Subject line says it all. Looking to take a group of 6-8 guys to South Dakota to hunt pheasant next year.

Anyone have any recommendations on lodges to stay at?

Set on SD? I did one in Kansas years ago with Ruff House Outfitters that was absolutely incredible..

https://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/business/ruff-house-outfitters/

You need a lodge or an outfitter?

I have agood outfitter recommendation, but they do not have lodging. We stayed ~45 minutes away.

We're going on a horseback upland trip in Nov. will let you know how it ends up!

https://thesignaturelodge.com/

Customer service is unmatched and the hunting is fantastic!

I am not set on SD as I am just looking for a great experience for a few of my best customers. Ill definitely take a look. Appreciate it!

Yea Im looking for both.

Thanks!

This looks pretty legit. Just sent off for more information.

I just got back on Friday. We were at Big Bend Ranch (www.bigbendranch.com) in Harold, was fantastic. Have hunted Half Cocked Lodge & Double Barrel Inn (www.halfcockedlodge.com) in Aberdeen, was also great. It really depends on what you want, but you can go for the full on lodge experience where there are executive chefs, etc., and can go where you are at more of a deer camp atmosphere.

Others I've got bookmarked but not hunted:

Paul Nelson Farm
Buffalo Butte Ranch
Pheasant Crest Lodge

My brother has hunted Ringneck Ranch (www.ringneckranch.net) in Kansas, he said it was also a great spot.

You can spend hours looking here:

https://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/

Ruff House trains dogs. The ones we hunted over were fantastic. They also run a feed lot. We ate lots of great beef. Lodged in an old school house they had converted. It was a decade ago. But, still remember it very fondly.

Not much of a web presence though. The family is originally from Texas.

Ill obviously ask the lodges but in yalls experience, when was the best time to go hunt?

I'm headed to Big Bend Ranch in a few weeks. I hunted there last year as well. It's good but expensive.

The best place I ever hunted pheasant was Krull Lodge in Harold. They are closed now but had the best dogs, land, lodge and variety of birds such as Hungarian partridge, sharps tail, grouse, prairie chicken. Hands down the clear winner.

How were the birds/experience this year? Did you get the opportunity to shoot anything other then pheasant?

BCOBQ98 said:

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I'm headed to Big Bend Ranch in a few weeks. I hunted there last year as well. It's good but expensive.

The best place I ever hunted pheasant was Krull Lodge in Harold. They are closed now but had the best dogs, land, lodge and variety of birds such as Hungarian partridge, sharps tail, grouse, prairie chicken. Hands down the clear winner.

How were the birds/experience this year? Did you get the opportunity to shoot anything other then pheasant?

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Was great. Birds were good, limited morning of 3rd day but easily could have on the 2nd day. A lot of land left that hasn't been hunted so you shouldn't have a problem finding birds. We hunted Partridge and Grouse too. Was able to take a few Partridge but the Grouse were hard to get a shot on. We only spent a couple hours on those the entire trip. Food was great, guides and dogs were great. Was a good time.

mts6175 said:

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BCOBQ98 said:

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I'm headed to Big Bend Ranch in a few weeks. I hunted there last year as well. It's good but expensive.

The best place I ever hunted pheasant was Krull Lodge in Harold. They are closed now but had the best dogs, land, lodge and variety of birds such as Hungarian partridge, sharps tail, grouse, prairie chicken. Hands down the clear winner.

How were the birds/experience this year? Did you get the opportunity to shoot anything other then pheasant?

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Was great. Birds were good, limited morning of 3rd day but easily could have on the 2nd day. A lot of land left that hasn't been hunted so you shouldn't have a problem finding birds. We hunted Partridge and Grouse too. Was able to take a few Partridge but the Grouse were hard to get a shot on. We only spent a couple hours on those the entire trip. Food was great, guides and dogs were great. Was a good time.

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do you know about being able to bring your own dog for the hunts? I've been wanting to get my GSP on some pheasant since the Texas panhandle doesn't hold much birds anymore

We had a fantastic hunt at Wagon Wheel Ranch a few years back. They had on site rooms and meals.

https://www.dakota-pheasant-hunting.com/

If you have money, go here. A wealthy guy I work with goes here every year and he says it is incredible, the food, the service, the hunting.

https://firesteelcreeklodge.com/

WestTexAg12 said:

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mts6175 said:

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BCOBQ98 said:

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I'm headed to Big Bend Ranch in a few weeks. I hunted there last year as well. It's good but expensive.

