Brochure included in a top-spin application to South Dakota State Tourism. Designed, edited, wrote copy, took photography, and prepared this document in its entirety. The top-spin elements included a crate decorated with travel stickers and stuffed with all marketing materials used for the Rooster Rush promotion.

1. The Ultimate
10 Step Guide
to Creating
Pheasant Hunting
Excitement!

2. Here inAberdeen,pheasant hunting isn’t just a pastime; it’s a way of
life.Some hunters have been walking the fields of South Dakota since before they could drive,
and they come back to the same spot year after year to limit out.We make sure to roll out the
orange carpet every year for new and returning sportsmen to enjoy their hunt in Brown County.
Here are our tried and true tips to making Rooster Rush all it’s cackled up to be!
Step One:Get the Birds!
What is pheasant hunting without the birds
to aim at? Really,just a leisurely stroll in the
fields…and as fun as that sounds,being able to
bag your limit of 3 birds a day for a 5 day hunt
and taking home a whopping 15 birds sounds a
lot better.Aberdeen’s bird population jumped up
17% compared to 2014 which means that the
area has 3.21 pheasants per mile.Do that quick
math in your head and in just over 4.5 miles you
could walk to get your fill of the state bird of
South Dakota.
We’d love to take all that credit,but we know birds are
up statewide.So,we do our own part to get a few more
birds out into the area.In previous years,we’ve released
100 banded birds into the wild.This year,as part of
the Million Dollar Hunting Experience,we took just five
special roosters,banded them,and released them all over
in Brown County to see which dead eye shots could get
these elusive feathered fiends.To date,4 out of 5 have
been returned to our office.
At the end of pheasant season,we’ll draw one winner
and they will get $2,015 and bragging rights that they
took down #RingneckRodney!
Go to MillionDollarBird.com
to see all the details on the event and our Instagram
photos from followers and other prizes to be given away.

3. Along with the live birds,we also make sure our stuffed friends have some fun!Ten plush pheas-
ants arrived on our front steps to be used in our Rooster Rush‘Find Milfred’ promotion and other
special events.These soft cuddly animals hid in restaurants and stores around town,banded with
their own special instructions for those who had the keen eye to spot them hiding!
Who:TheAberdeenArea Convention andVisitors Bureau and Hunt Fish SD
What:Find Milfred andWin
Where:Local businesses aroundAberdeen,SD
When:October 15-17,2015
Why:To automatically win a prize for the participating business and get entered to win a
hunting prize pack worth over $150 from our hunting partners.
How to Play:During October 15-17,find the plush Mildred,the mild mannered pheasant,
at a localAberdeen,SD business.Milfred will be banded with instructions on how to claim your
prize.He's a sneaky little guy and will be hiding,so check your surroundings carefully.Clues will
be posted on Facebook,Twitter,and Instagram to help you spot him!
Each person who finds a plush pheasant will win a prize from that business and be entered into
the grand prize.One grand prize will be given away from all entries received. Grand Prize winner
will be announced on or after October 23,2015.
Grand Prize Hunting Pack includes:
UnderArmour Orange Field Hat,Rooster RushT-shirt,
Collapsible Dog Bowl,GunTowel,HuntFishSD Dog Bandana,
Million Dollar Bird Shot Glass,2 boxes of Fiocchi 12 Gauge
Shotgun Shells,Warm Field Socks,Boresnake Shotgun
Cleaner,Beretta Glasses,Gun Oil,Reusable Gel Bead Ice
Pack,Ammo Box,BBQ Grill Set,and Stuffed Plush Mildfred

