I gotta let the cat outta the bag

[Bob Peters]

One thing about South Dakota. It always gets pumped up on pheasant hunting, which can be misleading because you still have to work for them. But man, you get west of webster and every pond, puddle, lake and cattle tank is full of ducks. I really don't think North Dakota can hold a candle to it. If I lived out there I'd park the 28 gauge and but 10 flats of steel 3" shells every summer. Waterfowl galore.

 

[Tomahawker]

Never really been duck hunting. I’ve jump shot ducks and geese on creeks but never the whole deal. Buy my stamp every year though

 

[benelli-banger]

Haven’t seen much waterfowl yet in my 3 trips to SD…may see more this week. In the past 3+ decades, I’ve seen torrents of them in my late Nov/Dec trips…very impressive tornadoes! Partial to mallards, myself…

 

[SPUR60]

SD is better than ND when it comes to waterfowling because we get the same birds, have similar wetland conditions, and we limit the non resident hunters to provide better experiences for residents and non residents who hunt waterfowl.

 

[Quailnerd]

SD is better than ND when it comes to waterfowling because we get the same birds, have similar wetland conditions, and we limit the non resident hunters to provide better experiences for residents and non residents who hunt waterfowl.

I’m not a waterfowl guy, has the state always been that way with out of state hunters? Total opposite approach to pheasant.

 

[Wind River]

It always looks easy when you don’t hunt them. 10,000 snows in a field, will they come back? Keep hunting pheasants and be grateful they don’t migrate.

 

[Wind River]

One man limit

 

[dawgs14]

Piles of ducks in SD when and if there is water!

 

[benelli-banger]

One man limit
View attachment 12217

Sweet!!!! That’s a centerfold!

 

[CRP]

I grew up in the flyway west of Brookings. The fowl from Canada hang around Sand Lake by Aberdeen, and then leave when the weather turns bad. If you find the cornfield they are using, and your timing is good, the skies can be full of waterfowl of all types. The last time I hunted deer back in that area, there were more duck/goose hunters from MN than deer hunters. They had trailers full of decoys and equipment that would make the average pheasant hunter blush.

 

[SPUR60]

I’m not a waterfowl guy, has the state always been that way with out of state hunters? Total opposite approach to pheasant.

Yes for waterfowl. Th history is after WW2, cash flush non residents from MLPS, Chicago, etc. bought up or leased up thousands of acres along the missouri river and pushed out nearly all resident hunters. There then was a period of time where non residents were not even allowed to hunt waterfowl in SD. That's where the lottery was born from. Nearly every year there are legislative bills introduced to alter or increase non resident waterfowl licenses. These bills are 100% always introduced by senators and representatives who are buddies with lodge owners, outfitters, or who are doing so on behest of the SD tourism groups. These groups and individuals want to commercialize waterfowl hunting in the same way that pheasant hunting and ice fishing are.

As far as pheasants are concerned, it's not a sport or leisure activity anymore in SD, its an entire industry sustained at current levels of participation (and $pending) only by the raise and release of somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000+ birds onto private land annually.

 

[Goosemaster]

One thing about South Dakota. It always gets pumped up on pheasant hunting, which can be misleading because you still have to work for them. But man, you get west of webster and every pond, puddle, lake and cattle tank is full of ducks. I really don't think North Dakota can hold a candle to it. If I lived out there I'd park the 28 gauge and but 10 flats of steel 3" shells every summer. Waterfowl galore.

I used to love waterfall hunting, I did a lot of it all the way up until around the age of 50.

 

[Goosemaster]

It always looks easy when you don’t hunt them. 10,000 snows in a field, will they come back? Keep hunting pheasants and be grateful they don’t migrate.

Snow geese are very smart, and very difficult to scout.

 

[Goosemaster]

Yes for waterfowl. Th history is after WW2, cash flush non residents from MLPS, Chicago, etc. bought up or leased up thousands of acres along the missouri river and pushed out nearly all resident hunters. There then was a period of time where non residents were not even allowed to hunt waterfowl in SD. That's where the lottery was born from. Nearly every year there are legislative bills introduced to alter or increase non resident waterfowl licenses. These bills are 100% always introduced by senators and representatives who are buddies with lodge owners, outfitters, or who are doing so on behest of the SD tourism groups. These groups and individuals want to commercialize waterfowl hunting in the same way that pheasant hunting and ice fishing are.

As far as pheasants are concerned, it's not a sport or leisure activity anymore in SD, its an entire industry sustained at current levels of participation (and $pending) only by the raise and release of somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000+ birds onto private land annually.

I just watched a documentary on. I think it was YouTube about these places that raise these tame pheasants for release. It is a huge operation, and I mean huge.!

 

[Bob Peters]

I like the way their waterfowl system is set up. I have never applied for a license. I just always see a million ducks out there and about nil hunting pressure. I'd rather be a non-res hunter trying a lottery than go to ND, which is over-run with hunters from across the country. ND has definitely been going down- hill as far as enjoyable duck hunting.

 

[Miforester]

I have occasionally doubled up on waterfowling and pheasant hunting in SD when I'm drawn for a non res waterfowl license. It is taxing on the body to do both and makes for long days but you can get into alot of birds when conditions are right. The owner of the house I stay at goes to ND to waterfowl if they don't get selected in SD and they do very well in ND for waterfowl. It is nice to have both license as you can often jump shoot some of those ponds on WPA's when chasing roosters. This year it seemed any standing water had a duck or two on them whether a pond of flooded field.

 

[zoops]

One thing about South Dakota. It always gets pumped up on pheasant hunting, which can be misleading because you still have to work for them. But man, you get west of webster and every pond, puddle, lake and cattle tank is full of ducks. I really don't think North Dakota can hold a candle to it. If I lived out there I'd park the 28 gauge and but 10 flats of steel 3" shells every summer. Waterfowl galore.

I don't think you're letting anything out of the bag there. Pretty well known that SD has better quality waterfowling but much harder to get a license. And the latter is probably a big part of the reason for the former.

 

[SPUR60]

I don't think you're letting anything out of the bag there. Pretty well known that SD has better quality waterfowling but much harder to get a license. And the latter is probably a big part of the reason for the former.

It's not that hard. Statistically, you'll draw 2 out of every 3 years you apply for the statewide.