The best place I ever hunted pheasant was Krull Lodge in Harold. They are closed now but had the best dogs, land, lodge and variety of birds such as Hungarian partridge, sharps tail, grouse, prairie chicken. Hands down the clear winner.

How were the birds/experience this year? Did you get the opportunity to shoot anything other then pheasant?

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Was great. Birds were good, limited morning of 3rd day but easily could have on the 2nd day. A lot of land left that hasn't been hunted so you shouldn't have a problem finding birds. We hunted Partridge and Grouse too. Was able to take a few Partridge but the Grouse were hard to get a shot on. We only spent a couple hours on those the entire trip. Food was great, guides and dogs were great. Was a good time.

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do you know about being able to bring your own dog for the hunts? I've been wanting to get my GSP on some pheasant since the Texas panhandle doesn't hold much birds anymore

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I don't know, but they had kennels that were near the cabin so I'm assuming those were for hunter's dogs. My guess is they wouldn't mind, but suggest you call any of them that you would hunt at and ask. Score.

Stukels is great but they book a year or more in advance. At this time of year you could hope for a late cancelation

https://www.stukels.com/

I second The Signature Lodge (Cheyenne Ridge). Wonderful lodge, food, drink, and hunting experience. Since they work with the state to raise and release birds to replenish numbers, you do get to do more shoot more birds than about any other place.

A little late to this one...

I recently took two trips (2021 and 2022) to ThunderStik Lodge in Chamberlain SD. They were auction items in a CCA banquet. Went the end of February both trips. Weather was cold and snow on the ground, but really wasn't that bad

ThunderStik Lodge

Easy trip from Houston (IAH). Flew into Sioux Falls. ThunderStik picked us up at airport and brought us to lodge located on Missouri river. Comfortable accommodations, good food, guides and dogs were great. Spent 4 nights at the lodge.

Hunting was great. No issues getting our limits. It was cool chasing the ditch chickens through the snow covered corn fields in sub zero weather.

My favorite picture from the trip. Got this rooster on flush with snow covered cornfield and the frozen Missouri river in the background.

I have hunted the Signature Lodge, would recommend it. I use Trek Safari's for booking hunts. They are a first class operation. I hunted doves in Argentina, pheasants in S. Dakota, and S. Africa through them. They are a first class operation...ask for Milton when you call.

Will do, appreciate the feedback

We have booked thru Frontiers Travel for similar trips. Probably traveled with them 12-15 times over last 18 years.

I've been to Thunderstik and Lazy J Grand. Thunderstik was more corporate style and it was with customers so it was the right fit. Lazy J was with a group of buddies and it suited us well. Both great trips and we were treated very well.

Cool thing about Lazy J was that it is the largest provider of Angus bulls to rent out for breeding in the United States. They deliver them all over the country. At least that is what they told us. We got to tour the ranch and it was quite the cattle operation. Family owned. The son was our hunting guide. Daughter worked in the lodge. Everyone pitched in. I thought it was kind of neat. The pheasant hunting was sort of a side gig for them.

I did Thunderstik lodge in SD with a group of 5 guys 2 years ago. We stayed in one of their cabins on the property rather than the lodge and had a fantastic time. They brought breakfast to the cabin in the morning before the hunt and again in the evening after the hunt. Lunch was out in the field. We went to the lodge once to have a few drinks and play pool but there were a bunch of schmucks from tu there, so we decided to stay away before they kicked us out for fighting. The hunting was good, even did an afternoon fishing trip for walleye with our hunting guide Ray. I would go again.

https://www.thunderstik.com/

Those dang TU guys!

Appreciate the suggestion. I hope to narrow it down in the next couple weeks.

How far out did you guys book? What time of the season is the best to go?

Yeah, the tu guys were insufferable. They were bragging about going to the sec and that we paved the way for them. Typical has-been frat boys with no shoulders wearing redwings and khakis. You always have the one guy in your group that LOVES to fight, so we thought it was best to not visit the lodge anymore since we wanted to be able to finish the trip and not get kicked out for starting and finishing a brawl, lol.

We booked in the winter/spring and went September of 2021, so about 6 months in advance. The thought was catch their early season and escape the Texas heat. Weather was nice but still a little warm. Lows in 60s, highs upper 80s. I think this time frame is before the regular season opens for wild birds but they are able to get away with it by setting out as many pen raised as what is harvested until regular season begins. We had a mixed bag of pen raised and wild. They all flew fast, couldn't tell the difference between the two until you brought them back to the truck.

I just looked on the website and the cabin we had is not listed. Too bad if they got rid of it because for us it was ideal, beautiful setting on top of a knoll overlooking the fields and the Missouri River. Good times and would do it again.