2014 was a GREAT Year
at Ringnecks!
This last year we added 3 new
team members to the Ringnecks’ staff.
There was Adam, who is a full-time, dog trainer. Adam brought a lot of passion with him, and
he did an awesome job with the dogs and guiding and helping out around the
lodge. As an added bonus, he loves
setting up photo shots and capturing the memories with his camera! Tolly, was a great help around the lodge and
helped out in the field as well, and she did it all with a smile J! Also, we had a new caterer. Beth cooked our food this year, and she
provided just what we wanted—quality home cookin’ and lots of it! I did appreciate hearing all the compliments
from y’all on her cooking. Also, Flint
and Cracker were here with us for their third straight year, and they did
another fantastic job (very personable and birdy)!
As for the pheasant hunting, it
was very much improved over the past two years, and the weather was also much
better, other than the week-long cold snap that we had during the middle of
November, and our December weather was exceptional. It turned out that we harvested most our
birds in tree strips and cattails this past year. As for the pheasant population, it was
amazing to see how it can rebound in one year.
Also, last year was not an ideal nesting year for the birds. Winter wheat acres, which are the best pheasant
nesting habitat, were significantly down (my guess is that we had approximately
20% the acreage of normal years). The
reason for that being is that when we suffered the drought two years ago, the
wheat did not have adequate moisture for a healthy stand, and in the spring
time, the vast majority of the farms sprayed out the crop and replanted a fall
crop. It will take a few years for the crop rotations to catch up for the
winter wheat to get back to its normal acreage amounts. Furthermore, due to falling crop prices this
past year, especially corn, we will be seeing the farms focusing more and more
on wheat around our area, which is a great thing for the pheasants! I believe, if we have a normal year in 2015,
the pheasant population will be outstanding
this next hunting season!
A highlight of this past season
was having the film crew, Trigger Effect, with us for four days. Dean and Kent were the co-hosts, and they
really did a great job with hunting along with the groups and capturing some
really awesome late-season hunting. They
brought lots of cameras with them, including a dog cam for Mia, the Wonder Dog,
a couple of gun cams, a head-mount cam and two shoulder-mount cameras. They captured more footage here than they
have ever before captured on a hunt. They
said they got so much great footage that they will put together and air two
episodes, as they can’t see leaving so many great moments on the cutting room
floor. While they were here filming, we
had multiple groups representing 8 different states and 2 countries. It was wonderful to see everyone coordinate
so well together, and a big THANKS goes out to all those hunters who
joined us on that filming to make it great!
I’m not yet sure where and when the episodes will be aired, but please
check out Trigger Effects’ website and Facebook page for updates, and I will
send out an email to all of you when I know more about the episodes. Dean put together a promo video for us that’s
definitely worth seeing. Please check
that out at https://www.youtube.com/user/RingnecksHunting
It was a busy year with many of
our past groups returning, along with many new groups that we welcomed for a
first time. It was a great pleasure seeing
old friends and getting to know so many new ones, and I feel privileged to have
the opportunity to share in your hunting vacations. Most of the groups from last year have
already made their reservations for this next fall, and it’s nice to see the
calendar filling up so quickly. If you
haven’t yet confirmed your reservations with us, do it now while we still have
openings!
Thanks to you all for making 2014
the best year ever at Ringnecks and best wishes to y’all in 2015!
See ya next year~Stephan
(605) ROO-STER
2014 South Dakota Pheasant Hunting Report
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