Aberdeen Opening Week
- Thread starter Rich.
- Start date
Madison COunty
New member
Make sure you stop at SoDak Sports in Aberdeen (cool place). I hunted in South Dakota for my first time last year and stayed in Aberdeen. There are lots of public places to hunt around that area. Good luck!
Also ask around the sports store, bar, hotel for the general area birds have done well over the winter/spring- or get a reference where to go ask. I have hunted south of Aberdeen for 20 years and they are rarely ever in the same area in concentrated numbers. Local flooding or hail, CRP that got hayed, crops that got rotated out to pasture or areas that held water in a dry year can vastly swing birds numbers in an area. Asking about the general direction will be more respectful and lets the locals know you aren't about to take over their local walk-in hotspot. Yes honey holes do exist in small spots that always hold birds due to the right mix of conditions but the rest of the area could be a dead zone. Find the general area bird numbers are high will give you day's worth of options.
Last year it was good action Chelsea to Cresbard. Year before that it was Conde/Turton. It changes every year but we've never had to go more than 30 miles any direction from Redfield to get birds.
Walk a lot of fields on Sat as there will be lots of dumb birds out all day. Sunday, drive until you see good spots and walk ditches- ideal is dirty with weeds next to cut corn or soybeans. A slough with reeds that holds water next to the ditch is ideal cover. Sun after 4PM start driving around and cover a lot of ground watching for them to come out of the ditches right until sundown. If there are birds in the area, you will see them in the last half hour before sunset. If you find birds in multiple spots, circle that area. The birds you see are 10% of what is there.
By Tue/Wed the walk-ins are deserted but there are not any dumb birds around. You can do some walking but pick spots that are to your advantage where you can trap birds in cover. Walking big grass or crops without a way to block their exit and even with a top-notch dog, can be tough to produce any birds. By that point they are smarter and holding tight in cover and running 40 yards ahead before you get there many times.
Last year it was good action Chelsea to Cresbard. Year before that it was Conde/Turton. It changes every year but we've never had to go more than 30 miles any direction from Redfield to get birds.
Walk a lot of fields on Sat as there will be lots of dumb birds out all day. Sunday, drive until you see good spots and walk ditches- ideal is dirty with weeds next to cut corn or soybeans. A slough with reeds that holds water next to the ditch is ideal cover. Sun after 4PM start driving around and cover a lot of ground watching for them to come out of the ditches right until sundown. If there are birds in the area, you will see them in the last half hour before sunset. If you find birds in multiple spots, circle that area. The birds you see are 10% of what is there.
By Tue/Wed the walk-ins are deserted but there are not any dumb birds around. You can do some walking but pick spots that are to your advantage where you can trap birds in cover. Walking big grass or crops without a way to block their exit and even with a top-notch dog, can be tough to produce any birds. By that point they are smarter and holding tight in cover and running 40 yards ahead before you get there many times.
We road hunt a lot if you can tell from my last post and the rules aren't that tough but do require you to pay attention:
1. Driving with a gun loaded in the vehicle during shooting hours is OK. Chambered loads? I have never read exactly the rules so ask at sports store.
2. Pull truck over to the side and close the doors before firing. Quietly or you will spook the birds to run or flush before everyone is out.
3. Shoot birds directly over the road or ditch.
4. Over the fence with a gun is trespassing. Your dog across the fence flushing birds is also trespassing so keep it in the car until the bird is down unless it is a rock-solid dog that responds to heel/whoa commands. You can just as easily flush with throwing a rock into the grass, or sending a 2 legged bird dog into the ditch. Consider edge of crops the line if there is no fence.
5. You or your dog carefully crossing a fence and not disturbing crops to retrieve a bird is OK.
6. Rule is 660 ft from occupied structures and that includes grain bins and parked equipment. But if you can see livestock with your naked eye, skip the birds. It does stress the stock to hear shots nearby and they can stampede through fences with lots of traffic and shooting going on. Because of this there are ranchers out watching their stock every day with binocs and they will catch you and turn you in. Most like to talk so stop the car and hear what they have to say. Offer a cold drink or candy bar.
7. Every half mile there is a two rut, county maintained section line through the field that is public right-of-way and is valid hunting spots. Mailboxes or stop signs are likely on a farmhouse driveway. Some sections roads peter out into field or un-manged fence line. Turn around unless you can see the road approach ahead. Otherwise there is a 50/50 chance it never comes out to the road and with our luck, 90% of the time it doesn't. Otherwise they would have made a road there. Skip the one with no outlet as it rarely pays to back track after you have just been down that road minutes before.
1. Driving with a gun loaded in the vehicle during shooting hours is OK. Chambered loads? I have never read exactly the rules so ask at sports store.
2. Pull truck over to the side and close the doors before firing. Quietly or you will spook the birds to run or flush before everyone is out.
