Antler Ridge Lodge, South Dakota Reviewed by UltimatePheasantHunting.com
We visited Steve and Donna Kubik's hunting operation located in Hamill, SD, which is about 25 miles northwest of Gregory, SD. The Kubik's built a brand new lodge in 2006, having used an existing farmhouse that was over 80 years old, and adding on to it to create an exquisite hunting lodge. When we arrived, it was a windy, grey day. It had snowed about 3 inches the day before, and the mercury had dropped about 35 degrees from 2 days prior. Steve and Donna greeted us at the door, and invited us into the warm lodge. The first thing I noticed was the smell of fresh, homemade baked pastries wafting through the air. After we removed our shoes and coats, we got the grand tour. Steve explained what part of the old house was used and where other things had been located at one time, and you could never tell an older house had ever been there.
The kitchen was enormous with modern appliances, and connected to that was a very roomy dining room. We then went down the hall to the "playroom"- a large, open area complete with full wet bar and TV. The fireplace was radiating heat towards the leather sectional, and I knew not to make the mistake and sit there-it probably would be lights out! We went upstairs, toured the bedrooms and large baths, and then went down to discuss Steve's pheasant hunting offerings and how we planned to hunt. He told us the history of this old family homestead, complete with cattle ranching and vast acres of converted pastures into CRP and crops. We loaded up into the vehicles, and made our way just south of the house to the end of the first field, a long, 50-yard wide field of cane and sorghum, with a nice shelter belt of pine tress to the west. Along the route, we watched groups of birds flush out of the food plots and into the tress. We were hoping they would hang around and not spook from the sound of the vehicles, but to no avail.
Once we stopped, geared up, and got my 2 year old German Shorthair Spike ready, we looked back in time to see the birds flying back into the cover. We spread out, let Spiker go, and got ready. We got about 100 yards into the field when they started busting out. Loud cackles, the roar of flushing and beating wings, and the report of shotguns-no better sounds in the world! Joe, a friend from Minnesota on his first South Dakota pheasant hunt, learned quickly why we experienced South Dakota hunters usually bring pumps or auto's as his Over/Under was quickly out of shells, and he could only frantically reach for more and watch with a wide-open mouth as we continued to shoot. Needless to say, even with all the shooting, the birds were very skittish, and the closet shots were really only about 35 yards away. We were fortunate to get four birds, and got 2 more near the end. It was a great field to hunt; we just approached it wrong and were under-gunned to set up for it properly. We got the vehicles, loaded back up and went to the next field, a cut and stripped out corn field with CRP and shelterbelts surrounding it. We dropped off one to post on the end, and drove to the other end to walk into the wind. Once there, we loaded up, got Spike ready and set out. We walked gradually uphill at first, into the wind, which gave us some stealth from the birds. When we reached the peak of the hill, about 75 yards into the walk, we got ready to see some action.
It wasn't long until Spiker got real birdy, and we started seeing some birds jumping out way in front of us. I could tell they were running in the rows, by the way Spike kept locking up on scent only to find no birds there. As we neared the end, all heck broke loose. Bird after bird busted out, and Joe managed to drop two with his two shots right away. Ryan, John and I also managed to get a couple each, and we were almost at our limit for the day. Steve wanted to take us to another location-his honey hole affectionately known as "The Bowl". After changing a flat tire that I had managed to acquire, we headed off to The Bowl. When we got there, as I got out of the Expedition and surveyed the surroundings, I had the proverbial case of déjà vu-I felt that I had been here before.
I walked over to Steve and started asking questions. I told him what I was feeling, and said that I swore about 6-7 years ago I hunted with my Brother-in-law's neighbor, who said his uncle owned all this land. He asked who my brother-in-law was, and I told him and he said it was his nephew Clint that I was with. So aside from feeling weird, we got our stuff ready and headed into some beautifully managed and set up fields of cane. We spread out and could see the roosters jumping around and running in front of us. John was posting on the other end, and we hoped he was ready. During out 200 yard or so walk, we were able to get a few shots off, but the birds kept running ahead of us. We didn't panic, kept our gait slow and controlled and neared the end of the field. Sure enough, I could see John running left and right as they were popping out the end of the rows and flushing off to the south. As we just about reached the end of the field, the roosters busted out everywhere.
Needless to say, we filled out bag limit right then and there. We rounded up the victims, took some awesome photos, and headed back to the lodge. When we got in the lodge, Steve and I talked about my previous trip, and pulled out the pictures of the old house. Now I know why I didn't recognize it, but when I saw the pictures, I knew for sure this was the house I had stayed in! Steve keeps a guest book, and on a hunch we went through it. Sure enough, there was my name from 2000! Wow-small world! I cannot state enough about what a successful hunt we had, what an outstanding pheasant hunting operation the Kubik's run, and their famous Midwestern hospitality is second to none. I enjoyed meeting Steve again, and Donna for the first time, and look forward to seeing them again in the future. We all left just amazed at the amount of wild pheasants, and the beautiful scenery amongst the buttes and bluffs of south-central South Dakota.
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2007 Ultimate Pheasant Hunts |
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