Section line roads.

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
I know this one comes up a lot. And I know I read the description in the rule book. Does it's have to have a street sign? Sometimes it looks like it's just a driveway to a house or farm sheds. I've never been stuck before and I don't like to think of myself as a ya-hoo. One year there was a good looking walk in, but there was a semi- sized cattle trailer parked in the middle of the road. I've run into more than a few times wanting to get to a public spot and the road looks so sketchy I don't go. Any advice or personal experience appreciated. I always want to be the guy that gives hunters a good name.
 
My understanding is that if there's some sort of worn trail on a section line that's not fenced off & isn't, in fact, a driveway to a farm place, then it's permissible to drive on &/or hunt per the regs. It doesn't have to have a sign.

Some of the public places I hunt, I somewhat rely on crappy/iffy looking trails to "scare" people off because they're not sure, for one reason or another, if they should drive on it.
 
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A5 Sweet 16 said:
My understanding is that if there's some sort of worn trail on a section line that's not fenced off & isn't, in fact, a driveway to a farm place, then it's permissible to drive on &/or hunt per the regs. It doesn't have to have a sign.
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Yep, but some of these yahoo's will hassle you.Some farmer blocked a road I use to get to this public place, and I'm pissed!@
 
No street sign needed, just has to be an "improved" roadway. SD DOT has put up the green road signs nearly everywhere but some get pulled due to issues with the road approach and getting combine heads past them or wash-outs. The green signs also went up at cross-roads where there is no "improved" roadway so you can take them as marking public right of way.

Property taxes do pay for the county to maintain them so if there is fence on either side of 66 feet at the half-mile mark, they are open to hunting 99% of the time. Landowners can legally abandon the right of way easement and it reverts back to private property. At that point it's up to the landowner to post it as private or no hunting if they are going to maintain the roadway to avoid confusion. Even if it goes down to outbuildings, it is still public right of way- you just stop shooting 220 yards out. Driveways to houses are 99% of the time gravel and have a mailbox but no stop sign. Gravel with a stop sign is a county road. Just a single fence at the half mile mark, with or without a two wheel track is a no-go. Any that look soft in a wet year should be avoided whether you can make it or not- willfully tearing it up is same public destruction of property and running over a sign or guard rail as well as pissing of the landowner who needs it for harvest.

Blocking a section line for anything but temporary moving of cattle or field operation is a big no-no. An SD guide for a lodge posted them as private for land they had hunting leases for both the sections and regular county roads and harrased hunters going around their signs. This was second offense for hunter harassment and he got 4 years jail.

For hunting ditches, I chose the better maintained ones first as they have likely had more gravel applied that is available so they attract more birds in between feeding and heading to roost. That also means more likely to be crops and not hay due to the heavier equiment going down them.
 
Section lines may or may not have signs. Usually, the signs are placed on gravel roads, maintained by state or the county, with the main purpose of providing First Responders a quick and safe way to find the incident site, (i.e. 1/2 mile west of 301st and 196th avenue intersection vs 2 miles north of the lone tree).
Section lines not maintained by the Govt. rarely have a sign but are open to hunting if there is a visible trail (think 2 track road, with vegetation gone and dirt in the tracks.
Section lines with no trail delineating the right of way might be open to travel or the right of way may have been vacated (now private property) both closed to hunting.
Roads coming off and between section lines, are likely private and maintained by the owner. Landowners are not required to post the roads closed. South Dakota trespass laws say it is up to the hunter to know if it is legal to be there.
 
BigRand said:
You can always walk down them as well to get somewhere. I do this quite a bit after the snow flies. It surprises me how 90% of people will not walk a mile or half mile down a snowy section line to get to good hunting.
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We hunt a place that is a solid half-mile off the road. It is an absolute honey hole that holds birds like crazy, but no one goes there because of the walk to get there.
 
along these lines, how do you get a Walk In Atlas Book?

the contact number they list is automated, the request list of printed booklets is a dead end as well??
they never mail them out? guess they don't want to sell licenses?
 
I requested a pheasant packet last year and a friend did as well and received them. I requested one a few weeks ago and haven't received one. I'd like a paper atlas. I filled out the form on their site like I did last year.
 
akp said:
I requested a pheasant packet last year and a friend did as well and received them. I requested one a few weeks ago and haven't received one. I'd like a paper atlas. I filled out the form on their site like I did last year.
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i did the same, requested a packet and an atlas, 3 weeks ago. last year got nothing.
 
OnX is really accurate for SD. At least that is my one experience. I do like looking at the atlas though!
 
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