South Dakota

[deke]

So we are planning a trip to head to Sd around Miller the second week of November. Does anyone know what the weather is like around that time? We are a full 24 hr drive away and would be going through two big mountain passes. Do you think it would be smarter to cancel the trip this year and go early next year. Or is the roads and weather decent enough to make the trip worth while? I dont want to be driving twenty miles an hour through five foot drifts the whole way there. Also, what kind of hunting is in Sd, meaning, cattails, tree lines, open fields etc.....

[nikegundog]

Temps should be in the low 40's for the daytime high. "Most" of the time the snow doesn't start flying a lot until after Thanksgiving, I think you are coming out the perfect time of the season and should be gone before you have to worry about the snow (speaking only of SD, not mountain passages). With that being said Nov 14 in Miller record low is -15 record high is 73, so anything is possible. I've live about 90 miles from Miller and I would say that about 97% of the time weather would be a non-factor for driving then. You will be hunting in cat tails, tree lines, thin grass, heavy grass 4' tall, sloughs and you will see plenty of harvested crop land.

[AG74]

I've made that trip from Pendleton, OR, up thru Spokane all the way back to SW MN (just past Watertown SoDak) a couple times in winter, I think you'll be fine in mid-NOV, unless there is a freak storm that could hit, you never know. I grew up in those parts and we've had 2' snow on Halloween before, and sometimes had almost none until Jan, so it all depends. I'd still plan on going, probably you're big problems could be closer to home in W Montana and Idaho panhandle, I would think (4th of July pass and whats the other one called??) Have fun and good luck!!

[Crashola]

I echo the other comments. Every few years you'll see an early storm, but it can also be gorgeous that time of the year. I grew up in S.D. but live in Idaho now. The mountains are much trickier than the SD plains that time of year. I can remember November days hunting in shirtsleeves. Early November is also my favorite time to hunt pheasants there. The weather is usually decent, the birds aren't real spooky yet, the corn should be all out, and the big October crowds are gone.

Sloughs, shelterbelts, tall CRP grass, fencelines, anywhere there's cover.

And if you want ducks, this year is supposed to be phenomenal.

[deke]

I wouldnt drive a full day to shoot ducks. Thats basically all we get to shoot around here, without driving a couple of hours. We usually hunt private land a limit within the first hour of shooting light with four or five guys.

[deke]

Nike, I didnt realize you lived so close till now. Do you have any advice on where to hunt? Should we go to miller or try somewhere else. We are going to be running labs, one is a year old, the other is six. We might have one more coming with us, but we are more focused on getting young dog some birds.

[nikegundog]

Nike, I didnt realize you lived so close till now. Do you have any advice on where to hunt? Should we go to miller or try somewhere else. We are going to be running labs, one is a year old, the other is six. We might have one more coming with us, but we are more focused on getting young dog some birds.

First off, I miss typed I live 190 miles from Miller, I hunt about 80 miles east of there. I have mostly hunted on a private farm at the same place for the last 15 years and see little public land in my area, so I would not recommend it. So for exact location I am not the best person to ask because I haven't been traveling looking for the best location, I do know many people who hunt there and from what I hear from Miller to Aberdeen you will find birds. If you haven't got the public land book from SD get it (its free), that might help you decide. On other note, reading this forum it often times sounds like going to SD is a slam dunk for pheasants, often it is not, over the time I've been here I've had a variety of experiences. About 7 years ago we hunted opening weekend with about 15 guys, first day we filled out in less than a hour, second day less than 2, we hunted 8 days and never were out for more than 4 hours, came back 3 weeks later and we hunted from 10 a.m till sundown and never filled, that was the best we ever had done, and the worst in the same season, thats why they call it hunting. The exception to this is if you go to a place that releases birds they can guarantee a limit, its not my thing, I can't imagine traveling across the country to do that, but many people enjoy it.

[deke]

Agree there, we only get to hunt released birds here, unless we want to drive 8 or 9 hours. Even the young dog has figured out that the birds are never far from where they release.

[ezzy333]

Agree there, we only get to hunt released birds here, unless we want to drive 8 or 9 hours. Even the young dog has figured out that the birds are never far from where they release.

You need to ask them to do a better job with their releases if the birds are still there.

Ezzy

[baileydog2007]

Nike, I didnt realize you lived so close till now. Do you have any advice on where to hunt? Should we go to miller or try somewhere else. We are going to be running labs, one is a year old, the other is six. We might have one more coming with us, but we are more focused on getting young dog some birds.

