DIY Trip - SD or KS? Can't Decide

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IOWA_Tallgrass

New member
Ok, pheasant numbers have crashed here at home and its about 9 hours to get to either state.

KS has a cheaper license and milder weather (maybe!) and SD may have some more birds.

Both hunts will be about 3 days, DIY, public land, motel/diner road warrior style hunts between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I have am veteran of many DIY public lands hunts, so I know the 1st trip will be basically an information gathering experience. If I bring home a few birds, so much the better.

Specific areas targeted in both states: generally NW KS, generally just east of Mobridge in SD.

Convince me to go to one state or another...I'll respond on Sunday, got a boy scout campout I'm helping with today/tomorrow...and many thanks in advance!

Joe
 
I would come to Kansas i have seen more birds this year than the year before. We hunt about 36 miles west of hays and 3-20 miles north of hays so far we have had good luck
 
IOWA_Tallgrass said:
Ok, pheasant numbers have crashed here at home and its about 9 hours to get to either state.

KS has a cheaper license and milder weather (maybe!) and SD may have some more birds.

Both hunts will be about 3 days, DIY, public land, motel/diner road warrior style hunts between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I have am veteran of many DIY public lands hunts, so I know the 1st trip will be basically an information gathering experience. If I bring home a few birds, so much the better.

Specific areas targeted in both states: generally NW KS, generally just east of Mobridge in SD.

Convince me to go to one state or another...I'll respond on Sunday, got a boy scout campout I'm helping with today/tomorrow...and many thanks in advance!

Joe
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Joe,
I am heading out to Kansas for the first time in mid Dec. the reason why because of the price of the trip is cheaper than S.D. I have nothing against SD, but I have talk to people that hunt public land in both states and I weighed the options and Kansas was a better fit for me.

Plus I didn't want to drive through Minnesota this year with a Green Bay Packer sticker on my truck you tend to get pulled over more. :D hope this helps.
 
Maybe this will help with the decision - KS or SD...

I hunted SW of Dodge City last January. Great weather, average to poor hunting!

I hunt SD twice a year and there's no comparison, and I usually hunt the middle of Nov. and again Thanksgiving weekend.

Why travel from Iowa north to Mobridge?

jon
 
I love Kansas

I love my home state, but if I ever get a chance to hunt in SD I will take it in a heart beat. A former player of my just emailed yesterday form SD and said he walked one field and he and his dad limited out. It is his and his dad's first trip to SD.
 
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Just like I like to have Women I've never had (Great song Hank JR!) I like to hunt places I have never been. So if you haven't been to one of the states that would be the place for me. If you haven't been to either state here is a reason for SD:

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I will also say I have never hunted KS so I will try it one day, but on the KS pheasant opening weekend there were 3 pickup loads of hunters with KS lic plates here in Winner SD. I couldn't believe they left home on their opener but they were here. From everything I have read and heard western KS is good hunting.
 
Wirehairs said:
I will also say I have never hunted KS so I will try it one day, but on the KS pheasant opening weekend there were 3 pickup loads of hunters with KS lic plates here in Winner SD. I couldn't believe they left home on their opener but they were here. From everything I have read and heard western KS is good hunting.
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thats true.. however i am curious to hear from any KS residence that any South Dakota plate hunters hunt in KS for pheasant opener yearly.
 
I would have to say we have alot more public land to hunt on and alot of farmers will let you hunt on there land all you have to do is just ask. but it all up to you
 
I've hunted both this year and have seen more roosters in SD but am closer to KS and much more familiar with places to go in KS.
We stayed in Aberdeen and had great luck hunting some private land but if you go east of Aberdeen 20 miles there must be 10,000 acres of ground you can hunt. Well it might not be that much but if you look at the map there's a lot of it.
For the most part you need to use non-toxic shot on any public land in SD, KS has no such requirement on the WIHA land.
SD land is not that well posted, especially the school land, KS WIHA is all posted unless the locals or other slob hunters have taken it down.
I don't like the SD maps as well as the KS maps but that is just my preference.

Why not try both?:thumbsup:
 
Leaning towards KS...

Yeah, for whatever reason, the deal in KS seems ever so slightly more user friendly for the DIYer...the license is a little cheaper, the map books have some more detail, there seems to be more public land, and you don't that 10am start time restriction.

