There we go. Rooster! All right. Got that one. Woo! There’s another, Tom, grab him. There we go. Ha! Now we can talk. Don’t go nowhere. Oh my goodness.
Gun had to get warmed up.
Yeah, come here man. Awesome shot, huh?
Until the gun gets warmed up. Jim? You got it right up there, Jim?
Well folks, listen, we are in South Dakota, Dakota Ridge Hunting Lodge up in beautiful Clear Lake, South Dakota. Our guest today is an old friend of mine and dear friend, former boss colonel retired Tom Kreiger, we served together, what, 1982? I’m still serving.
18 years.
There we go. But Tom has been so gracious as to come up here and be a guest on the show and a little bit later in the show we’re gonna introduce you to Jim Dailey and his family. They own this beautiful place, but this is Tom’s home town, Clear Lake South Dakota. I can’t imagine growing here, okay? This is brutal.
I grew up in the days of Soil Bank Program, estimated pheasant population in eastern South Dakota was like 13 million birds, and the best hunting I ever had was with 30 of us, 20 of us driving, 10 blocking, no dogs. We shot 180 roosters, the limit was six a piece back then and we did that in an hour and 45 minutes. So I mean, I grew up pheasant hunting up here, but living in this country is tough. As my wrestling coach used to say, I recruit kids from South Dakota simply because I know that they’re tough. You gotta be tough to survive up here. So that’s–
No, you’ve always invited me up here for over 30 years to come to Clear Lake, okay? Course I kid him, I always, it makes him mad when I call it Clear Water, that’s just an inside joke. But we got our first two pheasants, let’s go get some more. And again, Dakota Ridge Hunting. Log onto Bob’s Top 16 and Jim Dailey, Linda, the boys, Brody and Ryan and all the staff up here this is an awesome place. This is a beautiful habitat. All right, you ready? Yeah, man, let’s do it. All right, boys! Yeah, it’s just been a great day. We shot this hog. Look at that, wow. Let me hold that thing.
[Man Off-Camera] Nice!
Woo. Right, I will tell you this is a, this is pheasant hunting. Honestly, it really is. You guys really got, I mean the habitat’s right you got the great dogs. I mean, gosh, what else, what else would you want coming here to Dakota Ridge?
It is a nice day, though. Don’t have to worry about sun. Dog Willow is working a bird right here.
There it goes.
I got it. You missed, I got it. Don’t even say it. I don’t wanna hear it! No siree!
You got her.
Jim, you do the call, come here, come here.
It was a second shot.
Ah that man, oh man. See, right there, Jim he doesn’t lie, right here. Come here TDK! No, don’t be running away.
Next time, Tom.
Yeah you know, I mean… might have been a little slow on that…
Look at that, I was even distracted talking to Ryan, huh? I even gave you an extra few seconds.
My job was to slow that bird down. I did that effectively, and then you gave him a high octane boost.
Oh okay, that’s what it was.
Jim says well processed.
Oh, okay.
I told you Willow was working a bird right there.
Rooster!
Nicely done! There you go! Huh?
That was a tough one.
Alright but I’ll have to give you that one. Okay, one reflection back. Now, okay you’re 70 years old, and as a kid, how exciting is it now to come back after you’ve left here and do this still? Is that why you come every year to Dakota Ridge?
There are two places that I do not miss and Jim got me coming back up here after a class reunion, six, eight years ago, but there are two places I don’t miss, one’s coming here to Dakota Ridge and the other one’s with my buddy Dean Knox, up on the Kenai River in Alaska in July. So, those are the two favorite outdoor things that I do. And I deer hunt, hog hunt, quail hunt. If it flies, I like to chase it.
Okay now, I’m gonna ask you, and you tell all these folks out there in TV land. Am I gonna have to wait another thirty years to go to Alaska too?
Hey, that’s not my call.
No, man, you’re killin’ me!
That’s Dean’s call, Jim’s very benevolent. He’ll let you come up here and me come up here.
I know!
But that’s up to Dean.
