IdahoCountryBoy
Active member
I usually go to South Dakota the week of Thanksgiving but I have more days off then I know what to do with so I decided to take a week off and go to South Dakota. I have to say, we did really well this year. My dad and I have 2 black labs and they hunted their hearts out. We stayed at the Super 8 in Chamberlain and just drove up to hour or so from there. Sometimes hour and a half. We don't mind driving. In the past we have stayed in Mitchell but we decided to try a base in Chamberlain to see how it went. Here is my report:
Tuesday 31 - We hunted south of the Interstate between Chamberlain and Mitchell. We got our limit that day and we were done around 4:00. We got one bird in a GPA, we got 3 birds walking ditches, and we got 2 birds walking WPA. It was a well balanced approach. I know some of you don't like hunting ditches but when we could find a good looking ditch next to cut corn we gave it a try and it worked well for us. It gives us a chance to rest the dogs a little bit and only use one at a time. It also gives the hunter a chance to take a break in the middle of the day.
Wednesday 1 - We hunted north of the interstate between Chamberlain and Mitchell. We should've had a limit but ended up with 5. We hunted a WPA and only got 1 bird out of there. We hunted some other areas but couldn't really find any birds so we found some WIA that looked decent and they were cutting corn in the field next to it and were able to find birds. We shot 5 birds in that WIA but the dogs couldn't find that last bird. While we actually shot a limit, only ended up with 5 birds that day.
Thursday 2 - We hunted south of the interstate again and we limited out at 2:00 PM. We hunted some WPA, GPA, and WIA and did good. We got 3 birds in one WPA and 3 in another WPA. It was nice to finish a little early and have some down time to relax.
Friday 3 - We went back north of the interstate and ended up with only 4 birds. We should've had our limit but came up a little short. That's OK. I missed some really easy shots. We hunted a full day right up until the shooting time ended around 6:20 PM.
Saturday 4 - This was our last day hunting and we went south of the interstate again and we got really lucky and had our limit at 12:45 PM. Found 3 birds in one area and 3 in the second area. This was nice because we were able to hit the road and make it to Casper, WY to spend the night and finish the drive on Sunday.
Some observations on my part, I believe south of the interstate had more birds. When I look at the moisture website it indicates south of interstate received more moisture to it made sense to me. Still a lot of uncut corn out there which made it harder to find birds. I just felt south of the interstate was further along with the harvest than north but maybe that was my imagination Somebody in a different post said there was a lot of corn around woonsocket and I saw that too. The combines were out cutting though so hopefully this week and next they will wrap up a lot of the corn harvest. Some of the fields north of the interstate had a lot of standing water in them and I heard the week before they got a couple inches of rain and this made sense. I also talked to a farmer north of the interstate and he said the moisture wasn't there in the middle of the summer and they lost a lot of chicks. This kind of made sense to me because a lot of the birds we shot were definitely older birds with long spurs. Overall my dad and I brought home 27 birds and it could've easily been 30. We hunt all public land and do not go to a lodge or pay to hunt. I will say though, some of the birds we did end up shooting had holes in their beaks. I think there were 3-4 like that. Some got away from where they were planted and made their way to public property. What do you do? Not going to pass up on a bird that gets up in front of me but after you realize they are pen raised birds. Hoping to make it back at Thanksgiving but hopefully everybody will keep the post rolling because I love reading about all of your hunts.
Tuesday 31 - We hunted south of the Interstate between Chamberlain and Mitchell. We got our limit that day and we were done around 4:00. We got one bird in a GPA, we got 3 birds walking ditches, and we got 2 birds walking WPA. It was a well balanced approach. I know some of you don't like hunting ditches but when we could find a good looking ditch next to cut corn we gave it a try and it worked well for us. It gives us a chance to rest the dogs a little bit and only use one at a time. It also gives the hunter a chance to take a break in the middle of the day.
Wednesday 1 - We hunted north of the interstate between Chamberlain and Mitchell. We should've had a limit but ended up with 5. We hunted a WPA and only got 1 bird out of there. We hunted some other areas but couldn't really find any birds so we found some WIA that looked decent and they were cutting corn in the field next to it and were able to find birds. We shot 5 birds in that WIA but the dogs couldn't find that last bird. While we actually shot a limit, only ended up with 5 birds that day.
Thursday 2 - We hunted south of the interstate again and we limited out at 2:00 PM. We hunted some WPA, GPA, and WIA and did good. We got 3 birds in one WPA and 3 in another WPA. It was nice to finish a little early and have some down time to relax.
Friday 3 - We went back north of the interstate and ended up with only 4 birds. We should've had our limit but came up a little short. That's OK. I missed some really easy shots. We hunted a full day right up until the shooting time ended around 6:20 PM.
Saturday 4 - This was our last day hunting and we went south of the interstate again and we got really lucky and had our limit at 12:45 PM. Found 3 birds in one area and 3 in the second area. This was nice because we were able to hit the road and make it to Casper, WY to spend the night and finish the drive on Sunday.
Some observations on my part, I believe south of the interstate had more birds. When I look at the moisture website it indicates south of interstate received more moisture to it made sense to me. Still a lot of uncut corn out there which made it harder to find birds. I just felt south of the interstate was further along with the harvest than north but maybe that was my imagination Somebody in a different post said there was a lot of corn around woonsocket and I saw that too. The combines were out cutting though so hopefully this week and next they will wrap up a lot of the corn harvest. Some of the fields north of the interstate had a lot of standing water in them and I heard the week before they got a couple inches of rain and this made sense. I also talked to a farmer north of the interstate and he said the moisture wasn't there in the middle of the summer and they lost a lot of chicks. This kind of made sense to me because a lot of the birds we shot were definitely older birds with long spurs. Overall my dad and I brought home 27 birds and it could've easily been 30. We hunt all public land and do not go to a lodge or pay to hunt. I will say though, some of the birds we did end up shooting had holes in their beaks. I think there were 3-4 like that. Some got away from where they were planted and made their way to public property. What do you do? Not going to pass up on a bird that gets up in front of me but after you realize they are pen raised birds. Hoping to make it back at Thanksgiving but hopefully everybody will keep the post rolling because I love reading about all of your hunts.