However, I played with the WILMA thing one night last week on the SD GFP website and found that pretty useful, there were lands in there that were not in the book.

I have not been to either state before to hunt.

Been out here in IA 7 years, prior to that, hunted primarily in PA. We had plenty of pheasants here to keep me busy, it was a novelty to head out and actually shoot my limit on public land-something that happened very rarely in PA with the stocked birds. So, I never really felt the need to head further west, until the dismal hunting last year and now this year in IA.

Appreciate all the opinions fellas, keep em' coming if you have anything more to weigh in. :thumbsup:
 
birdman652001 said:
thats true.. however i am curious to hear from any KS residence that any South Dakota plate hunters hunt in KS for pheasant opener yearly.
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I have hunted with men from OK, TX, MO, NB and NC so far this season in Kansas but I have never hunted with anyone in all my years of hunting Kansas from SD never even see a SD plate.
 
Crusaderhunter said:
I have hunted with men from OK, TX, MO, NB and NC so far this season in Kansas but I have never hunted with anyone in all my years of hunting Kansas from SD never even see a SD plate.
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its not 100% proven that no one from SD goes to KS, but i think most would agree, if youre in the heart of pheasant country, why go to another state to hunt the same very bird that youre from?


i mean i dont pay a dime for my pheasant license to hunt bc i am not required to have one to hunt on my own land, now take that vs a trip to KS to hunt as a non-residence.


ive seen AZ, KS, OK, WISC, NEB, CO, NY, TENN, WA, ND, MN, IA, and many more to mention.
 
birdman652001 said:
its not 100% proven that no one from SD goes to KS, but i think most would agree, if youre in the heart of pheasant country, why go to another state to hunt the same very bird that youre from?
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Yeah, see that was me until this year in IA. The $110 license (in the case of SD) and the long ride to head out of state seemed kinda silly when you could get decent hunting much closer to home without the need to shell out extra the bucks...but as they say, ya gotta pay to play...:D
 
Sometimes it's just about hunting somewhere different. I'll make one or two trips to northern Iowa in a hunting season although I could go 5 miles from my house and usually shoot more birds. I would like to go to SD or KS just to hunt the public ground. Maybe KS in Jan.
 
pheasantaddict said:
Sometimes it's just about hunting somewhere different. I'll make one or two trips to northern Iowa in a hunting season although I could go 5 miles from my house and usually shoot more birds. I would like to go to SD or KS just to hunt the public ground. Maybe KS in Jan.
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Could not agree more, last 4 years I took a trip to NW IA and NC IA for a change of pace and enjoyed it very much.

Or, if you are hitting a totally different environment or specie of bird-like when I go ruffed grouse and woodcock hunting in NW WI in the northwoods (done that for the last 6 years every October-what a hoot that is!)

However, I have never seen the pheasants so bad as this year around my area. Its sad when you have a great bird dog and no place close to take him. We've got to get mobile and its either KS or SD...might just end up flipping a coin, being totally serious about that...;)
 
either state will have a lot of birds and you will have a good time in both, yes more birds in sd, but more public land in ks. either was it doesnt matter, it will be a good time and you will get a chance to shoot/ see alot of birds.
 
IOWA_Tallgrass said:
Ok, pheasant numbers have crashed here at home and its about 9 hours to get to either state.

KS has a cheaper license and milder weather (maybe!) and SD may have some more birds.

Both hunts will be about 3 days, DIY, public land, motel/diner road warrior style hunts between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I have am veteran of many DIY public lands hunts, so I know the 1st trip will be basically an information gathering experience. If I bring home a few birds, so much the better.

Specific areas targeted in both states: generally NW KS, generally just east of Mobridge in SD.

Convince me to go to one state or another...I'll respond on Sunday, got a boy scout campout I'm helping with today/tomorrow...and many thanks in advance!

Joe
Click to expand...

Unless you have a great farm to hunt up by Mobridge, you don't need to travel that far north. Stay down below I-90. You could stay in Platte, Kimball or Plankinton. Those are all great areas to hunt. If you hunt public there isn't a whole lot in those areas, however. There is a 900 acre GPA north of Platte on Hwy 45 that is decent, but it may have lots of water in it this year.
 
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