Finding Paradise in South Dakota: gun dogs, pheasants, prairie grouse, and more

In 1972, Lester D. Flake accepted a faculty position in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at South Dakota State University, promising his wife, Marcia, they would only stay for a couple of years until he found a position back west closer to family. Thirty-one years later, Les retired and reluctantly made good on his promise. South Dakota, the people, the landscape, the wildlife, turned out to be so much more wonderful than he had anticipated. In so many ways it was a paradise! Herein, Les shares the beauty and spirit of South Dakota with memories of places, people, pointing dogs, and upland game birds. To be sure, upland bird hunters can learn much from the book but it is not just a hunting book. Unusual memories such as sinking duck boats, a scary campsite visit from a Charles Manson look alike, a pet mallard and a Brittany, and grand-children tossing chickens into a swimming pool as a research experiment add diversity and humor to the book. The serious message quietly integrated in many of the stories is the importance of protecting wetlands from drainage and native grasslands and fragile soils from further tillage if the South Dakota paradise is to be kept alive.