gary brezinski
New member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2009
- Messages
- 5
any one hunt public land there?thinking of going there in 2 years to hunt rifle season.any help would be useful.
gary b
gary b
mule deer in south dakota
- Thread starter gary brezinski
- Start date
A big public land mule deer here is pretty tough. Unless you are bow hunting, the public areas get pushed pretty hard by people chasing deer or other critters and usually by the time a buck is 4 years old he knows to stear clear of our limited public areas. I would save an extra year and talk to some landowners about a tresspass fee in case you aren't finding what you are looking for on public.
MNHunter
Well-known member
I’m assuming you are meaning West River as the Muley tag in the Black Hills is very very hard to draw. I think what DHaffner is talking about is the fat that the public land gets run pretty hard in the rifle season so you’d be better finding access to a private ranch. Usually access to said ranches is not free so you’ll likely be looking at paying a fee to access the land. Your odds of getting a nice muley should go up should you find a good ranch with limited access.
Good luck
Good luck
T Bone
Well-known member
There are some nice muleys on public access IF you are willing to do some legwork to get away from the roads, and glass. Generally speaking, hunters in SD aren't real familiar with going in a long ways and packing out an animal in a pack.
I only lived there 5 years and killed some good bucks, but not any I'd consider real big.
I only lived there 5 years and killed some good bucks, but not any I'd consider real big.
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warmer
Well-known member
I agree. Most of us tend to be road hunters. The problem is that there are very few public acres, and when you have a road every mile. it's pretty easy to drive around and glass. Tough to get away from other hunters.
Pick a good side.T Bone
Well-known member
I've located a picture of a what I consider a decent SD muley on public access. This one was taken in the very far NW corner of the state. This deer was taken toward the end of the rifle season, during the middle of the week. I hunted all day 2-5 miles away from the road and saw A LOT of deer and only one pickup a couple miles away packed full of oarnge hunters. It was a great day of hunting. Most bucks seen were dinkers, and this was the largest seen and after deciding to pull the trigger, it slipped into the trees. I couldn't locate it again, so I laid down and took a nap. I woke up a bit later and there he was. After a 15 minute stalk, he tipped over dead.
In the five great years I lived there, I was happy enough to kill this size of buck the first few years. After that I held out for a big one, and left the tag unfilled while passing up this size.
IMO, look for the Walk In areas in big blocks. It's private land that has been leased for public access. That means there won't be yahoos ATVing. You get more than a couple miles in and you're away from 90% of the hunters.
If you choose to hunt the Custer NF areas be prepared for idiot central. Drunks, assault rifles, ATV's, monster trucks, music and road hunters abound in the roaded areas. But you can get away from the crowds real easy.
One more note.
If your heart is set on a a good muley buck, be prepared to pass 4 of these for every 1 mule. I had this guy dead to rights at just over 100 yards and I really had to talk myself out of killing him.
In the five great years I lived there, I was happy enough to kill this size of buck the first few years. After that I held out for a big one, and left the tag unfilled while passing up this size.
IMO, look for the Walk In areas in big blocks. It's private land that has been leased for public access. That means there won't be yahoos ATVing. You get more than a couple miles in and you're away from 90% of the hunters.
If you choose to hunt the Custer NF areas be prepared for idiot central. Drunks, assault rifles, ATV's, monster trucks, music and road hunters abound in the roaded areas. But you can get away from the crowds real easy.
One more note.
If your heart is set on a a good muley buck, be prepared to pass 4 of these for every 1 mule. I had this guy dead to rights at just over 100 yards and I really had to talk myself out of killing him.
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putm2sleep
New member
How do you talk yourself out of not squeezing the trigger on that dude? He has gotta have a 20" spread! If there are 4 of those for every 1 mulie, sounds like you have yourself a nice little honey hole Tbone!
blue devil
Member
Not just the western part of the state that you have to deal with all those problems. It seems to get worse the further east you go in SD. Good luck with your SD hunt quest.
coming from Ohio we have wood lots surrounded by soybean and corn fields. what can we expect from terrain. Is it practical to hunt from tree stands in the two areas we mentioned?
Between the areas around Buffalo SD and Custer National Forrest, which offers the greatest chance at killing a Mullie. Also am I understanding right that with a Non-Res buck tag allows you to kill both Mulley and whitetail bucks ?
If you get an archery tag is it statewide or zone/area specific. Does that same tag allow you to hunt the black hills or do you have to apply for special tags for the black hills.
I know i have a lot of questions and I apologize for so many. This is our first DIY out of state hunt and just trying to get an idea of what to expect and keep the costs down.
Between the areas around Buffalo SD and Custer National Forrest, which offers the greatest chance at killing a Mullie. Also am I understanding right that with a Non-Res buck tag allows you to kill both Mulley and whitetail bucks ?
If you get an archery tag is it statewide or zone/area specific. Does that same tag allow you to hunt the black hills or do you have to apply for special tags for the black hills.
I know i have a lot of questions and I apologize for so many. This is our first DIY out of state hunt and just trying to get an idea of what to expect and keep the costs down.
MNHunter
Well-known member
West River does not have your typical Ohio type cover, you’ll be spot & stalking, not setting up tree stands . A lot of rolling hills is what you can expect. The Black Hills is forest type and may be closer to your type of hunting though I will tell you tree stands won’t be very effective there either because the higher up the tree you go, the less visibility you have. You can use a blind or sit by a tree for similar hunting to Ohio should you choose.
