current snow depths

Here's a map of the SD snow depths. Not sure how accurate it is.

http://www.weatherstreet.com/weather-forecast/south-dakota-snow-cover.htm

Here in the Watertown area we have probably gotten close to a foot this past week. I went out hunting for awhile Thursday afternoon. At that point we had 8-10 inches that had been whipped by 20-40 mph winds. Lots of drifts and difficult getting around in the field. Even in the open where the snow wasn't as deep the wind put a crust on it and made it extremely difficult to walk through. I was in the field for an hour and I was done. We probably have more snow than most areas of the state but they have also gotten some the past couple of days. Tomorrow and into Monday we are suppose to have more wind so there are winter advisories out.

This is way too early for this stuff and there doesn't appear to be too much of a warmup in the forecast. I'll have to get out of this area of the state if I want to hunt anymore this season.
 
There is 6" give or take in pretty much every direction within 60 miles of Aberdeen. The wind is blowing it into holes in the cover which can make it a tough go for the dog at times.

There is some crust in spots but its not terrible. Just gives the runners a little extra edge on the dog.

On the sunny days without extreme wind the birds are moving around pretty good and are accessible in different types of cover throughout the day. On the windy, cold snowy days they are digging in deep and much tougher to get to.
 
There's about 6.5" of snow in the Sioux Falls area.
 
6-10 inches in Redfield area, with serious drifts. 20-35 mph winds this afternoon will blow more. Had about 2 inches last night. Birds piling up in cattails & shelterbelts. Should get better after tomorrow. Sunshine will get the birds out and feel a little better on us & the dogs. Season started too hot, and now very cold. But, overall better than last season, and it was a good one despite poor forecast last season. All my friends/hunters have done very well and will get better as roosters are stacking up together now. Good hunting everyone.
 
They are talking about winds of 25-35 and gusting to 50 mph later this afternoon across much of South Dakota. Even after they subside it's going to make hunting extremely difficult.
 
In all the years I've lived in SD I've never seen a lot of deer hunters in the fields. Like someone told me when I first moved to SD, all you need to hunt deer in eastern SD is a fast pickup. I think many of the deer hunters are too lazy to get out and push the fields. They would rather drive along the ravines, weed patches, etc. and try to chase the deer up. Just check out all the vehicle tracks in the fields after deer season opens.

Generally after the first weekend most hunters have filled their tags and there isn't much pressure. Just make sure that you wear a lot of orange when in the field.
 
Dakotazeb said:
In all the years I've lived in SD I've never seen a lot of deer hunters in the fields. Like someone told me when I first moved to SD, all you need to hunt deer in eastern SD is a fast pickup.
Click to expand...

I wasn't hunting deer when I was up there this past week but I did come within a couple feet of smashing a buck with my truck if you know what I mean:eek:
 
Hunting yesterday

We tried, near Platte; extremely difficult to find the birds, even in shelter belts; it's like they went to Florida! We hunted hard, and got five birds for five hunters and two dogs. Today looks like more of the same.
 
After waiting 2 days for the winds to slow down a bit, I was out hunting deer today near Murdo. It was partly sunny, and the wind was still in the 15-20 mph range, but much better than the weekend. On the level, the snow is 6-8", but drifted high in ditches, tree groves, and some north/south roads. None of the back roads are plowed, and you will get likely stuck if you don't have good tires and adequate ground clearance.

There were some birds out in the picked corn and wheat stubble.
 
CRP said:
After waiting 2 days for the winds to slow down a bit, I was out hunting deer today near Murdo. It was partly sunny, and the wind was still in the 15-20 mph range, but much better than the weekend. On the level, the snow is 6-8", but drifted high in ditches, tree groves, and some north/south roads. None of the back roads are plowed, and you will get likely stuck if you don't have good tires and adequate ground clearance.

There were some birds out in the picked corn and wheat stubble.
Click to expand...

There are some good sized deer down around Murdo. A few pheasants too. What surprised me this year were the Antelope. We had seen them from year to year, but this year there were three large groups. Some nice shooters in there too. Farmer told me they had a ground blizzard over the weekend with 40 mph winds and about 7 inches of snow. That was over in Draper.
 
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