Black Hills South Dakota Whitetail Rifle

[barrettm95]

Been accumulating points in South Dakota for about 5 years and am thinking about drawing the black hills tag. I typically archery hunt mule deer in South Dakota and have driven through the black hills (very thick from what I have seen).

Anyone have any information or strategy on how the hills are hunted and what to expect? This hunt will be in tandem with some bird hunting in the state so won’t be looking for a giant by any means.

 

[brad407210]

Do you have points for the black hills or west river? South Dakota breaks these apart so you build points separately for each of these rifle tags.

 

[12wander]

Following, I was out there last summer UTVing in the hills and marked a few areas that had higher concentrations of deer seen. The area we were in seemed to hold more deer around private land holdings that had some types of agriculture growing from my observations.

 

[barrettm95]

Do you have points for the black hills or west river? South Dakota breaks these apart so you build points separately for each of these rifle tags.

Yes I have I have 5 points in each category SD has to offer

 

[brad407210]

I'd start with the motor vehicle use map from the forest service or turn on the trail layer in OnX to see the road and ATV trail system. From the places I've gone you couldn't get very far from a road or ATV trail in the black hills, but pay attention to season closures to know what's open or closed at the time you're going. From what I've seen the deer were in pockets through out the area, so I would just pick a town or camping area to base out of and focus on the surrounding area. My first trip there turkey hunting in the spring we drove all over from North to South checking it out and would have been more productive setting up camp in one spot and learning a smaller area. There's a lot of little pieces of private land peppered throughout that seem to hold the does as well, you can drive around anytime of day and go deer watching. If you're there in the rut I would look for the doe pockets and then search the cover around that. I haven't drawn a rifle tag yet, but the turkey and archery deer tags are OTC and I've had fun on the trips I've taken, but I went in with low expectations. If it's you're first time hunting the area you might want to set your sights on one age class below the "average" you see online if you want to get something, but like pretty much any state there are honey holes that you could get lucky and find on your first try.

 

[84toyota]

Yep…love the Hills!

 

[Beagle001]

You (in all likelihood) won’t be able to draw the Any-Deer BH tag, but have a good shot at the whitetail-only tag.
We bowhunted there again this year and the whitetail numbers seemed lower than previous years, or at least more pocketed.
The area is wonderful, though, and if you’re just looking for a good hunt, you should get that in spades

 

[bjfoxhoven]

What time frame are you planning on hunting?

 

[WasatchRanger]

Following, as I have an interest in the Black Hills whitetails as well.

 

[sodaksooner]

I grew up in the hills. We stillhunted a lot. I always had a hard time patterning deer in that place. We hunted burns and field edges and large woodlots as well. Kind of did stillhunt drives as well. Kind of the traditional old school hunt. I will say that was a long time ago. Haven't done hills deer since college, but did recently start putting in for points again. I have 7 west river points now. There are some prairie units that are actually in the hills too, so keep an eye out for those. Invariably if you have a whitetail tag, you will see huge mulies, and vice versa. Back when I was in high school I saw the biggest mulie I have ever seen and one of the biggest whitetail bucks to this day, a few hundred yards apart. Had a whitetail tag and I missed him, but in reality probably shouldn't have even shot at him. That was a day. Mulie was 200 yards broadside standing totally oblivious and no tag......

Love hunting my home state.

 

[WCB]

I've hunted the BH in SD and WY. As someone mentioned figure out what roads or trails are open and or closed when you will be there. Hunting saddles and open meadows in the mornings and evenings works well. Since I believe the hunt is during the rut if you can fins a saddle with trails through it just sit all day and wait. Also, might want to note that in general those deer are very small bodied compared to midwest deer. A solid mid 130s buck is a good deer and can also look deceptively big on the hoof...think traditional Texas deer.

 

[Smoxley]

Following