CASTLEWOOD, S.D. - People who hunt pheasants late in the season say the benefits outweigh disadvantages - such as trudging through snow in cold weather.

"Something like 90 percent of the birds are taken in the first three weeks," Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown said during a hunt on Friday.

But early bird hunters miss out on the charms of winter, he said.

"We worked our tails off, which is fine. We don't want to be out for 15 minutes," said Schoenbeck.

Snow cover makes it easier to see the birds and their tracks, he said. Also, pheasants tend to gather in heavier cover instead of picking over cornfields after a snow. And hunting dogs can pick up the scent easier.

Another advantage: Farmers usually don't mind late-season pheasant hunters going on their land.

"You call up these farmers after a snowstorm, and they just laugh," Schoenbeck said. "They say, 'Go on!'"

One disadvantage of late-season hunting is that others already have shot many of the roosters.

Still, Schoenbeck said, this is the best time of year to hunt.

The state's pheasant population was expected to top last year's estimated preseason population of 5.5 million birds, largely because of a mild winter and ideal hatching and rearing conditions in spring.