South Dakota Hunters?

Didn't draw a hills rifle tag this year, but did get a double antelope tag to go with my archery deer tag this year.

 

BH have you heard anything about a MASSIVE elk being shot by Sturgis this year? I got a text with a picture of like a 400 inch bull saying it was shot in South Dakota. I am skeptical, do you have any info?

 

Any SD hunters have a deer on the ground yet?

I just finished grinding out six days of public land hunting near Bonesteel this October. It was very unproductive hunting. After two scouting trips in September and two hunting trips in October, we came home with zero deer. Encounters were very, very low. I saw more Sioux Falls and Wisconsin hunters than I did deer.

Next time I attempt a west river hunt I guess I have to get way, way off the grid.

 

Good chance the WI hunters you saw were A) Us or B) the same knuckleheads from WI that were screwing up our hunt

 

Bird hunters or other deer hunters?

I haven't gotten anything yet but know several guys that have. Seeing some deer move, just nothing big....

 

Gregory county? Both groups were near Bonesteel, SD.

 

Other deer hunters.

The second weekend of October I ran into two groups of Wisconsin guys. A group of four and a group of five. The fourth weekend of October I ran into three Sioux Falls hunters. One of the Sioux Falls guys shot a muley north of Bonesteel.

 

I did some scouting one evening north of Bonesteel in a couple places. One place looked awesome and we couldn't find a track. The other looked good too, especially for mule deer, but it was raining hard and we weren't THAT adventurous

 

Anyone out here had luck getting permission on private land in SD? I'm originally from MN and moved to Brookings for school 4 years ago. Just graduated and am in the area for at least a few more years. Between last year and this year I have asked 30+ farmers for permission to bowhunt without any luck. Just wondering if I just have bad luck or if it is this hard to come by out here. In the mean-time I'm hunting public land trying to stay away from all the bird hunters.

 

I have some private land permission around white and Toronto, and up by Arlington.


Not to be hard on ya or anything but you haven't really tried that hard. 30 farmers isn't that much. I've asked well over 125 different farmers.

Spread out north and west and your luck will increase. There's plenty of deer in the Arlington to Lake Preston area.


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Also of your a duck hunter it has helped me in the past by getting permission for ducks and geese and when they see I am respectable and ethical, they usually open up there land for everything to me. Same things goes for when I used to trap.


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More deer are starting to show up as the crops come off and more bucks moving later in the morning. Haven't seen any scrapes yet, but starting to see some fresh rubs. Should be getting good soon!

 

Where are you from, witrapper?

 

I haven't heard of a 400 inch bull taken, but I will do some asking around. I got some good trailcam pics of elk this year, found a wallow that got tore up! My neighbor and I didn't get to hunt antelope thanks to that early blizzard. Just hunted the Slim Buttes area for the first time and we glassed a bunch of mulies, 10 of which were bucks. We stalked up on the biggest one and my buddy missed a 20 yard shot! Gonna try to hunt it again next week, miles of public land and didn't even see another hunter! Passed on a good 4 point whitetail from one of my stands so far but haven't been seeing much activity yet.

 

That is awesome! Talk about living in a versatile area. I wish I was closer to the middle of the state. Being as far southeast as you can go makes branching out difficult.

 

I am officially rifle tag-less for this season. I elected to buy a preference point for east river and got turned down for Gregory county during first drawing of west river. After that, I got two whitetail buck tags for Perkins county during second and third drawing.

After hearing about the EHD up there and getting a letter from the GFP about offering refunds for that area, I elected to send both tags back. This will be the first time since I've started hunting that I have been without a rifle tag.

 

Brookings, SD

 

Psh, too many of you silly Jackrabbits around here.

 

True. Headed to Gregory County in 2 days for rifle opener. Hoping the bucks are moving there better than here.

 

Good luck. Do you have an Any Deer or Any Whitetail? I typically have a tag for there, but got turned down this year.