• Sodak Browning Gun Safe • Hand Made Whiskey Barrel Table • Granite Springs Hunt, Mark Anderson, John Green, and Nicole Heitzman Original Artwork Finished at Banquet • Hand Carved Items by Troy Bollock • Bonnie Bullock Quilt • Matt Koop Pheasant mounts • Beretta guns • Lay-down gun cabinet
• Savage 10-22 Custom Stock • Mounted bobcat • and many more unique items.
Numerous Raffles:
• Lucky 7 Gun Raffle • Wheel of Guns - 6 Guns -60 Chances- $100.00 per chance
• Cabela’s Table • Silent Auction • $1,000 Case of Cash • 100 Gun Raffle Bash
• Miller Lite Table • Shot Glass Raffle • Mystery Gun • Prairie Storm shell pyramid
• Silencer Central • Fast Draw Raffle and many more raffles! Veteran’s Raffle, Free to all Veterans.
TICKETS:
Tickets can be purchased at the Corn Palace Box Office from now until the banquet starts, anytime at Sodak or Cabela’s on October 17th and 18th, or from any committee member. Tickets are sold on a first come basis. We have had a huge response and apologize in advance for anyone who does not receive a ticket. Only 700 tickets sold and $60.00 per ticket includes membership and dinner. Big Gun tickets online also.
Contact:
Dave Allen, President (605) 996-8649 or j_allen01@hotmail.com
Doug Backlund, Banquet Chair (605) 656-0010
Kevin Bruscher,Treasurer (605) 770-9129 for more information
South Dakota hunting license and season
BY MITCHELL REPUBLIC
Here’s a list of what hunters need to know ahead of the hunting seasons in the Mitchell area.
Hunting season dates
Pheasant
Resident only: Oct. 12-14.
Statewide: Oct. 19 to Jan. 31, 2025.
*Future opening dates: The pheasant season traditionally opens on the third Saturday in October, which is Oct. 18 in 2025 and Oct. 17 in 2026.
*Shooting hours: 10 a.m. Central time to sunset for the entire season. (Central time is used for opening shooting hours statewide.)
Prairie chicken/grouse Sept. 21 to Jan. 31, 2025.
Ducks
Low Plains — north zone: Sept. 21 to Dec. 3.
Low Plains — middle zone: Sept. 21 to Dec. 3. Low Plains — south zone: Oct. 26 to Jan. 7, 2025.
High Plains: Oct. 12 to Jan. 16, 2025.
Deer
Mentored/Apprentice: Sept. 14 to Jan. 1, 2025.
Archery: Sept. 1 to Jan. 1, 2025.
East River: Nov. 23 to Dec. 8; Dec. 14-22 (antlerless only in December).
West River: Nov. 16 to Dec. 1; Dec. 14-22 (antlerless only in December)
Black Hills: Nov. 1-30
Muzzleloader: Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, 2025.
(Mentored hunting is available for South Dakota residents only, and hunter safety practices are required for individuals ages 12-16 who are not participating in a mentored hunt.)
Antelope Archery: Oct. 14 to Oct. 31. Firearms: Sept. 28 to Oct. 13.
Fall turkey Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2025.
*For those seasons not listed here, see the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department website at gfp.sd.gov.
2024 licenses are valid Dec. 15, 2023 through Jan. 31, 2025. 2025 licenses will be valid Dec. 15, 2024 through Jan. 31, 2026.
*Habitat Stamps are required for most hunting, fishing and trapping in South Dakota. License holders can purchase one-time, good for the entire license year. Purchase is not required for oneday licenses, any youth license, private shooting preserve licenses or landowner hunting licenses.
Mitchell Republic file photo
A pheasant hunter in a field near Mitchell.
For father and daughter, a growing love for all aspects of hunting
BY LUKE HAGEN
My black lab weaved through the standing cornstalks.
When he finally found the missing specklebelly goose, I had to call my daughter.
The second day of a four-day waterfowl hunting getaway was tremendous. But I’m missing my youngest hunting partner. Grace, 10, loves eating white-fronted goose, aka specklebelly or barbells. We shot a three-man limit of greenheads and specks on a Sunday morning in the combined corn, but one wasn’t hit real well and sailed off a few hundred yards away, only to fall into the standing corn. Grace had a huge smile when she saw the bird from the video phone call.
