South Dakota pickup hunter

[Muskeez]

"I was flabbergasted with how many thousands of fancy drive-on fish "shacks" were out on the lakes around there. Looks like a lot of guys have many tens of thousands of dollars invested in their ice fishing setups"

Theat, yes, ice fishing is incredibly popular in that part of SD. Some guys spend more time and money ice fishing than Spring/Summer/Fall boat fishing. Farmers in particular it seems. I've heard reports that some of these fish "shacks" are farm expenses and called "mobile grain drying observation units", and needed to camp by their grain dryers in the fall

 

[Luckydog1147]

Sorta. BH deer, ER deer, WR deer, Custer deer, Archery deer, ML deer, Refuge deer.

Yeah but that is all changed now this year. If you get a WR deer tag now. You can’t apply for any of the other tags until the last drawing. And for most of the counties I would like to hunt, there would be any tags left over. Now the old system. I could dang near get a tag anywhere I wanted

 

[JLS]

"I was flabbergasted with how many thousands of fancy drive-on fish "shacks" were out on the lakes around there. Looks like a lot of guys have many tens of thousands of dollars invested in their ice fishing setups"

Theat, yes, ice fishing is incredibly popular in that part of SD. Some guys spend more time and money ice fishing than Spring/Summer/Fall boat fishing. Farmers in particular it seems. I've heard reports that some of these fish "shacks" are farm expenses and called "mobile grain drying observation units", and needed to camp by their grain dryers in the fall

I saw some ice fishing huts in ND that were nearly as elaborate as my house.

 

[Deleted member 40315]

I lived in South Dakota my entire life. I have grown up hunting and fishing. My hunting experience has gotten better the older I have gotten. I have gone from hunting pheasants and rifle whitetail to. Ducks/geese, archery deer, coyotes. But a lot is missing I feel. Where I grew up we do what I call pickup hunting. Meaning we drive around looking for deer, see them then get out and try to figure out how to get around on them to get a shot. I am not talking about shooting from the pickup or chasing them. I really want to get into back woods hunting. We really don’t have opertunities like that here. I am listening to all the pod casts and watching YouTube to learn as much as I can. I am hoping to learn more here as well.

I’m from the Yankton area and you have some of the best wooded hunting area just on the other side of Lewis and Clark lake either on the Nebraska side or South Dakota side. I was up there the other day and counted 7 deer in just 24 hours running around. Check that area out if you want to tree stand or blind hunt either bow or gun. Great wooded area to start. Plus Nebraska always has tags for sale for non-residents. There are mostly white tail and a tiny bit of mulley (if any). The the Santee Sioux also provide hunting and tags on private reservation land. Great opportunities out there. Check out the Lewis and Clark lake area around Crofton, Niobrara, and Yankton; great place to start for wooded hunting. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[warmer]

Yeah but that is all changed now this year. If you get a WR deer tag now. You can’t apply for any of the other tags until the last drawing. And for most of the counties I would like to hunt, there would be any tags left over. Now the old system. I could dang near get a tag anywhere I wanted

You can apply for and receive 2 any deer tags in the first draw. If you draw both you are done till the third draw. If you get skunked or draw one in the first draw you can apply in the second draw. That's my understanding of the new regulations.

 

[sdkhunter]

Welcome to the site! Plenty of areas to get away from the vehicle and do some hiking, glassing, hunting if that's what you are wanting to do.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Welcome to HT!

 

[sluggo6850]

Welcome! My advise would be to take a drive this summer to western SD and spend 3-4 days just scouting and driving through as much territory as possible. Take a lot of notes and learn what type of terrain holds the antelope vs. the mule deer, and some will overlap. My point is you can get a lot of "Western" hunting experiences in your home state where it's easier and WAY cheaper to get some tags.

Welcome from another South Dakotan. I agree with Muskeez, there is a lot of opportunity out west in the black hills, national grass lands, and a lot of other public hunting areas. You can do a lot of exploring right at home looking at various maps etc. Good luck!!

 

[mtmiller]

Yeah but that is all changed now this year. If you get a WR deer tag now. You can’t apply for any of the other tags until the last drawing. And for most of the counties I would like to hunt, there would be any tags left over. Now the old system. I could dang near get a tag anywhere I wanted

Deer

gfp.sd.gov