Sd turkey

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Application for South Dakota spring turkey is up on SDGFP web site if anyone is interested.
Filed mine yesterday. Probably wont draw a prairie tag but I will get a leftover tag!
I will be chasing them near beautiful downtown White Owl again. Fun country to Merriams hunt!

 

[Bio Bo]

Application for South Dakota spring turkey is up on SDGFP web site if anyone is interested.
Filed mine yesterday. Probably wont draw a prairie tag but I will get a leftover tag!
I will be chasing them near beautiful downtown White Owl again. Fun country to Merriams hunt!

Any public land worth hunting around there, or do you hunt private land?

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Private land

 

[mtmiller]

Any public land worth hunting around there, or do you hunt private land?

Bio, you should look into the Black Hills. Nearly all public and a pile of long beards. You might have good on the prairie by just knocking on some doors.

Good luck Tom

 

[Bio Bo]

Bio, you should look into the Black Hills. Nearly all public and a pile of long beards. You might have good on the prairie by just knocking on some doors.

Good luck Tom

Thanks, I've heard the B. Hills have plenty of Merriams. And there's a map of some of the public land on the SD wildlife web site. But a little 1st hand info is always better. I want to complete my slam at some point, and I need a Merriams and an Osceola. I'm also looking at the Spanish Peaks in S. Co., but SD may have more birds...

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Good thing about the SD birds is they are almost bleached white rather than dingy white like some other Merriams I have seen
Black Hills do have lotsa birds in some areas but also have pressure like any other public lands. Thats why I now use a outfitter who is in my opinion, quite reasonable----much cheaper than you are going to find a reputable outfitter or guide for your Osceola! FL also has public lands with birds and very high pressure....I think everyone must wait for the Osceola to complete their slam....I would not recommend hunting Osceola without a guide or outfitter!

 

[Bio Bo]

Good thing about the SD birds is they are almost bleached white rather than dingy white like some other Merriams I have seen
Black Hills do have lotsa birds in some areas but also have pressure like any other public lands. Thats why I now use a outfitter who is in my opinion, quite reasonable----much cheaper than you are going to find a reputable outfitter or guide for your Osceola! FL also has public lands with birds and very high pressure....I think everyone must wait for the Osceola to complete their slam....I would not recommend hunting Osceola without a guide or outfitter!

But that's the whole point, Tom, to complete a grand slam w/o a guide and on public land. Besides I have some inside info on FL public land where an acquaintance got two birds last year on the advice of a local game warden. Doesn't mean I will, but it's good info to have.
I plan on devoting a week to each trip when I go. If I get a bird or if I don't, I'll have a blast.
Last year I got my Eastern on opening day where I have been successful now 3 years in a row. Then two weeks later I got a Rio 150 miles further west on public land where I had been unsuccessful the year before.
If all there was to turkey hunting was sitting in a blind around decoys and calling a little now and then, I would probably be as bored w/ it as some people watching it on TV. But when you have to start from scratch in a place you have never hunted before and learn to pattern both the birds and the hunters, and you can be successful... Then you can take a little more pride in your success.
Plus I strive to bag as mature a bird as I can. I won't shoot a jake, even where it's legal. Most of what you get will be 2 year old birds. But when you get one that comes in cautiously and quietly with little or even no gobbling, odds are he's an older bird. Just makes it more of a challenge...
Anyway, thanks for the input. Any feedback is always appreciated.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

More power to you Bro! Wish you much success on DIY birds!
All my oringinal US birds slam were completed without a guide except I paid for right to hunt private lands in FL. Owner drove us around the property the day before season opened and said "Good luck" which was all we wanted him to do and 3 of the 4 of us got our swamp birds. I now have shared leases in TN and private land I can hunt on in AL, MO, TX and GA for quid pro quo and use an outfitter, only for his leases and good home cooking and a comfortable bed in SD. I did have a guide with me for my Mexican Birds to complete my World Slam. I actually was by my self when I killed my Gould because guide said "wait here" and went on a scounting expedition and I called one in while he was gone. Oscillated guide was yelling "chute! Chute!" so loud he flushed the bird and I had to drop him like a Pheasant passing shot. I actually consider all my birds except the Oscillated DIY birds and all the help I got then was to keep me from getting lost in the damn jungle. Never killed a bird with someone else doing the calling except in mid day when a bud and I often tag team in SEMO. I have called in several for others.