First time SD hunter

D

ducknelkslayer

New member
Hey Everyone,
Glad to be apart of this awesome website. Had a few questions that I was hoping some more experienced South Dakota pheasant hunters could answer. My dad is a 68 year old disabled vet and really wants to get out and try hunting South Dakota before he gets too old to hunt. I want to try and stay away from the crowds because I don't know how hard he can push himself. So my first question is would it be better to wait until the 2nd, 3rd or 4th weeks to go out to hunt and skip the opening weekend? Also, we are coming from Utah where the pheasant hunting is not so good and were thinking about hunting around the White River/Philip area. Is it super busy around there on the opening weekend/week?

I have read other threads about how busy it is over by Selby as well as Chamberlain, but haven't heard much about those other areas. Any answers would be greatly appreciated as well as any additional information that I may be overlooking. Thanks again!

-Ducknelkslayer
 
I'm not sure about the Phillip/White River area. All reservation land west of White River. You might want to come a little further east. But no matter where you hunt it would be best to wait at least 2-3 weeks after the opener. By mid-November the crowds won't be nearly as bad.
 
Thanks

Dakotazeb,
Thanks for the input about the crowds. We will probably wait another couple weeks after the opener to go out. The reason I was going towards the white river/Philip area is because there was a lot of Walk in access areas. The further east I go it seems that there is a lot less WIA to hunt. Anyways, thanks for the heads up!
 
There may be more public land but if there are few birds in those areas it not worth hunting. I'm not saying there aren't any birds in the area you want to hunt as I really don't know. Also beware of the blue areas that are School & Public Lands. I've found the majority of these areas to be pasture with no cover to hold pheasants.
 
There will be "pockets" of birds, that far west, if you get into the right habitat/situation. If you happen into a few of those pocket areas, youll do fine.

You can always start there, and head east if need be.

Like Zeb said, alot of that walk in ground is not bird friendly.

Keep in mind, that Walk in Areas allow hunting for deer, coyotes, prairie dogs etc also.
 
If you're looking to stay west river I'd go around the Kennebec and Presho areas. Have hunted on public land around there in the past and had good luck finding birds. You don't need massive amounts of public areas just a couple that contain the right cover and feed close by. Should be able to put some in the bag.
 
Thanks

Thanks BigRand and reddog for the information. I am still kind of at a loss for what to do. I would like to head east more, but on the public hunting map it doesnt seem like there are a ton of areas to hunt. I don't know if the map shows all the little areas to hunt though. What about hotels? We were planning on reserving a hotel before hand, would it be better not to, that way if we end up heading in a different direction we could get a hotel somewhere else?
Thanks again!
 
Your situation reminds me of my dad's first SD trip. He took a disabled neighbor in a wheelchair and they drove out with just an RV and no place to go. They went to the local bar downtown and asked around. Found one of the young cooks wanted to hunt bad and had a car but no money for gas or shells. A stop at the gas station and a case of beer for guide fees and they were set. The cook knew a couple coveys on public spots, a couple hot ditches and which farmers to ask for permission to walk a couple shelter belts(which a local gets a "yes" twice as often as out-of-towners). They just parked the wheelchair at the end of the ditch, fence row or downwind of the old farmstead they were walking and drove birds to him. A couple times they ran into other groups that needed some more walkers to hit a big field and got invited in after just stopping to talk. That's rare but it does happen.

West River hunting is hard so go where the birds are on the GFP brood survey map in the East River counties. I hunt Redfield area so I can't say about the Chamberlin to Sioux Falls I-90 corridor but after Monday of opening weekend, it looks like a ghost town- well, back to normal levels for the locals, no offense. There's 90% less hunters in the field and on the roads. So come opener and enjoy the banquets, activities and meet lots of people. There's the most birds, at their dumbest point in their short lives and it's warm enough not to have to deal with that challenge as well. Even if you don't find private land or good public walk-ins you can still scout the morning and find roosting spots and them come back at noon to start walking ditches until 3-4PM. Find out how to tell what a public section line road is and then go down all the dry ones. Later, they will be all over the roads from 5-6:30 so you can drive, scout and shoot all at the same time. Ask everywhere in bars, restaurants and gas stations after you make a purchase and find out about where the birds are and you can at least get a "NW of this town" or "east of 280 and around here" type of hints.

Get a hotel ahead of time in the area that holds birds year after year and plan on some gas money to move around a lot. Keep at it and you will have friends and farmers to come back to year after year if you want so go where the birds are and focus less on the crowds.
 
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