Note: Aerial photography by Michael Bollweg
As an adventurous young fella growing up in South Dakota, I explored every brushy creek and cattail slough, woodlot and weed-filled ditch around our small town, at first with my Red Ryder and later with my Marlin .22. But when Dad gave me a Winchester Model 12 for my 15th birthday, those little pockets of wonder took on even greater meaning because they were the same wild haunts of ringneck pheasants. All through my high school and college days, hunting alone or with my buddies, I pursued the big cockbirds, and in the years to come, even after relocating to other points on the compass, I tried to return to America’s Pheasant Capital whenever I could.
Drones are controversial in many respects, but there’s no arguing that the images of Tumbleweed Lodge from the sky are breathtaking.
Of all of my homecoming hunts, my favorites have been at Tumbleweed Lodge near the small prairie hamlet of Harrold. For me, there is no finer place to experience Dakota pheasant hunting and its country-smart ringnecks.
My hunt at Tumbleweed last November proved especially memorable because I shared it with longtime friend Ron Van Gilder and his son Forrest, and because owner Michael Bollweg was able to photograph our hunt from the unique aerial perspective of his camera-equipped drone.
Drone photography captures the bird, the hunters, and the landscape in one priceless image.
On the evening of our arrival, a galaxy of cottony white flakes swirled down through the nighttime sky. By morning the snow had stopped, replaced by clouds of colorful ringnecks billowing up from the marshes and shelterbelts and sailing off to the cornfields to feed.
Michael’s family has been farming the land for more than four decades and hosting hunters since 1981. Most of the hunting is close by the lodge, where experienced guides and hard-working retrievers provide fast-action wingshooting for hard-flying roosters. Still, as Michael’s camera so aptly documented, a few sagacious old cockbirds usually manage to avoid the dogs and skulk away to safety.
Hunters plan their next path through this South Dakota cornfield.
In South Dakota, shelterbelts provide excellent winter cover for pheasants trying to escape prairie winds that can cut with a knife edge. On our second day, guide Matt Heard took us to a long windbreak of cedars and junipers, where, just as we started into the cover, hundreds of pheasants broke out from the sides and far end. Still, enough birds remained in their snug, snow-choked roosts to flush within range of our guns.
As I raced ahead to block the end of the shelterbelt, I kicked up a long-tailed rooster that veered back toward Ron.
A pheasant gives two hunters the slip.
“I saw him coming only a few feet off the ground, so I instinctively dropped to one knee,” Ron told me. “Just as I raised my shotgun, the rooster swept past less than an arm’s length away, his eyes as big as bowling balls. I twisted around and fired at him going away. I was pretty surprised when I saw him fold up and pile into the snow.”
This photograph taken from Bollweg’s drone captures Forrest swinging onto the first of four roosters he dropped in as many shots.
If You Want To Go
Tumbleweed’s beautifully appointed, 18,000-square-foot lodge, complete with a large gazebo, can accommodate up to 24 guests. Other creature comforts include a steam bath, Jacuzzi, 60-inch television for watching your favorite football team, and Wild Bill Hickok cigar room. Back in the kitchen, talented Chef Joe Fossett prepares some of the finest cuisine in the Midwest, including succulent prime rib, top-choice Angus sirloin, baby-back ribs, and his famous apricot-glazed pheasant.
Shotguns and pheasants bring back youthful memories for the author.
All told, the Bollwegs own and lease more than 12,000 acres where hunters can also pursue sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chickens, and Hungarian partridge, which, along with the ringneck, comprises the “Grand Slam of the Dakotas” for bird hunters. Ducks and geese can also be hunted on fields or bluffs along the nearby Missouri River.
For clients who choose not bring their own shotguns, Tumbleweed carries a good selection of Berettas: Silver Pigeon over-and-unders for the upland birds and A400s for waterfowl.
Tumbleweed Lodge in all its glory.
Michael Bollweg, it should be noted, is an FAA-registered drone operator. He originally purchased his Phantom 3 Professional DJI to scout out his crops for water conditions and erosion, pest infestations, and other problem areas difficult to access by vehicle. Now he enjoys using the device to photograph his clients in the field, sending each hunter home with a DVD of his wingshooting adventure. Our thanks to Michael for sharing his excellent aerial photographs.
For more information, call (605) 875-3440 or visit tumbleweedlodge.com.