"The first time we came to Tumbleweed, I had my two teenage boys on their first hunting trip away from home where they had shot some cottontail rabbits and mourning doves," says Doug McNeeley from Atlanta, Georgia. "Also along were my two older brothers who had been all over the United States hunting all kinds of gamebirds.

The sleeping quarters are nice and roomy so tired hunters can relax comfortably before their next adventure.

"The Bollwegs spent time with my kids on the sporting clays range, took them out alone to shoot some pheasants over their Labradors, then made sure the kids had some good shots at Hungarian partridge the next day.

"My two brothers and I spent a morning on a five-mile walk for prairie grouse one day while my sons went with Michael Bollweg to hunt some food plots for ringnecks all afternoon," McNeeley recalls. "The next two days we all hunted together for pheasant, Huns and grouse with my two kids outshooting us old guys a couple of times."

The Tumbleweed Grand Slam
The "grand slam" on gamebirds at Tumbleweed Lodge can actually include a couple possibilities. One is a combination of ringneck rooster pheasants and Hungarian partridge (the obviously easier part) with sharptail grouse and prairie chickens (the more difficult but still do-able task). Because pheasants and Huns hang out in or close to food plots and grassy pastures, finding and harvesting them in the same place is almost always a matter of a few days' hunting. Locating and shooting prairie grouse, however, can take more time and sometimes more effort because they be be scattered across more territory in the 12,000 acres of land at Tumbleweed.

There is another kind of grand slam, however. Though much of the hunting at Tumbleweed takes place from late September to early November, the period from mid-November to the end of December can be a good time for combining pheasants, Huns, and grouse with a trip a few miles to the west of the ranch for geese on the Missouri River Reservoirs. "Lake Oahe, in particular, can hold thousands of Canada honkers, white fronts, and even snows and blues, usually beginning in the middle of November and extending into December," says Michael Bollweg.

Although South Dakota waterfowl licenses for non-residents are limited to a certain prescribed number chosen in a lottery system in June, there are six counties along the Oahe Reservoir, north of Pierre, where non-residents can purchase licenses over-the-counter at any time during the waterfowl season.

"Every year clients come to Tumbleweed early to hunt pheasants, Huns and grouse, then come back later to add a waterfowl hunt to this gamebird combination.

"Those who come in the November-December period are often interested in harvesting the older mature trophy upland birds and then shooting a cross-section of goose species including Canadas, specklebellies and snows and blues," Bollweg says.

Conclusion
A trip to Tumbleweed Lodge will not guarantee a grand slam on gamebirds. But any hunters here can be assured that the opportunity for a combination of ringneck roosters, prairie grouse, or Hungarian partridge is very possible, and adding waterfowl to the mix may make the challenge even greater.

Hunting any or all of these gamebirds can make for the trip of a lifetime. For more information, see the lodge's website: www.tumbleweedlodge.com; or call (605) 875-3440.