3. Shoot birds directly over the road or ditch.
4. Over the fence with a gun is trespassing. Your dog across the fence flushing birds is also trespassing so keep it in the car until the bird is down unless it is a rock-solid dog that responds to heel/whoa commands. You can just as easily flush with throwing a rock into the grass, or sending a 2 legged bird dog into the ditch. Consider edge of crops the line if there is no fence.
5. You or your dog carefully crossing a fence and not disturbing crops to retrieve a bird is OK.
6. Rule is 660 ft from occupied structures and that includes grain bins and parked equipment. But if you can see livestock with your naked eye, skip the birds. It does stress the stock to hear shots nearby and they can stampede through fences with lots of traffic and shooting going on. Because of this there are ranchers out watching their stock every day with binocs and they will catch you and turn you in. Most like to talk so stop the car and hear what they have to say. Offer a cold drink or candy bar.
7. Every half mile there is a two rut, county maintained section line through the field that is public right-of-way and is valid hunting spots. Mailboxes or stop signs are likely on a farmhouse driveway. Some sections roads peter out into field or un-manged fence line. Turn around unless you can see the road approach ahead. Otherwise there is a 50/50 chance it never comes out to the road and with our luck, 90% of the time it doesn't. Otherwise they would have made a road there. Skip the one with no outlet as it rarely pays to back track after you have just been down that road minutes before.
Wrong.
Generally, Townships are divided into 1 square mile sections. Not every section line is public right of way. Many township public right of ways have been abandoned and reverted back to private ownership. Especially in north eastern SD. There are plenty of 2 mile or larger sections due to contiguous ownership of property, bodies of water, terrain features, etc.
Fair enough, more accurate than my general statement. They should be gated or posted if they have reverted to private but you can't count on it, neither can you be held responsible if you do happen to run into the owner who doesn't want you there. I've also been chewed out by hired farm hands on tractors who have their honeyhole down that road.
Not being from the prairie, I find it an awesome sight to see 2 miles straight of cornfield stretching out ahead. But then it seems those fields are also have planted the ditch or mowed it close and there is little to do but put the hammer down and get to the next section.
They are also not gravel and full of badger holes and muddy spots. So they can be rough at points but are a good spot for finding mid-afternoon loafers sunning themselves. The fact that they have very little gravel means they are not the best spots from about 4:30 or later. You will see them coming down the section line road for a hundred yards coming to the gravel on the main roads at that time of day. Best to go around the mile section and by that time they will be out to the road. Catching them out in the open next to a field of crops down a section line road is near impossible to get them to stay long enough to get out and get a shot off.
Not being from the prairie, I find it an awesome sight to see 2 miles straight of cornfield stretching out ahead. But then it seems those fields are also have planted the ditch or mowed it close and there is little to do but put the hammer down and get to the next section.
They are also not gravel and full of badger holes and muddy spots. So they can be rough at points but are a good spot for finding mid-afternoon loafers sunning themselves. The fact that they have very little gravel means they are not the best spots from about 4:30 or later. You will see them coming down the section line road for a hundred yards coming to the gravel on the main roads at that time of day. Best to go around the mile section and by that time they will be out to the road. Catching them out in the open next to a field of crops down a section line road is near impossible to get them to stay long enough to get out and get a shot off.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
If you tickle the grass with the drivers side front tire you can get them moving and your sitting up high and close enough to see it. You got to be quick though best to have that gun between your knees.
If you get a one running down the ditch, I like to go over and tap the lowest wire on the fence- vibrates the grass for quite a ways and spooks them.
My dismount technique is to keep the gun next to the middle console and trail it along next to the leg out the door. Less hang ups and it gets the barrel headed in the right direction quicker.
My dismount technique is to keep the gun next to the middle console and trail it along next to the leg out the door. Less hang ups and it gets the barrel headed in the right direction quicker.
no time restriction on ditch hunting, you will just find more in the ditches after 100 pm.
It is nobody's responsibility but your own to know if you are on public right of way or private land. some are marked, some aren't. Day county land owners are pushing the townships to abandon more and more section lines every month. there are lawsuits, petitions, tire slashings, etc. going on.
Norcal-Noodler
New member
I'm liking this thread ;-)
small munsterlander owner
Banned
i see guys doing this all the time in sd driving around with loaded guns in car shooting at birds off roads... never got the allure of traveling to SD to only putt around back roads shooting at pheasants??? i like to hunt em & walk miles of prairie not miles of ditch between miles of corn???
im happy sd allows this as it takes some pressure off the public lands... if no ditch hunting in sd the public lands would be a deadzone by dec ez... pheasant wise i mean they would move off to private by then i mean...
im happy sd allows this as it takes some pressure off the public lands... if no ditch hunting in sd the public lands would be a deadzone by dec ez... pheasant wise i mean they would move off to private by then i mean...
CowboyBirdDogs
New member
This difference is, you go to hunt, they go to shoot.
