T
tOlzon
Guest
I just returned from 5 days in the Gettysburg/Seneca area. This was my first time hunting public land in SD (I've hunted private land a few times and had the time of my life).
While my trip was mostly positive, I was VERY disappointed in the quality of most WIHA land and dealt with a couple irate landowners, despite abiding by the letter of the law.
I know a lot of people are fine with just hunting right-of-ways, and there are a lot of birds in the ditches, but I happen to enjoy walking a nice grass field, watching the dogs work the birds. Almost all of the large tracts of public land I saw was completely barren and grazed by cows. We spent almost an entire day scouting for good public land and were only able to find a few spots within a 20 mile radius. For a state that does so much promoting of how much public land is available, I figured the land would consist of higher quality cover.
I also had some landowners give me trouble. Once, we were walking a right-of-way and a truck came screaming down the road. The driver got out and yelled "I know this is public land, but I don't want you here. Get the f&$# out!" He then drove down the road honking his horn to scare all the birds away. At the end of the road, he shot a rooster in the ditch from the window of his truck, retrieved it, gave us the finger, and drove off. I was so taken aback that it didn't occur to me to get his license plate number until it was too late.
Later that same day we were walking a field when a truck drove up to us in the middle. This guy informed us that we were on his land and needed to leave immediately. We showed him the map and explained that this was public land. He insisted that the land was his, and that the map was wrong. He seemed earnest, but it seemed unlikely that the state's map would be wrong. Of course, I have crappy cell phone service, so couldn't call anyone to come verify his claim, so we left.
I know this post is coming off as pretty negative, but we really had a great time. In the end, we were able to find birds (mostly in right-of-ways) and met some really nice people.
However, given the trouble I had, I don't think I will be contributing my hard-earned money to the South Dakota economy next year. Maybe I'll try Kansas. Pheasant hunting is a passion of mine, and what should have been a fantastic trip had a damper put on it by a few bad experiences. I just don't need that kind of s#!t in my leisure activities.
I don't like to complain about things without offering suggestions, so here are mine.
1. Ensure that any land being opened up for public use is capable of holding wildlife.
2. Start a campaign to educate resident of the impact out-of-staters have on the SD economy. You'd think this would be common knowledge, but it seems to me (and this sentiment has been echoed by several other I talked to), that many either don't know or don't care. It's unfortunate that it's so easy for the 2% that are a$$holes to reflect poorly on the 98% of great people.
While my trip was mostly positive, I was VERY disappointed in the quality of most WIHA land and dealt with a couple irate landowners, despite abiding by the letter of the law.
I know a lot of people are fine with just hunting right-of-ways, and there are a lot of birds in the ditches, but I happen to enjoy walking a nice grass field, watching the dogs work the birds. Almost all of the large tracts of public land I saw was completely barren and grazed by cows. We spent almost an entire day scouting for good public land and were only able to find a few spots within a 20 mile radius. For a state that does so much promoting of how much public land is available, I figured the land would consist of higher quality cover.
I also had some landowners give me trouble. Once, we were walking a right-of-way and a truck came screaming down the road. The driver got out and yelled "I know this is public land, but I don't want you here. Get the f&$# out!" He then drove down the road honking his horn to scare all the birds away. At the end of the road, he shot a rooster in the ditch from the window of his truck, retrieved it, gave us the finger, and drove off. I was so taken aback that it didn't occur to me to get his license plate number until it was too late.
Later that same day we were walking a field when a truck drove up to us in the middle. This guy informed us that we were on his land and needed to leave immediately. We showed him the map and explained that this was public land. He insisted that the land was his, and that the map was wrong. He seemed earnest, but it seemed unlikely that the state's map would be wrong. Of course, I have crappy cell phone service, so couldn't call anyone to come verify his claim, so we left.
I know this post is coming off as pretty negative, but we really had a great time. In the end, we were able to find birds (mostly in right-of-ways) and met some really nice people.
However, given the trouble I had, I don't think I will be contributing my hard-earned money to the South Dakota economy next year. Maybe I'll try Kansas. Pheasant hunting is a passion of mine, and what should have been a fantastic trip had a damper put on it by a few bad experiences. I just don't need that kind of s#!t in my leisure activities.
I don't like to complain about things without offering suggestions, so here are mine.
1. Ensure that any land being opened up for public use is capable of holding wildlife.
2. Start a campaign to educate resident of the impact out-of-staters have on the SD economy. You'd think this would be common knowledge, but it seems to me (and this sentiment has been echoed by several other I talked to), that many either don't know or don't care. It's unfortunate that it's so easy for the 2% that are a$$holes to reflect poorly on the 98% of great people.