Well, ya know, folks I wanna tell ya up here at Dakota Ridge, not only do they have the beautiful lodge, and Miss Linda does the all the cookin’ and of course, the boys and all these great dogs up here, but they also have if you have a corporate outing that you would like to bring a group of guys, eight, They’ve got a special lodge that’s located about a mile, two miles from here and it is superb. You can just have the whole place to yourself. But you’ve got choices when you come up here to Clear Lake, South Dakota and hunt with Jim Dailey and all the family, so that’s what it’s all about is family fun and hey, roosters. Let’s get some more.
I’m ready.
All right man. [Narrator] – Stay tuned after commercial break. We’ll have more South Dakota pheasant hunting on this week’s Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine. Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine is being brought to you today by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Life’s just better outdoors! By Berkley, catch more fish with Berkley fishing products. By Ranger Boats, still building legends, one at a time. By Browning Ammunition. Browning, the best there is. And by Southern Woods Plantation, voted as one of the top quail hunting destinations in America.
Well folks, listen, before we make another turn here this morning, we are hunting in Clear Lake, South Dakota, Dakota Ridge Hunting Lodge. And I’ve gotta first of all point out the guys that are hunting with us this morning, walking along with us. First of all, I’ve gotta thank Jim Dailey, he’s the owner here and Jim, listen, and you’re out here with your gloves off! You have a beautiful habitat out here, I mean this is just a wonderful, I mean 7,000 acres and we’re gonna talk to you a little bit later about this wonderful lodge that you’ve got up here. Of course, you’ve got Dave Bleeker, one of your guides, then of course your son, Ryan, who helps you. And I know the boys are a big part of this, but the one that makes it go, is Miss Linda. Okay, behind every good man is a good woman, so, listen we are so appreciative of you having us up here. Of course, you guys all know the colonel, Tom Krieger from Lugoff, South Carolina. Bob Jerry, from-
Bob was one of my old wrestling partners along with Jim back when we were in high school. That was just a couple years ago, I wanna say in 1965, so if you’ve got a calculator, that would be about 50 years ago. Bob now lives down in New Mexico.
And then of course Steve Nettles, down in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, a retired colonel, and then Bill Branch, a retired colonel from north Florida, the panhandle. It’s just one of those places that you guys can come up here, you can enjoy pheasant huntin’ at its finest. I mean, beautiful dog works, the habitat is awesome, and with that, guys, I’m gonna shut up and let’s get to huntin’ some more, okay?
Get it, Steve!
Woo, nice!
Three of us, I don’t know what the chances are of that simultaneously happening, but that–
I think that was three bullets, all three of us there. That was the old soldier’s reaction. Yeah, that pheasant didn’t have a chance. Woo! Well you guys are about to catch up with me, you’re about to get there, huh?
Well we got two.
Rooster!
Rooster!
Rooster! Get him boys! Well, joining me now is the owner of this beautiful place, he likes to call Dakota Ridge Lodge, here in Clear Lake, South Dakota, and that’s Jim Dailey, and Jim, thank you so much for being our host on our show this week.
Thank you, sir.
It’s been a long time, I’ve heard so much about Dakota Ridge from Tom, and the wonderful job that you and Miss Linda do and all the boys, and it’s a family run operation. Tell me just a little bit about the history, I mean, this is 30 plus years of dedication to pheasant hunting.
Well back in ’85, the farm become available for sale and so we purchased it. At that time, we were actually running cattle here on the farm and farming it, and we decided to convert it to a hunting operation, so we began planting trees and pulling out fences and planting native grasses and stuff and we just converted it into basically a full-time hunting operation and this portion of the farming.
Well, ya know, Jim too, one of the great things is that folks can come up here as a group, I mean folks of eight, you have two different separate, you have the main lodge, which is right behind us here and right on this beautiful Lake Alice. But the other thing is, is guys can come up, they can also stay over at the house that we’re actually at and cook their own food if not, or they can come here and eat. That’s really, and then, the best bird huntin’ in South Dakota.
Well, thank you. Yeah, there’s a little flexibility for the gentlemen who like to do their own thing. They can bring their dogs, do their own cooking, take care of themselves and, or they can come here and pretty much get everything done for em. We’ll do all the cooking, change the beds, do all the work, so you can do what you like, we got two options.
Well, and one of the other great things too is those that want to bring their own dog, course, you’ve got some wonderful, world-class dogs here as well with guides, but if a guy wants to bring his own dog, you can make that happen too.