We walk most of Sat and Sun early afternoon with the locals we have known for decades. Mostly big sloughs and large corn plots that won't be coming off soon. We work these spots when we have 15-20 people to do it right on the opener weekend. If I asked, I would have private land in about a dozen spots between family and friend's farms. We have nearly unlimited options when we have one of the local kids tag along as they have got permission from everyone they know. We are mainly trying to stay off their hot spots because they have paid hunters coming later in the season and we don't want to make it harder for them to guide their groups of 4-5 by picking off the smaller, good locations.
My dad physically pays a big price in pain for even going out there so 5 days straight of busting weeds is not an option anyway. We are often just two of us during the weekday when farmers are back in the fields and kids are back in school. I used to post on this site as two-legged birddog since many years we didn't have a retriever along and I had to hustle down the ones that seem to be armor-plated and got back up running. So if you find your self hunting alone, maybe with no dog or taking out someone with limited mobility options, you can still see the country, walk a bunch (just beside the fields instead of in it) and get all the hunting in you can take, just with a different set of tactics.
I can't wait to be cruising down the gravel in the truck on a sunny Sunday afternoon, six shooter at my side, sipping on a Mt. Dew and listening on the radio to the Vikes lose. Waiting for the chance to put the hammer down, pull up on a ditch, slam the brakes and pile out, guns blazing.
My dad physically pays a big price in pain for even going out there so 5 days straight of busting weeds is not an option anyway. We are often just two of us during the weekday when farmers are back in the fields and kids are back in school. I used to post on this site as two-legged birddog since many years we didn't have a retriever along and I had to hustle down the ones that seem to be armor-plated and got back up running. So if you find your self hunting alone, maybe with no dog or taking out someone with limited mobility options, you can still see the country, walk a bunch (just beside the fields instead of in it) and get all the hunting in you can take, just with a different set of tactics.
I can't wait to be cruising down the gravel in the truck on a sunny Sunday afternoon, six shooter at my side, sipping on a Mt. Dew and listening on the radio to the Vikes lose. Waiting for the chance to put the hammer down, pull up on a ditch, slam the brakes and pile out, guns blazing.
Pointing lab
New member
Personally, I would rather walk and watch my bird dog work than drive around and jump out shooting pheasant. Not my cup of tea. I fail to see the allure but I am passed the days where it was all about shooting my limit and more about the experience.
To bring this thread back around to Rich's original question, give this a try-
Drive to a county you know nothing about and pull into a walk-in section behind a bunch of other guys. Put a rock in your boot and leave the dog in the truck. Walk a couple sections in a row. Then you'll know what it's like to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
What would you do if that was your situation this year; if you don't know the area, have limited mobility, or don't have a pointing lab or small munsterlander? Those dirty ditches away from the crowds start to look very inviting.
Discuss amongst yourselves. I've got to go pack. Got to get to Mellete by 7PM tomorrow for the local firehall's gun raffle. I'll be the out-of-towner with the build that looks like I ride around in a truck all day (walking out with a gun under each arm if our luck holds out again this year).
Good luck, Rich- and don't fire across the road without looking first. I might be coming your way.
Drive to a county you know nothing about and pull into a walk-in section behind a bunch of other guys. Put a rock in your boot and leave the dog in the truck. Walk a couple sections in a row. Then you'll know what it's like to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
What would you do if that was your situation this year; if you don't know the area, have limited mobility, or don't have a pointing lab or small munsterlander? Those dirty ditches away from the crowds start to look very inviting.
Discuss amongst yourselves. I've got to go pack. Got to get to Mellete by 7PM tomorrow for the local firehall's gun raffle. I'll be the out-of-towner with the build that looks like I ride around in a truck all day (walking out with a gun under each arm if our luck holds out again this year).
Good luck, Rich- and don't fire across the road without looking first. I might be coming your way.
Pointing lab
New member
I have no issue with a guy that is walking ditches but driving down the road and jumping out to shoot pheasants from the road is not hunting but shooting. Save yourself a bunch of gas and but pen reared birds. It would be more sporting.
I have been without a dog in a state with far fewer pheasant than South Dakota and I put boots on the ground and logged a lot of miles but I got birds without shooting from the road. If that is your cup of tea so be it but it is not mine.
I have been without a dog in a state with far fewer pheasant than South Dakota and I put boots on the ground and logged a lot of miles but I got birds without shooting from the road. If that is your cup of tea so be it but it is not mine.
Last edited:
small munsterlander owner
Banned
my dad is 63 has pacemaker/defibulater & treceoscopy to breath after battle with cancer i get the limited mobility thing pete... not all guys walking ditches are mobility impared most are outta shape no dog no pf membership etc. & just wanna shoot stuff...
ill make my dad walk ditches next time in sd he didnt want to last trip in 13 wanted to watch young dog work i guess...
ill make my dad walk ditches next time in sd he didnt want to last trip in 13 wanted to watch young dog work i guess...
Last edited:
Pointing lab
New member
Good point. I agree with the mobility thing and an inability. That changes things. Being overweight does not though. I am far from slim and I walk
Many would say I need to walk moresmall munsterlander owner
Banned
im no slim jim... i walk the fields to loose weight... i like hunting all day not driving i guess ...