WIA's

J

JDBLU

New member
2 of us are heading up for the first time in a couple weeks hunting public land and had a couple questions...I know the wia's have signs at each location but what about the blue areas on the Wilma map (schools and public lands)?

Around here some county owned land is leased out farmers....is it the same there or are all those blue areas basically untouched?

Thanks, JW
 
The blue land on the maps is school grounds and public land but a good 75% of it has cattle on it or is just pasture land. Found some good land on our last trip with good cover but it had cattle on it.
 
We founds some good school land but they had signs that said you couldn't hunt the standing crops...
 
i was not aware that they could do that on public school lands??? post that you cant hunt them??? if the road you access them is private you cant hunt em but if the road u access the school lands is on u are legal to hunt em???

thats odd??? also so if there is cattle on the land you cant hunt them??? i thought it was like a 660 ft buffer or something from homes building cattle/livestock ETC.???

most are cattle pasture some have crops on them but they are leased lands private famers lease the lands from the state so they are still state lands if not land locked...

some have signs most do not got to know how to read a map to know wear your at...
 
School grounds can be anything from range land to crop land. Back when the state was homesteaded, they designated certain pieces of property in each county as "school land" in order to help with the tax base for the school systems in each county. While these are held in public trust, you cannot just go on them without permission under certain circumstances.. Cattle grazing, standing crops, harvesting crops, tillage etc. Anything that the current renter has going on on that property, can restrict you.

Not all public land is suitable for pheasant hunting.(nor does it have to be) Walk in area lands are just as important to the deer, predator, turkey hunters as it is to a pheasant hunter.
 
that is also new to me that just cause they have cattle grazing on the lands u can not hunt them??? i talked to the people at the public & school lands 2 times & got the rules all they said was if its land locked you can not hunt them with out permission & if the road you access is private you can not hunt the lands with out permission...

also asked a game warden he said the same thing... a few well meaning folks gave me some dead wrong info also on the public & school lands so i had to ask the correct folks & got the correct answers... i would call & ask the people at the public & school lands if you have any questions...

we were turkey hunting on 1 this spring while they were planting & while the renter went out & checked fences to run cattle on the lands all they said was good luck & or waved at us & smiled???

i can see not being able to hunt in standing crops & not shooting around cattle thats just good hunting not to piss off the land owners or renters...
 
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Just cuz theres cattle there, doesn't mean you cant hunt it, but Im pretty sure you need to clear it with the cattles owners..
 
ok good to know... i used the i think it is 660 foot rule & wouldnt shoot if cattle wear even remotely close but that would be more a prairie grouse hunting issue??? i mite head to a west river mixed bag area if im feeling lucky alot of school lands & cattle there...
 
One thing people might be missing in this conversation is the person who leases the land controls the access to the land in SD. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part if someone leases land from the state, they control the access to it.
 
If coming from out of state and only using the pubilc guide book as a reference I would avoid the blue areas. More than likely they will not have pheasants on them. If you have time to scout them in advance, then you might found some worth hunting but they are few and far between.
 
You can hunt corps land along the river as long as you access it from public land to begin with. Alot of times when hunting corps land along the river it gets so rough that you have to skirt onto adjpining land just to get around a deep cut. Not always though.
 
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