Planning first trip

N

nkhrfh

Member
Headed into my second year of wild pheasant hunting. Two of us with 4 dogs, labs, are planning a 2016 trip to SD. We will be trying public land. Looking at Aberdeen/Redfield area. My main question is do we book a hotel/motel in one of those towns/cities or look on the outskirt for somewhere to stay?

More interested in hunt, eat , sleep, repeat. We are used to scouting and driving up to 1.5 hours to get to spot and then log the miles working the areas. Signed up to get the Atlas. I have been stalking the forum and am open to any advice.

Thanks,

Bob
 
I would attempt to get as far away from larger towns due to the fact that they usually have more hotels/motels and thus have more hunters. Should give you less of a drive to places you want to hunt each day as well as getting to experience small town hospitality which in most towns is great. Biggest thing I try to do every year is find a spot away from the big towns where most people won't even bother to drive to. In the last five years since college I have developed quite a lost of nice spots that in any given year have produced wonderful bird hunting with almost zero pressure from other hunters.
 
Learning Curve

It is not imperative to get everything set. I guess as a newbie I need to know the steps to take to lead to picking a good area to go. I would rather do as BigRand and work a bit harder to avoid the crowds. Definitely prefer a small town.

Thanks all, big learning curve.
 
I would chat with Chris UGUIDE he could really be of some help for a first timer to SD... You can send him a PM.
 
General observations from my own experience and that of others from this season: better bird #'s the closer you get to the river, worse bird #'s further East you go. Probably tougher to get on land the further South you go along the river, such as Chamberlain, perhaps easier further North, maybe around Mobridge. I understand areas around Aberdeen were not that great this year, nor was Huron, Mitchell was OK, heard Redfield was down from prior year (always exceptions, of course). Way NW may have been a bit of a surprise. I would wait for GFP survey to come out. Pierre to Mobridge, 30 miles either side of the river, may be a decent starting point to consider. Good luck!
 
If hunting is more important than the night life I would hunt out of Leola, Eureka, Hoven, Bowdle, Roscoe, Mobridge, and there are many others. I too would stay away from Aberdeen. Not because there are no birds its just the amount of people that hit the public land. Good luck
 
I would suggest making your hotel/motel reservations now for an area your interested in. If you find something different you can always cancel but at least you will have the peace of mind knowing you have something......plus they may fill-up for the time period you wanted to go. When I get home from my SD trip I usually check for the best rate and make my reservation for the next year. I usually base out of Aberdeen but usually drive up to 1.5 hrs each morning to hunting spots......hunting doesn't start until 10:00am so I actually enjoy scouting around and enjoying the scenery on each mornings drive.
 
school and public area

Used the search function and not much. Planning and looking at atlas. Are the school and public lands marked with signage? From what little I can get from previous posts is that it is hit or miss but looking in to. Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
nkhrfh said:
Used the search function and not much. Planning and looking at atlas. Are the school and public lands marked with signage? From what little I can get from previous posts is that it is hit or miss but looking in to. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

http://www.uguidesdpheasants.com/rates/

Look over the entire web pages.. It will have rates for hunting/lodging. DIY hunting with private land to hunt and a place to sleep. It will get you started. If you message Chris I am sure he can answer all your questions or point you in a direction you are wanting to go.
 
nkhrfh said:
Used the search function and not much. Planning and looking at atlas. Are the school and public lands marked with signage? From what little I can get from previous posts is that it is hit or miss but looking in to. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The school land is not marked and is usually season long grazed so its not very good for pheasant hunting. School and public lands own land to raise money for the school systems and not to raise wildlife. They do not have an incentive to manage their land for wildlife so its generally not that good.
 
nkhrfh said:
Used the search function and not much. Planning and looking at atlas. Are the school and public lands marked with signage? From what little I can get from previous posts is that it is hit or miss but looking in to. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't even bother hunting School land ,it's always scrap land! I think we only pushed one rooster off one.
 
school land

Thanks for the input so we don't waste our time. Helps me focus in on a different range so we can scout and then hunt .
 
my two cents

Recent years opening weekend has been tough due to most corn fields not being harvested, and most corn fields are huge so a two man team really can't hunt them except maybe the edges. So that leaves you the CRP and slough bottoms which are good options. Also opening weekend is a big hunting weekend with lots of hunters.

If you only get one trip a season, my suggestion is the Veterans Day weekend in November. By then most of the corn is harvested which puts pressure on the pheasants to be in the thicker cover. If it's a wet Fall corn will still be standing in the low areas which become great honey holes.

Weather in early November over the past few years has been nice and even if there is a little snow the hunting can be fantastic.

Plus if you haven't seen the waterfowl migration through South Dakota its a really good time in early November.

Just my two cents.

sdviking
 
Thanks SD Viking. I would have to be back in IN by the 14th as my wife has to travel for work. Would that first week leading into that Friday 11/11 and Saturday 11/12 be good? That would put me back in time.

Thanks
 
Mid December

Throwing a wrinkle in things, Mid December seems what will work for us our first trip. How does this change things in SD? Locally the birds burrow deeper in cover under the snow and the dogs have to work slower and harder and we look or that quick 180!

Any advice?

And thanks for all the forum and PM advice.
 
Nov

nkhrfh said:
Thanks SD Viking. I would have to be back in IN by the 14th as my wife has to travel for work. Would that first week leading into that Friday 11/11 and Saturday 11/12 be good? That would put me back in time.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That should work, I would just start watching the forecast on ACCU Weather for SD they usually go 30 days out and plan according to the weather. Don't get me wrong South Dakota Hunting is fantastic. But if your hunting private or public land it's always better after the corn is out or almost out. Others may disagree. Also seems like the dogs do a lot better once it cools down some. Opening day the last few years have been rather warm.

I would let you hunt our place but the active duty brother returns from overseas and I want him to have a very good return hunting adventure after being gone from hunting for a while. SDVIKING
 
we are gonna be showing up on the Friday the 11th. we went opening weekend 2 years ago, and the corn was all still in the fields, we killed a decent amount of birds, but it was boring just pushing corn fields.

hoping to fill our limits of ducks as well
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top