Opening Weekend

Associated Press:

More than 100,000 out-of-state residents are expected this fall during South Dakota's pheasant hunting season, and that means good things for the economy.

Last year, hunters spent $108 million in the state, according to the Game, Fish and Parks Department.

Brown County is a hot spot for hunters and their wallets, and Aberdeen civic leaders say many businesses thrive on the hunting season because it helps carry them through the year.

Billboards and signs are up all over Aberdeen, welcoming hunters. At one Aberdeen motel, the manager says business goes up 50 percent or more during the hunting season.

The state is also reporting that, despite the drought, the pheasant population has only fallen about six percent from 2005, which was the biggest in forty years.