Destinations

ROOSTER!

That’s the battle cry of hunters pushing through waist high corn and switch grass at the Cheyenne Ridge Signature Lodge in the pheasant heartland of Pierre, South Dakota.

When the dogs flushed pheasants, ROOSTER! bellowed across the autumn fields in a united front to ensure only male Rignecks accounted for our day’s harvest that ultimately reached 178 birds.

We climbed up into the new 400-horsepower Porsche Cayenne S, ready to embark on a mad road trip that would take us deep into the heart of Kentucky bourbon country. The itinerary was ambitious by any measure – eight days, seven posh sporting clays venues, 13 flats of shells, eight bourbon distilleries and a fresh box of Gurkha Evil cigars. Our departure date was September 11th.

As a certain local bard may have put it, this is such stuff as a sportsman’s dreams are made of.

Imagine if you could take the Vintage Cup, Southern Side by Side and Grand American shoots; combine them with the SCI Show, Las Vegas Antique Arms show, a gun dog field trial, a horse show and a fly fishing festival; then add in miles of world class shopping, exotic motorcars, fine art galleries, acres of gourmet food and drink; and stage it all on the lawn of a beautiful historic English country estate.

I love elegant shops. I love shops drenched in dark wood paneling and have dark leather chairs and couches. Sparkling crystal, fine clothing hanging in rich wood cabinets and stunning firearms with fancy walnut stocks stir my soul.

At Broken Arrow Farms there are people who come and stay at the farm for a few days to a week for pheasant hunting, and there are the day hunters who come out to the farm for the hunting but stay in town to take advantage of the restaurants and entertainment it offers. It also includes some of the locals of Pierre, South Dakota who hunt there as well.

The timing was perfect…

Fausti USA offered us its lovely Dea Duetto side by side combo just as we wrapped up planning a road trip to the exclusive Bray’s Island Plantation in Sheldon, South Carolina.

You may want to send a heartfelt letter of gratitude to Mr. Gao Ren, chairman and CEO of China Linen Textile Industry, Ltd., for getting yourself a real deal on a private membership at the River Bend Sportsman’s Resort in Fingerville, South Carolina.

Story and photos by Jerry Sinkovec

Castle Valley Outdoors is an Orvis endorsed hunting and fishing lodge that opened in 2005 in south central Utah. It’s about three hours by car from the Salt Lake City airport, and the drive takes you through some interesting country. The ranch has over 15,000 acres in the valley with ten hunting fields where most of it is dedicated to upland bird hunting with quail, chukars, and some partridge and of course two species of pheasant, the ring neck and the black melanistic available. Other game available on a limited basis are elk, deer, turkey and cougar. When I arrived there was snow on the ground in March, which is unusual for the area as they really never get snow and if they do it’s always gone by February.