Moving to South Dakota

[Liberty]

Well it looks like work has me relocating to south east South Dakota. It won’t be taking place in time for me to be a resident this season but I should be by next. I’m trying to dig through the South Dakota GFP website to look at resident hunting opportunities but it’s a little confusing. I was wondering if any residents would be willing to share some insight as to what to expect for hunting opportunities year in and out. Mostly from a tag basis. Are there any OTC resident tags that you are guaranteed to obtain or is everything through a draw? Rifle, archery, muzzy, whitetail, muley etc…I’m just not sure what to expect as I’m coming from a state with no draw for our whitetail as a resident so this is all new to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I’m not a resident but I know residents can hunt archery deer every year otc, rifle tags are split into east and west river. East is primarily whitetail, west primarily muleys. Most everything else is a draw system


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[KurtR]

Well it looks like work has me relocating to south east South Dakota. It won’t be taking place in time for me to be a resident this season but I should be by next. I’m trying to dig through the South Dakota GFP website to look at resident hunting opportunities but it’s a little confusing. I was wondering if any residents would be willing to share some insight as to what to expect for hunting opportunities year in and out. Mostly from a tag basis. Are there any OTC resident tags that you are guaranteed to obtain or is everything through a draw? Rifle, archery, muzzy, whitetail, muley etc…I’m just not sure what to expect as I’m coming from a state with no draw for our whitetail as a resident so this is all new to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Rifle tags are draw its split east and west river. reading draw odds you can draw every year. Archery you have to apply but you get a tag and you can get one state wide from September to January. Its a big state would be easier to give better details if you gave a region. Elk is a draw with a 20ish year wait unless you want to shoot a cow. Antelope tags about every other year. Lots of fishing and small game. Im limited by time not by the stuff i can hunt

 

[cq0302]

Can jump across to Minnesota and buy deer tags otc . Might be able to pick up a left over sd deer tag but they’re draw for non resident. Once you get you dl I would walk into a gas station and they will likely sell you the OTC resident deer tag, unsure if the system will flag it but I doubt it


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[Chris in TN]

Oh man. You should be able to hunt deer in Custer State Park now, and I think they have a draw for elk too.

SD isn't the first place any of us think of for 'western' hunting but it would be pretty cool for a resident, IMO. We spent some time in the black hills in October a few years ago and I don't think I'd have any trouble filling a deer tag there.

ETA: Nevermind all the small game/upland/waterfowl stuff.

 

[KurtR]

Oh man. You should be able to hunt deer in Custer State Park now, and I think they have a draw for elk too.

SD isn't the first place any of us think of for 'western' hunting but it would be pretty cool for a resident, IMO. We spent some time in the black hills in October a few years ago and I don't think I'd have any trouble filling a deer tag there.

ETA: Nevermind all the small game/upland/waterfowl stuff.

its a 20 year wait to draw the custer deer tag

 

[cq0302]

Eastern part of the state has great whitetail hunting and some absolute tanks. particularly between the Webster and de smet area, has a good chunk of public land that holds deer.


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[Fatcamp]

Hit me up when you get here and we can have lunch and chat.

 

[eddielasvegas]

Hit me up when you get here and we can have lunch and chat.

A nice gesture @Fatcamp .

A solid group of folks here on RS in spite of me being a member.


Eddie

 

[Chris in TN]

its a 20 year wait to draw the custer deer tag

Two people got it with 7 points last year.

Of course the rest of the story is that two people with twenty-seven points each did *not* get drawn.

I'd love to go hunt deer in the Black Hills and I have enough points to possibly get drawn but nowhere near enough to really *plan* to get drawn.

ETA: That may be stats from 2 years ago.

 

[KurtR]

Two people got it with 7 points last year.

Of course the rest of the story is that two people with twenty-seven points each did *not* get drawn.

I'd love to go hunt deer in the Black Hills and I have enough points to possibly get drawn but nowhere near enough to really *plan* to get drawn.

ETA: That may be stats from 2 years ago.

Lived here my whole life spent a lot of time in the hills but I would rather deer hunt the prairie for big mulies and whitetails. I will hunt the hills when I draw an elk tag some time in the next 20 years. I could see the attraction for an out of state hunt as it’s nice country.

 

[Liberty]

Well thanks for all the input guys I really appreciate it! So from what I see on the GFP website and what you guys have mentioned, it looks like I should be able to draw a unit specific rifle deer tag and a statewide archery deer tag every year? Would either of those be any deer? Or is drawing a mule deer tag another process?

