Trip to Aberdeen area.

M

MAJTSHR06

Member
Hi coming out to SD from PA for a Pheasant and Duck hunt in mid November. Their will be five to eight of us. We plan to hunt hare all day for the few days that we are their. I was wondering what other types of game we may encounter on the trip, bobwhite sharp tails, prairie chickens, etc and if any of them are plentiful in the area? Also we will be bringing our dogs does anyone know of anything that we would need to be concerned about in this area. They will be up to date on all their shots.
 
You can find sharptail in the general area. I have shot a few over the years but have never seen enough I felt compelled to target them specifically.

No Bobwhites.

No Prairie Chicken.

That area is considered in the range for Hungarian Partridge although I have never encountered one on any of the WIA's, GPA's or WPA's.

DB
 
Aberdeen hunting

PA to SD...long trip! Would assume you have established places to hunt before the long journey. I can't imagine traveling that distance without checking suitable places to hunt i.e. reservations.

This area experienced heavy snowfall and rains; there is water everywhere and has affected the pheasant population - down 62% from last year.

SD requires you to have proof of shots, although I have never been checked.

Good Luck with your trip et al.

Jon
 
I assume you have your SD waterfowl license as these are drawn in a lottery for non-residents and the drawing was in June. You can find some sharptails once you get 50+ miles west and northwest of Aberdeen. Sharpies usually don't inhabit the same cover as pheasants. I tend to find them more in pastures where the cover is lighter. Huns, I can't remember the last time I saw a Hun in this area. Very few and far between. And no chickens or quail around here either.
 
Yea we already recieved our waterfowl lisences, was just curious as to what else might be out their that we might run across. I've seen that the phesant numbers have been down dramatically but seeing as how their are no wild pheasants in Pa. We still expect to have a better go at it than at home where we basically hunt stocked chickens. Hoping the waterfowl picks up some slack also. Either way it will be nice just to get to a new hunting area and see what it's like out their, and give the dogs a run. thanks for the info.
 
Aberdeen will have phenomenal waterfowl hunting this year. I am considering taking it up again after not doing it for 10 years beacuse there are so many ducks and geese around the area. Pheasants are down but you should have no problem getting your limit every day. GFP says counts are down, that probly just means you will have to work an hour or two longer to get your limit, I have also heard about a late hatch, people say they see chicks in the ditches as late as last week and they didn't look like they could barely fly but I haven't actually seen it myself. Anyway if there's anything else you'd like to know just give me a holler, it's my hometown. Good luck and thanks for picking Aberdeen!
 
Well seeing that this is your hometown you would be the guy that i would be very interested in getting information from. We have reservations to stay at mina lake campeground. We will be arriving their around one o clock in the afternoon on a wednesday, after a 20hr drive from PA. We would like to hunt the evening of that day close to the campgrounds, Primairly for Pheasant but also ducks if possible, not all of our party have nr waterfowl lisences. We want to hunt public land and were looking on the map at a place sluth west of the camp or a little the the east of aberdeen, I dont have the map at the current time but i remember the plots were green, maybe walk in only or waterfowl something i cant remember. Do you have any thoughts about either of those areas or any other suggestions. Thanks for replying and the info.
 
We had nice luck last year road hunting through the Aberdeen area; stopped in several spots and walked the ditches putting up enough birds to land our limit for the day prior to hitting our Gettysburg, SD hotel. Best luck was walking ditches were active corn harvesting was taking place.
 
Hopefully in mid-november all crops are gone which will help a ton. Public land does get used quite a bit but hopefully a month after opener people leave it alone so birds get back in there for you. I think the best advice I can give is to head away from public land that is closest to Aberdeen as this gets used the most, not that there arent any birds there, just that it sees a lot of traffic. I would head south west or north west as this area does not see near as much traffic. It's amazing what a 30-40 minute drive will do when looking for birds and don't be afraid to road hunt on the way to those spots. Also if you have a gps, SD game fish and parks website has an app for public land that shows you where everything is, I found it to be extremely handy.
 
There are places closer to and even east of aberdeen that have sharptails--but they aren't generally common--and I won't give them up....:)

Much better off going west if you want steadier sharptail action.

Saw a small flock of huns near Groton 5 years ago or so, and think (in the past at least) they have been a tad more common even further east near the border --but that's the only birds I've seen in a number of years hunting that part of the state.
 
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