Late Season Hunting at Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge
December pheasant hunting at Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northeast South Dakota is a late season pheasant hunter’s dream. There are no easy birds, but the competition for the old roosters that remain will be minimal. The weather will be cold, but you’ll warm up walking a sea of thick winter-cover cattails. And if you’re lucky, a public land rooster or two or three will end up in your game vest for all your hard work.
Like several National Wildlife Refuges, a fair portion of the more than 21,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat are open to upland hunters each December. In addition to pheasants, the possibility exists for hunters to encounter sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge.
Sand Lake NWR Upland Season: December 9, 2013 through January 5, 2014
Non-toxic shot is required
For map and more Sand Lake NWR info, click here
USFWS Image courtesy of Lance Roberts
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The Hunt Starts Here for the Million Dollar Bird
Aberdeen, S.D. began its Million Dollar Bird pheasant hunt on October 19th, 2013. To participate, hunters need to shoot one of 100 banded pheasants that have been released in the Aberdeen, Brown County area. If you are lucky enough to shoot a Million Dollar Banded Pheasant, you will be automatically entered for a chance to win the $1,000,000 cash prize. Along with this entry, each band turned in will be awarded a cash prize between $100 and $500. If a hunter gets one of these banded pheasants, they must return the numbered band to the Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Started in 2009, the Million Dollar Bird Pheasant Hunt was a chance for hunters to not only bag their limit of birds, but to also have a chance at winning $1 million dollars while hunting in Brown County, S.D. The contest will close at the end of pheasant season, scheduled for January 5, 2014. The drawing will be held January 10, 2014.
Want to make this a pheasant season to remember? Register to win the Official Gun of the 2013 Million Dollar Pheasant Hunt: A Winchester XS3 Black Shadow. This sleek gun features a synthetic stock, hard chrome chamber and bore, brass bead front sight, a self-adjusting active value system, ambidextrous crossbolt safety, and much more. Winchester was founded in 1866 and has been said to be “The Gun that Won the West”. To register go to HuntFishSD.com/gun.
For more information and complete contest rules please visit www.milliondollarbird.com.
Public and private hunting information for the Aberdeen Area can be obtained by calling the Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 645-3851 or by visiting www.huntfishsd.com.