4. Last,but not least,if you have a giant pheasant in town,we highly recommend you use him at
every opportunity you can get your hands on.Our larger-than-life Milfred is pulled from his comfy
resting spot out at Storybook Land each October,and is toted throughout town as the spectacle
that he is.He accompanies us at live remotes,to promotional events,cruising out to the airport,
and setting up shop outside the terminal to greet guests as they make their way to their hunting
destinations.
Besides the birds we currently have,theAberdeen area is committed to keeping our pheasant
population growing for years to come.TheAberdeen Pheasant Coalition is spearheaded by the
localAberdeen Pheasants Forever chapter to provide funding as incentive to farmers and land-
owners enrolling land into the CRP Program.Almost $100,000 has been raised by this group with
donations from area businesses,organizations,and sportsman groups and we are proud to say
that both the CVB andAberdeen HotelAlliance are members.www.aberdeenpheasant.com
StepTwo:Alert the Media
We make sure to spread the word of Rooster Rush everywhere we can! Our friends at the
Chamber produce a bi-monthly magazine called‘The Progress’ which goes out to businesses and
members as a way to stay involved and learn about other businesses and ideas.The Progress
is distributed to 17,000 households in the area,as well as each chamber business,and each
committee member.(Figure 1-A)

5. TheAberdeen Magazine highlighted pheasant season on the cover of their September/October is-
sue!They created a modern take on our classic pheasant sandwiches and also printed the original
recipe for readers to make.In fact,the whole magazine had a hunting feel! (Figure 1-B)

6. Our local newspaper creates the‘Outdoor Forum’ which they tout as the“Insider’s Guide to the
Dakotas and Upper Midwest”.This semi-monthly publication had several articles about pheasant
hunting,as well as promoting both our Million Dollar Hunting Experience,and our gun giveaway
courtesy of HuntFishSD and Sodak’s Sport & Bait. In fact,our ad ran as a trade with the publi-
cation for six issues out of the entire year.The group did a write-up about our Sportsman Co-op,
cleverly named HuntFishSD (Figure 1-C).Casey was also able to share his first pheasant
hunting story in the paper (Figure 1-D).
Nobody Shot the Million Dollar Bird...
...So, We’re Giving You a Chance to
Thewinnerwillreceivea2016huntingpackage
including a guided group hunt with a premier
outfitter, lodging, travel and meal stipends and
a new Winchester SX3 Black Shadow shotgun.
Plus, Lots of Other Great Prizes!
TM
WintheMillionDollar
#ringneckrodney Register to win at milliondollarbird.com
the Million Dollar
Hunting Experience
ad Sh
Winchester SX3
Black Sh ow otgun
Must be 18 or older to register.TheAberdeenArea Convention andVisitors Bureau (CVB) and its partners are committed to protecting your privacy.
Information gathered for this contest will not be sold or given to any third party source.It will only be used by the CVB for the purpose of supplying
you with additional hunting andAberdeen vacation information.Contest open from January 5th,2015 to December 31,2015.
We also have our local printing agency that prints a Sportsman Guide that the CVB distributes to
hunting requests and at sport shows.This magazine includes information about lodging,hunting
rules and regulations,Aberdeen restaurants,and more.(Figure 1-E).
When Hub City Radio caught wind of all of our events,they called us for a radio interview.They
helped highlight our Find Milfred promotion and the Million Dollar Hunting Experience. Check out
HubCityRadio.com to hear our interview.
Since Pheasant Fest was located in Des Moines this year,we partnered with
the‘Iowa Sportsman’ to be in their March issue,which was circulated at the
show.Our ad was featured by their editorial on Pheasant Fest (Figure 1-F).
In addition,we advertised in theirAugust and September issues that were
distributed at the Iowa State Fair,which had a larger than normal turnout
(Figure 1-G).
We understand why you hunt.It’s a feeling of
excitement like no other.That’s whyAberdeen,
South Dakota is committed to being the best
hunting destination.With more than 322,000
acres of land and convenient accommodations,
there’s plenty of room to get the most out of
your hunting experience.
TM
Stop by booth #411 during Pheasant Fest
February 20,21,and 22 in Des Moines,IA
to pick up your free hunting guide.
HuntFishSD.com | 800-645-3851
The birds are here....
are you?
A new addition to our media placement included‘USAToday’s Hunt & Fish
Magazine’.This stand-alone publication was on sale from July to September,
as well as digital distribution to over 4 million members of the National
Wildlife Federation.
Our quarter page ad also included $250 in Cabela’s gift cards that we are
now using for late season hunting promotional giveaways (Figure 1-H).

