THE GOEHRING FAMILY invited some business associates from Florida to come hunting in the Wessington Springs area in the early 1960s. Julius, Rueben and Roland Goehring invited them to come and hunt some pheasants. They flew their corporate airplane (left) to Springs, landing on the grass field by the Jack and Lori Rogers place north of town. The group hunted at the Keith and Alexa place in the Crow Lake area, bagging their five-bird per man limit if a couple of hours.

Gunner and Craig relax after an October-2008 hunt

The opening day of pheasant season just won’t be the same for me this year.

For the past 20 consecutive seasons I’ve had either my black Labrador “Pete”, or his grandson “Gunner” with me.

We tramped through countless cornfields and weed-filled sloughs over that period.

Pete died seven years ago and from then on it was just “Gunner” and me. A yellow golden Labrador retriever, “Gunner” who arrived at our place as an eight-week old baby, became a well-known personality in the field, helping me guide non-resident hunters for most of his life.

Here's a little update... some people asked if I caught any fish on this day. Yup. Here's a nice 2 1/2 pound smallmouth bass. We also kept a limit of walleyes.

Here are some nice rainbow trout I caught in the Black Hills of South Dakota a couple of years ago. See, I DO Catch a few fish every now and then.

I’m going walleye fishing on the Missouri River west of here tomorrow, so if I’m going to be out of the office (True Dakotan) for the day, I thought I’d better get some things done.

PIERRE, S.D. – A proposal to lengthen the South Dakota pheasant season one week will be considered at the April Game, Fish and Parks Commission meeting in Sioux Falls.

PIERRE, S.D. – A proposal to lengthen the South Dakota pheasant season one week will be considered at the April Game, Fish and Parks Commission meeting in Sioux Falls.

The recommendation brought forward by the GFP Division of Wildlife would extend the season from the first Sunday in January to the second Sunday of the month.

Speaking of pheasant hunting… Springs was full of hunters over the first weekend of the South Dakota pheasant season. Like most small towns in this area, our little hamlet was buzzing with excitement on Saturday morning, October 18, as locals and non-residents prepared for the hunt.

Dressed in the appropriate attire — hunting shirts and blaze orange hats– the guys were out “kickin’ tires” and wishing that noon would arrive so they could hit the fields. Most of the hunters did pretty well over the first weekend — Jerauld County was one of the state’s hot spots as the state GF&P estimated hunters averaged a little over 2 birds per person. Most of the guys I talked to filled their limits, although a few struggled because the area corn harvest is late and there are a lot of fields full of corn yet.