The numbers are in, and 176,000 resident and non-resident hunters bagged about 1.9 million pheasants in South Dakota last year.
The breakdown is pretty interesting: There were just over 100,000 non-resident hunters and about 76,000 resident hunters. The residents killed about 877,000 birds and non-residents killed just over 1 million roosters. The number of non-resident hunters was down about 3,000 from 2007 -- perhaps a result of the poor economy or higher gas prices. The number of resident hunters was down 1,800 from the previous year.
Resident hunters averaged 7.3 days in the field and harvested 11.5 birds each. Nonresident hunters averaged 4.5 days and 10.5 birds.
Minnesotan traditionally sends more pheasant hunters to South Dakota than any other state.
