What makes it “public” ??

FlushingSetters1724

Active member
I found a newly posted Walk-In area that looks too good to be true.. it’s listed on OnX & the SD Public Land Atlas. When I hunted it today my dog lost his mind, went on a flier, and jumped hundreds of birds.. likely the most I’ve ever seen. The spot had huge piles of what looked like beans as if they were feeding the birds? I’ve never seen anything like it.. All around it “No Hunting” signs were posted, but not at the spot itself. Something felt off about being there.. so my question is, does OnX and the Public Hunting Atlas make a spot public, or could it be incorrectly posted? I didn’t see any signs for it being a walk-in area.
 
If the spot wasnt posted with signs as walk in or another form of SD public, i would guess you were on someones private land and are lucky you werent caught. Always make sure there are signs. Its possible someone stole the signs i guess, but i wouldnt go there
 
If it's in the public hunting atlas, and also OnX, it's pretty strange for it to not have any signs. But I do come across WIA's and CREP spots from time to time that have had the signs removed, or just pushed over so they're laying down in the grass and not very visible. Every time I've seen that, I just assume that some jerkoff did it so fewer people would hunt the spot.
 
When I was here in November it wasn’t posted, now it is.. I figured they just hadn’t put signs up, but when I saw the piles of food I started to wonder. Unfortunately the owner of the land doesn’t appear to live close by otherwise I’d knock on the door and ask.
 
I found a newly posted Walk-In area that looks too good to be true.. it’s listed on OnX & the SD Public Land Atlas. When I hunted it today my dog lost his mind, went on a flier, and jumped hundreds of birds.. likely the most I’ve ever seen. The spot had huge piles of what looked like beans as if they were feeding the birds? I’ve never seen anything like it.. All around it “No Hunting” signs were posted, but not at the spot itself. Something felt off about being there.. so my question is, does OnX and the Public Hunting Atlas make a spot public, or could it be incorrectly posted? I didn’t see any signs for it being a walk-in area.
Send me the coordinates or pin and I will verify this for you.
 
You coulda trespassing, but I'm not pointing fingers. I've seen this before and been confused. Here's what it comes down to, OnX is wrong many times, and if you run into a questionable situation, still check it but understand it is the least reliable. Did you check the state atlas paper or digital version? Owners can back out of their WIA contract at any time in most states. If there are no physical signs on WIA or CREP I assume the contract ended. If it looks really good like you're saying I'd call the warden or others and ask about it.
 
You coulda trespassing, but I'm not pointing fingers. I've seen this before and been confused. Here's what it comes down to, OnX is wrong many times, and if you run into a questionable situation, still check it but understand it is the least reliable. Did you check the state atlas paper or digital version? Owners can back out of their WIA contract at any time in most states. If there are no physical signs on WIA or CREP I assume the contract ended. If it looks really good like you're saying I'd call the warden or others and ask about it.
Digital version..
 
When I was here in November it wasn’t posted, now it is.. I figured they just hadn’t put signs up, but when I saw the piles of food I started to wonder. Unfortunately the owner of the land doesn’t appear to live close by otherwise I’d knock on the door and ask.
Ah, i think that may change things. I think the game wardens get the walk in signed up, if someone decided to sign theres up in the past couple weeks, and theres snow/frost in the ground, i doubt they do signs this year. I would call the game warden in that area. It was probably awesome because no one else hunted it yet
 
Back
Top