There’s something almost magical, transcendent, about hunting pheasant in South Dakota. Fields of corn and milo and other crops extend into near infinity in some cases, or other times disappear behind the slight roll of a chance hill, and the evidence of civilization, while occasionally present, fades into the secondary. All that matters to the hunter is the brush or the field in front and the occasional flush of wings that might reveal the presence of a brilliantly colored male pheasant, the bird so many hunters flock to the state to pursue.
For those who don’t know, South Dakota is a sort of Mecca for the upland bird hunter. It represents one of, if not the very best place in the world to find and hunt the stunning ring-necked pheasant,…