follow-up to huntable areas thread...

[gps4]

Three buddies and I have been planning a late season trip to the farmers place we hunt near Mitchel the last weekend of the season. From my computer in Vicksburg, MS , my internet research indicates the SE corner got hammered with a ton of snow. I'm afraid the usual places I go (south of Huron, east of Chamberlain) are too snowed in for us to do much good. the webcam on SD511 shows Murdo not having as much snow cover as say Chamberlain, Huron or Tripp.

How far north or west of Mitchell would it take to get out of the really thick snow into just a few inches that may still have birds and make it worth a 35 hour round trip?

Thanks in advance.

 

[FlushingSetters1724]

I'm hoping to make a trip from Wisconsin next week. I've been messaging a ton of AirBNB hosts and asking about current conditions in their area. From what I've gathered, it seems like Chamberlain has the least amount of snow and Aberdeen also have less than most places. Regardless it seems like it varies a ton from spot to spot even.. I really wish I could hunt Huron but that seems out of the question.

Also, any time I post about planning a trip any city I mention gets at least 6" of snow the exact days I plan to come.. hoping you have better luck than me!

Also check out the snowpack map.. not sure how accurate but gives you an idea of what to expect - https://www.weather.gov/fsd/snowdepth

 

[Weimdogman]

I saw 10 forecast and it looks good other then a slight chance of snow the 16th

 

[gps4]

I saw 10 forecast and it looks good other then a slight chance of snow the 16th

when you say "looks good", do you mean there is a chance of some melt off? I'm from MS and we only get snow accumulation once every few years. its usually only a couple of inches at most and is gone in a few days.

 

[BirdDoggin]

when you say "looks good", do you mean there is a chance of some melt off? I'm from MS and we only get snow accumulation once every few years. its usually only a couple of inches at most and is gone in a few days.

I wouldn't count on it. Not enough to make a real difference, anyways.

 

[Weimdogman]

Some snow will melt on the sunny days. It doesn't melt as fast as when it's 45°.

 

[zoops]

Gotta remember that even if the 'high' is 35 or 40, it's still probably below freezing 21 hours a day with as short as the daylight still is...

 

[randywatson]

If you arent used to hunting in snow and want to experience it then go. If you think its gonna be easy then dont go. IF you want to see big numbers of wintered birds then go. If you have medical conditions that limit your walking ability then its probably not for you. snow shoes are quite handy. winds blow up here and you will encounter 8-15' deep drifts. some you can walk over some that will make you pay by dropping you waste deep with one step.

as mentioned in previous thread. These birds burrow under the snow. I have 160 acres of crp in se mn. You can literally look at the snow covered crp grass and see where birds have burrowed under the snow to roost. It's the coolest thing. they are hardy birds. There will be very little snow melt. the sun angle isnt that great right now and like mentioned it doesnt warm to above freezing for more than a few hours each of those days.

hunting vs working. I'd rather be hunting. so take that chance and go

 

[FlushingSetters1724]

Three buddies and I have been planning a late season trip to the farmers place we hunt near Mitchel the last weekend of the season. From my computer in Vicksburg, MS , my internet research indicates the SE corner got hammered with a ton of snow. I'm afraid the usual places I go (south of Huron, east of Chamberlain) are too snowed in for us to do much good. the webcam on SD511 shows Murdo not having as much snow cover as say Chamberlain, Huron or Tripp.

How far north or west of Mitchell would it take to get out of the really thick snow into just a few inches that may still have birds and make it worth a 35 hour round trip?

Thanks in advance.

Not sure if you're still planning to go, but I'll be making a trip to either the Chamberlain or Aberdeen area this coming week. I'll shoot you a message or post the video on here of how it goes. I'm bringing snowshoes and hitting all the shelter belts and cattail patches I can. Should be a tough hunt but hopefully I can knock out a few birds.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

Sorry I can't speak to the specific areas you're wanting to hunt, but I can tell you this.
This past weekend I hunted/scouted a wide swath roughly between Brookings & Howard.
It's hard to really nail down snow depth, but I'm going to say toward Brookings, I was in about 18" of snow.
If that's close, then toward Ramona & Howard, I was probably in 24"+ of snow.
The pheasants in those areas are fine. For now, anyway. Could turn into a long winter.
My opinion is any rooster shot at this point benefits hens. Shoot every last one you see. There are always a few left somewhere. They get the spoils come spring.
Hunting was super challenging. We got them, but wow. I hadn't worked like that in quite a while.
They'll be using big/thick trees/shelterbelts near food as much as possible. Much of the easiest food (still not so easy) is around farms, where people have cleared away some snow to aid their livestock. It would be great if more landowners would go clear some paths in their corn/bean fields, preferably near some suitable cover. Pheasants almost always find the easiest chow.
Cattail sloughs have to be pretty big, because the smaller ones are completely socked in with snow.
Anyway, in this area, they're tough, but huntable. Maybe there are some areas where it's not quite so difficult.
Maybe this picture from end of day Sunday will influence your decision.

