Goosemaster
Well-known member
Yes, people do care.South dakota is great hunting, but charging people to hunt, is making it imposible for the average guy to hunt there.
Let’s hear about opening day
- Thread starter TheKChunter
- Start date
Not sure I follow the comment. No charge for the (thousands of acres of) public land in SD, other than the license.
I also don't understand the implication that people/businesses (farmers or outfitters) who are being crippled with tariffs and weather are under some duty to give us something for nothing, so we can pursue our pastime.
Last edited:
Just like a drought year... we found all our birds next to water.
Welcome to the jungle, we had fun and games... won 2 guns at the Millette FD fundraiser. First gun was to part the jungle, the second to shoot a split second after they ducked into cover.
2LeggedBirddog learns new tricks... upland water retrieves and holding steady on point for fellow hunter with a bad knee to get in position.
Hunted all 5 days within 60 miles of Redfield and limited out for two hunters without a dog walking ditches (top sides) and road hunting. Just average guys with no special access. Only gravel maintained roads were passable- no sections lines unless they previously had rock/gravel laid down so 9 out of 10 of the beaten track hot spots where impassible. It didn't seem to matter as no combines where running most of the time except for a couple bean fields and nothing had been stripped for hunters. Nothing to move them out of the crops as they had cover and water right in every field. We were all alone for 20 or 30 square miles at a time so we often had the best luck of the oils and main county gravel. Just nobody showed up in the numbers we are used to seeing. A few hunting lodge lands were getting worked over but nothing like previous years. We counted on harvesting and field hunters to scatter the birds into singles and doubles to the ditches that we go for early in the day. Those where a rare find this year and we normally didn't get action until after 4PM when they started coming out to pick gravel. Hard to predict that too with wind, rain and sun in various amounts changing that pattern.
Hunted close by to the east and northeast of Redfield a little. Lots of standing water. All ditches full and with the relatively flat land, any low spot was full of standing water- Little Waubay on the Big Prairie. No section line roads passable by truck. But there was some isolated large covies of birds due to the good hatch in that area. Hard to find and get at due to all crops in and access restricted to water so we moved out of there to better ground. Surplus waterfowl licenses were available and some in the group picked those up. Filled out limits on ducks and geese in 1.5 hours in this area since every pothole is full and every popular species is available to jump from the road.
Spent much more time west and northwest of Redfield. Limits were easy near Zell/Rockham and Chelsea/Cresbard. They had abundant birds and they rose up in flocks of 20s and 50s at times when we found them so we estimate about double the bird numbers over last year in this area. Still lots of water but the hills and low-land rivers drained it somewhat. Section line roads still were not passable. Rain made it a little greasy getting around but 4x4 handled it. Winds weren't shooting friendly but dried out the roads quicker. Ground predator numbers are way down due to coyote mange and raccoon distemper but with limited areas to move we saw more than most years. Got one of both but left them on the road for someone local to bounty. Hawks numbers were huge to the point they were busting some birds headed to the road and made them skittish much early in the week than normal.
Like I said elsewhere, I welcomed the change in conditions for the new challenges it presented. It made for another fantastic SD opener.
Welcome to the jungle, we had fun and games... won 2 guns at the Millette FD fundraiser. First gun was to part the jungle, the second to shoot a split second after they ducked into cover.
2LeggedBirddog learns new tricks... upland water retrieves and holding steady on point for fellow hunter with a bad knee to get in position.
Hunted all 5 days within 60 miles of Redfield and limited out for two hunters without a dog walking ditches (top sides) and road hunting. Just average guys with no special access. Only gravel maintained roads were passable- no sections lines unless they previously had rock/gravel laid down so 9 out of 10 of the beaten track hot spots where impassible. It didn't seem to matter as no combines where running most of the time except for a couple bean fields and nothing had been stripped for hunters. Nothing to move them out of the crops as they had cover and water right in every field. We were all alone for 20 or 30 square miles at a time so we often had the best luck of the oils and main county gravel. Just nobody showed up in the numbers we are used to seeing. A few hunting lodge lands were getting worked over but nothing like previous years. We counted on harvesting and field hunters to scatter the birds into singles and doubles to the ditches that we go for early in the day. Those where a rare find this year and we normally didn't get action until after 4PM when they started coming out to pick gravel. Hard to predict that too with wind, rain and sun in various amounts changing that pattern.
