I'm planning my first trip to SD for this fall/winter and aside from knowing it'll be a pretty big waste of time, [2-3 guys, no dog, and public land] what part of the season would be considered the least waste of time under our conditions? I'm considering any area from the SE corner up to Chamberlain, coming from Missouri and want to keep the drive 12hrs or less. Info on early, middle, or late is all I'm after, not internet scouting.
First timer, when to go.
- Thread starter fstchkn
- Start date
Welcome to UPH. There are a lot of guys on this site with vast knowledge in this area. I was in your situation years ago. I would suggest to go opening weekend. Normally I would recommend going later in the year but with 2 or 3 guys you may need less educated birds. Work on hunting roadside ditches next to harvested crops. At that time of year you can't hunt until noon so get up early and scout until shooting time. You'll be surprised what you can see early. Keep an eye out for roosting area on public land next to standing crops that are on privet property and plan on hitting the roosting area the last hour of light. As far as areas goes, I would look around the Huron area. Lots of public land, lots of motels and restaurants. Don't figure on limiting out everyday, but I think you'll have a great time.
1pheas4
Moderator
I think Chip gave some good advice
. I've done the "no dog" thing in SD before and did just fine. Ditches are a great please to hunt with just a couple of guys. Post one guy on one end of a ditch then push toward one another.
Also, evenings in SD are amazing. Birds start moving into roosting areas in large numbers. A good dog sure helps but is not necessary.
One other thing to consider is late season with snow. Birds are bunched up and once you find then the action is something to see. Crippled birds are easier to fine in the snow too.
Hope this helps and good luck.
. I've done the "no dog" thing in SD before and did just fine. Ditches are a great please to hunt with just a couple of guys. Post one guy on one end of a ditch then push toward one another.Also, evenings in SD are amazing. Birds start moving into roosting areas in large numbers. A good dog sure helps but is not necessary.
One other thing to consider is late season with snow. Birds are bunched up and once you find then the action is something to see
. Crippled birds are easier to fine in the snow too. Hope this helps and good luck.
carptom1
Well-known member
If I were only going to make one trip to SD it would be late november. I do agree the birds are more plentiful in the early season, but public land is a freakin zoo. Let the snow push the birds out of the short grass a little, and you will have better luck. If I were hunting SD without a dog, I would take less birds and less hunters in smaller cover over more birds with tons of cover and a zoo of hunters. That's just me though. I really don't ditch hunt much so I can't attest to that.
If you're lucky enough to pick and choose your dates on short notice you have to play the "Mother Nature" game and see how much of the row crops have been harvested......If they have a good jump start on them then I agree closer to the opener........if it's been a slow growing season or it's been too wet to harvest.....than later is better....
BirddogGSP
Active member
Totally agree with TerryB.
Play it by ear with the harvest. You'll get some of the dumb birds first 2 days of opener but then they wise up and if there's unharvested fields they'll be there. Crops harvested mean less hiding places and less pressure but smarter birds.
Play it by ear with the harvest. You'll get some of the dumb birds first 2 days of opener but then they wise up and if there's unharvested fields they'll be there. Crops harvested mean less hiding places and less pressure but smarter birds.
I'll give my two cents about late season. A lot of public land is back on minimum maintenance roads. With snow on the ground and incredible drifting there is times you can't get to them. 2013 proved to be that way for our group. We couldn't get to our usual hotspots. I buried my truck twice. Once so bad my bro in law's 3/4 ton diesel couldn't get my half ton out. We had to get a farmer to pull me out with his tractor. I tore the front fairing off the truck and yes we did a fair amount of shoveling first. (bring a snow shovel) The birds were in the fields all day. They'd see you coming from a mile a way. Yeah we saw over a thousand birds but only harvested 27 with five guys in four days. We had six dogs. Four of them very seasoned hunters. We also did Halloween weekend but it was the opposite of the 2012 season with most of the corn still standing. The best success we had was ditch hunting near the few cut fields. We did really well on the 2012 opener but that was the drought year and all the crops were down. This year we're planning the 11/15 weekend. Josteling around our groups deer seasons. We're hoping to get a little of the late season flavor by then without the snow.
1pheas4
Moderator
LOL....... I've been in that situation a few times out there
The worst of which took up a whole afternoon and evening to free the truck up. In that case it was a 2 wheel drive pick-up that got stuck. Our 4x4's couldn't do a thing to get it out. That was the last year we brought up a 2 wheel drive vehicle to SD for pheasant hunting use. We end up in way too many "roads" that I would consider to more or less to be trails---not roads--
Dakotazeb
Well-known member
Another option might be to find someone else on this site from the area you plan to hunt that has a dog or two that can hunt with you. I haven't hunted without a dog in about 40 years and can't imagine taking to the field without one. But if you don't have dog then hunting the ditches as stated in the previous posts would be the way to go. Unless you are willing to pay for a guided hunt with dogs.