When pheasant hunting in South Dakota, there are a lot of factors that a hunter should take into consideration. There are a lot of mistakes that many hunters tend to make, but should avoid to be most successful. Below is a list of 5 common mistakes that you should avoid during pheasant hunting: 1. Don’t Hunt At The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time This is one important aspect that a hunter should be aware of. In the morning, pheasants fly out to grainfields to feed, and in the evening they roost in heavy, thick grasses. Midday they rest in light cover, and then in the afternoon they hit the fields. Later in the day, they return to the heavy roosting cover. Hunt the roost is the morning time, when they are unwilling to leave their warm roosts. In midday, you will most often find that they are feeding. Lastly, the birds will be returing to their roostin the last hour of daylight. Following this pattern can provide a hunter with many shots which leads to a bag full of South Dakota wild roosters! 2. Do Not Overdress Many hunters try to bundle themselves up in heavy clothes, which can lead to over heating and exhaustion. It is better to dress up in several layers of lightweight clothing to easily move around and to better be able to quickly draw up your shotgun and get a firm placement on the hunter’s shoulder. Try to avoid heavy boots, unless it’s really necessary. The heavier your boot is the more energy is spent, and the more difficult it becomes to walk through the heavy cover where roosters will often sit. As the day wears on, heavy boots often lead to tripping which spends lots of energy and leads to injuries. So, wear layers of lighter clothes and light-weight, water-proof boots 3. Do Not Make Noise Remember to always approach the pheasant cover very quietly. Once the birds know you’re there, they often will run or fly to put distance between you and them. Hunters will have more success if they stop before the field and plan a strategy and do their preparations, so that when they pull up to a field, they can quickly and quietly begin their hunt. 4. Do Not Ignore The Woods Pheasants love thick grasslands marshes, ad usually avoid the thicker and taller woods. But when they are in fear and have have been flushed from their more preferred cover, they will often retreat for cover in the woods. Also, once the wind and snow has flattened and covered the grass cover, the trees are left standing for them to hide.Be Prepared and Know When to Fire First thing before a hunter even scares up a bird, a hunter should be award of shooting lanes—wheish directions are safe for shooting and which directions are not safe. When a pheasant flushes, a hunter should plant his/her feet quickly and firmly and draw up the shotgun. The gun should travel through the bird. If it’s a crossing shot, the gun travels through the tail and pull the trigger just in front of the bird’s beak. If the bird is flying straight away, then the gun travels up through the feet and fire just at the top of the bird, as the pheasant is most often on the rise. Follow these tips and avoid the common mistakes to make the most of your South Dakota pheasant hunting vacation.
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