doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com where to hunt in South Dakota?

Hearing mixed reports about conditions up there. Some folks are being disinvited by their guides because of that bad snowstorm a few weeks ago. Anybody have a sense of what got hit and what didn't?

Lloyd, a more appropriate question is when to hunt SD.

Bird numbers are down state wide but what birds there are, are in standing corn, where corn is grown.

As of yesterday our county agent told me that there is only about 8% of the corn out of the fields and that there still is about 30%, 40% in some areas, of beans still in the fields.

We had 5 inches of rain east of a north/south line down through Aberdeen to Neb from Sunday past to the day before yesterday. That's most of the golden triangle for pheasants.

That much rain will keep the combines out of the field until well into next week, IF we do not get more rain and more is forecasted starting Sunday.

There is no reason for the birds to leave the corn while it is up.

If you have to come out before the middle of November, you probably out to stay close to the river. There is not as much row crops out there.

Let me put all that into another context. The season here in SD opens this Saturday at noon. Sunday morning I am heading for my property in Eastern MT to hunt the third week of the pheasant season there, rather than hunt the opener around my property here.

Thanks RCC. That certainly makes sense. We generally go around Martin, any feedback from that part of the State?

Small world I hunt around Martin. The guy I stay with says the storm did a number on the phez/sharpies/and deer... not seeing much of anything

Going out around Gregory in a week. Anyone heard anything about that area?

I'm in Huron today. I didn't bring a gun or dogs. But I'll look for birds and let you know. I'm sure the kids in the owners family are going to want to hunt anyway.

We're hunting south of Pierre next week. The rancher says they weren't hit with heavy snows; and that both the cattle and the pheasants are O.K.

We usually limit every day on his ranch. Hunting conditions vary based upon how much corn, cane, and milo have been harvested.

I'll post results next weekend.

JERRY

I have a friend who is a Federal Conservation Officer at LaCreek. He tells me that the area has been pounded by storms for more than a year now. The Upland game toll is high.

The National Weather Service only shows 8-inches of snow at Martin for that last storm. There must be alot more going on there.

That does sound a little weird. The info I posted was told to my buddy a few days ago from a land owner outside of Martin. The conversation didn't go into a lot of details only the storm caused some problems and he wasn't seeing much game.

Did I see you at the Auction Cafe one day last year.