First time to SD - lots of questions...

Yes, we all want land to ourselves. But more hunters, more outdoorsman, means more people buying gear, bringing in tax money, buying licenses, donating to conservation groups, starting a conversation about land, habitat, and animals, etc. In the long run, I think the more hunters the better for the sport, the animals we hunt, the land available to hunt, etc.
 
BRITTMAN said:
Killed plenty of birds before CRP and that was in both ND and SD. I was pretty young then ... teens and twenties. Boots to the ground. My first dog was not as polished as those that came behind him either.

Sure the pheasant commercial ops will have to figure something different out or bale out. Always pheasants around ... maybe not in the crazy numbers ... but moving a dozen to three dozen in an afternoon and a decent chance for a limit for one, two or may be three guys. That kind of hunting will survive.

Pre-CRP late season ... had says where we moved 100s if not 500 or more.... Mix of private land and public land ... all farmed and ranched ... birds made due with what was given them.
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the big season openers will soon dwindle to a trickle. empty motels and gas stations, diners, fast food places, economies that thrived will be history. state will keep raising their license fees, soon the cow will be out of milk.
 
jackrabbit said:
Yes, we all want land to ourselves. But more hunters, more outdoorsman, means more people buying gear, bringing in tax money, buying licenses, donating to conservation groups, starting a conversation about land, habitat, and animals, etc. In the long run, I think the more hunters the better for the sport, the animals we hunt, the land available to hunt, etc.
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Must work for the DNR.;) MN DNR loves to hype total # hunters. I would argue that there is actually a core number of hunters. If the hunting is good (or at least enjoyable) ... these "core" hunters invite friends, family and even newbies to join them for a day or a weekend. That is part of the fluctuation in MN hunter numbers year over year. These "good times" only hunters don't often spend much money or donate time and money to this sport.

Probably true in SoDak too. If projections are high or someone had good success on their first visit, finding people to share the time and expenses with is easier on the next trip ...

Access first, some success in seeing and killing birds second is what most want ... lack of one or both is what drives people away.

I hunt MN mostly now and find little if any interference most days out. Skip opener - so no idea on that circus.

Most days we limit (if alone) or average about 1+ bird per hunter if with others (never shoot first unless I have the only shot). Shooting often limits total kill ... See birds on almost every single parcel walked. Not always in range, not always a shot, not always a kill ... but the dogs have fun too.
 
I've just looked over my google map and I've got 70 honey holes over a 100 square miles of east central SD, all of them publicly accessible for free and none of them a WPA/WIA/CREP/ETC. I've been posting towns, crossroads, gps waypoints, routes and general areas after filling out opening weekend each year for decades by hunting the vast, quiet and unpopulated countryside of SD. Never, ever have I regretted providing this info. SD is a never ending bounty and has been for living memory. The only thing that ever changes is how much effort might I have to put in this year vs last to still see the most birds I will ever find in any state, not who might, in the craziest galaxy of coincidences, ends up hunting the same spot as me.

I could personally escort every person on this site to the exact location of one of these spots and most would wander away mumbling about finding a wpa for my dog to run around in that hasn't been touched since pioneer days that is a mile away from the random hotel/town I am chained to for reasons because I am most certainly going to make it to SD one time in my life and will likely never make it back. If your viewpoint resembles any of those statements, then I can understand why you might look at the mention of a town or a specific WPA as the end of the world but friends there is a wide world of SD outside those bounds if you'll go hunting for it.
 
Not everyone finds fulfillment in shooting birds from the road or while road hunting. Not a knock on you as long as you are following the statutory guidelines, as it is legal. However, it is a bit disingenuous to speak about numbers in the ditches they way you are portraying it. In fact, one may find ditches with cover in short supply this year.
 
Wow (lab will be upset, oh well)
Not a single word in PeteRevv post about ditches. Not one. Read it and reread it. Not one.

What he DID say is that SD is heaven on earth for chasing roosters. "...vast, quiet, unpopulated countryside.." yah, gimme somma that.
 
I don’t need to re-read anything. The majority of his other posts are extolling the virtues of ditch hunting. Thanks again for leg humping 👍
 
PeteRevvv said:
I've just looked over my google map and I've got 70 honey holes over a 100 square miles of east central SD, all of them publicly accessible for free and none of them a WPA/WIA/CREP/ETC.
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If these "Free" areas aren't WPA/WIA/CREP/GPA/ETC then what are they other than road ditches? Could you please elaborate?
 
