Private land?

G

gfo

New member
Making our first trip out to South Dakota (Huron) in a few weeks. I live for public land birds, but want to make sure my 2 fellow hunters joining me have a good time and so ideally I'd have some private land as a backup. Especially if we find that sage and Ace have found all the roosters already...

Couple questions.

Is pay-to-play the primary way to gain access to decent private land? Would we be turned away if we knocked on a farmer's door with a couple $100 bills? If only pay to play, what would be a resource to find these places besides having to peruse Facebook groups?

I don't want anyone's secret spots and we do not want to hunt flare nares. Also FYI, I'll be decked out in my sitka gear in case I run into goose.

Any advice is appreciated!!
 
I met a guy out there in the bar my first trip to SD and it was Huron too. After sucking down some cold suds with this guy for a few hours, he told me to call him the next afternoon and he'd let me hunt his spot. I had been struggling. Then he told me, "you could go and knock on people's doors, but to be honest, most of them will tell you no. "

Nice guy named Kevin. He had a lot of funny stories. Yes I had a bunch of brews, but didn't have to drive. I walked from the hotel.
 
Bob Peters said:
I met a guy out there in the bar my first trip to SD and it was Huron too. After sucking down some cold suds with this guy for a few hours, he told me to call him the next afternoon and he'd let me hunt his spot. I had been struggling. Then he told me, "you could go and knock on people's doors, but to be honest, most of them will tell you no. "

Nice guy named Kevin. He had a lot of funny stories. Yes I had a bunch of brews, but didn't have to drive. I walked from the hotel.
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A lit of them charge over 100 dollars for 1 guy.yeah that's what hunting has come to.sad
 
If your in decent shape and have a dog you will be fine on public. East river deer season opens 11-23 I believe so keep that in mind.
 
chad.vis said:
If your in decent shape and have a dog you will be fine on public. East river deer season opens 11-23 I believe so keep that in mind.
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Yeah made the decision to give it a go during deer season regardless. If the weekend is busy we'll go west River.
 
Brentbullets said:
Please DO NOT have $100 bills in your hand!

Depending on time of year and weather you should be able to get on some private ground without paying.
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Last week in eastern MT we did some plumbing for the land owner. We were visiting with her and she told us about her problems with getting new countertops. When they came to install them something was wrong and they took them back and left her with no kitchen sink. The water shutoff valves leaked to much to leave the water turned on, so they left her without water because they don’t do any plumbing other than hooking up to the shutoff valve. The local town plumber died so she was in a fix. The pipes were copper and I didn’t want to get involved but I figured I couldn’t make it any worse she already didn’t have water. Found matching valves at the hardware store and that was a good gift because I had to reuse one of the valves compression nuts over, because I couldn’t get the old one off.
 
With 3 guys, you might have a better shot at handshake access vs. bigger groups. I look for smaller cover - grass waterways and small sloughs in cut cornfields are some of my favorites. Stuff that might not draw a lot of attention from bigger groups.
 
It's been years since I did much door knocking. My time is much better spent actually hunting, than driving around wishing the land owner lived somewhere in the state. But success did increase after deer season. Most landowners don't let anyone on it until their son-in-law has shot his deer. Same story every time. That said, although Ace & I continue to have a great season, we rarely hunt within 35-40 miles of Huron. I can't speak for Sage & her whereabouts. To wet your whistle, here's Ace yesterday about 46 miles from downtown Huron (southeast😉). Hope your trip comes together & is a great one!
20241103_170546.jpg
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
It's been years since I did much door knocking. My time is much better spent actually hunting, than driving around wishing the land owner lived somewhere in the state. But success did increase after deer season. Most landowners don't let anyone on it until their son-in-law has shot his deer. Same story every time. That said, although Ace & I continue to have a great season, we rarely hunt within 35-40 miles of Huron. I can't speak for Sage & her whereabouts. To wet your whistle, here's Ace yesterday about 46 miles from downtown Huron (southeast😉). Hope your trip comes together & is a great one!
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I still knock on some doors, but finding people home is difficult,and gaining free access is not that easy .
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
It's been years since I did much door knocking. My time is much better spent actually hunting, than driving around wishing the land owner lived somewhere in the state. But success did increase after deer season. Most landowners don't let anyone on it until their son-in-law has shot his deer. Same story every time. That said, although Ace & I continue to have a great season, we rarely hunt within 35-40 miles of Huron. I can't speak for Sage & her whereabouts. To wet your whistle, here's Ace yesterday about 46 miles from downtown Huron (southeast😉). Hope your trip comes together & is a great one!
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On the other hand. We have been going to the Dakotas for over 30 years. If you can add a new connection very other year you end up with a lot of connections. We no longer hunt public.
 
