Wasting time in South Dakota

I live in Sioux Falls and hunt exclusively Waterfowl Production Areas, Game Production Areas, Walk-In Areas & CREP. I never drive more than about 75 miles from my house to hunt - usually less than an hour. I have literally dozens of places to choose from & rarely have competition. Most of them have premium habitat, and they all have at least a few birds. Yes, some get tilled or grazed occasionally, but that's land management. They bounce back - usually better. Yes, some good walk-in areas have reverted back to pasture or crop production recently, and that's frustrating. But there's no shortage of places to hunt (for me, anyway). I will say this. I hunt pheasants....a lot....and usually pretty successfully. I feel like I know them better than most, but even yesterday, a couple outsmarted me big time. But I talk to quite a few people who are utterly baffled because they hunt the same places (public or private), same time of day, same way, year after year, and sometimes they're great & sometimes "there aren't any birds around". Yes, winter & spring conditions could've affected them. But in my opinion, they're not paying enough attention to the current weather or the adjacent land conditions. It's more than just, "Is the corn out yet?" Not to mention, the way they hunt. Vehicle parking areas too often dictate how guys hunt a spot. Not only might that not fit the weather and other conditions very well, but it doesn't take a rooster very long to figure out that trouble usually comes from THAT way. Mix it up. And be...QUIET! 5 guys yelling "Rooster" at the top of their lungs is great for video & places with tons of birds, but public land birds will make you pay for it. My dogs are VERY experienced pheasant dogs, but I've found they can hunt equally well (or pretty much) regardless of wind direction. More than anything, hunting into the breeze, or just hunting in high wind period, covers up noise. Long story short, I think public hunting in SD is great. The birds are usually around - just maybe not exactly where you want them to be. Habitat, hunting pressure, the State, and farmers frequently end up getting blamed.
 
hmmm

Well the small township road we live on has a 2 mile stretch of pretty good pheasant habitat on both sides of the road. I have yet to drive down the road without seeing a pheasant, some days we see as many as 60. Every weekend we have road hunters drive by every 15 to 20 minutes looking for birds. Quite the dust cloud all weekend long, and many of those road hunters stop and at least shoot a couple shots. sdviking
 
ranchodeluxe said:
A lot of WIA are managed for big game as much as anything. I have found that you have no idea what is in them, even the ones you can see, from the road, have "nothing" in them. In dry years, they may get grazed, hayed, etc., but many still hold good cover. One of my friends takes 150-160 class whitetails from WIAs, every year. He loves the ones that look bleak because most people will drive right by, leaving it to him. He pulls a rabbit out of the hat, every year.
Yesterday, I walked in to check my cameras, in a spot like the poster above mentioned, Walk-in area, dry drainages, cut and baled hay. I left the dogs in the truck so I could get in and out quietly. I started down a bleak looking little draw, got to some buffalo berry thickets, several nice roosters came out. I don't see anyone pheasant hunting there, yet it would have been worth it. I walked the drainage to a little dam on the North Dakota side where I have a cam, just for curiosity, just to see what kind of tracks were around. Lots of pheasant tracks, lots of deer tracks, tons of coon tracks. The place is crawling with wildlife, even saw some Huns on the way out. It was a fun break from my suddenly cold pheasant shooting. There are no crop fields for a section in any direction.
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I totally agree I have walked spots that look like nothing or just have a small slew or draw in it and it's amazing how it can hold birds. I was just stating that some of the WIA land is less than ideal for bird hunting but most of it has good if not great cover.
 
Made my first trip to hunt SD last week. We found ample state land and quite a few birds. We were impressed for our first trip.
 
It's funny that in your first post you said "unless you like to bust cattails stay home" because that's where we found every bird we shot on public land. Its just over 1,600 miles from my house out there, we did 4,000 miles total and I'd leave right now to do it again if I could. I never did mind busting cattails and neither do my dogs.:cheers:
 
SD is awesome, the people, birds, land, there is a lot more public land than the WIA's.
 