“They taste so good!” she says. It’s her favorite food.
My passion is radiating into her and I couldn’t be more excited.
Before duck season got underway this year, Grace talked about wanting to join me for some hunts more often this fall. She loves going fishing, driving the boat and reeling in walleyes.
But what 10-year-old girl wants to get out of bed at 4 a.m. to chase ducks?
The second day of the season, a Sunday, she did. We drove to our spot and we walked in a couple hundred yards. While I was setting out decoys, she stopped me for just a moment.
“Dad, turn off your headlamp.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Look up in the sky.”
The clear night was filled with beautiful, bright stars. Before the sun woke up
HAGEN: 5
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Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic
The author's daughter, 10-year-old Grace, has developed an appreciation for hunting and all that comes with it.
for the day, we were visitors of a reallife planetarium in the middle of South Dakota’s open air.
“Pretty awesome, huh? That’s something you can’t see sleeping in,” I said.
A successful hunt and duck harvest was secondary to that memory.
Just a couple weeks later, she decided she wanted to get up early again, requesting to go along for a second time this year. She was out once last year, an ice-cold Thanksgiving
morning that I probably stayed out too long for her comfort.
But I can see she is finally getting it: The time in nature. The peacefulness. Clearing your mind.
She’s understanding the why and the reason hunting is so fulfilling. She sees why I love it and she wants to be part of it. Plus, she gets some wonderful one-on-one time with her dad.
This hunt wasn’t quite as easy. This time she marched in more than a half-mile through some brush and weeds, between a pond and a standing cornfield, to get to our location, much of the time leading the way for us.
We found our location, and Grace asked how she could help set decoys. We were all treated to a live show of mallards floating over the decoys that she perfectly placed on the shoreline.
Grace’s favorite part of the hunt? It’s not watching the ducks or the shots — it’s helping work our dog Scout on retrieves. She gets to send him to fetch downed birds by yelling his name when I give the go-ahead. That gives Scout permission to leave his blind and tells all hunters that we have a dog in the field or water.
After another successful harvest, she toughed out the long hike back to the truck and helped carry what gear her little legs could handle. Cockleburs and thistles be darned. She battled through it all.
As we were loading up the pickup with the gear and enjoying a post-hunt beverage, she asked if she could join every weekend. Someday I assume she will.
Right now, I’m on an out-of-town hunting vacation, a trip I’m sure she’ll join in a few years. There’s no hunting this weekend for Grace. But I am getting texts from her while I’m sitting in a hotel room writing this column. She wants to hear more stories from this hunt and relive the day with me.
I better give her a call.
Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic Grace's favorite part of the hunt is helping work Scout on retrieves.
Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic
The author's daughter, 10-year-old Grace, pictured in the field on a recent hunt.
YOUR AMMO HEADQUARTERS
For 30 years, Sportsmen Against Hunger has met needs in helping feed SD
BY RON FOWLER SD Sportsmen Against Hunger
PIERRE — Donations of game meat to families in need through Sportsmen Against Hunger (SAH) again included a variety of game this past year. The largest amount of processed game meat came from donated deer but also donated were antelope, elk, Canada geese, pheasants and walleye. In the past, turkey and bighorn sheep have also been donated.
In 30 years of donations, more than 1 million pounds of game meat has been donated and that has translated to more than 4.5 million meals for persons in need through food pantries associated with Feeding South Dakota.
In fall and winter 2023-24, 14,576 pounds of game meat were provided to needy families through SAH and local food relief agencies. This meat was primarily a result of sportsmen and sportswomen donation of 136 deer, two antelope, 1,069 pheasants, 1,403 Canada geese, and 411 pounds of cleaned walleye. Other game meat came from community game meat food drives, hunter direct donations of processed meat to food relief agencies, and salvage processing of confiscated or non-hunter killed game.
As SAH continues to look for a variety of donated game from a variety of sources, the primary focus of SAH is still to encourage hunters to donate game, especially deer and Canada geese.
In cooperation with GFP, incentive for hunters to donate harvested antlerless deer and Canada geese is provided by having processing certificates available from SAH game processors for hunters to fill out and give back to the processor to pay for most or all of the processing fee. For any charge above the value of the processing certificate, or for donated bucks and other game, the hunter will need to pay the fee.