 

[jmnhunter]

we hunted western MN a couple weeks ago, that was tough hunting, like A5 stated, the cattails were all snowed in besides underneath where the birds could still tunnel through but walking was virtually impossible.

We were going to hunt our family's place north of plankinton this coming weekend, but after the latest blast of snow, their crp is snowed in and the drifts and snowed in cattails talked us into staying home and ice fishing instead. From what our family told us, mitchell got the most snow in that area
Maybe next year and good luck

 

[TomU]

Following this thread and hoping to get in one more week before the season ended. Somewhere around Huron/Redfield but so far it's not looking good. Still crossing my fingers for a Jan thaw to make the 15 hour drive worth it.

 

[grossklw]

I hunted the last 3 days south of Aberdeen and there are areas to still hunt. I would say 50% of sloughs are completely snowed in but many are huntable once you get past that first big drift. Also about impossible to approach from the west or north. A lot of areas have a few deer trails through them with enough gaps to squeeze into some spots and the birds were holding damn tight.

I only killed 3 birds but it was honestly one of the funnest hunts of my life. I always count; and 100 birds on the dot flushed within shotgun range of me, but only 4 had color and I killed 3 of them (were not talking about #4). First day we flushed 47 birds and one rooster. Yesterday after the 25th hen got up there was 3 minutes of legal light and I yelled at the top of my lungs, “where in the f%^k are all the roosters!!!” 5 seconds later I killed a double and it suddenly turned into a good day. Had to beat the snow to get to downed birds but it was fun.

First one was alive but just sitting near the top of the snow. Dog couldn’t physically move and I could barely. So I did the only gentlemen like thing and grabbed my golden and threw him at the rooster. He earned an easy retrieve after the hen luck. 2nd bird I couldn’t figure out where he dropped even with the snow but got lucky with my 3rd loop through the area and the dog found him stone dead. Just a perfect ending to the day.

Today the first bird that got up had color and I was able to kill him. Followed by 20+ hens the next couple hours.

All in all a great weekend, really really tough hunting but man it was fun. Seemed like 40% of the birds on the roads were roosters but it just wasn’t my lucky weekend but great dog work. He had 15 or 16 different shots at almost catching hens after he “pointed” them, one even flushed right into my hips as that was her only option. Usually only get him to do that 6 or 7 times during the year but it seemed like every couple pheasants he did it this weekend. A great end to year #7 for my buddy.

 

[Weimdogman]

I posted about hunting in S
Dakota today in the main forum and my experience was about the same.
Funny dogs ride loose in the back of my envoy and they were yapping and whining at birds on the road. They thought I needed to be alerted. I usually just scare them off the roads but today just ignored them as they were getting badly needed gravel/grit.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I hunted the last 3 days south of Aberdeen and there are areas to still hunt. I would say 50% of sloughs are completely snowed in but many are huntable once you get past that first big drift. Also about impossible to approach from the west or north. A lot of areas have a few deer trails through them with enough gaps to squeeze into some spots and the birds were holding damn tight.

I only killed 3 birds but it was honestly one of the funnest hunts of my life. I always count; and 100 birds on the dot flushed within shotgun range of me, but only 4 had color and I killed 3 of them (were not talking about #4). First day we flushed 47 birds and one rooster. Yesterday after the 25th hen got up there was 3 minutes of legal light and I yelled at the top of my lungs, “where in the f%^k are all the roosters!!!” 5 seconds later I killed a double and it suddenly turned into a good day. Had to beat the snow to get to downed birds but it was fun.

First one was alive but just sitting near the top of the snow. Dog couldn’t physically move and I could barely. So I did the only gentlemen like thing and grabbed my golden and threw him at the rooster. He earned an easy retrieve after the hen luck. 2nd bird I couldn’t figure out where he dropped even with the snow but got lucky with my 3rd loop through the area and the dog found him stone dead. Just a perfect ending to the day.

Today the first bird that got up had color and I was able to kill him. Followed by 20+ hens the next couple hours.

All in all a great weekend, really really tough hunting but man it was fun. Seemed like 40% of the birds on the roads were roosters but it just wasn’t my lucky weekend but great dog work. He had 15 or 16 different shots at almost catching hens after he “pointed” them, one even flushed right into my hips as that was her only option. Usually only get him to do that 6 or 7 times during the year but it seemed like every couple pheasants he did it this weekend. A great end to year #7 for my buddy.

Thanks for sharing your story/report. Glad you had some success. Any wild SD rooster is a trophy this time of year, especially under these conditions. I think so far, the birds are faring OK though. They're tough, tough creatures. But if things get worse before they begin to get better, the pheasants might not be so fortunate. However the winter shakes out, the best we can do is shoot as many roosters as we can in the next couple weeks, & hope for a good spring/summer.