SODAK Reports

[zdmiller]

My understanding is it is pretty hard to find private land to hunt anywhere east river without having to pay. I can't speak for the Ipswitch area, my father is from Redfield and around Hand/Spink/Clark counties you'd be hard up to find private unless you have relations. Ask if you can help out putting up fence, digging posts, unhanging electric, checkin batteries etc. in exchange for hunting their land. It never hurts to ask

[Tom7227]

A 75 year old farmer told me that the 100 mph wind storm that ran from Groton through Webster and to Waubay in early August knocked down the number of the birds. We hunted private land and some areas where the beans had been harvested. No corn in sight, and not many birds either. I guess it's the chicken or egg problem - are the birds down or hiding in the corn? Won't know until the corn is gone. In my 5+ years in the area I've never seen fewer birds and the bad thing was that we weren't even flushing hens. I enjoy it but I'm not going back until the corn is in.

[DUCKJ]

Hunted private land opening weekend and got 56 birds in 3.5 days. A ton of birds seen (close to 300) and thats with all the corn up. Heading back in a couple weeks when the corn is gone. Should be another great hunt. 8 guys Sat and Sun (45 birds), 3 dogs. 4 guys Mon and Tue (11 birds), 1 dog.

Duck

[ZEEK1223]

Can I come?.......lol

[Tom7227]

Hunted private land opening weekend and got 56 birds in 3.5 days. A ton of birds seen (close to 300) and thats with all the corn up. Heading back in a couple weeks when the corn is gone. Should be another great hunt. 8 guys Sat and Sun (45 birds), 3 dogs. 4 guys Mon and Tue (11 birds), 1 dog.

Duck

General area?

[sdstatekid]

I think the big storm may have had some impact but there should still be plenty of birds around. Early in the summer I saw birds and broods everywhere while I was checking for thistle on the wpa's. After the storm I still saw a lot, but I was over in the Big Stone area for 3 weeks and about half hour north of sisseton for the last 2 weeks of the summer so I wasn't around Waubay much, but when I was I saw birds. Just be patient, as the corn comes out you should start to see more and more.

[DUCKJ]

We were in the North eastern part of the state.

Duck

[JConrad]

Kyle, I will be in the Ipswich area on Monday with my two sons for 5 days. How is the corn harvest coming along now that the weather has turned dry?

I was N/E of Aberdeen the last two weeks guiding at Dakota river ranch and it sure was wet with the combines not being able to get in the fields. Hopefully some of the corn is now in!

Joel

[Jarrod32]

Was out yesterday for a while...two of us got four pheasants. Lots of ducks on all the potholes, too.

Saw a lot of combines out...the corn is coming down fast this week.

There are more birds west/northwest of Aberdeen than east/northeast of Aberdeen.

Someone asked about access to private land...once you get into mid-November, it will be easier to get access. Just ask nice. If someone turns you down, just try the next place. And you will have better luck with that the further north/northwest you get. That is, you'll have better luck in the Eureka area than in the Redfield/Huron area, for example.

[treble]

Yes the corn harvest is well underway. We took in a half million bushels this weekend alone. But with the forecast it looks like today and tomorrow will be the only days the combines will be running this week. There probably is only 20 - 25% of the corn done in this area, so there is still a ton of cover for the birds, but if you have some private land to hunt, I would think that you will do just fine. There are soo many birds around it is rediculous. Good luck!

[JConrad]

Kyle.... thanks for the update... My sons and I are out here and yes there are lots of birds... They are in the corn big time. We did manage to get our 9 bird limit both Monday and Tuesday and worked really hard to get the 9.. Good news is we did not lose a bird... My griff made a number of really great retrieves. She tracked one bird with a broken wing about 200 yards before she caught up with it.

We do have one private piece of land to hunt and sure wish we had another one or two. May have to knock on a few doors..

Weather sounds like it's going to go down hill later today..

Have a great day.....

Joel

[sydschramm]

I went out to the Webster SD area last weekend. Most of the corn is still in the field and the area is very wet. Didn't even see anyone in the fields and with this week's weather I'm guessing the corn will be standing for a long time. We hunted public land without much success. We did see a few birds everywhere we hunted, but not great numbers. We hunted out that way last year on public land with much the same results...does anyone have success on public land around this area? Basically the reason we chose this area is this is where the most public land is located. Should we be looking elsewhere?

