what to expect in SD??? good or bad?

S

small munsterlander owner

Banned
hi guys im new to the forum guys but please dont ignore me lol hey just have a few questions about what to expect on my 1st ever SD pheasant hunting trip??? with a new dog... we dont need a hotel & we do rely on our selfs while out in the filed dont need creature comforts we are hardcore DIY public land hunters...

from what i have read in the past post is that there is no cover this yr in SD & that its a drought & we have to hunt around water & also the crops will be cut 100% by 10-20-12 & it will be cut throat on any peace of public lands in pheasant country in SD on opener??? from any guys i have ever talked to that has hunted SD on opener it dosent seem to be much different from other yrs just the drought & the cutting of standing cover every place...

i really want to hunt a area with the chance of a great mixed bag hunt i love hunting prairie grouse & would love a chance at some huns i know pheasants will come in SD if it helps to hunt 2ndary habitats to avoid rude hunters i will prairie grouse habitat is EZ to pick out over pheasant habitat pheasants live in way more ruff stuff near crops then the site orientated prairie grouse do also pheasants run like hell prairie grouse hold like ticks at least untill late season

guess my question is NO SCARE TACTICS PLEASE is it even worth my trouble to take my father out to SD this season & try to get a quality hunt??? my father has had medical issues with heart probs & throat cancer so he cant cover much ground but he can still shoot well & is a good poster... i was thinking SD for 2 reasons 1 it has the most pheasants & 2 my dad can hunt the ditches if he wants & thats ez walking for him...

here is my biggest concern about SD we can not hunt the SD pheasant opener as we drew a MN prairie chicken tag & the MN prairie chicken hunt opens up on 10-20-12 so SD pheasant opener great time for a MN chicken hunt i know but we only get 5 days total so i better take advantage & all i hear from guys on the forum is that the WPAs & walk in areas NTL grasslands will have been beat to hell by the 2nd-3rd wk-end of SD pheasant season & all the dumb young birds will be in a freezer some place or eat n already is this the case can a wk of mostly SD residents hunting public lands really kill all the pheasants in a give n area or put them on that much of a edge in just a wk of hunting? with the bird numbers as high as they are in SD i think that there should be some left over dummys??? please let me know if thats not the case???

also how are the other out of state hunters across the state??? is opening day really really cut throat & every man for him self & way greedy??? i mean if i get to a area 2-3 hours B4 legal shooting time & park my vehicle at a area trying to hold it down to hunt come 11:00-12:00 will there be a group of other trucks/hunters that will pull up 10 min B4 shooting time & just bulldog there way into the area i was trying to hunt??? is that a regular thing that happens in SD in your guys experience hunting SD??? it happened to me last yr at 2-3 MN WIA areas just no hunter ethics or common sence the mentality im used to in MN is so what if there is other guys hunting that area already lets just beat that other group hunting the area already to the end of the field & try to beat them to the pheasants!!!??? greedy greedy hunters... if i pull into a peace of public land & there is guys already hunting it i go hunt else wear i dont think many other modern groups of pheasant hunters feel that way they go by the who has the most hunters in there party mentality if there is 2 guys & a dog parked some place & they have 4 trucks & 4 dogs they will bully there way onto the public land & army walk the pheasants to death... is this the scenerio in SD each & every season???

im also scared to hunt the traditional top pheasant per square mile towns like chamberlin ocoma pierre winner gregory areas due to huge groups of guys &not enuff public land for everybody? & i also want to try & avoid the mass of guys coming from out east that stop a 1 HR into SD & hunt them towns mitchell huron watertown & aberdeen i guess im asking is the hunter pressure really as bad as everybody says because that really is not our cup of tea dodging other hunters & get n beat to ends of fields by guys & truck loads of guys running to beat you to the start of a field???

thanks guys any advice or tips will be much appreciated my my father & my self
 
come on fellas with 45+ views in a day & not 1 of you guys can give me a idea of what SD has to offer??? i dont want your honey hole or top secret town with 20 pheasants per mile farm just give me a few of your opening day horror storys or your opening day & i didnt see another guy outside my group wearing orange story??? just trying to pick a few veteran SD opening day hunters minds on what to expect... thanks for take n the time to at least read what i posted... lol
 
Wish I could give you advice but I have never hunting the South Dakota opener. If the weather doesn't change soon the warm weather could be tough for everybody. I have heard that hunting pressure, particulary opening weekend even keeps the local die hard pheasant hunters at home. Kind of like camping on Memorial Day weekend or the 4th of July, better to just stay at home. I would imagine most folk have to work during the weekday so that could be really good. Others will have to give you a better idea. Sorry.
 
thanks man thats ok if the residents of SD dont make it out when us non residents can hunt a WK later they have the 1st wk all to them selfs on state lands...

i wont be able to make it out till the non resident opener so like 10-26-10-31 or so
 
The SD opener can get kind of crazy in many areas of the state. I usually advise non-residents that don't have private land to hunt to stay away the first couple of weeks and let it settle down. There will still be plenty of birds out there.

