World-Class South Dakota Pheasant Hunting.
Private land. Luxury lodging. An experience built around the hunt.
Experience professionally guided pheasant hunting across thousands of acres of privately managed South Dakota habitat, paired with luxury accommodations, exceptional dining, world-class shooting facilities and genuine South Dakota hospitality.
17,000 acres, all to yourselves.
Bolton Ranch spans 17,000 acres — roughly 96% in one contiguous block — of corn and milo fields, CRP, food plots, shelterbelts, and timbered creek and river bottoms. It's the kind of country pheasants thrive in, and it means you hunt without crowds.
Family-owned since 1912 and offered to the public since 1997, this is South Dakota upland hunting the way it's meant to be: professionally guided, over trained bird dogs, on land we know acre by acre.
Hear it straight from Joe.
Joe Bolton walks you through the ranch, the lodge, and what a few days of South Dakota pheasant hunting here actually looks like.
It is the quickest way to get a feel for the place before you ever pick up the phone: the ground, the birds, the lodge, and the family that has worked this land since 1912.
View Packages & PricingTwo ways to stay. One legendary ranch.
The Lodge Pheasant Hunts
Our flagship all-inclusive experience — the 13,000 sq ft lodge, gourmet meals, guided hunts, and packages from a single day to five.
View Packages & Pricing
The Bunkhouse Pheasant Hunts
The same world-class hunting with comfortable bunkhouse lodging — a classic upland getaway for smaller groups.
View Package & PricingAdd a quail hunt — $150. A 5-bird quail hunt can be added to either package for a little extra wingshooting variety. Just ask us when you book. See all packages.
More than a hunt.
The hunt may bring you to Bolton Ranch. Everything surrounding it is what brings you back.
The Hunt
Private ground, professional guides, and dogs that know this country acre by acre.
The Lodge
Twelve rooms with private baths, a great room, a full bar, and a quiet place to work.
The Table
Breakfast, field lunches, hors d'oeuvres and a full dinner with wine at the table.
The Range
Ten trap throwers, 1,500-yard shooting, a golf simulator and evening entertainment.
From the first cup of coffee to the last story.
You aren't buying three days of shooting birds. You're buying everything from the time you wake up until you go to bed.
- First Light
Breakfast
A full hot breakfast in the lodge before boots go on. Coffee is on long before that.
- Before The Hunt
The Range
Warm up on clays across ten throwers. It settles the nerves and it starts the needling early.
- Morning
The Morning Hunt
Guided hunt over trained dogs through corn, milo, CRP and shelterbelts. Transportation to and from the field is handled.
- Midday
Field Lunch
Lunch comes out to you, along with the snacks and drinks that have been in the truck all morning.
- Afternoon
The Afternoon Hunt
Back out on fresh ground. Your birds are cleaned, packaged and frozen while you're still in the field.
- Evening
Drinks & Hors d'oeuvres
Come in, clean up, and find a drink poured and something to eat waiting in the great room.
- Night
The Range & The Lodge
Golf simulator, pool, shuffleboard, football on the big screens, cigars on the patio — and a personal bartender there every night of your stay. Very few lodges do that.
- Late
Dinner
A full-course, home-cooked dinner with wine at the table, and everyone around it at the same time.
Where the day doesn't end when the hunt does.
This is the part of Bolton Ranch guests never see coming, and the part they talk about when they get home.
- 10-thrower trap range
- 1,500-yard long-range shooting
- Golf simulator
- Pool table
- Shuffleboard
- Multiple big-screen TVs
- Corporate meeting & presentation space
- Full bar, football and evening camaraderie
In our family since 1912.
The heart of the ranch has been in the Bolton family since 1912, hunted by friends and family until 1997, when we decided to share this beautiful land with the public. We still operate a working cow/calf cattle operation, and we're involved in every part of the hunt.
Joe and Stacie Bolton own and run the ranch alongside family — carrying on a legacy built on great land, great dogs, and honest hospitality.
Read Our Full StoryBolton Ranch family timeline.
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1912
Grandpa's
Findley Forgey purchases the piece of land we call Grandpa's. If you have hunted with us before, you know how special this property is.
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1956
Jim & Betty Forgey
Jim Forgey, Findley's son, and his wife Betty take over operation of the ranch.
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1975
Kay & Brad Bolton
Jim and Betty's daughter, Kay, and her husband, Brad Bolton, start their own ranching operation.
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1993
The Forgey land comes to the Boltons
Brad and Kay Bolton purchase the original Forgey land from Jim and Betty.
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1997
Bolton Ranch Outfitters
Joe and Stacie Bolton are married, join the operation, and start Bolton Ranch Outfitters.
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2021
Luke comes home to ranch
Luke Bolton starts ranching on the family ranch.
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2026
The sixth generation
Luke and Kylee Bolton are married, and Joseph Bradley Bolton is born — the sixth generation on the ranch.
Why hunters make it a tradition.
Private South Dakota Ground
Roughly 96% of the ranch sits in one contiguous block, so you hunt without the crowds.
Exceptional Pheasant Hunting
17,000 acres of corn and milo, CRP, food plots, shelterbelts, and timbered creek and river bottoms, all managed for birds.
Experienced Guides & Dogs
Professionally guided hunts over well-trained bird dogs that know this country as well as we do.
Luxury Lodging
A 13,000 sq ft lodge with private baths, a 5-star kitchen, and a great room built for camp.
The Range
A 10-thrower trap range, long-range shooting, a golf simulator, pool, shuffleboard, and big screens for the evening.
Dining & Hospitality
Full-course home-cooked meals, hors d'oeuvres, wine with dinner, and a personal bartender in the evening.
Business is better at the ranch.
Reward customers, entertain clients or bring your team together with a private hunting experience they'll remember long after they leave South Dakota.
In their own words.
“
An incredible experience with great accommodations, terrific food, and fantastic hunting. The service was outstanding in the lodge and in the field. We were spoiled with country breakfasts and tremendous dinners of steaks and prime rib, beef from the ranch. This is truly a wonderful lodge. I will return for sure.
Hunter · 3-day pheasant hunt · Google review
“
Bolton Ranch is a top notch outfitter that I would HIGHLY recommend. The pheasant hunting was incredible. Limited out each day. The lodge is awesome, can't say enough about it. The food was great, made from scratch every meal. Luke was a fantastic guide.
P L · party of nine · Google review
“
Excellent place to hunt. Great lodge, great food. All around great experience.
Stan · Google review
“Best guides and staff anywhere.” · “Class act on every account.” · “Very welcoming and top class service.”