BY DARWIN WEELDREYER, WESSINGTON SPRINGS CHAPTER PHEASANTS FOREVER MEMBER
Pheasant hunting. It’s something that has been happening for a very long time in South Dakota. Since 1919 actually. From days of legal limits consisting of eight birds to today’s three-bird limit. (Roosters only of course!) From an estimated 16 million birds in 1945 to an estimated 7 million pheasants today. Numbers that define time does not stand still and things are constantly evolving.
Injustaveryfewdaysthe 2022 pheasant season will take flight. Like a rooster erupting from under the dogs nose it will come out loud and proud. And why wouldn’t it? Think about it. Since 1919, and even before the inaugural season, the great people of South Dakota have been gathering like its Christmas morning to spend a fall day together hunting pheasants. Families will gather. Old acquaintances will appear and new friends will emerge. Beginner hunters will set sight on what is a new adventure to them. Heck, even the occasional hunter will dust off the shotgun for what may be his or her only day hunting pheasants. And yes, people will make the journey to South Dakota to pay to hunt pheasants.
For quite some time I have personally tried to rationalize why this day, this spectacle and time of year means so much to so many. I have to imagine it is a wide ranging list of possibilities: the bird itself, the hunt, the companionship of hunter and dog, the adventure, the sights of it all and of course tradition. You know, great, great grandpa hunted pheasants. Great grandpa did and so does grandpa. But I ask myself does that mean we feel obligated to do it? I don’t believe that. If something that has meant so much to so many for that long, there must be something magical about it. And in all honesty I don’t believe it is just one thing. I think it is a combination of things that make the pheasant season opener magical. Magical can be defined as “beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from every day life.” There is no doubt in my mind that this great hunting tradition does just that. It allows us to be removed from everyday life.
I know of a person who travels across many states to come to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. You will find him early in the morning watching the sun rise and in the evening watching the sun set. Smoking a cigar and enjoying his favorite cocktail. Tell me he doesn’t find something magical about coming to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. It’s a magical tradition. I sure hope it never ends.
