Hunting is good at E Circle E throughout the season. My own favorite time to hunt there is toward the end of the preserve season in March, when South Dakota gives you a second October on the back side of winter's brutality. At that time, no birds have been released since November, and the lodge is mostly empty. On one trip I shot 12 birds in four days of hunting, and they were all wild. I had to work hard and shoot straight for every one of them, but I had the place to myself. The food was great, and the lodge extremely quiet.

Price: $2,650 to $3,650 for 3 days/4 nights, depending on party size. (Larger parties get a discount.)

Ideal for: Large parties or corporate groups including newcomers to hunting. This is a very hospitable lodge for inexperienced hunters.

Cheyenne Ridge Signature Lodge
Cheyenne Ridge Signature Lodge sits atop a commanding ridge above the mighty Missouri River. The view from the lodge's back patio is breathtaking, and I enjoyed pre-breakfast walks down through rugged breaks every morning of my trip. It was November, and thousands of snow geese were rafting on the vast blue waters of Lake Oahe, a huge and walleye-rich impoundment.

So many interesting outdoor opportunities exist within arm's reach of Cheyenne Ridge, it's hard to keep your mind focused on pheasant hunting. If I could do my trip over again -- and I hope to, eventually -- I would go in October when the walleye fishing is still good. I would rely on the lodge to hook me up with a local walleye guide in the mornings, and I'd hunt pheasants in the afternoons.

Or maybe I'd hunt geese in the mornings. Or prairie grouse. No, wait; maybe I'd bowhunt for mule deer in the breaks west of the river. Oh, jeez, let's just go pheasant hunting!

Cheyenne Ridge offers two totally different worlds for the pheasant hunter. One world, which is by far the more popular with clients, involves abundant but primarily liberated birds on gently sloping agricultural plateaus. The other world falls steeply into coulees and canyons full of chokecherry and yucca, where the pheasants are plentiful and wilder than any I've seen in many a day. I hunted both worlds during my stay, and I must say I prefer the latter. But too much of that world will kill you and your dogs, especially if the weather is warm. It was good to have the gentler world as a backup.

Without exception, Signature Lodge is the most fully equipped lodge I've ever visited.

From the spacious gun cleaning room to the well stocked wine racks, the folks at Cheyenne Ridge do everything in high style.

Price: $3,995 to $4,495 for 3 day/4 night packages, depending on party size. (Lower price for larger parties.)

Ideal for: The sporting man or woman with considerable means, who demands the most deluxe and scenic pheasant hunting experience South Dakota has to offer.

ToriLil Farm
Jeff Bird is an Oregonian with South Dakota connections, and he runs an international wingshooting business that offers everything from Baja brant to Swedish capercaille. He is especially passionate about wild pheasants, and he has committed his ToriLil Farm operation to the exclusive hunting of wild pheasants under general statewide regulations.

That means a season running generally from late October to New Year's Eve, with a three-bird daily limit.