I was hunting West of Aberdeen this past week and left on Saturday. We received freezing rain on Wednesday night and Thursday. West of 45 most vegetation and anywhere from .5 to .75 or more inches of ice. I did hunt Thursday afternoon, birds I flushed and killed had ice packed tails. Dogs could not work the vegetation it was solid ice, not to mention is was almost impossible to walk thru myself. I busted trail for the dogs to get downwind of fence row and they just walked the edge, they did have some nice points. Hunted Friday, it was not any better, main paved roads were pretty much clear, secondary paved roads were icy as were the gravel roads. Dogs (Britts and Setter) could walk ontop of vegetation but if they broke thru it was like they went thru the ice on a lake or pond, they struggled to get out. Started west and tried spots all the way to Conde area, Conde area had better hunting conditions where dogs and hunters could actually hunt the ground. Tried a spot in the Mellette area and the dogs had to jump over everything, roughly quarter to half inch of ice on vegetation. Faulkton west and north had the most ice any tall vegetation or cattails was almost impossible to walk thru. Birds in ditches and seen in the field were pretty iced up.
I think if the sun would come out it wouldn't take much to melt the ice off the vegetation or birds. If it would stay cloudy and cold then it will take some time. Vegetation was frozen pointing south from the north winds so walking north was very difficult, walking direction of freeze not too bad, but typically with the wind.
Let me know if you have particular questions or shoot me a message.