When do the crowds go away?

S

stinkbelly

Member
We hunted SD opening week last year and it was a zoo. We hunted from Pierre, to Huron, and up to Selby and it was crowded everywhere we went. I am use to going to public land and being the first person to step foot on any new piece I go to for the first 3 hours fo the day. We had trucks parked at every pull off and tons more just slowly driving all the roads.

When does it get less crowded? Do you ever get a field to yourself? Does it get crowded again when shooting time starts at 10am?
 
Opening weekend is a zoo no doubt. At about the 4th week of the season things calm down a lot. If you are hunting public land plan to hunt during the week instead of the weekend. Also going later in the season more of the crops are out which will improve your odds. One of the factors that is important to my group is that going later improves the odds of having cooler temperatures. The last year we went for the opener I nearly lost one of my dogs do to over heating. Anyway we have settled on the 4th week and have been satisfied with that decision
 
Chip said:
Opening weekend is a zoo no doubt. At about the 4th week of the season things calm down a lot. If you are hunting public land plan to hunt during the week instead of the weekend. Also going later in the season more of the crops are out which will improve your odds. One of the factors that is important to my group is that going later improves the odds of having cooler temperatures. The last year we went for the opener I nearly lost one of my dogs do to over heating. Anyway we have settled on the 4th week and have been satisfied with that decision
Click to expand...

agree, after the first and second weekends........even the 3rd weekend should be much more calm....go during the week, avoid the weekends.
 
went a month into season last yr had 7 truck loads from ky pull up on me 2 times they follwed me around half the day till i drove 30 miles away from that area... 3 truck loads of sd guys at next area slow road hunting so they were not a issue wear i hunted got my 2 birds needed for a limit with a hour of get n out the vehicle it was the golden hour though...

went back early dec. the area was a dead zone hunter wise but birds were way jumpy and cluster flushing alot... so pick your poison man... stay away from huge towns and ez lodgeing and u mite get lucky mid-late season???

opener is always crazy... any state... public land cut throat hunting is the norm rude hunters most all over if u got a big group id split up and hunt 2-3 areas 1st walk then army march therest of day wear a group found lots of birds??? thats just me...
 
I always bird hunt back home on public land durning deer season. Deer hunters push alot of birds from private land to WIA areas. It was a down year last year and I walked cattails and limited everyday in late november in a couple of hours. Walk the edges of sloughs and only shoot those who fly out of the slough. Works great for a single hunter.
 
Reifer said:
I always bird hunt back home on public land durning deer season. Deer hunters push alot of birds from private land to WIA areas. It was a down year last year and I walked cattails and limited everyday in late november in a couple of hours. Walk the edges of sloughs and only shoot those who fly out of the slough. Works great for a single hunter.
Click to expand...

good trick, that's using what is given to you in conditions...except, for me, deer hunters make me nervous.:eek:
 
i agree i was in sd the last couple days of deer season and the places i hunted in mid nov had been deer hunted for sure i found empty rifle cartriges piss bottles buck lure spray cans water bottles and epmty lead shotgun shells nitro pheasant on a GPA im pretty sure steele is all u can use any way all that trash was left in 2-3 wks and since deer season opened so the public land gets used for deer also boys...

thats slough hunting 101 my dog loves that style of hunt i feel funny in open crp grass i need trees cattails and shattercain lol
 
Last edited:
End of October 1st part of November has always been a good time for me. Last year we went the 2nd wekend and it was not bad during the weekdays. Got a little busy on the weekend. Still less presured than mn public lands.
 
Experinece has dictated most out of state hunters hunt in large parties and avoid the hard walking stuff
 
100% true reifer the 7 truck loads of ky boys following me around was only looking for crp and grass to walk they were crying about not seeing birds and numbers way down from the past etc. i had shot more birds in 3 days then there football team sized group not all public lands are equell got to hunt the habitat...

its to damn hard to control a huge group doing army marches tried last yr on opener in mn never again its like herding cats plus everybody is never on same page or dose not want to hunt there or somebodys dog will act a fool etc. we are doing the divide up and look for birds thing then if we find some good spots we can maybe march it but i dont care for thr large group march does no feel the same as a guy or 2 and a dog working a field to me at least... i watch some pheasant videos and the hunt looks pretty scary guys all over people yelling un safe shots trucks in middle of field 4 blockers its kinda more of a shoot then hunt when its like that...
 
small munsterlander owner said:
100% true reifer the 7 truck loads of ky boys following me around was only looking for crp and grass to walk they were crying about not seeing birds and numbers way down from the past etc. i had shot more birds in 3 days then there football team sized group not all public lands are equell got to hunt the habitat...

its to damn hard to control a huge group doing army marches tried last yr on opener in mn never again its like herding cats plus everybody is never on same page or dose not want to hunt there or somebodys dog will act a fool etc. we are doing the divide up and look for birds thing then if we find some good spots we can maybe march it but i dont care for thr large group march does no feel the same as a guy or 2 and a dog working a field to me at least... i watch some pheasant videos and the hunt looks pretty scary guys all over people yelling un safe shots trucks in middle of field 4 blockers its kinda more of a shoot then hunt when its like that...
Click to expand...

agree, but some folks like that circus atmosphere....me and one other guy and a couple dogs, quietly moving through cover is relaxing.:thumbsup:
 
Crowds

I start the middle of November for two weeks, and then go after Christmas for a week and close out the season. My first choice would be to take off and hunt the month of December, but I can't because we run a Christmas tree lot. I think the crowds thin out a bit after the first month, especially during the week. The days I've been out when it rains or sleets have been pretty good, too.
 
We hunted opener in 2012 (the drought year). We got every field we wanted near the Selby area hunting public land. Limits were easy. We've been going in early to mid November and again in December lately. Last year in December we saw zero other hunting groups and around a 1,000 birds. The weather and catching up with the birds is tough though. I believe the fourth weekend is deer opener or at least close to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top