With hunting seasons approaching, SAH anticipates another successful year of game donations. The donated game meat is in great demand and much appreciated by food pantries and their clients who depend on the pantries as a source of nutritious game meat. Individuals who are not hunters can still contribute to the program by making a tax-deductible contribution to SAH to defray processing costs.
For more information, visit feedtheneedsd. com or contact South Dakota Sportsmen Against Hunger at 1-800-456-2758.
FACTS TO KNOW Pheasant
BY MITCHELL REPUBLIC
There are some things you may know and may not about this colorful bird:
• Weight: Male ring-necked pheasants weigh 2 to 3 pounds, while hens average 2 pounds.
• Length: Males measure 24-35 inches long with a rooster’s tail often accounting for more than 20 inches of that length. Hens are smaller with a much shorter tail.
• Flight speed: 38-40 mph but can reach 60.
• Favorite foods: corn, seeds, and insects.
• Preferred habitat: undisturbed grass.
• Average nest initiation: early May.
• Average incubation start: late May.
• Length of incubation: 23 days.
• Average first hatch: mid-June.
• Average clutch size: 12 eggs.
• Average nest success: 40-60 percent.
• Average hen success: 50-70 percent.
• Average rate of chick survival: 50 percent.
• Major nest predators: fox, raccoon, skunk.
• Major adult predators: man, fox, hawks, owl.
• Survival rate: mild winter, good habitat, 95 percent.
• Survival rate: severe winter, good habitat, 50 percent.
• Survival rate: severe winter, poor habitat, 20 percent.
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Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic Two pheasants in a public hunting area northeast of Mitchell.
Mitchell's Musick helps hunters maximize experience as a gun dog trainer
Musick has been training gun dogs for nearly 25 years
BY NATHAN SWAFFAR Mitchell Republic
MITCHELL — Numerous bird and waterfowl hunters will say that one of the most satisfying parts of hunting is seeing their dog at work.
Watching a dog point a pheasant or retrieve a duck from the middle of a pond can be exhilarating for the owner. But an untrained and undisciplined dog can easily make for an unenjoyable hunting experience.
That’s where Mike Musick steps in.
Musick is the owner and operator of SoDak Labradors and Gundog Kennels, a dog training and breeding business he’s been running since the early 2000s. Annually, he tends to train 30 or more dogs per year to be field-ready and breeds his own labs
about every other year. Although he felt that eventually, this is where his passion for dogs would take him, it didn’t become a reality until 2000.
Before then, he worked for his family business in Florida, but his calling was to work with dogs. When his parents bought farmland and planned to build a house just west of Mitchell, he decided to come with them and pursue the trade. It's same property where he lives and runs the business today.
He first started by learning from wellknown trainers in Minnesota. That included world-renowned trainer Tom Dokken, owner of Dokken Dog Supply and Dokken’s Oak Ridge Kennels, the largest gun dog training kennel in the northern part of the United States.
MUSICK: 9
Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic
Mike Musick trains a golden retriever named Copper to hold a training buck in his mouth so it translates to holding a bird during a retrieve.
CONTINUED FROM 8
“When I finally decided, I was just going to try to meet some trainers that were doing it,” Musick said. “I met Tom Dokken, and Tom invited me to Minnesota. I went over there and visited with him and some other trainers, and found somebody that needed some help. I just went to work for him for a little while, not Tom, but some other trainers. When they said, 'Do you feel like you want to go on your own and come back to South Dakota?' I said yeah. I didn't really plan on staying. I just wanted to get some experience.”
Building the business
He started his own training business in 2000 and since then, he’s established himself as one of the most respected trainers in this part of the country. He said he’s trained dogs for customers in South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and other surrounding states.
Although every dog is different, Musick’s primary training program's primary focus is to get dogs prepared to hunt pheasants and cover all the basic skills needed to perform well in the field.
“I call it a basic gun dog program,” Musick said. “For most guys who just want to hunt pheasants, I can get them ready in six weeks. And not every dog is the same. Sometimes they can learn
HUNTERS
Within the basic program, Musick trains the dog how to handle a bird, how to retrieve and how to stay focused in the field just to list some of the more specific training principles. There are other smaller focuses within the six-week program though. There are also other training services listed on Musick's website Sodakgundogs.com.