[treble]

Hunting public land in most places in SD is very challenging. Around Aberdeen, it is basically impossible to find a piece of public land that hasn't been hunted within the past couple of days, and on the weekends, I would be willing to bet they get hunted 2, 3, 4, times a day. The birds get scared off quickly, especially when there is plenty of corn fields for them to go to, and the ones that do stay, are very wary and get up long before you ever get close to them. I have shot a few birds off the public land this year, but you just have to know what to look for and when to hunt it. I haven't walked a food plot yet this year, or anything next to the road. I try to pick out the spots that you have to walk a half-mile to and get your feet wet to get to them. Also I try to hit them at a time when, one, most other hunters are doing something else (road-hunting), and two, when the birds are coming back to roost. My theory is that most of these birds have been in the corn most of the day, and haven't been chased around yet.

Public land is very challenging, but its not impossible..

And now you know my secret...

[JConrad]

Kyle, you are right on with regard to how to hunt public land.

My sons and I hunted both public and private land this week - Monday through Wednesday near Aberdeen. We left Thursday morning because of the Blizzard warning. We would have hunted on Thursday and Friday also if the weather would have been a bit better. We did obtain out limit on all three days but worked really hard to get our birds. The good news is we did not lose one bird. My Griffon did a great job of finding/retrieving our birds.

We found many of our birds in the cattails late in the day... Hard hunting but it paid off.

Attached is a pic of my oldest son and I taken by my younger son with a nice daily limt...

How bad did the weather get Thursday night and Friday morning in the Aberdeen/Ipswitch area?

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/joelconrad1/SteveSD08.jpg

[311Hemi]

This is a long read, but I already wrote it for another forum so I thought I would post it here.

**********

Our SD trip from this past weekend (Oct 30-Nov 2):

The weekend before we (Lindy Rig and I) had just been in northern MN chasing Ruffed Grouse and divers. We ended up with one grouse and nine Ring Necks for the weekend. Got home early Sunday evening tired and ready to relax. Well...no later did we get unpacked from the weekend we were at it again doing laundry and shopping for groceries for the next trip in which we leave in three days. This time we are heading to SD to chase pheasants. I was really excited for this because it was finally my first pheasant trip of the year and we were heading to SD none the less (the previous two weekends of MN pheasant hunting I had wedding/work obligations).

Wednesday afternoon finally rolls around after three looong days at work of watching the clock and waiting in anticipation for this trip. The clock strikes 4:00 and I get home and get the truck loaded and then head to pick up Lindy. We get his gear loaded and are finally on our way. In tow are Star (Lindy Rigs lab from Sauk River) and Dex (my new Sauk River pup). I feel bad at this point because Kash is all excited as I am packing up the truck but he has to stay home on this one....his leg with the CCL injury is getting better but I can't risk it this far along in his rehab. Dex to this point has never been on a trip this long before....so I had my fingers crossed things would go well. He would be along to get some short training sessions in and possibly a few short walks in the field, but no hunting for him this year. We arrive at our stopping point for the night, Aarons in-laws farm in Willmar, MN. We let the dogs out for a bit and let the burn off some energy before going to bed.

