Wirehairs, sometimes I wonder if we fully appreciate what we have here in SD. I sure think I do, but some times it's easy to take things for granted. I had a luncheon to attend today so I didn't get out until later. Drove out to a walk-in area and hit the field at 1:40. At 2:15 rooster number 3 was in the bag. My Brittanys did great today! I was almost disappointed the hunt didn't last longer. This was in a WIA that I know gets hunted pretty hard. I know, I was probably just lucky. I could probably go to the same place tomorrow or next week and not see a bird. But there has only been 2 times so far this year that I went out by myself on public or WIA land and didn't come home with at least 1 bird and those were times I only hunt for 1 to 1 1/2 hours just to get the dogs some exercise.
I firmly believe that non-residents can have a successful hunt in SD on public land. It can be hit and miss, and sometimes you have to hike your butt off. But it's doable.