Yeah, we certainly welcome that for anybody who has a dog, certainly wants to use his own dog and have the opportunity to spend the fall hunting with him and we certainly welcome that.
Well Jim, I just wanna thank you so much again for doing this because again, I know it’s a passion, it’s a family operation and that’s what makes it so special because when you come home you just feel like you’re at home.
Well, thank you. We’ve got some groups this’ll be their 20th year that, right after we started they came and they’ve come every year. We’ve lost a few of ’em, but we’ve gained a few in the same group. We’ve got some grandkids coming this year on the 20th year, so that’s good.
Yeah, that is. Well folks, listen, if you wanna come up and book your trip and spend, well, a week, a day, whatever you’d like to do at Dakota Ridge Hunting Lodge, log onto bobredfern.com and go to Bob’s Top 16 and Dakota Ridge is gonna be located right there. Give ’em a call, give ’em an email, but you need to come up here if you’re an upland bird hunter. Jim and Linda and the whole family will make you feel like part of their family. Rooster! There we go, Bill!
[Bill] Here, here, here, here. Okay.
We got it! We got it! Thanks for the power assist there, Tom. That one kinda snuck up on me a little bit. [Narrator] – Coming up on this week’s Sportsman’s Table. We head to Deck 383 in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina for a certified South Carolina crab cake recipe.
The Sportsman’s Table is brought to you by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Whether you live in South Carolina, or out of state, be sure to buy South Carolina grown meats, vegetables, and fruits. Make sure your food is South Carolina certified. It’s a matter of taste.
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Sportsman’s Table. We’re back here at Murrells Inlet on the inner coastal waterway at Deck 383 restaurant at Wacca Wache Marina and my chef guest again today is Jermaine Olson, he’s the executive chef here at Deck 383. He’s got a, well it’s a local fish recipe that everybody can get when they come to the restaurant here.
Oh yeah.
Tell me a little bit about it, my friend.
Alright, we have our crab cakes right here. Our crab cake is a special blend, ya know, we use a claw and a special blend crab meat that comes from the lump crab meat, the little pickings from the lump crab meat.
Oh, so again that’s all local here?
All local, all local.
Okay, I love it, okay. Buy local, eat fresh, there ya go.
Everybody’s happy.
Yeah, there ya go, man. Okay, here at Deck 383, this is something you guys serve up for all the guests here, so let’s get started.
Alright.
Man, the grease is hot and we’re ready to roll.
Just take our crab cake, roll ’em in our breader right there. Make sure it’s good and covered.
[Bob] And ya know, the great thing about it, when you come to the restaurant over here, things are fresh.
[Jermaine] Oh yeah.
[Bob] Okay, they didn’t–
[Jermaine] We make everything fresh.
[Bob] Pull it out of the freezer or something.
– [Jermaine] No, we make everything fresh. No frozen crab cakes here, buddy.
[Bob] There ya go, bro. Oh, goodness.
[Jermaine] Yeah just bread that up real good and form it out. We’re gonna throw em right to the pan, oh yeah.
[Bob] And folks if you want a copy of Jermaine’s recipe, just log onto bobredford.com and go to the Sportsman’s Table. Oh wow, so how long are these things gonna cook up?
[Jermaine] I cook ’em, probably about two and a half minutes on each side. Flip em over, then Imma throw it in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes.
I gotcha, alright, I’ll move that thing outta the way for ya. Now, what kind of texture is that gonna, just–
This is–
Just a really light brown?
Light, golden brown.
Okay.
Light, golden brown.
Awesome.
Which we should be almost there right about now. Oh yes, perfect. Golden brown.
Alright, we’re there!
Yes, we’re there, we’re gonna flip this over one more time, Bob.
Okay, oh wow, those look awesome.
[Jermaine] Oh yeah, there ya go. Put em on our pan right here.
[Bob] Okay. So once you get ’em browned lightly, then what’s the next step?
[Jermaine] We gonna throw ’em in the oven on about 350 to 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Oh wow, and then pull ’em out?
Pull them out.
And then they’re ready to roll.
Then we ready to eat.
Man that’s a simple one.
Ready to eat.
Okay.