Thursday morning comes early (at least earlier that usual). We are up and on the road by 5:15.....destination north central SD. We have plans to get there by 10:30am but make good time and arrive right around 10:00am. We get checked into the house we rented, get unpacked, changed, and are in the field hunting by 11:00. We choose a small piece of public land that has a couple rows of fairly open tree and tall grass......we are finally hunting. After walking all the way down the row and not seeing a bird we finally stumble upon a rooster that flushes out in front of ss and a few moments later Star is bringing back the first bird of the trip. We next decide to hit the pond across the road and walk the row of pines that boards the southern edge of the pond. About half way down we see Star getting birdie and then stop and look one direction, move her head a little and then a bird flush outside of the pines in which we have no shot. Oh well....Star was on that one and knew it was there. We walk a little further down the line and Star goes on point...the bird flushes moments later and bird number two is now being retrieved. We walk the rest of the pond and flush a couple more birds but nothing within range. It was a fun hour and a great way to start the trip. We next head to a bigger pot hole just up the road and see a group of tree that are worth walking. The trees are 1/3 surrounded by the pot hole with a nice area to walk along the shoreline. We grab Star and are on are way. About 20 min into the walk I am near the tree line and Lindy is walking the shore. Star starts getting birdie and next thing I know two rooster flush up into the woods. I drop the first one but was not fast enough on the second....it found it's way behind a tree just in the nick of time. Star finds the bird that went down after a few moments and we continue on our way. We are walking along the wood line/shore line for the next 10 minutes or so when all of a sudden Star locks up on point right on shore......shes pointing a small clump of taller grass. About 10 seconds later a rooster flushes up over the water and Lindy drops it into the lake. I have never seen a pheasant swimming in a lake before....so it was quite odd to look out and see this rooster swimming just like a duck. Star makes the retrieve and we continue on. It's been about and hour now in this field and we are heading back to the truck. I was ready to b-line it back to the truck when Lindy suggests we walk the rest of the shoreline back to the road....which was a matter of maybe 200 yards and basically right next the road. I agree that we might as well walk it and the next thing we know Star starts getting birdie again and goes on point just as we are about through the area we were planning to walk. Moments later two roosters flush....I take the first one down to the left and Lindy take the second one down to the right. A third rooster then flushes up.....we both pull up on it and realize we have our limit and watch it fly off across the road. Star retrieves the two last pheasants and we head back to the truck. It is now 1:00pm and has been a great first day on our SD trip....and one we will not forget. We snap some pictures and the rest of the day is spent scouting for tomorrows hunt, doing a little last gun intro for Dex, and taking him on a few short walks in the field. The temps are pushing 70 and it's just too hot to be walking much more. Time for some cold ones back at the house to celebrate!!!

We wake up Friday morning to more sunny skies....and a bit cooler weather. It's one of those cool brisk fall mornings with a bit of wind and the sun rising rising higher into the sky as we load the truck. Friday turns out to be a lot more work than our previous day. We get to our first location.....a large pot hole we had scouted the day before that had a nice point to walk out to and somewhat trap the birds...at least until they flushed. As we start walking the point a rooster flushes to the left side of Lindy and he drops it and Star is on the retrieve. We walk the rest of the point and see a few birds flush a ways out and cross the water, and decide to walk back and continue to walk the taller grasses a little ways from the pot hole. About 45 min into that walk Star gets birdy (and points if I remember right) and the bird flushes to my right. Lindy takes one shot although it's a little far out from him....and I drop it on a good long shot right after that. Star again is on the retrieve and we continue hunting. We end up taking one more rooster out of that field and start our long walk back. About 500 yards from the truck we cross a section fence and are now walking some short mowed grass and Lindy comments on how we wont be seeing anything here.....and I make the comment back that year we definitely wont be seeing birds here. Not less than a second later two rooster jump up out in front of us and I take a desperation long shot but knew I had just been defeated by those two rooster. We were both casually walking back with our guns sling over our shoulders......and now we just could not believe what just happened and were laughing at the situation. On to the next field we walk another pot hole bordered by a group of thick pines and Star and Lindy are working inside the trees. I am standing just outside of the trees when we hear a rooster start cackling no long that 20-30' from us. I get ready for the flush and this bird flies out of the trees pretty much right over the top of me. I shoot once......nothing......two more shots and somehow that bird eluded everything I had. I could not believe I had just missed that shot....and still dwell on it today. I ended up taking down one more rooster just before sunset and we finish the day with four birds......tired legs...and one tired dog. Dex got out a few times after we finished each field.....but we had to put in a full day of hunting so he did not get any longer walks.