First off, I miss typed I live 190 miles from Miller, I hunt about 80 miles east of there. I have mostly hunted on a private farm at the same place for the last 15 years and see little public land in my area, so I would not recommend it. So for exact location I am not the best person to ask because I haven't been traveling looking for the best location, I do know many people who hunt there and from what I hear from Miller to Aberdeen you will find birds. If you haven't got the public land book from SD get it (its free), that might help you decide. On other note, reading this forum it often times sounds like going to SD is a slam dunk for pheasants, often it is not, over the time I've been here I've had a variety of experiences. About 7 years ago we hunted opening weekend with about 15 guys, first day we filled out in less than a hour, second day less than 2, we hunted 8 days and never were out for more than 4 hours, came back 3 weeks later and we hunted from 10 a.m till sundown and never filled, that was the best we ever had done, and the worst in the same season, thats why they call it hunting. The exception to this is if you go to a place that releases birds they can guarantee a limit, its not my thing, I can't imagine traveling across the country to do that, but many people enjoy it.

We hunt Miller every year, usually stay at Lake Louis State Park. Anyways, just wondering what the pheasant numbers look like in SW MN this year, we usually go to Laq qui Parle once, but not sure if we will this year, hear the numbers are down?? What are you seeing?? Thanks.

[baileydog2007]

Just booked a camping cabin at Lake Louis State Park north of Miller for Oct 19-22! Cant wait, four of us heading there for 5 days of hunting. Hope my pup gets a point or two! Anyone going near there on opener??

[Crashola]

I just got back from a hunting trip near Isabel. It's quite a ways from Miller, but we saw tons of game. We were hunting sharptails and the numbers were phenomenal. We saw hundreds of birds in two days. And we also saw plenty of pheasants. We were in the northwest portion of the state and it sounded like they didn't get hit as hard last winter. One friend I talked with who is an ag loan officer in the southeast portion of the state told me that his customers told him they are seeing lots of birds while they are out harvesting. So maybe the numbers are better than the reports we've been getting.

[PTWyoming]

I have hunted near Pierre for 7 years now. The weather will vary from t-shirts to gore-tex and wool. Still, you should go. Don't wussy out about the roads - that stuff is survivable. While bird numbers are down in SD as a whole this year, that number is largely due to eastern SD trends. Go. Shoot. Have fun.

[baileydog2007]

Just got back from 4 days in Miller SD. Pheasant numbers did seem to be down a little, but hunting was really really good. Not in the same places we hunted in previous years, but there were a lot of birds, and a surprisingly low number of hunters.

I was very happy with my 7 month old setter. She had 7 points. Some were short, but SD pheasants dont hold very long. We had a couple other dogs, and she had by far the best nose (dry conditions, tough scenting) and best endurance, by a mile. She was all business. Even got a retrieve. It wasnt like a lab retrieve, plus I let her keep it for a while, but she brought it to me, it was awesome. It was her and labs, which we hunted separately.

Maybe Im easily impressed or bias cuz she is my dog, but she did incredible at finding birds, absolutely incredible, IMO. Not many "points" considering the number of contacts, but the trainer I talked to said to expect that from a young dog. Plus, the way she handled the birds the first day vs the last day was night and day. The question/concern I have, is Im not sure she is suited for a foot hunting dog, she is fast, and man oh man does she cover ground. I only counted "points" I could see and would have gotten a shot at, if it were a rooster, 4 of her great points (at least great to me), were hens. Of the 3 roosters she pointed, I only shot 2, missed the first one of course, excitement and it was a young one, so shot late, ect. Many others Im sure she pointed, for a short time, then the bird took off, so did she, only to get going fast and flush the bird at 150-200yds or further. I know SD pheasants dont hold very long and sometimes we were in pretty thin cover so I expected some of that. My question is, with time and training (and of course birds willing to sit) will a point that far out be huntable. We could see her still and appeared to be "pointing" but it seemed her patience may run out and she just flush it, and there is no way to even remotely consider keeping up to her.

Im very excited about her, she probably put up 2x as many birds as the other 2 dogs combined, but not as many "shootable" birds. Part of that is where we hunted each kind of dog, and part of that is her range. The labs were good for about an hour in all seriousness. She was good all day, towards the end of the day she worked closer, but when she hit a scent, all bets off.


My question is that pretty common for a young dog and can a dog like that, after time and training be suitable for foot hunting.