[Jermaine] Alright Bob, here we have our finished product right here. That’s about 8 to 10 minutes in the oven. Crab cakes golden brown, served with our special house coleslaw, which is also South Carolina certified grown. This coleslaw is, it’s amazing.
[Bob] Off the charts?
[Jermaine] It’s amazing.
Well here at Deck 383 you guys special in local. Eat fresh, buy local, okay, and I will tell ya that is a dish I know nobody can resist that one right there.
Yes sir.
Jermaine, you did good, my friend, thank you here at Deck 383.
Thank you, sir.
And folks, listen. Buy local, eat fresh, certified SC grown, right here at Deck 383 on the inner coastal waterway in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, Wacca Wache Marina. Come on down, ride the boats, eat the food, drink, be merry. We’ll see you next week, right back here on another episode of the Sportsman’s Table. [Narrator] – To find out more information on food that’s fresher and tastier, go online at certifiedscgrown.com. Buy Certified South Carolina grown products. It’s a matter of taste.
Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine is being brought to you today by Chevrolet, the official vehicle of Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine. By the South Carolina Agriculture Department, it’s a matter of taste. By Browning. Browning, the best there is. By South Carolina Embroidery and Screenprinting. And by the Wacca Wache Marina and Deck 383, located on the Waccamaw River in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
Well folks, we’re getting ready to change in the habitat here. What Jim has done, he’s cut the tops off of this, of the corn, left it for the birds, but it’s just the variance of this habitat for pheasant hunting here at Dakota Ridge. And that’s what really makes this place so special. Course, we’re right here on Lake Alice. It just, it’s really such a well done preserve, I mean, can you imagine 7,000 acres of pheasants, huh? That’s what we got for you today on our show. All right, I’m a comin’!
Nice shot, Steve. Got him! Woo! Look at ’em go. Man! Look at ’em go!
[Steve] Nail ’em! Good shot, Bob!
Well folks, on this trip, I elected to bring my Browning 725 with 32 inch barrels, ported back board. And I will tell ya, as the birds are flying behind me and one right here, the guys are continuing to carry on the tradition of upland bird hunting. But I will tell ya, this 725 20 gauge, normally I carry a 12 when I do this, but I thought let’s do something different and change it up a little bit, but I have not regretted bringing it and Browning, the best there is in ammo, right here, number sixes, three inch, 20 gauge. It’s a great combination on this hunt today. All right boys!
[Cameraman] Yeah, we’re comin’ to the end here, got a little slew up here. I’d say we’re about to get into a flurry.
[Bob] I think so.
Rooster! Well done boys!
[Cameraman] Thank you. Nice shot, Stevie, nice shot. Ya wanna just walk it to the end, Dave? All right. We’ll hold.
Woo! Look at that, wow. That is reaching out and touchin’ em.
[Cameraman] That is reachin’ out.
Well folks, that’s our show this week from Clear Lake, South Dakota, Dakota Ridge Hunting Lodge. Jim, I gotta thank you, my friend. Thank you so much, it’s been a pleasure. It’s just, it’s one of those places you only dream about coming if you’re an upland bird hunter and you guys have done it so well. It’s a beautiful family operation and I just can’t say enough about it, but thank you.
Thank you, I appreciate havin’ ya here.
Well, and I also have to thank my good friend, life-long friend, my former boss, the knife maker, Colonel Tom Krieger. Tom, thank you so much for including this in your outing up here and–
You bet.
I still love the hat, okay.
Hey, 25 years and running.
There ya go. And with that, I gotta thank Bill Branch. Bill, thank you so much from Florida. Steve Nettles, happy 82nd birthday, my friend, okay. And Bob Jerry, Bob, I don’t know how you put up with these two guys in high school, okay. I just, that’s another story for the fire, okay. But I gotta thank Ryan and Dave and Ryan is Jim’s son, carrying on the tradition up here at Dakota Ridge, we just, with the beautiful dogs. And I know this is a life-long passion, it’s what you do, but you guys do it so well and thank you so much for having us up here. And with that folks, as I like to say each and every week, the outdoors is my passion and I want it to be yours too. We’ll see ya next week, not sure where we’re gonna be, but please tune in right here on Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine.