It's not what you assume it is. Half the time we are on two-rut section lines hunting the fence lines next to shallow ditches. These are county maintained right of ways that divide up the square mile fields into quarters. They are public access but not graded gavel roads that nobody but the farmer travels down. The other half is on gravel roads since the paved roads normally have mowed ditches and very little gravel so the birds don't hang around there. Locals are traveling the gravel to the nearest paved road and we are back away from those most often 2-10 miles where houses are miles apart so the traffic is non-existent. Over 6 hours and 50 miles of driving each day we maybe see 1 car an hour, if that. The last hour of the day might get a little more busy with locals coming out to road hunt but we are driving around too instead of walking ditches at that time so it doesn't much matter. This isn't the I-90 corridor but is prime hunting area around Redfield.
It's empty and quiet, all to yourself and unlikely been touched in between you being there. You go into a public walk in area and you start hunting the fence line edges most often there too. If these areas had been mowed into strips you think you died and are walking elysian fields. Why would you look at two available fences rows to hunt 33 feet apart with a blocking strip down the middle next to crop fields and turn your nose up at it just because the strip is gravel? It's all the advantages of private ground but without the cost or time spent getting access. The one frustration is the slough just on the other side of the fence that you know has birds but is off limits. But more often then not you can stop at the next farm house, explain you are road hunting and would like to jump the fence just for the slough and take off. Much easier prospect getting approval sometime than asking to walk miles into there land all day long.
Yes, a dog makes the hunt so much more productive and fun but if you end up in a situation without one, you can still have all the action and success you could hope for in SD once you figure out how to put yourself in an area with a lot of birds and then choose the best habitat. If you are new to this site or the sport it would be very easy to come away with the impression that behind a dog is the only viable or enjoyable hunt possible which just isn't true. That type of hunter just happens to be more dedicated to the sport an thus also post here more often. There is the frustration of having stone dead birds in the air come alive and take off running faster than you can get to them. But then there is also the satisfaction of working the bushes like a detective, watching for a spot of blood, finding your shotwad to confirm where you were shooting, finding a feather and estimating wind drift. Learning the tricks of them hiding under a cornstalk, clump of grass, down a badge hole or in a culvert. Self retrieve is an acquired hunting skill all to itself. It certainly motivates you to stand up and shoot straight without the fallback of the dog to chase down your missed/crippling shots.
