DODGE, N.D. -- A dozen steps into a field of thigh-deep grass, we knew we weren't in Washington any longer.
My Gordon setter froze on point 15 feet ahead. Programmed by seasons of seeing a scattering of birds on Washington pheasant hunts, I approached my dog ready for a solitary flush.
Neither of us were prepared for what happened next. Four hens and three roosters flushed in front of him. As I started to swing my shotgun onto one of the roosters, three more shot upward to my left. A second later, 15 birds or more burst from hiding spots on all sides of us.
Stunned, I missed my first shot and swung onto another rooster, only to be distracted again by five more rising from cover to my right. My dog, who pirouetted in the direction of each new flush, dashed to me, a bewildered look on his black-and-tan face.
The two of us recovered our form later in the day, the first of six glorious days hunting pheasants in North Dakota.
Daily limits and working with our dogs in habitat that held hundreds of pheasants -- along with a scattering of sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge and whitetail deer -- exceeded the expectations my longtime hunting buddy, Darwin Waters, and I had when we plotted our long-discussed Dakota adventure months earlier.
We knew the statistics for the Dakotas. Hunters harvested nearly 1 million pheasants last year in North Dakota, the highest number since the 1940s, said Craig Birhle, spokesman for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
In South Dakota, hunters last year killed an estimated 1.8 million birds. And South Dakota's Game, Fish & Parks Department projected the pheasant population this year is 23 percent more than the 9.5 million pheasants in the state in 2005, which was a 40-year high.
"These aren't the good old days, but they are as close to the good old days as anyone can remember around here," said Chuck Schlueter, spokesman for South Dakota Game Fish & Parks.
A succession of mild winters and abundant wildlife habitat provided through the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, has provided hunters with unparalleled opportunities. So making the commitment to the trip was easy, as was the planning.
We found one hunting lodge online and another through word-of-mouth. The websites for both states yielded a trove of useful hunting information, and Internet searches led to local chambers of commerce in both states that listed outfitters and lodging.
North Dakota Game and Fish also sent an information package that included a copy of the latest Conservation Plots Guide -- which also is available online -- a county-by-county map of state, federal and the nearly 1 million acres of private land enrolled in the state Private Lands Open to Sportsman program.
South Dakota will also send an information packet with an atlas of its nearly 1 million acres of walk-in and public areas for hunting. South Dakota's tourism department also has a website with links to lodging.
There are few swaths of private land in either state that are not posted, so homework is essential. Birhle recommends hunters ask themselves if they are willing to pay for access and lodging, or if they prefer public or private land open to all hunters.
"How long do you want to be here, and when? Do you have a dog? Are you looking to get your three birds by 9 a.m. and be done for the day, or are you in a group of guys with a couple of dogs and want to hunt for five, six or eight hours?" Birhle said.
The expansion of CRP in both states -- South Dakota has 1.2 million acres, North Dakota about 3.3 million -- has allowed pheasants to thrive and reduced pressure on most open private and public lands. Schlueter said walk-in areas in South Dakota provide ample hunting opportunities.
The opening two weeks of the season in October see the most pressure, and availability of some lodging and access will be limited.
Later in the year, the birds may be more skittish, but there are fewer hunters. And a late-season hunt could bring snowfall, which will cause birds to hold in cover.
Above all, Schlueter advises hunters to be realistic.
"The number of birds in South Dakota this year is phenomenal, and for me, the hunting is fantastic. But it boils down to what you want out of the experience. I live in a state with the best pheasant hunting in the nation, and yet every year I hear from someone who says they had a miserable time here," he said.
"It's a matter of perspective. Be out to enjoy the experience. The whole point is to be outside, be hunting, to see a lot of wildlife, and a whole lot of birds."