But in reality, it all comes down to what type of training the dog requires. Every dog is individualized and no two are the same. Discovering what type of help the dog needs is a skill Musick developed over his twoplus decades in the business.
One of the big challenges he deals with on a consistent basis is retrieving drive for certain dogs.
“It’s just you learn how to read that dog and you know where it's lacking and you just know what it needs,” Musick said. “It either needs more discipline or it needs more drive and retrieving desire. Retrieving desire is a big one. They have to want to retrieve. In order for that dog to be a good retriever and bring birds back to you, it needs to just be able to retrieve too.”
a little quicker, sometimes it might take another week or two just depending on the dog. If you start at the right time, it's easier. If you start them when they’re younger, normally. Then sometimes,
you get a dog that's just got a problem that you’ve got to get them over, like gun shyness. That takes a little longer, but once you get past that, they normally learn pretty quick.”
Musick elaborated and said it’s especially a problem with older dogs who didn’t learn to retrieve when they were younger. He further emphasized the importance of training dogs earlier in their lives.
Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic Floyd, one of Mike Musick's dogs in training, points a bird during a training session on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic Mike Musick trains a golden retriever named Copper to hold a dead pheasant in his mouth so it translates to holding a bird during a retrieve.
MUSICK: 10
It’s just you learn how to read that dog and you know where it's lacking and you just know what it needs.
— Mike Musick
MUSICK
CONTINUED FROM 9
“Not every dog will like the game of fetch,” Musick said. “You can have a good hunting dog that will retrieve game but doesn't want to play fetch. It's usually an older dog that didn't learn it when it was younger. It didn’t learn that game of fetch. It's an older dog when you're trying to train it. And it gets it, but it doesn't enjoy it as much.”
The importance of nutrition
Although at this point in his career, the training and breeding business is still his priority, Musick has branched out into other endeavors relating to the gun dog industry. This includes becoming a local representative for health and wellness company Life’s Abundance. The company makes wellness products for families, cats and dogs, but Musick tends to focus specifically on the dog aspect. Especially when it comes to dog food.
Musick began to pay closer attention to the food he was feeding in 2022 after his seven-year-old lab fell ill. The dog developed a cancerous tumor near the spine that limited mobility as it grew. Musick eventually had to put the dog down as a result.
The personal experience inspired him to be more mindful of what dog food he was using. He became increasingly concerned with certain chemicals and harmful ingredients used in some dog foods after conducting further research.
“It just really hit home because I had been feeding a premium food and I switched to a lesser quality food that was cheaper,” Musick said. “It was just a big mistake. I wished I'd never done that. But it's like this, I got an education again, and I want to try to bring awareness to the issue and help people find safer food.”
Nathan Swaffar / Mitchell Republic
Copper, one of Mike Musick's dogs in training, holds a training pheasant in his mouth.
MUSICK
CONTINUED FROM 10
Why a trainer?
In the end, though, the need for a specific gun dog trainer may seem unnecessary to some. Some owners can successfully train their dogs by themselves with no added help, but it’s far and few between. Training a dog unsuccessfully could also all but make the dog unable to hunt entirely.
Musick said dog trainers are critical to hunters because they should expect the best out of their close companions. A trainer gives an owner the best chance for their dog to succeed and to stay safe in the field.
“They might have had a dog in the past that they trained when they were younger when they had a lot more time and that dog turned out to be pretty good,” Musick said. “But now they're busy with a job or a family and they just don't have the time to get the dog in the field. Well, the first time they take it hunting, it's not going to know what a bird is or what the field is and it can get hurt in the field.”
But Musick said he also has advantages over other trainers. He specifically said how he truly takes extensive care in working with each dog because he runs a smaller operation than bigger kennels.
“I'm spending more time with that dog and I basically treat it like it's my own,”
Floyd, one of
current dogs in training, retrieves a recently shot pheasant during a training session on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
Musick said. “I'm tailoring the program for that dog. So if I get the dog when it's older and I see this dog needs this or that,
I know what to do. I believe that all dogs should start with a good introduction just to the field, all the sights and the
sounds that they're going to get and socialization with the other dogs is really important.”