Land and hunting sucks

Just got back from the very area you just hunted. Shot my limit
every day, one morning in 40 minutes. Sssshhhhh, got to be quiet and sneak up on them. Pretend you're bowhunting whitetails. Go by yourself or with one other person. Teach your dog sign language. Don't slam the
bolt home on your auto. Zigzag mosey hunt with a stop every couple minutes.Don't say a word. Gun noise doesn't bother them; human noise and they are in the next county. Hunt hard in wet windy weather. I'm a novice upland hunter with a goofball dog, but I was an avid bowhunter for 40 years. I never experienced crazy bird numbers of the past, so its all I know.
 
Toughest year yet

I've hunted SD for 30 years and drive over 3,000 miles round trip. This was the toughest yet. Very few birds in good cover, too much corn standing, hot as the opener but this was the first week in November. Did not see hardly any other hunters.
 
No hunt in SD is waste of time

We had a hard go of it this past week but still got into birds and had plenty of opportunities! It was HOT and DRY! Not ideal conditions but there is ow changing plans just because of weather.

Hunted in t-shirt everyday! Corn was still coming down but expect it all to be out very soon!

Still, there is nothing like going to SD and hunting with friends and watching the dogs do their magic! I couldn't imagine a better vacation with old friends!

:cheers:
 
guyndog said:
If you drive 300 miles for no birds you either aren't too savvy or you like driving better than hunting.
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I drove 300 miles to check my cameras, because I intend to lay down a very large public land whitetail. Is that OK with you?

Besides, I limited three days in a row before that and you can only possess 15 birds, and that means in the freezer, as well as in the truck.
 
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Many just don't get the point

Many just don't understand what I said and got off the subject for your own agendas. If you want to start your own thread go ahead. Or do you just make a habit of attacking others observations?

My point was that much, but not all of the public land, especially WIA's are poorly managed in South Dakota. Like I said...WIA's with planted crops, mowed over WIA's, pasture land WIA's. All put in the system and paid to the farmers as an attempt to boost the public hunting acreage counts. And yet South Dakota has to supplement by planting millions of birds. (do some research). I come from a state where we have millions of acres of hunting land and great bird hunting so may be spoiled. I visited SD for the wild pheasant experience and the beauty of the plains but when you have to take hours looking for decent hunting land it cuts into your hunting time. Also, to make it clear...we did get birds, probably more than most, but that is not our objective at all. Our dogs got work and we had fun, which is the most important thing. I just hope the future of pheasant hunting in SD does not lie in dwindling public land, greedy farmers and pay for hunting. Its a beautiful state. So, more attacks if you want....
 
guyndog said:
Many just don't understand what I said and got off the subject for your own agendas. If you want to start your own thread go ahead. Or do you just make a habit of attacking others observations?

My point was that much, but not all of the public land, especially WIA's are poorly managed in South Dakota. Like I said...WIA's with planted crops, mowed over WIA's, pasture land WIA's. All put in the system and paid to the farmers as an attempt to boost the public hunting acreage counts. And yet South Dakota has to supplement by planting millions of birds. (do some research). I come from a state where we have millions of acres of hunting land and great bird hunting so may be spoiled. I visited SD for the wild pheasant experience and the beauty of the plains but when you have to take hours looking for decent hunting land it cuts into your hunting time. Also, to make it clear...we did get birds, probably more than most, but that is not our objective at all. Our dogs got work and we had fun, which is the most important thing. I just hope the future of pheasant hunting in SD does not lie in dwindling public land, greedy farmers and pay for hunting. Its a beautiful state. So, more attacks if you want....
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Please point me to the source of your "research". Not attacking you, I just happen to know, without a doubt that SD does not buy birds for release, period. They made the decision, long ago that habitat and access was the route we were going to take. You will never see a truck full of pheasants with a SDGFP sticker on it, ever. Also, there is more public access hunting land in SD now than at any other time. If your State has better hunting, be my guest, we are quite happy with our public land opportunities here in SD.
 