The tag for West river I believe is mulie or whitetail. The tag is not good in the Black Hills. That is a separate draw and the whitetail tag you cannot draw without at least 1 pref point as a NR. The any deer tag (WT or MD) in the Black Hills is even harder to draw. The aforementioned info is for rifle.
For bow, the tag is good state wide including the Black Hills. It is also good for mulie or whitetail. As T-bone said, you will likely see and have to pass up 3 WTs for every MD.
Good luck
also, PM sent
The tag for West river I believe is mulie or whitetail. The tag is not good in the Black Hills. That is a separate draw and the whitetail tag you cannot draw without at least 1 pref point as a NR. The any deer tag (WT or MD) in the Black Hills is even harder to draw. The aforementioned info is for rifle.
For bow, the tag is good state wide including the Black Hills. It is also good for mulie or whitetail. As T-bone said, you will likely see and have to pass up 3 WTs for every MD.
Good luck
also, PM sent
T Bone
Well-known member
For archery only, the license is good for any deer, any area (it does not give trespass rights).
I suppose sitting in a tree stand might work, but spot and stalk is more effective, and much more entertaining IMO.
Putting myself in your shoes, and if I were traveling 20 hours to archery hunt SD, I'd save some $ by tent camping instead of motel, and I'd pick one of the Custer NF islands in the NW part of the state (not to be confused with Custer State Park). During archery season you won't get the circus atmosphere present during rifle season. Expect hilly terrain, not unlike southern OH, except they're covered with pines, short grass prairie, small sage, and some brush in the bottoms.
Set up camp and start hunting. There are A LOT of deer in that area. There are elk sprinkled through the NW corner of the state, don't shoot them. If you can glass, have at least one eye, one leg, and know how to use terrain for stalks, you're going to get into action, and very likely a good archery shot. I'd think if you spent a week, chances would be very high of killing a deer.
Also, anterless archery tags are very affordable, $80ish for NR. I'd probably buy one of those just to stick the first doe in range to get into the groove of hunting.
The 4/1 ratio of WT/MD was for the NW corner of the state. In the Black Hills I found the ratio much higher, maybe 8 WT for every mule.
I suppose sitting in a tree stand might work, but spot and stalk is more effective, and much more entertaining IMO.
Putting myself in your shoes, and if I were traveling 20 hours to archery hunt SD, I'd save some $ by tent camping instead of motel, and I'd pick one of the Custer NF islands in the NW part of the state (not to be confused with Custer State Park). During archery season you won't get the circus atmosphere present during rifle season. Expect hilly terrain, not unlike southern OH, except they're covered with pines, short grass prairie, small sage, and some brush in the bottoms.
Set up camp and start hunting. There are A LOT of deer in that area. There are elk sprinkled through the NW corner of the state, don't shoot them. If you can glass, have at least one eye, one leg, and know how to use terrain for stalks, you're going to get into action, and very likely a good archery shot. I'd think if you spent a week, chances would be very high of killing a deer.
Also, anterless archery tags are very affordable, $80ish for NR. I'd probably buy one of those just to stick the first doe in range to get into the groove of hunting.
The 4/1 ratio of WT/MD was for the NW corner of the state. In the Black Hills I found the ratio much higher, maybe 8 WT for every mule.
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If I was going to put in for the custer Isles is this a special tag for archery only ? Also where exactly are they located on the Map i was trying to find them and i seen no trace of them.
guess ill start watching western spot and stalk videos and tactics. Anything beside the normal stuff we should bring along with us for a october hunting.
Thanks very much for the information guys this is exactly the kind of information we needed.
When we settle on a date and time and you guys are around fell free to stop in camp and share a steak and cup of coffee =)
guess ill start watching western spot and stalk videos and tactics. Anything beside the normal stuff we should bring along with us for a october hunting.
Thanks very much for the information guys this is exactly the kind of information we needed.
When we settle on a date and time and you guys are around fell free to stop in camp and share a steak and cup of coffee =)
T Bone
Well-known member
gavenn,
archery tag is statewide, any deer.
When I mentioned the Custer NF islands, I compared the National Forest land to an island in the ocean. In this case, the "islands" are Custer NF land, the "ocean" would be the prairie of SD. When you see them from a distance they remind me of an island of pine trees sticking out of an ocean of fall brown prairie, which completely surrounds the island.... comprende?
Look at the SDGFP's atlas that shows public land.. National Forest land is the green color. There are some West of Buffalo, some East.
Be prepared for any kind of weather. If you don't have a rangefinder, I think it's a valuable tool. GPS is golden in unfamiliar country.
You'll have fun.
archery tag is statewide, any deer.
When I mentioned the Custer NF islands, I compared the National Forest land to an island in the ocean. In this case, the "islands" are Custer NF land, the "ocean" would be the prairie of SD. When you see them from a distance they remind me of an island of pine trees sticking out of an ocean of fall brown prairie, which completely surrounds the island.... comprende?
Look at the SDGFP's atlas that shows public land.. National Forest land is the green color. There are some West of Buffalo, some East.
Be prepared for any kind of weather. If you don't have a rangefinder, I think it's a valuable tool. GPS is golden in unfamiliar country.
You'll have fun.
warmer
Well-known member
You can get an archery tag for west river and one for east river or you can get one valid state-wide.
jore07
New member
I am doing an archery hunt down there this year. I'm hoping for some good luck and knocking down my first whitetail. I chose archery because of the unlimited tags and the fact that rifle is so hard to draw for west river. I am already a bit lucky as my wife has family that owns some land down there and they are kind enough to let me on. Anyone with any other advise I'll be reading.
