First time to SD. Nov. 21-24

Scott11T

Scott11T

Member
Hi all,

Heading to SD for the first time this fall. It'll be me, my Brittany, and my wife (this trip was her idea believe it or not.) Base camp will be Mitchell. Planned on hunting public ground and ditches. I noticed the dates I'm going is the opening weekend of deer season. Will that have any affect on upland hunters?

Any other tips for that area of SD are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Scott
 
I will have had 4 groups of hunters staying at my place in Platte by then, 60 mi sw of Mitchell. I should have a pretty good idea about that area by then. I wouldn't be surprised if someone says nw is a better direction to go.
 
your hunting during the rifle deer season not good idea if u want to hunt public there will be deer hunters at 2/3 areas ... wear orange & good luck
 
I've been out there a few times during deer season. Most of the deer hunters I saw were on private land.

I'm doing my best to recall bumping into deer hunters on public lands but can't remember any. Maybe I was lucking. I don't know. Could be that most are out of the stand by the 10am start time:confused:

Nick
 
Karpntr said:
I will have had 4 groups of hunters staying at my place in Platte by then, 60 mi sw of Mitchell. I should have a pretty good idea about that area by then. I wouldn't be surprised if someone says nw is a better direction to go.
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i already agree with this..........go NW.
 
1pheas4 said:
I've been out there a few times during deer season. Most of the deer hunters I saw were on private land.

I'm doing my best to recall bumping into deer hunters on public lands but can't remember any. Maybe I was lucking. I don't know. Could be that most are out of the stand by the 10am start time:confused:

Nick
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agree, spot on here, what he said........go and enjoy the bird hunting.
 
I've been out several times during deer opener and I really haven't noticed anything different on public lands. Private Lands you will see guys out. If anything I've noticed less pressure because most residents are spending the weekend deer hunting rather than pheasants, and lots of non residents avoid it because it's gun deer season.
 
I'm going to say go have fun and don't worry about deer season on public land if you're east river. Almost anyone that hunts deer where you are going will be on private land in my opinion. Public land will have been hunted so hard by that time that no self respecting deer would still be hanging out there. If by chance there is someone there. There there for deer that will be getting pushed out of their place of residence and the hunter will be gone by 10.

It's nearly impossible to get an east river buck tag unless you're a landowner and no landowner will be on public. I've never let deer hunters affect my plans.
 
Thanks for all the input. Unfortunately that's the only time I can make it up there this year. I'm hearing people say go northwest. Is that because of better opportunity for birds or to avoid the deer hunters?

My dates are set but I'm flexible on location.

Scott
 
i was there last year east river rifle deer these guys saying nobody hunts public for deer are dreaming or trying not to scare u off man... we were forced to hunt 1 area close to a town with no rifle allowed there would be guys parked there daily as we pulled up they were in parking spots with rifles they would see us & pull out...

we would go try a 2nd chunk of public land only to have 1-2 vehicles there & guys deer hunting hunted 2-3 county area seen same type thing all over... i dont hunt creep or wia so maybe the sea of grass hunters would not have any compatition from deer hunters??? again i didnt try pure grassland hunting spots...

if i would have applied for my east river deer tag i would have drawn there was as many as 250 tags added to some units...

very common on deer opner to see trucks raceing across the fields chase n deer to other hunters... it was a very popular area i was hunting deer hunter wise no lie i wouldnt hunt sd rifle deer opener again unless i wanna see huge bucks bring chadsed by trucks...

also daily we would see deer in the area i hunted they ran to the slough to get away from hunters surrounding them on private land... we had deer jump up & just watch us we avoided them & they would lay back down... see 2 bucks daily there monsters by my cabin running to a park for safety them deer are smart know how to avoid people out there...
 
I'm not trying to not scare you off as SMO said, different areas must get more pressure. In 6 years as a SD resident plus 2 years of going back to pheasant hunt during the East River Deer season I have noticed nothing different any time on public lands. The only issue I had was a guy flip me off while I was ditch hunting one time, I think he didn't want a gunshot going off in the area of his deer land maybe.

The people saying to hunt NW are either, A) applying to West River which would not be in gun season at that time. Although too far NW in SD and there's not much for pheasants. Or are saying to hunt the NW portion of East River, maybe? Not sure, I don't have any experience with that area.
 
deer and pheasant season are open at the same time, same as in Kansas, go hunting when you want, where you want, as long as it's legal.
 
jackrabbit said:
I'm not trying to not scare you off as SMO said, different areas must get more pressure. In 6 years as a SD resident plus 2 years of going back to pheasant hunt during the East River Deer season I have noticed nothing different any time on public lands. The only issue I had was a guy flip me off while I was ditch hunting one time, I think he didn't want a gunshot going off in the area of his deer land maybe.

The people saying to hunt NW are either, A) applying to West River which would not be in gun season at that time. Although too far NW in SD and there's not much for pheasants. Or are saying to hunt the NW portion of East River, maybe? Not sure, I don't have any experience with that area.
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did not mean you or anybody was trying to scare anybody read the post... i was saying u guys are encouraging him to hunt rifle deer not scare him off...

i was not trying to scare him just give a honest report from my point of view the way i seen it last year was i had my choice of public spots 10 days b4 gun season during gun deer there were deer hunters at most all public i pulled up to... it changed my hunt...

pheasant season in mn & gun deer are open during same time frame it does not make it a good idea to walk a field pheasant hunting surrounded by rifle deer hunters on opener... give them there opener sat/sun then hunt mid wk if u must but its not a great idea just to go hunt then cuz you can...
 
Hey I appreciate the honesty.

We will get there Saturday evening. Sunday might have to be mainly a scouting day and then Monday-Tuesday will be the big hunting days. That way we kind of let the deer hunters have the weekend. So after the opening weekend of pheasant hunting, is the Mitchell area still a good choice?

Scott
 
jackrabbit said:
I'm not trying to not scare you off as SMO said, different areas must get more pressure. In 6 years as a SD resident plus 2 years of going back to pheasant hunt during the East River Deer season I have noticed nothing different any time on public lands. The only issue I had was a guy flip me off while I was ditch hunting one time, I think he didn't want a gunshot going off in the area of his deer land maybe.

The people saying to hunt NW are either, A) applying to West River which would not be in gun season at that time. Although too far NW in SD and there's not much for pheasants. Or are saying to hunt the NW portion of East River, maybe? Not sure, I don't have any experience with that area.
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A) West river deer season will still be open that weekend. Season runs from the 14th thru the 29th.
B) I believe people are refering to NW of Mitchell not the NW part of the state.
 
His dates are fixed. He's coming irregardless of whether it's deer season or not.

Have a good time. I am going to agree with SMO about the truck hunting. Seems to be the way it is.
 
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