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SD Pheasant Hunt

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Greenhead408

New member
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
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Location
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New to the forum (been reading it for years, but never posted anything), and finally headed west for some hunting. Although I've been buying points in Col, Utah and Wy for the last 5 years, my first hunt west of the Miss River will be a DIY SD pheasant hunt. Just looking for some reassurance that I'm making a good choice in the Chamberlain SD area. I'm looking at the 2nd weed of Nov - in an attempt to avoid some of the crowds. Not looking to limit out every day (although that would be pretty stinkin nice), just looking to start a hopefully annual tradition of headed west to chase something. Any suggestions or guidance would be appreciated. Its just me and a 3yr old lab, who isn't going to be impressed with the 22 hour truck ride from PA....
 
Be sure and pick up the Walk in Area booklet when you get your license. It will show you all of the open areas to hunt by county.

The birds will be very wild after being hunted for over a month. Be quite going into the field, no door slamming, no yelling at the dog.

Have fun and good luck.
 
From what I've heard, SD is mostly leased hunting. You might pick a different state with more public hunting.
 
SD born and bred, Mitchell, home of the corn palace. While the numbers state the population is down, you will find plenty of birds if you work for them. Lots of public land to hunt, as mentioned the road hunting early and late in the day can be very productive as the birds move towards gravel. Hit up Als Oasis in oacoma for a bite.
 
I have been kicking around the same thought since I purchased my Brit. My son moved to Baker MT this spring. I've pretty much depended on him to find us an area. Due to family issues he is now moving back to south eastern MO. Let us know how you do and good luck.
 
Like others have stated: get the "walk in area" book. Have fun chasin' those birds. I'll be in SD for the opener of Sharptail and Prairie Chickens :)

good luck to all
the dog
 
My advice would be plan for very sporadic weather. I was out for the opener two years ago and we were hunting in 70 degrees and on and off again rain. The following week some of my buddies were out there hunting in 6 inches of snow. So I would factor in your cold tolerance if you decide to hunt that late (personally I hate bird hunting when it's super cold and snowy).

I also want to endorse the road hunting option. There were 2 days that we didn't limit out by the time everyone else wanted to go back to camp and me and another guy walked the ditches for about an hour and got our limit while everyone else was cleaning birds. (we each only needed 1 more bird). Something else to consider is that a lot of the farms with paying bird hunters will plant birds before they go out. They occasionally miss/bump a couple and they end up in the ditches. As long as you are ok with hunting the ditches across the street from other hunting parties that may be an easy mark for finding birds as well.

From my experience, in the Gregory area not Chamberlain, a lot of the out of state guys go to hunt on leased farms with outfitters. So if you are putting your hunt that late because you want to avoid crowds that may be a smaller issue than you think. Now I was hunting private land that my dad and his buddies bought in the '80s so I didn't have a chance to look at a lot of the public land and scope out the hunting pressure. So I may not have the insight that you are looking for. Again, I hate bird hunting in the cold so my advice would be to move it up a week or two. But some of the other guys on here may have some better advice on your specific area.
 
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Hopefully the #'s will be back up this year. I know that last year in the Martin, SD area the birds #'s were way down. There is a ton of walk in hunting areas around Martin as well as some federal land that holds birds. On a typical year the hunting is really good.
 
I'd say you made agreat choice, lots of walk in areas. Get some maps, but the hunting should be good. . .been 3 years since I've been out there, but, we did well. I saw the "Corn Palace" mentioned earlier. . its pretty cool looking. I can't remember the name of that huge roadside resturaunt that we ate at, but it was really good and filled with bird hunters. Good luck!!
 
another good area is up around Aberdeen and west toward the river. like the others have said there are a ton of walk in areas, waterfowl production areas, and CREP areas to hunt. road hunting is always a good way to pick up a few birds at the end of the day. Not sure about the legality but hunting along railroad tracks can be pretty productive also. You might want to check on that though. SD loves the out of state hunters. The airport in Sioux Falls sets up a welcoming committee on opening weekend. Good luck and post some pics!
 
I lived in RC for 5 years. Never had a problem finding birds on public access. We mostly hunted in the area between Philip and Pierre. A lot of it was grassland. Loved watching my GSP's work the birds.

I cringe when I see or read of the roadhunting.

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T Bone said:
I cringe when I see or read of the roadhunting.
Click to expand...

I guess that's just what I was told/instructed to do when we were out there if we wanted to try to scrounge up a couple more birds. Never gave it much thought. I'm definitely a novice when it comes to SD bird hunting. Is there something I should be considering or taking into account when deciding whether or not to do that? Not trying to start an argument, just trying to learn more about the general rules of thumb when it comes to what a guy should or shouldn't do and what is socially acceptable in each avenue of hunting I try. :confused:
 
gwhunter said:
I guess that's just what I was told/instructed to do when we were out there if we wanted to try to scrounge up a couple more birds. Never gave it much thought. I'm definitely a novice when it comes to SD bird hunting. Is there something I should be considering or taking into account when deciding whether or not to do that? Not trying to start an argument, just trying to learn more about the general rules of thumb when it comes to what a guy should or shouldn't do and what is socially acceptable in each avenue of hunting I try. :confused:
Click to expand...

My brother and I walked many miles of ditches to kill pheasants. I wouldn't worry about it.:D
 
go for it

Greenhead408-
You really have been given some good advice here. There is LOTS of opportunity if you work at it a little bit. Get the Hunting Atlas, pick an area, and start working it. I'm from Iowa, where the bird hunting used to be quite good, but in the past 4 years or so has really tanked. Some of the factors in the decline in Iowa are also at work in SD, but at this point in time, its still night and day between the two. I have gone to SD probably about 8 of the last 10 years, usually just me and my lab, the week between Christmas and New Years. Sadly, I've just lost her at age 13, and its a tough thing right now. Anyway, your post has brought on bittersweet memories, and wish you the best of luck. The area and timing you have chosen should work just fine, although here's a tip about timing. If you buy your license and hunt after Dec. 15 (I think) then you can hunt with the same license the next year. Yes, you really do get a 2-for-1. In any case, the walk-in areas, state game production areas, and federal waterfowl production areas can all have good hunting for pheasants (and grouse). Work through them all and have a ball.
 
One other thing you should check out is at the GFP site you can download a state map of all of the public hunting areas, the state onto your gps. It ifs a huge help when trying to find a particular piece of public land.
 
Best of luck! Hope the weather treats you well.

That lab of yours will be the happiest dog on the planet.
 
My advice to you is stay away from the big towns. Dont go hunting if its on there deer opening weekend because it can be crazy. shoot me a pm. I might have some info for you
 
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