they release their birds as chicks and turn them out in July.  By the time the birds are hunted in the fall, the few that have survived have spent more than half their lives in the wild!  But the low survival rates do not mean low bird counts.  You see, this part of South Dakota has huge wild bird populations, and the only thing the "preserve" status of Little River does is lower your license costs (from $110 to $65) and allow you to take more than your limit of birds if you choose to do so.

Before I recap the hunt itself, I will mention that the accomodations and food were very good.  The lodge provides plenty of comforts for the hours spent inside.  There is a large screen TV with hundreds of channels to surf, high speed internet computers so you can stay in touch, room for card games and socializing, even a slot machine for those who want to try their luck at something other than shooting birds.  The chef, Roper, did a fine job feeding everyone, too.  The food was hot, tasty, and plentiful.  One night he prepared the largest brisket I've ever seen, and given that I was raised in East Texas, that is saying something!

Our first morning of hunting the action was good, unlike our marksmanship.  Geoff and I were paired up with Tim and his father, Fran, and the four of us only bagged five roosters.  The afternoon was slow and we did not get any additional birds. 

But on Friday, not only did we see a ton of pheasant, but we were told that our limit was a trip limit -- in other words, our group of four not only could take our twelve birds for Friday but we could make up the seven birds we were short on Thursday.  And we nearly did so, with the group taking seventeen pheasant and about six chukar partridge (bonus birds for those who found them).  We must have seen a couple hundred pheasant during the course of the day, and the weather was an uncommonly warm 55 degrees. 

Saturday turned much colder, with temps in the low 30's, wind and occasional snow flurries making it feel much cooler.  Geoff and I hunted as a pair that day, and we managed another few roosters and chukar before loading up for the drive home. 

We wanted to get some miles behind us and get ahead of the cold front, so we left a couple of birds on the table, so to speak.  But as we were packing the car, Little River's owner, Dayle, filled our cooler to capacity and claimed we were doing him a favor by cleaning out his freezer.  All told, I think we left with over 30 pheasant and a few chukar to boot.  Oh, and Dayle has someone come out and clean all the birds each night so that the hunters can relax in the lodge.

To sum it all up, Geoff and I had a wonderful experience.  We got to hunt spectacular looking birds in the pheasant capital of the country; we hunted behind some fine German Shorthair Pointers handled by a capable guide; we met nice people and enjoyed fantastic hospitality; my dog, Arrow, got a month's worth of experience in just a few days; and we enjoyed an opportunity for unforgettable memories of our first pheasant hunt.  On behalf of the thousands of TexasHuntFish.com members and site visitors, Geoff and I express our gratitude for an amazing hunting trip with Little River, and we encourage anyone looking for a quality pheasant hunt in South Dakota to strongly consider this fine little "preserve" in Stratford! 

Images and Files: View all 4 photos / videos here.