7. Of course,our tried and true publication is still‘Pheasants Forever’.This year,the HotelAlliance
marketed in the magazine with updated artwork and online with various sized display banners.
Their fall hunting preview hits shelves when hunters were planning their trips,and we promoted
Aberdeen as the place to be for this year’s hunt (Figure 1-I).
StepThree:Spread theWord
While advertising can sure get the message out,nothing is better than letting others tell the story
for you.Each year,we invite film crews and outdoor writers to the area to experience pheasant
hunting for themselves.
Gary Howey,a favorite story teller and hunter of ours,enjoyed pheas-
ant hunting in the area during aWoundedWarriors Hunt.He surely
has a way with words and has a delightful depiction of this event.
Veterans,Pheasants and South DakotaAWinning
Combination (Figure 1-J).
Filmed in the fall of 2014,but airing in the 3rd & 4th quarter of 2015,
‘The Flush’ Episode 1535 was shot in theAberdeen area.It airs
national on the Outdoor Channel for a promised 52 total spots,but
trends closer towards 240 times when added to Fox Sports North and
Fox SportsWisconsin.The next time it will air is December 21.
Sportsman Co-op Member Dennis Foster of Dakota Pheasant Guide
and contributor to‘Focus OutdoorsTV’ had the film crew up for
some early pheasant season hunting.We look forward to seeing the
footage from this great hunt.Dakotas (Figure 1-K).
Richard Simms is no stranger to Northeast South Dakota,and loves to
write about our great area.If you have never heard the saying that a
picture is worth a thousand words,then good ol’ Rich is here to prove
that to you. 2015 Outood RoadTrip in Pictures (Figure 1-L).
It’s not often you get a woman as passionate about pheasant hunting
as Jodi Stemler,but she sure spun a web on what great hunting can
be in our area.She produced an article for‘Field and Stream’ that
highlighted private land habitat conservation and the importance of
the CRP program.The Peasant Cultivators (Figure 1-M).

8. Our story on film crews and outdoor writers doesn’t stop there!An Indiana native and outdoor
writer,Brian Pointer,is scheduled to walk the fields the first week of December.
It is also important for us to reach markets in our target area.Throughout the year,we build the
Rooster Rush message by promoting our outdoors at travel shows.This year,we traveled to
St.Paul,Kansas City,St.Cloud,Des Moines (Pheasant Fest),Bismarck,Fargo,Minneapolis,and
Anoka (Game Fair).
We handed out approximately 3,500 hunting guides throughout these travel shows,as well
as 4,275 registrations for our gun giveaway.The information we collect for the registration is
added to our email database for additional advertising as pheasant season comes closer.We also
handed out bright orange hunting bandanas for our furry friends that join hunters in the field.All
1,300 dog bandanas flew out our doors.(Figure 2)
Step Four:Promote,Promote,Promote
The good people at‘Dakota Broadcasting’ are a
great supporter of our Rooster Rush efforts and
allowed us to tag along for a live remote at the
Hitch‘N Post during the days before the pheas-
ant season opener.During the broadcast,the
deejay allowed us to promote our Find Milfred
contest,explain our Rooster Rush efforts to the
Aberdeen area,invite people out to sign up for
our giant prize pack giveaway and to register for
the gun giveaway.

9. We share our message as well as others in the area through email blasts and social media posts
about specials and events during pheasant season.
Late Season South Dakota Pheasant HuntsAvailable Now!
Posted on November 9,2015 at 3:57 PM by CaseyWeismantel
Due to the fact that I have had a couple of last minute Hunts re-schedule,
I now have availability for Guided Pheasant Hunts in late November and
early December.Also,as we have plenty of birds on my Self-Guided
Properties,I have some openings available for this option as well.So…
I invite you to come experience the unique hunting opportunities we
can offer…the finest South Dakota Pheasant Hunting you could ever
imagine.You will have exclusive access to over 150,000 acres of prime
pheasant hunting land in both Dakotas,thus we can assure you a quality
pheasant hunt over diverse habitat.With this much property,it is literally
impossible to“overhunt”any of it and some of it doesn’t even get touched
every year.
We even loaded up Milfred the giant
bird,and headed out to theAberdeen
Wings Hockey games the week before
opener to share with other sports
minded people about the upcoming
pheasant season.If you weren’t aware,
Milfred is not the only giant bird in
Aberdeen.Winger – the mascot for the
NAHL hockey team is a pretty big deal
in himself.

