Gear, Guns & Dogs

Most guests only get a chance to hunt South Dakota once or twice a year. Equipment malfunctions can ruin a hunt, add stress to the trip or make you the butt of some serious ribbing. Basically be comfortable with what your're bringing to the hunt. You are not only our guest but part of our family. That means the "family" may tell you exactly what they think about a dog that flushes birds over 100 yards in front of us, or a gun that jams. Also as family we will loan what we have regarding guns and gear when what you have breaks. I have and probably many of you have used a trip or hunt as a reason to purchase new gear. Half the fun of hunting is planning and equipping for it. Here are a few of observations that we have made after being in the sporting goods business, shooting shotgun competitively and walking a lot of fields over the years. But in no particular order...

The ringneck is a fairly large, tough bird with a tendency to run if wounded. A 12 gauge shotgun loaded with a quality shell containing 1 1/8 oz or 1 1/4 oz of # 6 shot works well during the early part of the season. Later in the season, birds have a tendency to flush further out, many shots are straight away and the back of the bird is mostly bone so # 4 shot works better. Steel, lead, or any of the non toxic shots may be used on Granite Springs property. Some folks believe in using a fine shot like a # 7 1/2 or a # 8 shot during the first weeks of the season and shooting the birds in the head. We have found that technique to result in wounded birds as the shot does not penetrate the vitals at medium to long range. Also, the shooter often mis-judges and centers the bird in the pattern on the close ones and then we're picking a lot of shot out of the meat. The sub gauges are okay if you're very comfortable shooting them. I do not advise shooting a 20 or 28 gauge in November, as many birds will be longer shots, many times around 35-45 yards.

Buying a new gun is fun and helps the economy but please bring an old one that is tried and true along also. Pheasants, while a majestic bird are not snobs. They are equally willing to be shot by a very expensive double, a grandfathers model 97 or something in between. But if you're restricted and can only bring one and it's going to be a new one, consider buying a Browning, Winchester, Ruger or Remington as we've had better luck with them straight out of the box. Many of the moderately priced Turkish, Italian and need I say French weapons that we've seen need some tweaking initially to make them reliable.