Then another flew and another gun spoke and the bird dropped. It was a good start. We were hunting the sixth annual South Dakota Sharptail Classic sponsored by the Winner Area Chamber of Commerce. The invitation-only event attracts over 40 hunters each year. Landowners and guides accompany each group and points are scored for each bird with bonus points for prairie chickens and any bird taken with a 20 or 28 gauge shotgun.
Teams meet the evening prior to the hunt for a rules meeting and dinner.
Our team captain was Steve Nelson of Pierre and our guides were Roger Fiala and Dennis Holthus of Winner. Team members included Pete, Doug and Dave Heidinger of Sioux Falls and Jim Protexter of Pierre, a representative of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. After the sunflower hunt our group continued on to some grasslands northwest of Winner. There is a mixture of private and tribal lands here with a wide variety of cover for a large number of wildlife species. During the day we saw whitetail and mule deer, wild turkey, lots of pheasant and many other kinds of wildlife.