By commercial airliner, by private plane, by RV, SUV and car, pheasant hunters from far and wide returned to South Dakota on their annual pilgrimage to Pheasant Country.

It's bad news for ring-necked pheasants - the flamboyant target of visitors and state residents during Saturday's pheasant season opener - and fabulous news to the businesses catering to the hunters.

"The first week, the motels and everything are full in town," said Dave Geisler of Murdo's Pioneer Auto Museum. "It's a wonderful deal. It's actually better over in Presho and places like that. But it ain't bad here."

An area bounded by Winner, Chamberlain and Platte attracts many hunters. Becky Rose, assistant director of the Chamberlain-Oacoma Area Chamber of Commerce, said all 14 motels were full.

"We're completely booked," Rose said. "We did have a hotel call and say they had a couple of cancellations due to a death. One of the hunting buddies died, so they canceled."

Last year, hunters spent $163.4 million statewide, with 71 percent of it coming from nonresidents.

The estimate is based on U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service data on the spending habits of hunters nationwide, said George Vandel, spokesman for the state Game, Fish & Parks Department.

"We take the stats the feds keep and extrapolate based on the cost of living," Vandel said. "Frankly, we think we were grossly underestimating the economic impact of the pheasant season for many years."

Nearly 100,000 visitors and 80,000 residents killed more than 1.8 million pheasants last year. This year's pheasant numbers are even higher - an estimated 23 percent higher.

Vandel said counties in eastern and central South Dakota have the best pheasant production but that parts of the west have quality hunting as well.

The lure of pheasant hunting was especially strong for Kirk Naler, who wasn't anywhere near a television set when his beloved University of Tennessee Volunteers met Alabama on the football field Saturday afternoon.

Naler, of Knoxville, Tenn., said checking on the football game would have to wait - even if it meant just catching the highlights later.

He and his group hunt near Mellette.

Mal Weaver, who says he's a country boy trapped in a big city, drove all the way to the Aberdeen area from Alameda, Calif., near Oakland. People have to live in a big city to understand what's so nice about South Dakota, he said.

"At today's fuel prices, if you're going to drive all the way here from California and back for some chickens, you have to be a little bit delusional," Weaver said.

The season ends Jan. 6. Shooting hours are from noon to sunset for the first week. Starting Oct. 27, shooting hours are 10 a.m. to sunset.

The daily limit is three roosters. The possession limit is 15, taken according to the daily limit.

The first pheasant season in the state was in 1919.