Hunted close by to the east and northeast of Redfield a little. Lots of standing water. All ditches full and with the relatively flat land, any low spot was full of standing water- Little Waubay on the Big Prairie. No section line roads passable by truck. But there was some isolated large covies of birds due to the good hatch in that area. Hard to find and get at due to all crops in and access restricted to water so we moved out of there to better ground. Surplus waterfowl licenses were available and some in the group picked those up. Filled out limits on ducks and geese in 1.5 hours in this area since every pothole is full and every popular species is available to jump from the road.
Spent much more time west and northwest of Redfield. Limits were easy near Zell/Rockham and Chelsea/Cresbard. They had abundant birds and they rose up in flocks of 20s and 50s at times when we found them so we estimate about double the bird numbers over last year in this area. Still lots of water but the hills and low-land rivers drained it somewhat. Section line roads still were not passable. Rain made it a little greasy getting around but 4x4 handled it. Winds weren't shooting friendly but dried out the roads quicker. Ground predator numbers are way down due to coyote mange and raccoon distemper but with limited areas to move we saw more than most years. Got one of both but left them on the road for someone local to bounty. Hawks numbers were huge to the point they were busting some birds headed to the road and made them skittish much early in the week than normal.
Like I said elsewhere, I welcomed the change in conditions for the new challenges it presented. It made for another fantastic SD opener.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
That's a great report.I did not know you could hunt for free out there.Sounds like a great hunt.I wish i could get a Montana report in detail. All the crp is gone in Mt.In Montana, you are not supposed ti hunt ditches, and right of way land,.
jackrabbit
Active member
Agree and disagree. If you are spending thousands, you are probably hunting pen raised birds at a lodge anyways. To me, SD is about watching the time to see when it is 10:00am, and again when it is close to sunset. It's the putting the cell phone down and not watching the clock the remainder of the day. The driving a backroad and not seeing another person. The eating a lunch or dinner on a tailgate while the sun goes down. It's a getaway. I have said time and time again, a small group of 1-3 hunters can reasonably expect to at least get a shot at a limit of public land birds nearly every day in SD. Lots of variables to play, but at least a chance at it.
SD also doesn't have to be expensive. Here's a general breakdown of my trip last December.
4 nights lodging at a motel, $50/night x 4 = $200, split 2 ways = $100
License (only counting half, since I would count the other half for my first trip of the year) = $60
Gas (rough estimate) $250, split 2 ways = $125
Food and drinks, brought all food with, no eating out. Crockpots, electric skillets, small tailgate grills make great evening dinners. Sandwiches in the field make great lunches. Electric skillet can fry up eggs and bacon each morning. Shop at Aldi = $10/day for food = $50.
A very general cost of $335 for 5 days of budget hunting public land in SD, with a 2 man limit nearly each day. Eating out and nice hotels can skyrocket that cost in a hurry.
If you want to get real technical, you could eliminate the $50 food cost, because if I stayed home I would still have to eat anyways. And I would be eating from the grocery store anyways, so the food cost is the same whether I take the trip or stay at home. Eliminate the food cost and it is $285 for 5 days of great hunting.
Last edited:
Jackrabbit yes very well said. My son and I are heading out Sunday from WI and will be hunting Monday - Friday. We are both so jacked up about this but NOT the killing of the birds. We will be more than happy just seeing wild birds and enjoying a hunt we have wanted to do for years. My father and I always talked about doing this and never did. He is not able to get around these days and I will never experience this with my dad. I will NOT have my son saying that. 1 bird or 30 birds we will have the pheasant hunt of our lives and are already planning on doing this every year.
For those in SD yes we are bringing some of our own food with but we have every intention of getting most of it in SD. Since we are buying it anyway might as well buy it local to where we will consume it.