[deke]

We just booked our room last night. We are staying at the dew drop inn...... any one ever stayed there? Baileydog. I have always understood that a young pointer on Wild SD roosters is like trying to get a cat not to chase a mouse, they all run and it takes practice and patience to get them to the point where they are settled down enough to stick birds. Sounds to me like you have a good start on this dog, this is my pups first year out hunting, and he is doing very well here on released birds, but we will see what happens when we get out on some running birds. Did you guys hunt public land when you were there? If so, did you shoot your limits most days? where should we even start once we get there?

[baileydog2007]

We just booked our room last night. We are staying at the dew drop inn...... any one ever stayed there? Baileydog. I have always understood that a young pointer on Wild SD roosters is like trying to get a cat not to chase a mouse, they all run and it takes practice and patience to get them to the point where they are settled down enough to stick birds. Sounds to me like you have a good start on this dog, this is my pups first year out hunting, and he is doing very well here on released birds, but we will see what happens when we get out on some running birds. Did you guys hunt public land when you were there? If so, did you shoot your limits most days? where should we even start once we get there?

We stayed at Lake Louis camper cabins for 3 days and at the dew drop in the last two, as the camper cabins were full. Lake Louis is 7 miles north and 7 miles west of Miller. We did OK there, in 4 days hunting there, I think we got 8-9 there with probably 8-9 more flushed. There is a bit of traffic there, but they usually dont walk much, we went there the last day, just before we left wanting 2 more birds for the cooler, walked about 400yds and put up 5 roosters, only got one. Its almost as though folks assume its hunted hard so they dont bother?? Im not sure. Get your map, there is colored areas on it obviously that list the open hunting ground. There are 2 NE of Miller and one NW of Miller, we did OK on those as well. I like the one NE of Miller or SW of Redfield, and Lake Louis the most, big areas and fairly thick cover. I think, IF I were to go again, Id hit Lake Louis right before dark, seems a few might hunt it early, but then not much rest of the day, at least not when we were there. We hunted a lot of right of ways and did well there too, mostly NW of Miller on those.

We used to hunt both private and public, but this year the private land was not available, the guys grand kids and friends were there at the same time, so we hunted strictly state land and right of ways. We limited all but one day, and that was mostly due to shooting poorly and letting the kids shoot. Definately plenty of birds to get your limit daily.

The Dew Drop Inn is prety run down, but they are dog friendly, only thing I hated is the room we had smelled like smoke something terrible, it was pretty bad. Best of luck.

[deke]

So, how do right of ways work? I have never hunted one so what should i look for.

[baileydog2007]

So, how do right of ways work? I have never hunted one so what should i look for.

Just ditches. It works best to find ditches with no cover on either side, if possible. If there are crops or CRP along the ditch, the birds will just run into that, and you wont ever flush them. We found ones with nothing on either side, dropped 2 guys off, one to walk each side, drove down a mile and posted. Its not good for dog work, but its productive for birds.

[deke]

i see, so im taking it that you dont have to be a certain distance from the road to shoot there? Also, is there anything else to do in Miller besides hunt. We are both 22.

[baileydog2007]

i see, so im taking it that you dont have to be a certain distance from the road to shoot there? Also, is there anything else to do in Miller besides hunt. We are both 22.

No, a lot of people hunt the ditches, have to be away from your truck, with engine off and doors closed. Can go into private property, unarmed, to retrieve downed birds. It'll all be in the regs book.

Uh, not really. There is a newer bar that we didnt go into, but there is nothing really to do. We walk a lot of miles, so after sundown, we clean birds, shower, eat, and go to bed. But we're old farts now, we used to look for stuff to do after, now its just get to bed asap. Lol. Sucks to be 41!

[cutty72]

Just got back from our trip, we were around the Pierre area as well. Hunted mostly public land, we had to work for it, but we came close to limiting every day for 10 people. It was a good time, and the dogs had a blast! We were mostly on CRP/cattail areas.

[deke]

CRP and cattails are what our dogs are used to hunting. I have no idea what would happen if you let one of them loose in a field.

[SeniorCoot]

Farmers almanac syas SD will get 200" of snow this year- could be early as it's snowing as i type this in some places- I am leaving tonight for SD and have packed me longies.

[deke]

I know this is sort of pathetic, but i already have my bags packed. I packed every thermal i had, and just about all of my sweatshirts. If it snows i will be warm, haha. On a better note, we took the new pup out duck hunting for the first time yesterday. He retrieved a full limit of birds for three people, and had a couple hundred yard plus retrieves on winged ducks. Not bad for never training for duck hunting.