And by the way, residents don't get a whole week to hunt prior to the opener. The resident hunt is only 3 days, the 13th - 15th and only on public or walk-in land.
 
I have never hunted public land so I can not speak to that. I can tell you that I think bird numbers will be pretty good. I am assuming that most walk in area will have half the acres cut. Any thing that is not cut will be shorter than usual. Most ditches will have been cut. This year more than any I would want to know where I was going to be hunting. You may be able to find something but since I don't road hunt or hunt public I just can't help you there.
 
South Dakota is always good-usually great-- but always good. Opening weekend is a zoo for sure so later in the year is better--later you might even find private land to hunt--ya just never know:cheers:
 
If I were you I would come on Monday, October 22. I used to hunt exclusively public land, now I hunt exclusively private land. What does that tell you? There are lots of good public hunting spots. There are free maps that has all of the spots in them. Only other advise I can give you is to hunt the small publics. Most of the time they get overlooked, but because of that they can be very productive. The other factor is because they are smaller, you should be able to push birds towards picked crops. Good luck. If you want a SD public map before you go contact SD Game Fish & Parks and they will mail you one.
 
Come on out and give er hell.
 
dose that mean its just to crazy out there KUK KUK???

ok here is a dumb ??? will the FPNG be crawling with orange on the opener or the week after the opener from anybodys past experience ??? i would hit the southern end of the grasslands as i have talked to 2 biologist in SD the 2 main guys 1 was from the grasslands so i do have a idea of what to look for just not what to expect hunter pressure wise so any info would help...
 
Pierre area is a zoo the first month of the season. With the lack of cover and no crops in by opener, public land will be terrible by the end of the first week.
 
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One thing about public land--not a lot of blocking situations as it's mostly grass. I would look for some of the smaller public plots, in the less popular areas. I may have some better ideas after the resident only weekend.
 
thanks for the info guys you guys are much more helpfull then on the other thread wear ive been get n my A** handed to me about the state of SD & how the prices are crazy for the PAY TO PLAY hunts in SD in my eyes at least?
 
I would also advise to wait until after the opener. The cousins I've gone with always want to be there for the opener and we've bumped into some rude people. It can be a bit stressful, as I've had that SUV pull up 5 minutes before shooting time, guys grabbing guns and coats to spread out right in front of us. Some other good advice here, pick small spots. Use the hours between breakfast and shooting time to scout. The published maps of walk-in areas are an invaluable tool. Locate small patches adjacent to standing crops. Be flexible, don't be in a hurry to fill a limit right away and you'll have fun.
 
One other thing... you never know you might have missed if you don't go. Staying home you'll always be wondering "what if". "What if" isn't any way to live.
 
i feel that ranger i will most likely not go for the 1st 2 wks of the season as mentioned i drew a prairie chicken tag in MN so that takes care of the SD opening WK-END

i have hunted pheasants B4 & can pick good habitat out for both prairie grouse & pheasants alike prairie grouse habitat is much harder to identify so pheasants are EZ cover water food & you have pheasants & in SD i think that will be the same as here in MN im looking to get into some good numbers of birds for a change other then what i hunt here in MN you better hit what you shoot at because you may not get another chance to shoot at another bird that day...

thanks all & please keep the tips coming they are much appreciated
 
Yes, it can get pretty crazy on public land, that's why coming on Monday would be better. I have never been to the national grasslands, so I can't speak about that area. Like I said earlier, after getting "pelletized" a few times on public land, I decided to hunt on private farms. I spent a week in SD in August knocking on doors and I am still hunting those same farms 20 years later. It is much harder today than it was 20 years ago to secure private land, but it is not impossible.
 
thanks kuk kuk i guess im just a public land hunter a heart i really dont have a big passion to obtain private lands for me to hunt in any state i love public lands & no fees private land is OK but just not my thing while out turkey hunting i have been offered to hunt private lands many times & i just say we will see how the public land goes & i just keep hunting hard... i dont enjoy folks bug n me at my door so i just always extend that to farms out of state if i see the land owner in the fields work n or at his mail box thats another story & needless to say it dosent happen much lol...

i think i will be heading to SD if i go sometime around holloween or the 1st wk in NOV so thanks again all & please keep the tips coming... thanks again
 
From 1995-2000, I hunted the opening week near Mitchell, SD. All private land, so the hunting wasn’t crowded, but the restaurants, stores, and bars were packed. As a younger man, I enjoyed the party atmosphere, but now I like it a little quieter. We now hunt the third week of the season and the crowds are gone. Also, during the opening week, the corn is usually still in the field, so the birds were spread out. Miles of walking corn rows, with the corn two feet above your head. By the third week, our host usually had most of his corn out, leaving us a few strips here and there. During the opening week hunts, I don’t recall any really bad behavior from other hunters. The worst thing was the number of road hunters in the evening. They would be driving around and jump out, fire off a few rounds at a pheasant in the ditch and drive off. Now, during the third week, we rarely see another group in the field. I say, let the partying die down after the first week and then go for some serious hunting.
 
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