One bright October day I found myself driving west across
the endless
plains.
Keith Beam and Brooks Johnson sold their company, Double Bull Archery, to Primos Hunting Calls. Much of what I’ve learned about
tapping the amazing potential of the hub-style, pop-up portable blind comes
courtesy of “the Blind Guys.”
On Halloween night, my dad asked me if I wanted to go pheasant hunting with
him that weekend. Of course I said, “yes.” I am 12 years old and it was going
to be my first pheasant hunt and it was going to be in South Dakota! We hunted two days and it was a blast!
North Dakota native Jan Thames owns Roy Lake Resort in South Dakota. It is home to trophy walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth, bass, and huge crappies and pike! Roy Lake Resort also has a swimming beach, boat launching facilities, picnic areas, a new nine-hole Frisbee golf course, volleyball court, playgrounds,
campgrounds, and footbridge to Roy Island. For cold weather, the lodge is located a mile from the 73-mile Glacial Lakes snowmobile trail which meanders through the backcountry. It really does have something for everyone.
Pro anglers don’t just make fishing seem simple, fishing is
simple. For instance, take a Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour event held May 7-10, 2008 on Lake Sharpe in South Dakota where Ted Takasaki placed second among a field of 134 anglers. Ted and tournament winner Kelly Klemm used basic live-bait rigs and minnows to catch a lot of fish. Here’s how they did it.
Hunting camp is a hotel room in De Smet, S.D. The sun has long set, but outside the window I can still hear the shrill sounds of snow and blue geese chattering as they return to nearby Lake Thompson after an afternoon of feeding in neighboring fields. The hunting should be very good in the morning. Did I mention it’s March as I write this?
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Western South Dakota may be the ideal spot for the turkey-hunting archer. Birds are plentiful and of the rural western Merriam’s variety. They’re less savvy, less a product of survival of the fittest compared with the Eastern wild turkey. As I came
to full draw the bird was about to pass behind a cedar bush and wouldn’t emerge until he was out of range. It was now or never.
Mike McClelland, an icon in the walleye world, has fished every tournament he wants to fish. He is retiring this year after a competitive career, which has spanned more than 30 years. But, he hasn’t taught all he wants to teach about the sport he loves. McClelland will join his long-time fishing partner and fellow Fishing Hall of Famer, Bob Propst, Sr., as instructors at the Masters Walleye Institute on March 18, 2006 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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The other day I ran into a hunter I knew had just returned from a Dakota pheasant hunt. “How’d ya do?” I wanted to know. “Great,” he said. “The first two days we were filled out and headed back to the motel by 10 in morning.” A couple days later I ran into another member of the group and asked the same question. “Pretty good. The first two days were nothing special — lots of easy birds and we filled by 10 in the morning.” What’s wrong with that?” I interrupted. “I didn’t drive all the way out there to hunt a couple hours.” This is a prime example of how hunting is all about expectations.
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