Tell me about the black hills

[gutshootem]

My brother and I drew whitetail tags for the black hills in SD this year and I have some questions I was hoping someone familiar with the area could help me with. I've already purchased onX maps and have been playing around with that as well. I have the trails feature turned off, so am I really seeing as many roads as I think I am? If so, wow.

This kind of deer hunting is totally alien to me. From looking at aerials it looks like there's nothing but pine trees everywhere. How am I supposed to set up in a fence row pinch point and shoot a buck cruising for hot does? Seriously though, any advise on strategies, or what I should be looking for? What kind of areas are you guys finding these deer in?

I've got a good set of Meopta 10X42s, will I need a spotter as well? Any other "must haves" that come to mind? The plan for now is to search for a motel once I have a general area nailed down. Due to work obligations I won't be flying out until 11/1 and will be staying until the 7th, so I'll miss the first day and won't have any scouting time besides what I can do from my computer

Thanks in advance, and feel free to shoot me info in a pm if you prefer.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

The Black Hills have way too much acreage to answer your questions if you haven't narrowed down the search to a few smaller areas to ask about. I've turkey hunted out there several times within about 10 miles north and west of Custer State Park and there were plenty of deer running all over the place out there in those areas. If you hunted that general area you could stay in the Park or not far from the Park in the town of Custer itself. IMHO binos are all you need at least for the areas I was in. Where will you be flying into? I would assume probably Rapid City., and if that's the case it isn't that far to go over where I mentioned and you can hit Mount Rushmore for a couple minutes on your way to or from the hunt.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Spotting scope would be an overkill. I want to say the hills are close to 80% public. I would find a water source and look for trails. The rut is hard to guess in the hills. You could stay in deadwood/Lead area. I've heard there are big bucks in the northern hills. Best advice is to enjoy it! I miss it out there!

 

[utahminer]

My brother and I drew whitetail tags for the black hills in SD this year and I have some questions I was hoping someone familiar with the area could help me with. I've already purchased onX maps and have been playing around with that as well. I have the trails feature turned off, so am I really seeing as many roads as I think I am? If so, wow.

This kind of deer hunting is totally alien to me. From looking at aerials it looks like there's nothing but pine trees everywhere. How am I supposed to set up in a fence row pinch point and shoot a buck cruising for hot does? Seriously though, any advise on strategies, or what I should be looking for? What kind of areas are you guys finding these deer in?

I've got a good set of Meopta 10X42s, will I need a spotter as well? Any other "must haves" that come to mind? The plan for now is to search for a motel once I have a general area nailed down. Due to work obligations I won't be flying out until 11/1 and will be staying until the 7th, so I'll miss the first day and won't have any scouting time besides what I can do from my computer

Thanks in advance, and feel free to shoot me info in a pm if you prefer.

If you already have onx then I would recommend looking at the burn layer to see some areas where you can glass a little more (assuming that is style of hunting with which you are most familiar since you mentioned 10x42s and a spotting scope). There are also several threads where this has been discussed over years. I hunted it a couple of years ago and had a good time, but it was different than hunting mule deer in the west. One advantage you have when it comes to lodging is that you will be inbetween tourist seasons and can pick up a hotel or house pretty cheap.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

P.S. you won't find a huge buck but you should see plenty!

 

[JohnWess]

I have hunted the northern hills a lot and would agree that a spotter is probably overkill. There are a couple of ways to hunt it during rifle season. But, I prefer to pick a ridgeline and slowly walk it. I usually get two, maybe three ridges walked during a day (one in morning, one evening, maybe one in afternoon. But drive a road up to the top between two ridges, walk slowly down using binos often and keep an eye out for rutting bucks then walk back the road to the vehicle, or jump across the road to the adjacent ridge and slowly walk it up. If you see a spot you like and think deer might cross there often, sit down for a bit. I would also say hunting up high (high for the black hills) is good until there is about a foot of snow, then the deer will start going to lower elevations quick. If that happens, use your onx and get right down next to private if you have to and look for deer heading to lower elevations with less snow. All in all, it is a super fun hunt with a lot of area that is public land. There are some big deer running around up there, but I would agree they are pretty few and far between. A decent four point (4x4) is attainable with plenty of opportunities for some smaller ones. Also, if your tag is whitetail only watch out for muleys as they are up there. Here are a couple of deer I have taken out of the hills. Have Fun!!!

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Nice bucks, John. That's a good strategy too. My first year out there, I stand hunted with little success.

 

[antelopedundee]

They matter.

 

[JohnWess]

Nice bucks, John. That's a good strategy too. My first year out there, I stand hunted with little success.

Thanks! Yeah, stand hunting there can be tough. The only place I have found luck stand hunting is at lower elevations closer to towns during archery season. They seem to pattern a bit more down low.

 

[gutshootem]

Thanks topgun, I am flying into rapid city and my brother will be driving up from TX. I don't really have any areas narrowed down yet because this terrain is new to me and it's sometimes difficult to discern what I'm even looking at. I'm not seeing much, if anything that resembles agriculture so I'll assume these deer just browse?