The first problem you have gaining access to private land is identifying the owner, then actually contacting them. Most farms and ranches are owned by someone who does not live on site. OnX will tell you where the property tax payer address is, but often it is of no help. Even if you know the owner's name you won't have his cell phone number, so calling won't be an option either.

If your backup plan to public land is to knock on a few doors and buy your way onto property you have an interest in hunting you are most likely going to come home disappointed. I hunt the Dakotas a lot and work very hard to find landowners and get access. Those that allow pay to hunt usually are booked in advance. They won't take walk ons. If they are reputable they want to control how hard the land gets hunted.

I really don't understand the frequent complaints about having to pay for access. There seems to be a large number of hunters that think they deserve access to private land. Why would someone allow total strangers to wander around on their own with shotguns on the property?

My advice is to try and find access before heading out and be prepared to pay. I would also ask how often the ground gets hunted and if the landowner is stocking it with pen raised birds. If it is hunted every week it is almost guaranteed to hold planted birds. If that's the case, are you better off just going to a local game preserve and pay per bird.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
My time is much better spent actually hunting
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That's why I ask for permission before the season. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts.

I think a lot more people could gain access to private land if they were willing to put in more windshield time knocking on doors. And if they offered to only go in there after deer season, that would help too.
 
gimruis said:
That's why I ask for permission before the season. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts.

I think a lot more people could gain access to private land if they were willing to put in more windshield time knocking on doors. And if they offered to only go in there after deer season, that would help too.
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Good points. I get that I'm maybe a little bit of an anomaly, but I hunt enough in fall/winter that my time in the summer has to be dedicated to other things. Doesn't matter what time of year it is. It still takes just as much time to track down the actual farmer, only to find out he just rents it, doesn't have authority to give permission, & the actual owner lives in Arizona & won't take phone calls. OnX Hunt helps a little. Between that & Google, you can figure out how to track down SOME landowners, but even that is futile much of the time, at least where decent pheasant ground in SD is concerned. I'm blessed that within about an hour, I can be at any one of 50 public spots, most of which are just as good as the next at various times. I've figured out how to make it convenient & productive.
 
Notwrking said:
The first problem you have gaining access to private land is identifying the owner, then actually contacting them. Most farms and ranches are owned by someone who does not live on site. OnX will tell you where the property tax payer address is, but often it is of no help. Even if you know the owner's name you won't have his cell phone number, so calling won't be an option either.

If your backup plan to public land is to knock on a few doors and buy your way onto property you have an interest in hunting you are most likely going to come home disappointed. I hunt the Dakotas a lot and work very hard to find landowners and get access. Those that allow pay to hunt usually are booked in advance. They won't take walk ons. If they are reputable they want to control how hard the land gets hunted.

I really don't understand the frequent complaints about having to pay for access. There seems to be a large number of hunters that think they deserve access to private land. Why would someone allow total strangers to wander around on their own with shotguns on the property?

My advice is to try and find access before heading out and be prepared to pay. I would also ask how often the ground gets hunted and if the landowner is stocking it with pen raised birds. If it is hunted every week it is almost guaranteed to hold planted birds. If that's the case, are you better off just going to a local game preserve and pay per bird.
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I disagree with you.Dont pay.Give them a dozen apples instead.
 
some tips I picked up on knocking on doors, show up in 1 vehicle, send only 1 guy to the door, if the landowner wants to know who is hunting, by all means introduce your friends after, and if you get permission, be sure you get clear info on where you can hunt on the property. I've burned myself a long time ago when I just assumed anything they own is a free for all, only to get chewed out later and probably ruining it for others in the future.

late season is easier to gain access. Heck our cousin who farms a few hundred acres about 60 miles south of Huron has some great habitat and after driving by it, I would feel intimidated and think to myself, "no way I'll get permission, its managed for hunting for family/friends", but he told us he gave some guy from the cities permission last winter. I wouldn't think its impossible to gain permission, but I wouldnt spend all day doing it, perhaps between that 8-10am period.
 
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