10. Every year our Find Milfred Contest changes
a little,and this year we managed to amp up
the contest and get more out-of-town hunters
engaged in our event.Thursday through Satur-
day,our plush pheasants were hidden around
town at partnering businesses just waiting to
be caught.Once found,winners were instructed
to bring the‘banded’ bird to the CVB for their
prize,which consisted of a $10 gift certificate
to the business the bird was found at and an
entry into the grand prize pack.They also got to
keep the bird (Figure 3)!
We made sure to promote the contest to hunters outside of theAberdeen area on Facebook and
gave clues to each of the places he was hidden.
Another physical aspect of the Rooster Rush promotion was larger-than-life‘haybale’ pheasants
that were strategically placed around the area.

11. We also solicited businesses in the area to put out Rooster Rush window clings,HuntInSD
posters,and social media decals to spread the word about the state’s efforts.We had over 35
restaurants,hotels,transportation,and businesses display the Rooster Rush signs (Figure 4).
We like the motto‘go big or go home’ and our HotelAlliance joined in our efforts by creating
giant cardboard cutouts of #RingneckRodney,the elusive Million Dollar Bird,that were displayed
at each hotel in town.A scaled down version was also set out at participating businesses letting
hunters know how they could participate in the contest and have a chance to win the Million
Dollar Hunting Experience (Figure 5).

12. Step Five:Involve theTown
Besides decorating businesses,we sent out
order forms to restaurants and hunting partners
to place orders for t-shirts.This year we added
the option of a black t-shirt with orange print for
servers to feel more at home while promoting
Rooster Rush.We ordered 750 shirts total –
which made a big impact on hunters while they
visited our eating establishments. (Figure 6)
The CVB staff decided to purchase sweatshirts
this year,to help keep us warm on our trips
around town,and also as a bigger ticket prize
on our‘Spin theWheel’ attraction at the airport.
These sweatshirts created quite a buzz around
town,and we had to place another order for
Aberdeen residents! (Figure 7)
Sodak Sports has always been gracious enough
to help greet hunters and they put together our
grand prize pack for the Find Milfred promotion.
We were also lucky enough to get Harr Motors
to join in the pheasant craze.The group is giving
away a pickup truck!!

13. Each year,Runnings inAberdeen has a live pheasant display – perhaps to show people what the
ringneck pheasant looks like.These captive birds hung outside the store throughout the first few
weeks of pheasant season.
Restaurants were able to promote their businesses by offering coupons in our visitor bags that we
handed out at the airport welcome.Over 500 visitor bags were distributed at the airport and 300
at the hotel greeting.Some even donated certificates for our prize wheel valued between $5-$10
that were given to hunters that came in on various flights throughout the first weekend of the
pheasant season.
Step Six:Be a Gracious Host
When hunters get toAberdeen,be it their first trip here or their hundredth,we want them to feel
welcome in our community and know we are happy to have them.OnThursday and Friday before
the season opened,the CVB staff,along with our cross organizations,volunteers,and Pheasant
Canteen ladies greeted guests as they departed from the plane inAberdeen.

14. Hunters were met with visitor bags full of hunt-
ing information and coupons to places around
town,ammo boxes,light-up shotgun shell shot
glasses,dog bandanas,and the ever yummy
pheasant sandwiches.We encouraged them
to register for our gun giveaway,and“Spin the
Wheel”for the chance at a Rooster Rush prize.
We gave away t-shirts,sweatshirts,ice packs,
gift certificates,hats,and one lucky winner won
a matte hunting print from the talented Mark
Anderson. (Figure 8,9 & 10)
Once all entries were collected,we drew win-
ners for both the hunting print and the hunting
prize pack – which ended up going to out-of-
town hunters.
The print winner was on a three week excursion
from Juneau,Alaska and not only took time to
hunt pheasants inAberdeen,but also traveled
to see Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.The
Find Milfred Prize pack winner came to us from
Canton,South Dakota and says he hunts in
Aberdeen every year during the first few weeks
of the pheasant season.
To make sure we didn’t miss out on our drive-in
hunters,CVB staff and volunteers headed to the
hotels early Saturday morning to catch people
loading up to head out to the fields.Bags of
goodies included our hunting information,bottles
of water,dog bones,and orange bandanas.
But it’s not all about what we do to greet our blaze orange visitors.It truly is a community event
and our hotels take part in making sure their overnight guests feel welcome.Hunting tables full
of information and goodies are displayed in the lobbies to help guide hunters to a great trip.GFP
booklets,energy bars,water,coffee,bird cleaning services,and taxidermy information fill up the
space and insure needs are met and questions answered.

