Reports from the Field: Early Season Success Setting up for a Great Pheasant Season

The 2025 South Dakota Pheasant Season is underway, and the reports from opening week have been fantastic!

“We live for pheasants, my family came back to town for the hunt, it was a little windy but we got our birds. On the second day we hunted a food plot and got 25 pheasants and must have seen 500 hens. The corn is not out yet and we walked some just to see if they were in there, we probably saw 50 roosters in the short distance we walked. This year is going to be really good.”

-Jim, Sully County Landowner 

“Pheasant Opener 2025 was a good one! A fun day in the field with family and friends and a limit of birds by 2:30. It was amazing”

-Amber, Hughes County Hunter

“No question about it bird numbers are up”

-Ken, Charles Mix County Landowner

“Best bird numbers we’ve seen in the last 10 years, very happy with how our hunting group did the first day.”

-Dean, Jerauld County Landowner

Current Field Conditions

As a whole, hunters are reporting an abundance of birds on the landscape. Windy conditions have been present to start the season. Despite these windy days making hunting conditions a bit more challenging, early results have been extremely promising.

The delayed harvest is the most important component to factor in to opening weekend success. There is still a fair amount of crop harvest yet to take place, which is providing additional areas for pheasants to hide. As crop harvest progresses, the hunting conditions are going to get better and better!

Hunters are also reporting seeing some young birds, which indicates re-nesting efforts took place.

“This is a good thing indicating habitat conditions were good enough for hens to keep attempting nest. Personally, I saw about 8–10-week-old chicks this weekend. If a mild fall continues, it won’t be long until they color up and are more easily distinguishable and available for harvest.” -Alex Solem, Senior Upland Game Biologist 

The mix of young and adult birds also indicates very good production took place throughout the summer months, which is what was anticipated with the weather conditions throughout the season.

Check out the 2025 Upland Outlook, purchase your license, and make plans to enjoy the greatest pheasant hunting in the country!