Being from the east where the amount of public ground is minimal and way over pressured my first inclination is to seek out public areas that are difficult to access and/or shielded by private property. I've been looking at some places like this in the north, not too far from Lead. The biggest thing I've noticed is the amount of roads though. I really wasn't expecting so much of the public land to be so accessible so I'm trying to find places that are cut off by private property boundaries. Is this a waste of time? I don't really like the idea of parking myself in a saddle all day so still hunting the ridges like John suggested sounds interesting.

Utah, I'll be sure to check out the burn layers but sitting and glassing really isn't something I'm accustomed too. I'm an eastern treestand hunter and thought a spotter might come in handy but based on what's been said here, it won't be needed. You said it was different than MD hunting, mind sharing some of the strategy you utilized?

 

[ZBB]

I don’t think it’s necessary to find an isolated piece of public. There are a lot of roads, but there’s also a lot of public land and plenty of whitetails. Seeing how you’re flying into Rapid and your brothers driving from Texas, I’d probably stay in hill city. You could head out towards Deerfield lake, up towards deadwood or south towards Custer. That way you be able to hit up Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and all the other touristy stuff pretty easily. I like to set up somewhere I can see a ways in the morning, then still hunt after I get bored. Don’t over think it, you’ll be able to find whitetails pretty easy. Good luck
Zach

 

[TheJason]

Ridge lines, saddles, benches, creek bottoms. Don’t worry about the spotter.

 

[utahminer]

T
Utah, I'll be sure to check out the burn layers but sitting and glassing really isn't something I'm accustomed too. I'm an eastern treestand hunter and thought a spotter might come in handy but based on what's been said here, it won't be needed. You said it was different than MD hunting, mind sharing some of the strategy you utilized?

Hunttalk member Buschy said it best, "hunting whitetails are like hunting mule deer on crack." They didn't seem to care about the moon phase and didn't move except for on the VERY extremes of the day. I tried to do a little still hunting and didn't work very well. I'm a little embarrassed to say this, because I feel I have a pretty good eye for game, but I struggled to see them unless they were standing up. I followed some advice from a guy at work and hunted around Lead and Deadwood, but didnt have much luck. The further south I went the better I did. I'm sure a seasoned white tail hunter will do much better than I did. I finally found a burn and it put me more in my element.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Hunted turkey this spring on a ridge in the northern Black Hills. Sat in a blind and had lots of deer walking by. You shouldn't have any trouble finding deer.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[Wulffhunter]

FYI they give out 3500 resident deer tags, it’ll be busy. Personally I’d go later in the month. Bigger deer come out towards thanksgiving and start chasing does. And less people will be out then

 

[Deleted member 38069]

From what I remember is there were a lot of road "hunters". Still hunting will be much more effective than stand hunting. I love it out there. Also, Hill City is a great option to stay at. Its centrally located in the hills!

 

[cornfed]

I hunted it last year on one of the NR any deer tags. I do not think I hunted a day where I could not have shot a buck. That being said I had a hard time finding any deer the size I was looking for. The deer are pretty much all over. If I was you and you are good at hunting a certain way or like a certain type of terrain I would start there and then adapt if that doesn't work. If I was going with another person I would find some long ridges and drop one guy off and have him hunt to where the vehicle is parked and have the other hunter hunt until he had to get picked up by the first hunter who hunted his way to the vehicle. No ag fields to speak of . I know its hard for us whitetail guys to understand but the hills deer just mostly eat GRASS. Yes grass and very little browse. That said I would think you odds would go up where multiple terrain types come together. Most whitetails are like those pictured above with some bigger ones mixed in. That is based off of my opinion of one hunt that I came into similar to your situation.

 

[beagle001]

There are whitetails running EVERYWHERE in the Hills. Thinking about giving up saving for an Any Deer tag and burning them on a whitetail tag next year. There are roads everywhere, but generally, you can find places other guys drive by. Be mobile

 

[mmeehan97]

Some good tips above. I live and hunt in the Black Hills. It really is a magical place.

There are thousands of forest service roads. That being said, some are closed to motor vehicle traffic. I try to key on those areas, because there are a TON of road warriors - especially the first couple of weeks. And generally speaking, those guys will avoid getting away from their side-by-sides/pickups. As mentioned above they give out 3,000+ tags every single year. It can get PRETTY squirrely out here at times.

There are some burn areas, but in my experience those areas are populated with mostly mulies. That being said, if you hunt where burn meets timber, you'll run into some whitetails.

Study maps, use elevation to your advantage. Look for canopy disruptions and mixed terrain. Still hunting can be extremely effective. Be ready to hike.

Look for sign. Areas where several game trails merge, pinch points. Look for timber sales. Whitetails love "old man's beard" on trees and so they'll key in on recent timber sales to feed on fell trees.

Be prepared for shots under 100 yards. Be prepared to get caught with your pants down and know your "freehand" range limits. Move slow. Move quiet.

This is not your typical Western hunt. This is not your typical Eastern hunt. There really isn't much for agriculture...there is a lot of water...there is a lot of food. Patterning deer on large tracts of public is really difficult. Be mobile. Be adaptable.

But most of all...have fun. You'll not have difficulty getting into deer. And if you put in for this tag with 160" trophies in your mind...then you put in for the wrong tag. We don't grow whitetails out here like they do on the East side of the state. There are a handful that get killed every year. But by and large, we have a lot of smaller deer out here; both in antler and body size.

Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Great detailed advice, mehan! Also, great buck! The road warriors used to drive me nuts.