South Dakota mule deer

[ChasinDoes]

Anybody ever hunt southwest South Dakota for mule deer? Drew what i thought was a good unit for mule deer but afraid I might have made a mistake.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I drew a South Dakota tag for the first time this year and scored in the first hour of the opener

In that first hour this morning I saw 3 different 4 points cruising for does. Spent the afternoon window shopping since my hunt ended so quickly. Lots of deer in the unit I have which is SW


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Beagle001]

Nice buck, Andrew!

 

[KurtR]

I drew a South Dakota tag for the first time this year and scored in the first hour of the opener

In that first hour this morning I saw 3 different 4 points cruising for does. Spent the afternoon window shopping since my hunt ended so quickly. Lots of deer in the unit I have which is SW


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You should have been here in the 2002-2010 years. population was at a minimum 50%-75% of what it is now with better quality. Triple tags handed out like candy for every one. Then in one bad winter it went down hill and still not recovered. I would say after hunting for 5 years in Idaho it probably feels like there is alot of deer compared to what i saw out there even with our horrible population numbers right now.

 

[ChasinDoes]

Ended up getting a nice 4pt after 3 days scouting and 2 days hunting. Saw a pile.of does, spikes and forks with a couple 3 pts. Only saw 2 4pts one of which I shot. Super fun and exciting hunt that morning

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[DakotaCC]

I bow hunted in the SW part of the state earlier this year and was really disappointed with the mule deer quality compared to the last few years. I was in a few miles deep, which is hard to do in SD. However, I know of a couple guys who found some really good ones on public, just off a major highway. So I guess they are still out there, just not always where you expect.

 

[ChasinDoes]

I bow hunted in the SW part of the state earlier this year and was really disappointed with the mule deer quality compared to the last few years. I was in a few miles deep, which is hard to do in SD. However, I know of a couple guys who found some really good ones on public, just off a major highway. So I guess they are still out there, just not always where you expect.

Yea it took me a few days to find anything bigger than a small 3pt. Real happy with the deer I ended up taking tho

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[ChasinDoes]

I bow hunted in the SW part of the state earlier this year and was really disappointed with the mule deer quality compared to the last few years. I was in a few miles deep, which is hard to do in SD. However, I know of a couple guys who found some really good ones on public, just off a major highway. So I guess they are still out there, just not always where you expect.

Biggest one i saw on the trip

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[DakotaCC]

In my opinion, that's a good representation of what you can expect to find on public land in SD. No doubt there are bigger but in my experience they are very few and far between. I know some guys who pound SD public hard every year and they don't always kill deer as big as yours. Good work.