Dakotazeb said:
If these "Free" areas aren't WPA/WIA/CREP/GPA/ETC then what are they other than road ditches? Could you please elaborate?
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You can click on their name and read all their posts.
For example, I think you messaged 3, 486 times
PeteRevv elaborates in some of his other posts.
 
"I don't give a damn about my bad reputation." I'm a rebel in a muddy depression doing a dirty deed on a ditch parrot. I'm an upland cowboy in a free grain elevator ballcap, riding my steal horse, striking out for the backroads nobody goes down. At sunset, I run and gun until the I see the fire coming out the barrel of my automagic. I'm an American pheasant road hunting legend in my own mind.

And I highly recommend right-of-way hunting to SD first-timers who may get the impression on this site that walk-ins are a little crowded but are the only option (to bend the tangent back to the OP).
 
As for cover in short supply, right-of-ways (isn't that a more dignified term than ditches?) can be even better in dry, mowed years. The fence rows are still there for huntable cover but you don't have as hard a time in the really heavy jungle down in the ditch bottom to see, track and flush birds. They also get concentrated in general areas that had more rain and specific road side water attractions like big sloughs and the deeper dugouts that you can focus on. Lots of section lines that were underwater last year or axle deep in mud should all be back open.

The field access section lines are just walk-ins that are really long rectangles. There is barely a two rut road on most of them and they go on for a mile at a time. It's the same grass cover, crops on the side, fencelines, treelines and adjacent sloughs that you find in any public designated area. You go 10 miles out of town and find one with the right cover and you can walk for days in the grass all alone. That's when SD starts to feel like big country again. If someone does come by I more likely wave them down and see if they want to run the other ditch along with me since we are likely busting birds out the other side. Or have them block for me and get a ride back to the truck. It's a great thing to have other guys show up meet them, not grumble about etiquette and who's going where.

Just because the government puts up a rectangle of fence and designates a walk-in spot doesn't mean you have to be herded like sheep in pen. If the government would only buy more wpa acres, if the government would only buy more crp, if the government would only limit the number of hunters, if the government would send me a book, if the government would just tell me where the bird counts are at. If that thinking pervades your mind than you have missed something about the SD and western culture when you've been out there.

The limitations and boundaries are only in your mind.
 
dignified = fail
It is rights of way...
 
Not sure what that^^^^is all about.... just when I was about to give lab the benefit of the doubt ( lab doesn't care about my doubts) (is he correcting English?)
 
Munster927 said:
Just saying, but a new member that joined yesterday really doesn't know who to PM to ask about anything. I've been a member for almost a year and don't know who to ask about anything state specific. Real poor form to blast someone for asking for help or for an opinion. If we all read old posts what the hell do we have to walk about? Weather and crop reports? This isn't weather channel and it ain't a farming forum.

If folks Wana put their small town spots on blast, let em. But Aberdeen, Mitchell, Pierre, Miller or Chamberlain ain't exactly SD secrets. Google "best places to pheasant hunt in SD" and they can find those 5 towns on every list. When people tell me names of towns on an open forum I take them for a grain of salt. I've mentioned hunting the Chamberlain area when in reality I hunt 50 miles from Chamberlain. If some random dude found himself in my spot 50 miles away of Chamberlain due to me mentioning a popular pheasant town, good on him.
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I've actually mentioned a few good spots on here, but did anybody go there,???
 
nastymcnarf said:
Not much of a chicken chaser...but have a friend who hunts the grasslands around Ft. Pierre every year and does great. If you're primarily looking for roosters...I'd stay a lot further east. Born/raised in SD and have hunted most of it at some point. I normally start my hunting west of Salem and hunt north from there. I sometimes end up as far north as De Smit. You'll find lots of public in between and far fewer hunters than around Michell or Pierre. Be picky...bring good optics and use them.

I certainly understand the limitations of when a guy can take vacation time. But when I'm asked...I tell people (without access to private land) to hunt as late as practical but with as much snow and butt-puckering cold as possible. All the "fluffy", private cover is flat and the birds are in the cattails on the public. You can get sneaky at this point as well. Most of the cover in the soughs can only be approached one way with open water. Once the water stiffens up you can circle around to keep wind in your favor. Or to simply approach the thicker cover from a direction the birds aren't used to being approached by hunters. Being quite honest...I hunt very few opening days any more. I stay in my duck boat far out in the middle of a big, smelly marsh. When the opener rings out the first shot...It's on. I've had mallards bombing in on me all day long. They've been kicked out of small ponds and wetlands as the rooster chasers pound the surrounding cover. They don't want to be within a quarte mile of dry land...and that's where I am.
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Right on.Lets hear it for the waterfowl hunters!!
 
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