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Page Updated 09/28/07 |
The Lodge / Hunt - Day 1 / Clay Shooting Course / Hunt - Day 2 / Hunt - Day 3 /
Mealtimes and Awards / Preparing to Leave / Event Sponsors
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The Lodge / Hunt - Day 1 / Clay Shooting Course / Hunt - Day 2 / Hunt - Day 3 / |
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(L to R) Laura Whitlock, Tim Sims, Bob Whitlock, Chuck Sekerak, Marla Nelson,
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(Click any of the small photos on this page to enlarge them into a pop-up window.)
The Lodge (and surrounding area): Brennan Yeo and his wife Jen live at the lodge and manage it. The lodge has first-class accommodations, right down to a fully stocked bar and fridge filled with absolutely anything your heart desired. The surrounding areas were just as awesome with spectacular views of the beautiful South Dakota countryside.
Pheasant Hunt - Day 1: We were all really pumped on our first day! Brennan introduced us to our additional guides, Al and Blair. After a quick trip to Cabela's in Mitchell to get hunting licenses, we loaded up in the Granite Springs bus around 10:30 am which took us down the road just a couple miles from the lodge to our first field. During this particular hunt, Bristol had the opportunity to retrieve her first pheasant rooster! We reached our limit with a total of 18 birds at around 4:00 pm.
Clay Shooting Course: The second day we hit the clay course first thing after breakfast to practice our aim before heading out to the fields. There were five different shooting stations and five clay shooters strategically positioned to shoot clays from different directions and angles which would challenge any marksman. We enjoyed cheering each other on and celebrating the direct hits!
Pheasant Hunt - Day 2: On this day we headed out right after our practice sessions at the Clay Shooting Course. Again, we loaded up in the Granite Springs bus which took us to another game preserve about 10 miles due North of Alexandria, SD. These fields were a little different than the grassy cover we had hunted the day before as they were designated food plots which were organized in strips containing immature corn stalks separated by rows of young winter wheat. Again we had reached our daily limit of 18 birds by around 3:30 pm.
Pheasant Hunt - Day 3: This day we headed back out to the fields first thing after breakfast. Our guides said the birds were still in the grass and not yet in the corn, so we didn't want to waste any time getting into the fields. Using the new O/U shotgun he had won by a Lucky Draw at the awards ceremony the night before (See Mealtime and Awards), Chuck shot the first four birds that flushed in front of him, all right in a row!! Needless to say, we were all amazed at his abilities with his new gun! By 3:00 pm we had our daily limit and were back at the lodge enjoying some relaxation time before dinner was served at 7:00 pm.
Mealtimes and Awards: Meals were unbelievable. By unbelievable we mean, 5-course, gourmet fare with enough food to feed an army! We just couldn't believe the menus and the quantity of food we received. See some of the photos below! Dinnertime was also a great opportunity to give out awards from our sponsors for the day's events. We had planned to have a longest tail feather contest, but the guides ended up with all the birds so we didn't really know whose was whose. That contest ended up being a lucky draw out of a hat instead. Monday - Most birds shot (5) - Tim Sims - received a Gander Mountain hat.
Preparing to leave: Everyone was a little melancholy on Thursday morning as we were all packing up preparing to leave. We all talked about how much we'd miss the gourmet food and being pampered. There was mention about where we wanted to go next year and thought it probably couldn't beat the adventures we had at Granite Springs, but all agreed that we wanted the opportunity to hunt together again. This group was just fantastic, the comaraderie we shared, the friendships we made and the memories we created will live on for a long time!
Our Sponsors: We would like to take one last opportunity to thank our event sponsors:
We hope that people will patronize these businesses for any future hunting needs.
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