I just drew a South Dakota Non Resident Archery Antelope Tag. Im mostly a whitetail hunter but have roughed it chasing elk and bear east of the Mississippi. Looking for tips, tricks, pointers ect. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Just from looking at the maps SDGFP has it’s seems I should look at the 15’s, 53, 35’s, or 27. Seems like decent public access but a lot of hunters in those areas.
I spent a week south of Wall on vacation camping. Glassed every night and saw quite a few in that area south of 90. But that’s close to people and the success, animal distribution, and hunter participation there doesn’t seem high.
I was born and raised in SD. We did most of our speed goat hunting in the nw corner from Belle Fouche to Buffalo to Camp Crook. A lot of public land in that area. Some of the tactics we used included, blinds on water holes and open gates in pastures, half dozen silhouette decoys around a blind in a low green spot on an alfalfa field on a dry year. Single buck decoy during the rut. Spot and stalk. Many different ways to skin that cat depending on the field conditions you are dealing with.
We have had great success with squatting and/or bedded doe decoys and a blind. Have also used buck decoys if rut timing is right. Antelope full body decoys can be rare. We have pained whitetail decoys also. Great fun!
Cow decoys......nuff said..... Congrats on the tag. I grew up in Western SD and have shot quite a few with a rifle (many years ago...Many!!!) My dad's buddy was bowhunting them in the 70's and came up with many of the techniques we use today (although he never took credit for them, while others might have taken his ideas for profit.) He didn't care but he could have made some money and gained notoriety had he chosen to.