15. Step Seven:FoodAlways Sells
We make sure that people know why we are
called the“Pheasant Capitol of theWorld”.Our
Red Cross Canteen ladies help create theWWII
pheasant sandwich every year to make sure it
tastes just as good as it did back then.
It’s a night full of fun,laughs,food,and memories.
As you know,there’s more than one way to cook a pheasant! Restaurants in town create‘Hunting
Menu’s’ that sometimes include this tasty bird in their appetizers and entrées.Specialty wines,
drinks and desserts also add to the culinary flair ofAberdeen.

16. Step Eight:Have Some Fun
We crack ourselves up when it comes to the
crazy things that happen during pheasant season.
You really never know what is going to happen
from day to day,and that’s why we enjoy it so
much.
Some of us held meetings with the pheasants
in town to make sure we were honoring their
wishes for the season.
For others,pheasant season came in like a
tornado and kept them on their toes or running
away from giant birds.
We even had a board member turn the airport
into a backyard bash by bringing out a bean bag
toss and wagering with hunters for gift certifi-
cates to Sodak Sports for the night time flights.
But as crazy as we are,it’s nothing compared to some of the great people that come to the area.
While most people love Milfred,some apparently feel the need to take him down!

17. Step Nine:Tell the Stories
Hunters love to share their stories,so with help from the HotelAlliance and Click Rain tour
hunters are able to share their hunting experiences and photos with others.
‘Keloland News’ also made it to the airport and spoke with a few of our hunters about the first
weekend of pheasant hunting.Pheasant Season Starts Strong (Figure 1-N)
Aberdeen even made it into the‘StarTribune’ – although the hunt was actually on land west of
our area.The article commended the efforts of the Pheasant Coalition to increase habitat for the
birds.ATradition Renewed:The allure of South Dakota Pheasants (Figure 1-O).
A sports memorabilia collector in town even requested some of our rooster rush items to send to
the team manager of theYankee’s.He has had contact with them for quite a few years and they
have talked about hunting inAberdeen.This year,he sent them some of our giveaway items and
encouraged them to book their trip for next year.In return he got someYankee’s swag that he
shared with the CVB that we can use for future donation requests.

18. StepTen:Invite them Back
After everything is said and done we try to
encourage repeat visits to theAberdeen area not
only for the next years,but even additional trips
for late season hunting.
We have had great weather for pheasant hunting
and sent out an email blast for sportsmen to sign
up for hunting packets to be mailed to them and a
chance to win a $50 Cabela’s Gift Card.While the
contest is still underway,we have received close
to 150 entries in the last five days.
The second half of the HotelAlliance’s promotion for hunting season includes pre-roll videos that
were shot during theWoundedWarriors Hunt.These quick 15 and 30 second spots are a bright
and lively view of what you can expect while hunting the fields ofAberdeen.These videos are
specifically targeted to hunters that have been to the area this year and those who have possibly
visited in previous years.
We hope you enjoyed our guide to creating the ultimate pheasant hunting excitement in theAber-
deen area.Each year we strive to create better promotions,spend our advertising dollars wisely,
partner with more businesses in theAberdeen community to promote Rooster Rush and pheasant
hunting,find unique and creative ways to share our story,and ensure our hunters feel welcome.
Happy Hunting!
Sincerely,
TheAberdeenArea Convention &Visitors Bureau
Aberdeen