SD Public Land Poll

[A5 Sweet 16]

Just curious here.....
What percentage of the pheasant hunting you do in SD is on land w/ public access?? (GPA, WPA, WIA, CREP, CHAP, ditches, etc.)
I'm at about 98%.

Update: (after about 1 week) I asked the same question on a pheasant hunting facebook page. The answers on each page were pretty similar. Out of 60 responses:
47% said 100%.
67% said at least 90%.
82% said at least 50%.
The median was 98%.
The average was 77%.
I was just curious.
Basically, I'm going to presume from now on, unless I'm told otherwise, that about 3/4 of your South Dakota pheasant hunting is done on public land.
Seems fair for people who visit this page.

 

[BigRand]

Around 90 to 95 percent on public. Depends on when the in laws and friends are done with harvest and what they invite me to hunt.

 

[Gettin Birdy]

5% or less, almost all private.

 

[Miforester]

100%

 

[Alaskan swamp collies]

In South Dakota it is 100%, in other states in the pheasant range it is 98%. Only in Mt and ND do I hunt some private.

 

[dakotasj]

It varies somewhat year to year, but probably 50% of my hunting time is on public. Several of the private farms I have permission to hunt are smaller tracts, less than a quarter section typically, but generally produce more birds. Couple of them are less than 15 acres.

 

[randywatson]

50% public 50% private. The private ground we hunt is 1 day at end of october and 2 days beginning of December.

public ground can vary from year to year with farmers being able to hay the ground etc. So it's always a crap shoot on some of the ground.
we see far fewer birds on public ground. i always look at my steps taken at the end of each day. I easily walk twice as far on public ground than private. Dogs are way more tired too.

 

[jmuller19]

Almost 100% of my pheasant hunting is done on public lands in SD.

 

[Matt D]

Close to 100% of our hunting is on private ground.

 

[labrador]

If hunting alone almost all is public. When hunting with others it's almost all private. One guy (that can shoot) and a good dog can still limit quite regularly on SD public, even in the NE corner.

 

[benelli-banger]

5-10%....

 

[Chip]

0%

 

[Hockeybob]

0% on Public. Been to that rodeo before.

 

[5 stand]

I hunt public 7 out of 10 days.
So 70%.

 

[Downtown Bang!]

100%. Don't see the cost/benefit to working on private access. Do just fine on public....

 

[blackstorm]

20-25% public, mostly road hunting if we don't find birds on our fields in the morning

 

[Birdybird]

10% but it could be a lot more. Our area has some prime and remote public land that doesn’t seem to be hammered too hard.

 

[Mill Creek]

50%. I come up twice. Uguide camp with a group of 10, and 3-4 days public with my son.

 

[3car]

100%

 

[jalinkly]

Nonresident. 100% public.