South Central South Dakota Pheasant

[mattwill00]

Girlfriend and I are going to make an impromptu trip for some pheasant hunting this weekend and were wondering about some areas in south central SD. We’re leaving from Colorado and only have two days to hunt so I’m really not trying to venture far into the state, but I’ve noticed a lack of public land around chamberland sd that is a little concerning to me. Is there anywhere else we should be focused on within 8ish hours of driving from Denver? Western Nebraska seems void of public as well, and I don’t want to spend the weekend knocking on doors instead of hunting.

This is a first trip of its kind for us so any help on some areas of the state with public to focus on would be great.

 

[go_deep]

Nebraska and Kansas have a lot to offer.
Do some digging on they're websites.

 

[drra]

There is quite a bit of public ground both north and south of Chamberlain, take a look at the SD public hunting access (online map and avenza download). My favorite public hunting place in SD is in the northwest corner - check out the Grand River national grasslands.

 

[mattwill00]

Awesome thank you! We looked at Kansas but they don’t open till the 12th. We ll probably try to get out there once it opens but we’re itching for some birds and the weather looks nice this weekend. I’ll look into the Atlas, I guess I just didn’t see much public in the area on onx. Maybe we ll stay in the car and head more north

 

[drra]

I am not a big bird hunter, but the few times I've hunted the river bottoms in the Grand River grasslands is that there hasn't been a lot of other people (can't say that about hunting the center part of the state).

 

[Dschwan]

I wouldn't over look road hunting either.

 

[drra]

SD has liberal road hunting laws, right away is allowed for small game and I've seen hunters walking in the ditch wiith their dogs). Before I sold my land in western sd, the best pheasant huting was in the road ditch by the road and one could usually shoot a limit walking that half mile of ditch (any anyone could have done that legally).

 

[Zeke6951]

Just northwest of Chamberlin is the Fort Pierre National Grassland. Many acres of public hunting. Maybe not the best for pheasants but there are some there,