Saturday morning is even a bit cooler that Friday, and we wake up to a strong wind out of the east. We decide to drive to a different location this morning...one we had hunted last year and had seen a lot of birds late in the season. We enter the field on one side the road and not 15 minutes into our walk a bird flushes to my right. I can't tell what it is and to this point we had not been calling out the birds. Lindy takes a last min shot long shot and I can't ID it in the sun so I can't shoot and it gets away. 10 minutes later Star gets birdie.....a rooster gets up and we both shoot and drop this bird. We sit and watch Star work for the bird.....but she is not finding it. She runs way past where it had dropped as if it had ran that way......and it must have as we never saw the bird again. No idea how it got away but it did. We finish up that field with no other sightings. Across the road is a large pot hole and we decide to walk the entire way around it. About half way around we started having birds get up.....but just could not connect on a shot. We ended up with one bird out of all the ones we saw....and lost another slightly crippled bird that I had watched run away as fast as he could. We could have almost had our limit in the first two fields we walked....but either our shooting was off this morning or the winds were making things more difficult that normal. It was very windy all day....probably around 20-30mph most of the day. After putting it a lot of time and walking we end up with two birds for the day, but that was not from a lack of seeing birds. That afternoon we found it harder and harder to find birds...possibly because of the pressure of the weekend hunting, we did see more hens though.

Sunday we clean the house....pack up....and decide to hit a few fields first thing on our way home. We do not see any roosters flush close on any fields we hunt Sunday morning...and by around 11:00am it's already 70* and the sun is taking it's toll on the dog and us. We try a couple more short walks and now it is just getting to hot to walk any more....and we are all tired and sore and need to get on the road for the 6 hour drive home. I decide to let Dex out for one last walk down a row of trees and manage to flush up one hen just as we are getting back to the truck. He did not get on the scent that I noticed....but he did see it and watched it fly away. He chased for a few moments and soon realized it was long gone! The trip ended with the pup seeing a bird flush and I was happy with that. The ride home is fairly quiet as we were both pretty tired.....but we are still scoping the fields looking at all the good places it would be great to hunt if you had permission. We headed home happy with our trip and look forward to the next time we can make it out to SD.

[sydschramm]

Nice story. Was this on public ground or private ground? I'm heading back out this upcoming weekend...wondering if I should venture further west of Webster or not.

[rundrave]

Just a note, I hunted all public walk in areas today, even with the elements 40mph winds, snow etc. We only hunted for an 1.5 hours just before dark and didn't have a problem finding our birds.

Was lots of fun with my pointers and the birds sitting nice and tight!

Still lots of corn in, and with the weather we have had now, its gonna take some warm temps or a really cold freeze before the rest will be coming out.

I will be out again tomorrow, hopefully the wind wont be as bad as it was today.

[IceAge@work]

I went out to the Webster SD area last weekend. Most of the corn is still in the field and the area is very wet. Didn't even see anyone in the fields and with this week's weather I'm guessing the corn will be standing for a long time. We hunted public land without much success. We did see a few birds everywhere we hunted, but not great numbers. We hunted out that way last year on public land with much the same results...does anyone have success on public land around this area? Basically the reason we chose this area is this is where the most public land is located. Should we be looking elsewhere?

Public land hunting even in SD is a challenge. In some ways maybe more so with the amount of hunting pressure. Just got back from Webster area myself. Actually saw plenty of birds with an 11-year old lab that could only hunt 2-5 hours a day. We limited two days and shot birds in very short 2-hour hunts the other two days.

Hunting public around Webster or anywhere else successfully is really about experience and patience. It takes a few trips to figure out parcels that hold birds vs. those that don't. Which ones get hit multiple times a days vs. those that hunters ignore.

It takes time to develop patience and learn not make decisions on where or how to hunt out of frustration. IMO its a three or 4 year commitment to get really good at it.

Did you save the parcels with the best roosting grass next to corn and only hunt it during the last hour of the day? Did you hunt weed patches, dirty waterways, fence rows, shelterbelts or other convenient loafing cover next to harvested soybeans at mid-day? Did you stay away from the parcels located on the major roads?

With the corn harvest behind schedule, the sloughs full of water and hunting pressure higher than I've ever seen those were the type decisions that made all the difference for me. If I had tried sloshing around in the sloughs or hunting big CRP parcels at the wrong time of day or hunting parcels that were a revolving door all I would have accomplished is wearing out my dog.

To me it sounds like you have two solid years of experience hunting around Webster in your back pocket and the dividends should start to pay off over the next couple of years. If you havn't already done it write notes on your atlas and keep track of what worked and what didn't. What parcels held birds. What parcels got pounded by other hunters. What were the cover types present. Were the fields bordering soybeans this year? Because next year they will likely be corn and should be given more attention. etc. etc.

