Find the land owner?

[tmvikings]

What’s the best way to find out who owns the land in South Dakota? I hunt near a section that I would love to hunt and would pay to hunt it. Thanks for any input or suggestions.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

go to the local library in the area and reference a plat book, or buy one for the county you hunt online.  Farm & Home Publishing (you can google them) has plats for every SD county.

[Finns]

County Recorder of Deeds?

[neptune]

Some counties in Minnesota have the land owner information online at the county's page.  Not sure if South Dakota has that.

[DonBo]

There must be an app for that?

[Finns]

Might do a search, type in county name followed by GIS.  Some of our counties down here use gis.  And, no I don't know what is stands for.

[rundrave]

there are some GIS ones for example lincoln county in South East SD has one online but its a pretty populated county etc, because of Sioux Falls.

What I have found is that most of the rural counties (prime pheasant areas) do not have an online GIS map that I have found.

Also GIS = Geographic Information Services

[Cheetah]

I was going to suggest the same as rundrave, if GIS is available for the area.  Or get a plat book.  

[Marshall6249]

There is an app for that! its called HUNT by onXmaps. I tried the free trial and that seemed to be a couple years off on landowners around me here in MN. Think the paid version would have more up to date landowners on it. It shows who owns the land and gives an address to where they live in most cases. Something to try out or look into. I'm going to pull the trigger on the MN one. Good luck

[Todd Caswell]

t I would love to hunt and would pay to hunt it. Thanks for any input or suggestions.

 

There called Game farms I'm sure there are a few in your area.  Id'e rather walk for 10 days without a flush than pay to walk another mans land...

[smalliehunter]

Well nobody asked you your opinion, guy.  

[Todd Caswell]

Well nobody asked you your opinion, guy.  

He sure did

[nofishfisherman]

He sure did

Actually I believe he asked about the best way to find a land owner to discuss potential hunting arrangements.  I don't believe he asked about your personal opinion on paying for land access.

To answer the original question in the past I have used a combination of plat books, time with boots on the ground talking to people, and some creative googling to find land owner contact info

[ClownColor]

 

There called Game farms I'm sure there are a few in your area.  Id'e rather walk for 10 days without a flush than pay to walk another mans land...

Sounds like fun! Hope you enjoy those 10 days walking with no birds as this guy has the time of his life! I suppose you've never paid to sleep in a hotel either when you could easily just sleep in your car at a public wayside rest.

 

Other than whats already been suggested you might just have to knock on some neighboring houses to find out.

[muc33]

Also don't ever be afraid to go to the nearest acreage to the land.  Often times people are intimidated by simply driving up and talking to the local land owners.  You never know, you may just meet someone who is a neighbor but also has property to hunt.  All they can ever say is no.  It's kinda like the lottery, you can't win unless you buy a ticket!

[nofishfisherman]

Also don't ever be afraid to go to the nearest acreage to the land.  Often times people are intimidated by simply driving up and talking to the local land owners.  You never know, you may just meet someone who is a neighbor but also has property to hunt.  All they can ever say is no.  It's kinda like the lottery, you can't win unless you buy a ticket!

Door knocking is a pretty effective tool.  I've had experiences on both ends of the spectrum but they have all been valuable.  While checking out one piece of property I wanted to deer hunt I knocked on one neighbors door and before I left I had a new friend.  He offered an easier access route through his hunting land, helped us haul stands with his ATV, and showed us where he kept his keys in case we needed to borrow one of the ATVs to haul a deer while he was away.  All of that within 2 hours of meeting the guy.  I knocked on the door of the neighbor on the other side of the property and he basically yelled at us the entire time while threatening us to stay off "his land" (it was actually public land). Both conversations where incredibly valuable.  In one I made a friend who I still keep in touch with even though I haven't hunted that property for 4-5 years and the other I learned where the local wacko lived so I knew who to steer clear of. 

[leechlake]

go to the county page and access the property tax records.  In most MN counties you can click on the spot and the tax records show up with the owners name.  Search the name via white pages.