Cant we all just get along... Guyndog, I was starting to feel for you as I sense you were just voicing your opinion. In your last sentence, "greedy farmers", that's not to prudent in my opinion. If it were not for the farmers in my area we would have bird populations similar to Minnesota. Times are tough on the family farm and have been so for quite some time... That's for a different topic on this forum. If the farmer leaves habitat and raises the birds why should he not charge for that resource? I don't want to get in to the debate about the pay/play but if I were to golf 18 holes, take a cart with food and drink should that be free? Or is the the person who owns the golf course being greedy?Times have changed... Another example- I have never met Haymaker, but if he did not have habitat set aside I'm guessing the road hunting in his area would be dismal. He makes a few dollars for the resource (offsetting some costs) and the guys that don't want to pay can walk ditches or possibly knock on a few doors and get access. One last comment, the SDGFP does not release birds, Im not sure where that is coming from. Are there birds released in SD, absolutely! But not by the GFP. Sorry for the long post. happy hunting!
 
Drake1 said:
Cant we all just get along... Guyndog, I was starting to feel for you as I sense you were just voicing your opinion. In your last sentence, "greedy farmers", that's not to prudent in my opinion. If it were not for the farmers in my area we would have bird populations similar to Minnesota. Times are tough on the family farm and have been so for quite some time... That's for a different topic on this forum. If the farmer leaves habitat and raises the birds why should he not charge for that resource? I don't want to get in to the debate about the pay/play but if I were to golf 18 holes, take a cart with food and drink should that be free? Or is the the person who owns the golf course being greedy?Times have changed... Another example- I have never met Haymaker, but if he did not have habitat set aside I'm guessing the road hunting in his area would be dismal. He makes a few dollars for the resource (offsetting some costs) and the guys that don't want to pay can walk ditches or possibly knock on a few doors and get access. One last comment, the SDGFP does not release birds, Im not sure where that is coming from. Are there birds released in SD, absolutely! But not by the GFP. Sorry for the long post. happy hunting!
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Well said. It's the "rising tide raises all ships theory". The landowners we love to hate are the biggest reason that any of us, pay hunters, whatever, have the kind of opportunities we have.
 
Drake1 said:
Cant we all just get along... Guyndog, I was starting to feel for you as I sense you were just voicing your opinion. In your last sentence, "greedy farmers", that's not to prudent in my opinion. If it were not for the farmers in my area we would have bird populations similar to Minnesota. Times are tough on the family farm and have been so for quite some time... That's for a different topic on this forum. If the farmer leaves habitat and raises the birds why should he not charge for that resource? I don't want to get in to the debate about the pay/play but if I were to golf 18 holes, take a cart with food and drink should that be free? Or is the the person who owns the golf course being greedy?Times have changed... Another example- I have never met Haymaker, but if he did not have habitat set aside I'm guessing the road hunting in his area would be dismal. He makes a few dollars for the resource (offsetting some costs) and the guys that don't want to pay can walk ditches or possibly knock on a few doors and get access. One last comment, the SDGFP does not release birds, Im not sure where that is coming from. Are there birds released in SD, absolutely! But not by the GFP. Sorry for the long post. happy hunting!
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Thank you. I would add that the 4 fathers and their sons that just left were not hunting public land and therefore it was not as crowded. If I don't get paid for hunting I have to generate revenue some other way and that won't benefit wildlife.
 
Had a great trip

I just returned from hunting pheasant in SD and could not help but comment on this discussion. My first trip to SD was in 2013 when the road counts hit a record low. We almost cancelled our trip that year, but despite the gloom and doom report we continued on as planned. We had a great time and bagged plenty of birds. After that trip I was hooked. Since then I have not missed a year.
This year I struggled to put together a group of guys, but was able to at the last minute. Six of us with three dogs traveled a little over 4000 miles total to chase the elusive ringneck. We did better this year than ever before. We shared a lot of laughs and just enjoyed being in nature. The hunting has never been easy for us, but we have always managed to have good hunts. I agree that the public land looked a little poorer this year than I remember from previous years, but we still found birds everywhere we went. We took 37 birds, and had a great time.
Overall I love the state of SD. The people are friendly and very accommodating towards hunters. From the state officials at GFP to the clerk at the gas station we have always been greeted with open arms. I have knocked on doors and stopped and spoken to people about hunting and no one has ever been anything but nice to us. I hope the people and the pheasant hunting tradition never changes. I have 4 young children coming up and after listening to my tales from SD, all of them want to make the trip with me when they are old enough. I cannot wait until next year.
 
