South Dakota - Black Hills or Badlands for Archery

[oxberger]

I've decided to dip my toes into western hunting and figured South Dakota would be the place to start.

Which area would be best for actually seeing animals? Best for getting away from people (ie no roads, ATV trails)

I'm not afraid of getting off the roads and walking and spending the night if need be.

Going out for the Total Archery Challenge next month to see what the area looks like.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bearlodge10]

Wow, that is tough as both of those areas have benefits and would be what you make of it. Here is how I would break it down. Since this is your first time to SD, I would ask if you are more interested in mule deer or whitetails and perhaps what you are more familiar with. I have never hunted the badlands area of SD but have hunted breaks and badland country in other states. With that said there would be more mule deer there and if you found the right area it can be great hunting with good cover and plenty of hard earned archery opportunities. If whitetails are your poison then of course the hills are the ticket. I dare to say that in the hills, you might be a little more apt to see and get on more deer just because of terrain. However, it depends on the area. I am not sure the draw odds for Black hills deer but believe them to be fairly steep. You can always look a little further west and be in Wyoming for some better draw odds with similar country.

 

[oxberger]

Looking to go after Mule Deer. However, if a monster whitetail shows up that may change things. But Mule Deer are the reason for going out there.

 

[NDGuy]

Looking to go after Mule Deer. However, if a monster whitetail shows up that may change things. But Mule Deer are the reason for going out there.

I'd start with checking G&Fs website nearly everything you need will be there in harvest reports, drawing odds etc.

In SD, you won't find many areas miles a way from a road.

 

[Redman]

Never hunted the Hills but have taken several mule deer in the Badlands. I love stalking deer in that stuff until it rains....that stuff is slick!

 

[orbowhunt]

There's no deer in SD.

 

[Trial153]

I hunted SD a bunch over the years. If mule deer are primary goal then skip the black hills except for the fringes of them. Whitetail will out number mulies by a wide margin in the BHs.

 

[Sturgeon]

Now that SD game and fish has their hunt planner it is so much easier looking up info than before.

 

[KurtR]

Turkey hunted the hills this last week end and saw no less than 1000 deer with 75 % whitetails

 

[jmez]

If you want a Mule deer then do not go to the Hills. There aren't very many mulies, far more whitetail. I haven't hunted the Badlands but there it should be good. Another area to look is the NW corner of the state. Custer National forest and walk in areas in Harding, Butte and Meade counties.

SD has a public land atlas on their website that shows all walk in areas, state, federal and BLM.

 

[oxberger]

Thanks for all the info.

As far as camping in the Badlands, can you disperse camp like you can in the National Forest?

 

[sodaksooner]

Don't believe there is dispersed camping, but could be wrong. Been a while since I have been down there.

I've had a lot better luck with mulies on the open prairie, but the last time I personally bowhunted up there, we were into way more mulies than whitetails. It was officially in a prairie unit but still in the hills I bowhunted during rifle while My brother and nephew both shot decent 3 x 3's. Brother had shot two 150" whitetails in the same spot over the years. Later in the week, we took a scrubby old 4 x 4 with a bow and I had a really nice 4 x 4 at 17 yards but he never gave me a shot.

 

[bjfoxhoven]

Just depends on the hunt you want. Hunting open prairie with cuts and ravines would probably give you more opportunity to stalk the Mulies. You may have to put in more miles walking and stalking there though. Hard to get away from roads and logging trails in the hills, but you can get into some good stuff there too. Focus on fringes there. You may see whitetails on one ridge and then the next ridge over find mule deer. It’s a good time though, we go every year. Will definitely be harder to find the mule deer in the hills though.