Other Hunting > Upland Birds
Any info on public land South Dakota pheasant hunts?
bornhunter:
Hit 71 this year so if I dont get to the Dakotas before long I never will. I waa hoping for some public land hunting but I lost my bird dog in Novermber so unless my buddy can go with his dog I may have to pay to hunt some private ground. I would prefer wild birds but getting to the point not sure how picky I can be. Has anyone done any public land hunts in North or South Dakota and if so is it worth the effort? Wondering too about pressure. I am thinking later in the season. Any info will be appreciated.
EnglishSetter:
I've hunted SD a few times and my hunting buddy does every year. Mix of public and private. Used to be more private, but the farmer quit farming so doesn't lease farm land anymore. Just family land. This is around the Wolsey area. We camp (RV's, tents) at the farmer's house. We kick him $200 each for the access.
Waterfowl Production Areas and Game Production Areas are what you're looking for. The maps with the regs show 'em. HuntX helps quite a bit though.
Allen's South Dakota Fishing and Hunting Lodge in Chamberlain is another option. Quality planted birds in good habitat and can provide dogs. There's public land in the area as well, so you could do both. Another friend lodges there, but just hunts the public land. He does pretty well, though he's a good bird hunter with 2 good dogs, hunts hard and knows the area.
Also you can "road hunt" the section roads in SD. Not shooting from the vehicle, but driving/hunting the fence lines. You can retrieve on private so long as you don't trespass with the gun.
Do know that even though SD had a lot of pheasants, it's hardly "easy". Even knowing the land we struggled the first few days (non-resident opener) to find boys. Girls were prevalent.
Pressure isn't a big issue IME. A lot of the public we had to ourselves. Yes there were boot prints, but we weren't dodging other hunters. Gotta watch out for weather later in the season. You could get snowed in or snowed out.
FWIW, I hunted (in order) Western WA (planters), Eastern OR, South Dakota and California (wild birds) this year. Got birds in each state.
follow maggie:
The last couple years people & businesses around Aberdeen have been making a big effort to open access around Aberdeen. There’s some good hunting around there.
https://huntfishsd.com/hunt/pheasant-hunts/aberdeen-pheasant-coalition/
bornhunter:
--- Quote from: EnglishSetter on April 18, 2025, 06:59:49 PM ---I've hunted SD a few times and my hunting buddy does every year. Mix of public and private. Used to be more private, but the farmer quit farming so doesn't lease farm land anymore. Just family land. This is around the Wolsey area. We camp (RV's, tents) at the farmer's house. We kick him $200 each for the access.
Waterfowl Production Areas and Game Production Areas are what you're looking for. The maps with the regs show 'em. HuntX helps quite a bit though.
Allen's South Dakota Fishing and Hunting Lodge in Chamberlain is another option. Quality planted birds in good habitat and can provide dogs. There's public land in the area as well, so you could do both. Another friend lodges there, but just hunts the public land. He does pretty well, though he's a good bird hunter with 2 good dogs, hunts hard and knows the area.
Also you can "road hunt" the section roads in SD. Not shooting from the vehicle, but driving/hunting the fence lines. You can retrieve on private so long as you don't trespass with the gun.
Do know that even though SD had a lot of pheasants, it's hardly "easy". Even knowing the land we struggled the first few days (non-resident opener) to find boys. Girls were prevalent.
Pressure isn't a big issue IME. A lot of the public we had to ourselves. Yes there were boot prints, but we weren't dodging other hunters. Gotta watch out for weather later in the season. You could get snowed in or snowed out.
FWIW, I hunted (in order) Western WA (planters), Eastern OR, South Dakota and California (wild birds) this year. Got birds in each state.
--- End quote ---
Thank you very much. A lot of good info here I can work with.
bornhunter:
--- Quote from: follow maggie on April 18, 2025, 07:20:32 PM ---The last couple years people & businesses around Aberdeen have been making a big effort to open access around Aberdeen. There’s some good hunting around there.
https://huntfishsd.com/hunt/pheasant-hunts/aberdeen-pheasant-coalition/
--- End quote ---
Ok great. Thank you
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