SD Black Hills

[WildWill]

With the 23 season winding down I find myself looking to next year's plans. Originally I'd planned to burn my deer points in Wyoming until last winter now I've decided to wait. I have a few ideas one of them being to burn my 6 or 7 SD points for a whitetail blackhills tag. With that many points it's as close to a sure thing as you can get in the SD draw system. My question for those who have hunted or been in the area this year is how's the deer herd doing specifically the whitetails? Also for those that have hunted the area do you have a preference for when? I'll probably only be able to hunt for 7-10 days of the season and was wondering what the pros and cons are for going early, mid, or late in the season.

 

[LCH]

I was there 2 years ago, the year of the bad ehd, and still found a decent number of deer. I was there in mid-November.

Last year I went back with a West River tag in an adjoining unit to the Black Hills later on in the month, and it seemed like the whitetails were about done with the rut.

 

[perma]

I hunted turkeys on the WY side very close to the SD border. I couldn’t walk through a gulch without seeing a whitetail.

 

[grizzly63]

I was there for two weeks in late oct to mid november archery hunting. Never pulled the string back. Saw a few most days but just didnt happen. No large deer seen. Could have shot a spike three different times but felt he needed to grow a little more. Still will not deter me from applying for rifle next year. The Black Hills is a fairly large area and logging and ranching can change things from year to year in any given area. Good luck.

 

[Chad Gus]

I had the tag two years ago, went over Thanksgiving. It was one month post treestand accident where i broke a couple disc's in my lower back. My mobility was extremely limited, could barely make it a 100 yards. I tagged out late first morning on a respectable buck. Wife packed it out for me. Rut seemed to be in full swing then.

 

[blackbeard]

I was out there in mid October with the bow, couple relatives had the any deer tag for November as well. They both tagged out on mule deer. I guess I've never had an issue finding whitetails in the hills, it might just depend how picky you want to be. Good luck

 

[beagle001]

If you’re going to draw the whitetail tag, I’d say you have a good chance. The Any Deer tag… who knows…
Anyway, there are whitetails to be found. I’ve seen a handful of dandies on public and a pile more on private. I’d look on the eastern half of the Hills for them, in more scattered ownership areas

 

[Djfan]

I filled my deer tag on the WY side in archery season, but I was going for does.

It was easy up there.