SD public land

[Fatcamp]

I get it, same in ND for the standing crop rule. But in the end standing crops are typically the fault of weather and not a lazy farmer. A 1/4 section of standing corn is about $100K. I don't think the farmer would choose to have that out there all winter and what you suggest the fish and game do? Ask for the money back because of an act of God all while the farmers is in good faith? End of the day a standing corn field until March is a net positive for wildlife and net negative for a farmer.

I get it that there are no simple solutions. And watching most farmers take advantage of and suck off the government's teat and seeing how easy it is sometimes is frustrating for all of us. But I grew up rural and all my best friends and family are farmers, and they don't receive the "this land is your land, this land is my land" message very well. The rural crowd is an ornery and stubborn bunch, I know because I'm part of it. So I'm just saying be careful how this is approached or you will see a gigantic decline in overall opportunity.

Not due to weather or field conditions. I no longer hunt this side of the state so they can have it either way, but when I did it was frustrating to see large stands of corn on land that was surrounded by harvested fields supposedly, "Public access."

I hunt private access land out west and love it. Except for the bulls. Those ranchers must have a sense of humor putting those big folkers out there.

 

[KurtR]

I grew up in watertown and never remember standing corn all the farmers i know wouldnt leave that much money in the field

 

[Parker15]

Definitely with a dry year like we've had.

 

[Parker15]

Yea I agree.

 

[KurtR]

Definitely with a dry year like we've had.

A dry year we got more rain in one week this year than all of last year combined in north central sodak

 

[SDChungus]

Southern part of the state has been dry. For simplification id call anything south of brookings the cutoff line for moisture. I am originally from the Aberdeen area, and outside of the last rain event I don't think it has been none to wet. There are swaths that have had moisture though.

 

[KurtR]

Southern part of the state has been dry. For simplification id call anything south of brookings the cutoff line for moisture. I am originally from the Aberdeen area, and outside of the last rain event I don't think it has been none to wet. There are swaths that have had moisture though.

I’m from Watertown and my friends still there said everything is full and I know from Pierre north it’s been a wet year compared to the last few construction is about a month behind because of it. Have friends in Ipswich that have never had water in their basement have it this year. Roads in Edmunds county under water while we were trying to haul to job sites. The paving job in Aberdeen on hwy 12 might not get done this year the rain has put them so far behind. Getting 7 inches at one time fills stuff up fast.

 

[SDChungus]

No argument on the couple of large rains in the area filling things up.

 

[Jumpman]

One to thing to keep in mind, farmers pay to rent the state/school land whether it be for crops, grazing, or bales. It is not their responsibility to leave crops for others to hunt nor bales. When they do, we should all be appreciative. Truthfully, I’d probably be pretty protective too if I constantly had random people trespassing on my land and stomping all over my crops.

 

[Gila]

I grew up in So. Dakota and am 4th generation farmers and ranchers. I owned two different properties that I hunted and saved for the grand kids. We sold our ranch in So Dakota to retire down here. I have never heard of anyone ever wanting to leave any crops in the field for wildlife. It makes no sense to me anyway. There is always more than enough grain left in the fields after harvest for the wildlife. CRP is another matter. Most of SD is private land (80%), more so than most Western states. Many of us organized and worked really hard over the years to get public access to private land.

As a result SD has some of the best (if not the best programs) to entice farmers and ranchers to participate in public hunter access programs. I had never seen a WMA that wasn’t impeccably managed. Not saying they don’t exist, but I know for a fact that most of these areas are managed extremely well. Good wildlife managment and paying for public access on private land costs money and GFP and has to live with inflation and rising costs like everyone else. Believe me, you don’t know how good you have it up there.