For those in SD yes we are bringing some of our own food with but we have every intention of getting most of it in SD. Since we are buying it anyway might as well buy it local to where we will consume it.
jackrabbit
Active member
And I just want to clarify, I'm not saying avoid the local restaurants. Just that a budget trip can be done if you really want to. It is also very enjoyable to get breakfast and coffee with the locals in a small town cafe and enjoy the evening steakhouse and watering hole. Great connections and lifetime friends or potential hunting land can be had!
UplandBird
Member
My very first year in SD 2015 I hunted on a $1000 budget, 10 days of hunting and driving all the way from the west coast. I have having terrible luck finding local wild birds to get my 1 year old pup on and my wife convinced me to sell a gun I didn’t need and head for SD. The wife accompanied me on the trip. We stayed at the cheapest motel we could find, bought frozen meals from the local market to heat up in the microwave in the room for breakfast and dinner and made sandwiches for out in the field. We’ve been going to SD every year since but that first year on a budget was our most memorable trip because we “made it happen”. Our pup flipped the switch that year bagging just under 30 birds in 10 days, we realized anything possible if you want it bad enough, and we learned South Dakota winters are not very forgiving as we drove the truck off the iced road, didn’t have enough warm clothes and both wondered what we got ourselves into. We reminisce about it every year as we pack for our road trip out. Just thought I’d share. Happy hunting to all this 2019 season!!
blackstorm
Member
This years opener was very different from previous years, we normally hunt private grounds but have hunted some public if it has water. My house lost part of a support wall to the spring floods. We had a very hard time getting to the cattails and the sloughs on the private grounds as the roads were still under water. Three roads we needed have been washed out including their culverts that haven't been replaced yet, another driver was seriously hurt driving in into one of the wash outs.
We found out we are not very good at road hunting, however we made friends with some new farmers and have lined up some additional grounds for next year.
I think the crop situation looks to be about 45 days delayed and doesn't look good for harvesting this year. some of surrounding fields didn't get harvested from last year. The real good news is the birds are there in good numbers, we saw several hundred. Our group saw over 100,000 waterfowl in the stock tanks and fields.
this year will probably go down as one of the worst years but I think future years will benefit from the conditions
We found out we are not very good at road hunting, however we made friends with some new farmers and have lined up some additional grounds for next year.
I think the crop situation looks to be about 45 days delayed and doesn't look good for harvesting this year. some of surrounding fields didn't get harvested from last year. The real good news is the birds are there in good numbers, we saw several hundred. Our group saw over 100,000 waterfowl in the stock tanks and fields.
this year will probably go down as one of the worst years but I think future years will benefit from the conditions
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I disagree.The farmer in the bar, is not going to invite people out.That being said, this is an informative post.
I've gained hunting permission a time or two in a bar. In fact, did it last year the night before the Kansas Opener.
jackrabbit
Active member
I, and several different hunting friends have all gained access from talking with locals while at a cafe, restaurant, or bar. Is a landowner going to come up to a group of 10 in the first 2 weeks of the season and offer them land for free? No.
But if you are by yourself or with one other person, act polite, and engage in small talk, often times later in the season, then yes it is very possible. You can build relationships that may not lend to hunting on that trip, but down the road it will. I have gained pheasant access by having a conversation about prairie dogs, because I was more so just curious in them and not interested in hunting them. Which led to, "come out to my place whenever and help us get rid of them." Which led to us being respectful of their land, which in turn led to access to their pheasant land in a few years.
I've never straight up asked someone if they have land. It is usually the local that asks how my trip is going, and then you are polite, which leads to them being polite, and sometimes offering a tiny bit of land they have to you. Whether it is a small slough, shelter belt, 2 acre patch of wetland they couldn't plant on, etc. I even tell them things like, if you'd like, "I will pass on the first Rooster I see. Or I will only take 1, and be on my way." And while I am dead serious in saying that to them, they usually take that as you being respectful and then the landowner is even nicer..
All these tactics work MUCH better late season and for solo hunters though.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
a guy I know has gotten on land by saying it this way--"do you have any land that is so rough you wouldn't put a goat in there?" they of course know he is a pheasant hunter, and asking permission that way...
