Article: Cost & Benefits of a South Dakota Pheasant Hunt

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Cost/Benefit Analysis of a South Dakota Pheasant Hunt

Published 2/12/2009
by Tanner Feyereisen

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Current rates for pheasant hunts across South Dakota range from $200 a day up to $1500 a day. For
$200 a day, you probably won't be experiencing a high-quality South Dakota pheasant hunt, and you
probably will be on your own for meals and lodging. If you're gonna pay $800 plus per day, you are
most likely looking for a million dollar lodge and you'll be hunting a preserve (chickens). We only charge
$325 per day, meals and lodging included. We prefer to stay in this range so that we can offer a true
SD pheasant hunting experience that would satisfy any group, while being affordable enough for any
wingshooter or corporate group to at least try us. After they hunt pheasants with us once, they'll be
back again.

So where do these rates come from? The truth is that in order for us to provide the best pheasant
hunting experience, we have to put a lot of time, effort, and money into our operation. Very few, if any,
ranches can offer outstanding pheasant hunting without decreasing their ag-related incomes. To have
our bird numbers we have to leave a lot of nesting habitat and crops in the field, year after year.
Here's where the real costs of a pheasant hunt come from...

Lodging - Double K has 4 pheasant hunting lodges. That equals thousands of dollars a year for
just utilities and much more for everything else.
Meals - Meals and lodging are included when you hunt with us. If you had to pay for this
separate, you would be looking at a hundo per day right there.
Habitat - To keep birds numbers like ours, we can't just rely on CRP and big corn fields. CRP is
great, but by the 1st of November, most of the prairie grass is dormant and laid over. That's why
we plant quite a bit of switchgrass and leave large areas of fireweeds. The resulting cover is
second to none, but it takes away from the farm income. Just one 30 acre patch of switchgrass
instead of corn equals a loss of about $7000, assuming $3.50 corn and a 70 bushel yield.

As you can see, it is impossible for any quality South Dakota guide service to stay in business if they
give away their pheasant hunts. In the end, you are paying for an experience that you will never
forget. Over 100,000 out-of-staters come to hunt birds in SD. It's because a South Dakota pheasant
hunt is one of those trips that keeps them coming back and keeps them recommending it to others.

The benefits of this hunt exceed the costs any day. You can't re-create the experience, and hunting at
a game farm or preserve doesn't come close to being comparable. It is the perfect group hunt. And, if
you are using this trip as a business "boon-doggle", it will pay for itself many times over. We've had
hunters who only came a few times, but none of our hunters have walked away feeling like they
wasted their time and money.

If you decide to make the trip out and hunt pheasants with us, I will most likely be one of your
pheasant hunting guides. If the hunt is through, and you decide it was a waste of your time, feel free
to yell at me. I'll probably tell you to go &%$@ yourself because I am a pheasant hunting addict and I
know there is no other experience like pheasant hunting in Dallas, South Dakota, with Double K Guide
Service.

But seriously though, I am 100% positive that you would enjoy this hunt. Contact us today to get the
ball rolling on one of the best vacations you will ever take.