2024 UGUIDE South Dakota Spring-Summer Pheasant Hunting Outlook Forecast Report
June 20, 2024 by UGUIDE South Dakota Pheasant Hunting
Let the hatch begin! Well it's actually begun a long time ago when my neighbor reported finding a nest with 11 pheasant eggs. We outfitters usually are never too optimistic about the spring hatch but there seems to be much to buzz about. The spring weather has been "extremely" mild with temps not too hot and not too cold. I can't say we have really had many if any days above 90 degrees. Decent rains in May and April have created a good base for bugs and vegetation. Recent rains have been a little on the heavy side but many basins have been short on water for the last two years and they are full to the brim now. This is usually the case after the winter melt but not in the last 2 years. Last winters mildness along with this springs makes it hard to ask for more in the hatch department. It is rare when the whole state of South Dakota is not showing any stages of drought in the Drought Monitor.
I can't imagine with how wet we have been and how good the hay growth has been that we would see our state in an emergency drought declaration (as we have in the last 2 years) and that should restrict the amount of haying of CRP we have seen in the last 2 years.
Most people I talk to in and around the state could not be more encouraged about the fall pheasant hunting prospects this year.
As you may be aware of, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks discontinued is annual road count survey and few years ago. Last year we ended up with a 1.9 pheasant harvest per person per day. That's across 5 camps, 360 hunters and the first 9 weeks of the South Dakota Pheasant Hunting Season. UGUIDE is celebrating it's 20th year in 2024 and our pheasant harvest per person per day has ranged anywhere between 1.3 to 2.1 since 2015 when we started tracking that information.
The final story is always told when we tally up the numbers at the end of each season in December, but we sure like what we see thus far.