Firemens feed was always a blast. That place downtown still sell Kuchen and the best Rhubarb pie ever? Birds will be back, might take a few years. Good diverse habitat in the area.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
One time in a bar, in the soux res. A drunk ice fishèrman from evergreen, told us about a place on the milk, that has been great for 20 years!! There was only 2 of us then, and i usually hunt solo, but this was one of the few times we got on a really good place, through a bar. What i do, is knock on doors, during the season.I drive an old ford f100, or an 83 bronco, both original.I usually wear a sweatshirt, and i don't look like a hunter.I get on some good land, when i'm hunting solo.I don't approach guys in the bar, but i know they all have ground.You have to have a knack, for getting permission.It's an art...
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Back when it was relatively easy to just knock on doors & get permission (mostly because it was easier to determine who the heck owned the land), we'd typically break the ice with, "Well, you probably guessed I'm not here selling Avon." And we'd always wear an orange hat to the door. Worked fairly well, especially late in the season. If the land owner didn't seem overly busy, we'd stop back after hunting to thank them again & offer to bring a cleaned bird or 2 out the next time we were in the area (likely the next weekend). People who let me hunt regularly became actual friends. They got special treatment, although I'm quite certain none of them expected it. Early season was a different story. Most land owners were either "saving it until after deer season" or "saving it for my son-in-law who hunts". My days of getting permission to hunt were before I had a family & had plenty of spare time (and it takes beaucoup time). I no longer have that time, nor the desire to put up with the frustration. These days, I only have to drive 40-80 minutes to be in the vicinity of several good public/walk-in areas for the day, & I'm successful enough that public land is good enough for me (as long as it's available). Haven't paid to hunt yet & hope I never have to. (taxes & donations to conservation organizations notwithstanding)
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I never wear orange, unless I have to.What I do, is play the poor rube, and it works.Tennis shoes, jeans, sweatshirt, twins hat, and a 6 pack of pbr. I never pay to hunt, although my dad did 3 times in south dak. These places thar charge 400 dollars a day, are a rip off.I can hunt every day for a month, on 400 dollars!!
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
I lived in a college town & I think nearby landowners got a lot of kids (looking like poor rubes) who violated "safe zone" & trespassing rules regularly (although sometimes the guys who do that look like they're straight out of an Orvis catalog). But I'm pretty sure that the "responsible sportsman" look worked better than "poor rube" would have in my case.
BeirlSetters
Member
Just returned from a long weekend in SD. Finished off some house work prepping for Late Nov trip. But did manage to get out and hunt and see how it would size up for the next trip. First of all just like I seen in July when I was out minimal crops and lots of open fields everywhere. I have some areas that I have hunted for years that have absolutely no crops. I figure my next trip out will consist of hunting the few honey holes that are left and branching out to find some new ground again. Which honestly will be a good thing.... Second is the amount of water I don't know if I have seen this much standing water in all my years hunting in SD. I know one thing if I was a duck hunter still I could have a field day with the amount of ducks we seen this past weekend.
Regarding the pheasant hunting, it was tough going- weather, wind and low numbers. I am happy I have good dogs because it made all the difference in the world. We were able to find a few roosters to take home but once again we worked for every bird we shot. The cover is absolutely unreal this year with some of it being 5' to 6' tall. You actually can completely loose sight of the dogs in front of you due to the cover.
Overall the hunting was ok. I haven't hunted this early in the year for probably 10 years. I would say though the bird numbers are low compared to past years. I know the crops are coming out now so hopefully once the corn is down we see some better numbers. I know my next trip will a ton of miles on the boots due to conditions to get the dogs into birds. But as always the dogs and I are up to the challenge.....
Regarding the pheasant hunting, it was tough going- weather, wind and low numbers. I am happy I have good dogs because it made all the difference in the world. We were able to find a few roosters to take home but once again we worked for every bird we shot. The cover is absolutely unreal this year with some of it being 5' to 6' tall. You actually can completely loose sight of the dogs in front of you due to the cover.
Overall the hunting was ok. I haven't hunted this early in the year for probably 10 years. I would say though the bird numbers are low compared to past years. I know the crops are coming out now so hopefully once the corn is down we see some better numbers. I know my next trip will a ton of miles on the boots due to conditions to get the dogs into birds. But as always the dogs and I are up to the challenge.....