19209 396th Ave
Hitchcock, SD 57348
(605) 266-2742
E-MAIL: jmpuff@venturecom.net
       Or:  mjpuff@venturecom.net

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The Hunt  

   

You’ll arrive at Sandy Cedars Lodge the afternoon before your scheduled adventure.  After settling in at our comfortable lodge, you are free to warm up for the next day's hunting with a round of trap, relax on the patio and enjoy your companions, try our snacks and beverages (we feature Fat Tire beer from Colorado) and prepare for the next day. As the sun sets, the Roosters evening cackles give way to Coyote howls greeting the rising moon. Many hunters like to gather outside after full darkness has set in to wonder at the incredible display of stars which are not faded out by any ambient light. The total silence is noted by a number of people. Inside, games of cards have been known to break out and in the shed, ping pong marathons go on for hours.



On the morning of the hunt, enjoy breakfast in the dining room.  At about 11:00 a.m., you’ll get last minute details and prepare to depart to the hunting areas.  Many are so close you’ll walk to them with our experienced guides.  You will hunt unpicked corn strips, sorghum fields, shelter belts and C.R.P. grasslands. The cover varies from easy walking to chin high sloughs (loaded with birds though).
At sundown, or when limits are filled, it is back to the lodge to relax, eat, tell stories of great shots made, AND the ones that got away...until tomorrow.

 

Sharp-tail Grouse, Hungarian Partridge and Prairie Chicken hunts are available by arrangement on grass lands west of the Sandy Cedars Lodge.

Archery whitetail deer hunts are available October 1 through December 31. The C.R.P., cornfields, and shelter belts offer deer hunters some of the best archery hunting available anywhere.  170 class whitetail bucks have been taken in recent years.  For license information contact Sandy Cedar Lodge or the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks.

Last years Pheasant conditions (they are just as good this year) from the
 SD Dept of Game, Fish and Parks

2005 Pheasant Numbers Reach 40-Year High

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) has completed their annual pheasant brood survey. The survey results indicate the highest number of pheasants per mile in the past 40 years, surpassing the previous high in 2003.

Overall, the statewide survey shows pheasant numbers increased 21 percent from 2004. The 2005 pheasant index is 74 percent higher than the statewide average of the past 10 years.

South Dakota again enjoyed a mild, open winter. Timely and abundant spring rains contributed to habitat conditions that provided excellent nesting and brood-rearing coverage. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres remained the habitat cornerstone for South Dakota’s pheasant population and the key to its continued health.

  Please e-mail us with any questions