dogbo2013 said:
I just returned from hunting pheasant in SD and could not help but comment on this discussion. My first trip to SD was in 2013 when the road counts hit a record low. We almost cancelled our trip that year, but despite the gloom and doom report we continued on as planned. We had a great time and bagged plenty of birds. After that trip I was hooked. Since then I have not missed a year.
This year I struggled to put together a group of guys, but was able to at the last minute. Six of us with three dogs traveled a little over 4000 miles total to chase the elusive ringneck. We did better this year than ever before. We shared a lot of laughs and just enjoyed being in nature. The hunting has never been easy for us, but we have always managed to have good hunts. I agree that the public land looked a little poorer this year than I remember from previous years, but we still found birds everywhere we went. We took 37 birds, and had a great time.
Overall I love the state of SD. The people are friendly and very accommodating towards hunters. From the state officials at GFP to the clerk at the gas station we have always been greeted with open arms. I have knocked on doors and stopped and spoken to people about hunting and no one has ever been anything but nice to us. I hope the people and the pheasant hunting tradition never changes. I have 4 young children coming up and after listening to my tales from SD, all of them want to make the trip with me when they are old enough. I cannot wait until next year.
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And we will be here to welcome those kids and show them SD hospitality, too. Thanks for the kind words, we are proud of our State.
 
Prosepctive of Freelance Non-residents

I don't believe the original poster's comments were meant to offend, just to caution. I believe the gripe is that as free-lance, non-residents, we have a choice on which state we choose to hunt. Our decision is based on information from F&G and expected access to huntable ground. Pay to play folks have no difficulty in their choices. They're paying for a commodity based on private bird numbers and land access. They rightfully assume there will be plenty of both.

I believe the gripe is that when we purchase a license, commit our vacation time abandon plans to hunt another state and then possibly make reservations and find out that none of our expectations for a memorable hunt exist, well it makes you rethink a return.

During the peak of CRP we expected that WIA would have decent cover and hold birds. Not just some years but the year we are there. I doubt that many were disappointed. That is simply not the case today. I scouted a county wide area of South Dakota this fall that I was hoping to hunt this year based on WIA enrollments and was very happy I wasn't there hunting. Granted it was a small area, but without boots on the ground, there's no way of knowing the value of the land for a bird hunter.

And in many situations, by the time our boots are on the ground it's too late to reconsider your investment of time, and we must just tough it out.

I hunt to make memories. I love and appreciate the immediate sensation of prairie, forest, small towns and mountains. I emphasize immediate. I'm hunting to get into birds. Whether I actually kill any or not is up to me, but I expect an opportunity based on the information I've received. If my information was misleading, well...you can bet I'll never trust that source again.

I typically hunt at least four states each year. Some years as many as six. Each of those trips is a difficult decision and overall are based on hundreds of hours of research. If I can't trust posted information, then my research is crap and I might as well just hunt my home state. At least I know what my chances are there.

I've already hunted four states this year and I can assure you that no state that I've hunted holds the throne for friendliest people. I find friendly and gracious people everywhere I hunt, from Idaho to New Mexico and Minnesota to Montana. They're all the best! My $.02
 
And for every hunter who says they are wasting their time/money, another states how good the hunting was, and how much fun they had while here. If there is better pheasant hunting anywhere (there isn't), tear it up, knock yourselves out. If you are relying on the government to tell you there aren't any birds, well that's not going to happen, because it isn't true, for starters and the marketing people are hired, just like your Mexican vacation, to tell you how great it is here. I don't trust the government for any reason, mostly because Thomas Jefferson told us not to. The Mexicans will tell you that there is no danger in going to Cancun, but if you do some independent research, you find that it isn't totally safe. They aren't going to tell you "don't come to Cancun, you might get gutted by the Sinaloa".
 
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