South Dakota West River Advice

[barrettm95]

Looking to connect with a local or someone who’s hunted a few west river tags.

I bird hunt quite a bit and have hunted several seasons archery in South Dakota. Sitting on 8 west river points and have a few units in mind to draw this coming season since I struck out in Colorado.

Not looking for spots, looking for advice on how the herd is looking and previous experience in few areas.

 

[KurtR]

I live here and have preference points to draw any unit and im buying points again this year. I guess it depends on what your looking for if its worth it. There are always a few good deer shot

 

[Plainsman79]

I probably have a fraction of the knowledge KurtR does, but I have quite a bit of family there and have hunted WR for the last 15 years.

As far as the herd goes. My small little sample size has watched the deer numbers steadily decline the last decade. I was up there 2 years ago and deer numbers are beyond disappointing from what they once were. An ongoing drought has had a major impact on deer. Are there deer? Yes. But nowhere close to what it was.

 

[sodaksooner]

SD native, now non resident, with enough points to draw anything. We are lucky to have a few private ranches to hunt, but haven't really done any research on herd this year, so not much help. Grew up west river and dad worked for GFP so have some contacts. Lots of walk in and public out there so plenty of options to hunt. We primarily hunt west side of west river, but don't have a lot of recent intel.