A couple other suggestions that might help.

I concentrate on WIA's during early to mid-season. They often have smaller thinner cover that is easier to hunt and often have crop fields included in or right next to the parcels. The weather is still good so the birds can still use these areas just fine. Late season I will concentrate more on GPA's even though they can be tougher to hunt because they have better winter cover.

Take advantage of and read the weather. If it's sunny and nice the birds will be in or loafing near the food source during the day. If it's nasty, rainy, snowy or very windy don't be afraid to hit the best roosting cover right at 10:00 AM. The birds will be slow to get out and tend to hold pretty tight for the dogs.

If your intent on trying other parts of the state my advise would be to stay in the area east of the river, north of 212 and east of highway 29. There is lots of public land available and relatively less hunting pressure. If you hunt with big running pointing dogs some of the areas to the west can allow those animals to really stretch there legs. If you use flushing dogs the eastern section might be alittle more suitable.

Good luck and stick with it.

[311Hemi]

Nice story. Was this on public ground or private ground? I'm heading back out this upcoming weekend...wondering if I should venture further west of Webster or not.

Sorry for the late response...but yes this was public ground.

[sydschramm]

Unfortunately I haven't been keeping records on times, places and surroundings, but I can remember where they were. I just got a gps with some nice mapping software so, I'm going to start adding in notes and waypoints. The problem I'm having is that I haven't really found "the" spot. Last time we were out we hit a bunch of different spots. We ended up seeing one or two birds where ever we walked, but nothing really stood out to form a pattern. Hopefully things start clicking sooner or later.

Thanks!

[sydschramm]

Heading out for Weds/Thurs/Fri....sounds like Rain/Snow/Wind. Cattails, shelterbelts, thick stuff the best bet?

[treble]

How bad did the weather get Thursday night and Friday morning in the Aberdeen/Ipswitch area?

It really didn't get too bad. We ended up with and inch or two of snow is all. It didn't slow the farmers down too much either which is good.

I was right in thinking that the cold snap would kick the rut into gear. I woke up Saturday morning to go bowhunting and was reconsidering my decision on my way out with the wind blowing 20 MPH out of the north. But I went anyway and walked out on a piece of public land and sat down in the snow next to a small evergreen tree. After about a half hour I saw a nice buck chasing a doe exactly where I was hoping they would come. Still they were 100 yards away so I watched him, as he watched the doe, for about 20 minutes. Then for some reason, which I will never know, the doe comes running right at me, and is going to cross by me about 20-30 yards upwind of me. So I stand up, turn around, and draw my bow. The buck jumps the fence and I stop him in a clear shooting lane @ 28 yards. I clicked the trigger on my release and he took off running. They ran back where they came from, across an open field and I had my eyes glued on him, hoping he would pile up. Kept going. I went over to where he was standing when I shot, and no blood. My heart sunk. So I looked quick for the arrow and didn't find it right away so I followed his tracks for a ways, and still no blood. I went back and found the arrow and there was no blood on it either. I missed him. I have replayed what I can remember a thousand times in my head and I dont know how I could have missed. Oh well. The buck was a 5x5 probably 140-150 inch and would have been my first deer with a bow and my biggest buck ever.

It sucks, but I know that there will be more opportunities at good bucks, I just have to make it count when I do get the chance.

[lenny7]

I had a great time in SoDak last week. It was my pup's first hunting trip and he did great. We shot 41 of our 45 bird limit but the last day was just a half day hunting.

We hunt southern Hand and northern Buffalo counties on private land. We've been going out there every year for decades. I'd call this year a very, very good year considering the amount of standing crops. If we could shoot we would have been done by 1 or 2pm every day. It was not unusual for us to kick up several hundred birds out of a strip of corn or sorghum, but most of the time they were out of range. I was surprised to see them so wild this early in the year. I can't wait to get back out there next month with less cover for them.

I'll post more later when I'm home, but here's a teaser:

[muc33]

I am assuming that the last photo is a 3 generation shot.... if so, or even if not it is a great image!! congrats on the great hunt!

[PDOGG]

I head out there on thursday night I can't wait!!! My dad just came back from there with a very very good report!!