About The Owners

Hello,

Thank you for visiting The Bird Dog Inn’s website!  If you found us you’re probably in search for a place to stay while you do some hunting or fishing in beautiful South Dakota.

That’s what we were doing when we stumbled across this same website.  Afterwards, we followed up by booking a week of amazing pheasant hunting and good times with our friends.  Low and behold, a few short months later we were buying the camp and making it our own!  Yes, we loved it that much out here and we hope you will too.

We’re a father (Mike) and son (Garrett) team that want others to experience times to remember, doing what we’re so passionate about.  We’ll do all that we can to accommodate you and make the trip one of a lifetime.

So how did we end up here, you ask?  We’ll try to explain in a condensed version.

We both live in Northcentral Pennsylvania in a little town called Smethport.  Mike had chased beagles around the deep, briar filled valleys of Pennsylvania all his life and wanted to pass on the excitement of small game hunting to his son.  So once Garrett was old enough he spent his weekends being the beagle/flusher/retriever for his dad and uncles even though there were some four legged hunting companions around.  Even so, he loved every minute of it and eventually, upland hunting became a favorite pastime for him.  So much so that he would take any chance that he got to hit the fields and show his buddies just how great it was.  He continued this even after life got too busy for his Dad to spend all of his time doing what he enjoyed so much.

Before long Garrett and his High School friends were making Dove, Grouse, and Pheasant seasons events that warranted the same excitement and big parties as deer season in PA.  Although fun, stomping brush after partying all night with his pals made Garrett think a dog might be more effective.  This led to Garrett buying his first true bird dog,  Lou, a Brittany  and eventually his second Brittany, Lexi.

Both Britt’s helped Garrett get his dad back into the field every weekend and convince him to start traveling across the country to find great bird hunting opportunities.

Finally, after searching for another place to hunt we ran across The Bird Dog Inn!  As stated earlier, we found the website and talked to the old owner to schedule us a weeklong stay.  To say we fell head over heels for the house and surrounding area is an understatement.

It is just an amazing place for the Do It Yourself hunter and angler.  The vast amounts of public land and lakes open to hunting and fishing will give you endless opportunities.  Floating on the lakes in the area pulling in fish all day never gets old.  Watching the varieties of  ducks and geese fly over you while sitting in a marsh or lake are a waterfowlers dreams.  As well as being able to follow your best upland dog all day, knowing you’re going to see bird flushes with numbers like  you’ve never seen before.

That’s the reason we bought this place in a little town in South Dakota.  It’s an outdoorsman’s paradise and we want to share it with you.