 

[Chris in TN]

Well thanks for all the input guys I really appreciate it! So from what I see on the GFP website and what you guys have mentioned, it looks like I should be able to draw a unit specific rifle deer tag and a statewide archery deer tag every year? Would either of those be any deer? Or is drawing a mule deer tag another process?

I'm not an expert here but I've looked through the SD draw stats a time or two and whitetail tags are generally easier to get, but for a resident I think you'll find at least some mule deer tags are draw-able most years.

One thing I can appreciate about living in the southeast.....we buy a big game license every year 'otc' and we can kill several dozen deer on it in theory. Two bucks and pretty much as many does as we can handle. We don't have to think much about units and seasons and whatnot. As a landowner I don't even have to do that - I just have to hunt within the season framework and report what I kill. I buy licenses anyway because we hunt on local public land from time to time but there have literally been years where I never bought a license because I hunted 100% on family-owned land. I completely understand that states with high pressure and multiple species can't be that way and I'm not complaining about that per se, but my goodness learning each western state is a chore in and of itself.

 

[Chris in TN]

Lived here my whole life spent a lot of time in the hills but I would rather deer hunt the prairie for big mulies and whitetails. I will hunt the hills when I draw an elk tag some time in the next 20 years. I could see the attraction for an out of state hunt as it’s nice country.

I came very close to hauling my daughter to SD this fall on a 'mentored' tag to get her a whitetail doe in the black hills. Yeah, it's a doe, I could shoot one in my yard most mornings and we do that, but I just love that area and we visited a couple years ago and dad and I spent some early mornings and evenings doing a bit of glassing and I'm pretty sure I could scare up a deer there pretty quickly and have a great time doing it. Also, I want to climb Harney Peak at least once.

Also - on the mentored tag if I understand it correctly (and I have spoke with SD game reps who affirmed this) she could hunt in October with a rifle for a doe where we might literally be the only hunters (with a rifle) in the entire forest because the mentored youth hunts are pretty much all-season any-weapon. The solitude aspect of that is pretty powerful to me and she appreciates it too.

 

[KurtR]

Well thanks for all the input guys I really appreciate it! So from what I see on the GFP website and what you guys have mentioned, it looks like I should be able to draw a unit specific rifle deer tag and a statewide archery deer tag every year? Would either of those be any deer? Or is drawing a mule deer tag another process?

The archery tag is. The rifle deer you apply for any deer which would be both white tail and muleys or you apply for any whitetail and what county you apply in would dictate which way you go. Then you have a second choice. I put in for any deer first with any whitetail as my second choice east rive and west river i put any deer with no second choice i dont want to burn points. I have just been buying points last few years for west river. I travel 15 minutes either way to deer hunt so keeping a good tab on deer isnt to hard for me. You also have a muzzle loader tag you can apply for and its any deer state wide. If you just want to shoot something always lots of antlerless tags left

 

[KurtR]

I came very close to hauling my daughter to SD this fall on a 'mentored' tag to get her a whitetail doe in the black hills. Yeah, it's a doe, I could shoot one in my yard most mornings and we do that, but I just love that area and we visited a couple years ago and dad and I spent some early mornings and evenings doing a bit of glassing and I'm pretty sure I could scare up a deer there pretty quickly and have a great time doing it. Also, I want to climb Harney Peak at least once.

Also - on the mentored tag if I understand it correctly (and I have spoke with SD game reps who affirmed this) she could hunt in October with a rifle for a doe where we might literally be the only hunters (with a rifle) in the entire forest because the mentored youth hunts are pretty much all-season any-weapon. The solitude aspect of that is pretty powerful to me and she appreciates it too.

You wont be the only one every one who drew elk tags will be there in october it actually gets pretty busy but yes with the mentored tag you can hunt from september to january

 

[Chris in TN]

Man, hunting elk in the black hills sounds about as good as it gets. I don't know or much care how big the elk get there but it's a really neat place and I hope you get the tag one day. Try to ignore the guy packing the whitetail doe out with his kids.

 

[jhoff04]

Generally speaking, you're going to need at least one preference point to hunt halfway decent counties (units) for either ERD or WRD rifle seasons. As others said, you can always get archery deer tags but have to apply (and it's any deer).

For the rifle draw, I believe SD will allow you to apply for 2 of the 3 seasons (ERD, WRD, and Black Hills), but not all three.

In eastern SD, be prepared for the pumpkin patch on opening day if on public land. It's virtually impossible to "get away" from the pressure as the public areas are quite small compared to out west. Find private land to hunt on is my best advice, particularly for ERD. And good luck doing so...

@KurtR summed it up with the whitetail vs muley tags.

Hope that helps!

 

[Liberty]

Lots of good advice here to get the ball rolling on my end. Thank you guys, I appreciate it