Category: South Dakota

Posted By:
birdk9
Web Member

I-90 / I-29 Corridors 12-03-2012 15:46
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Hunted ditch chickens the last two weekend in central SD. Driving out and back, and then all around central SD, there are still large numbers of waterfowl in the state. All the shallow ponds froze up last week and re-opened this week. Deeper water is still open and the birds are stacked on it. We saw one huge flock of snows that stayed through the cold snap. Still good numbers of ducks and geese in SD.

One hunting partner from SD, was field hunting and did well on mallards.

Dry, warm weather and the birds have not pushed out yet. Geese all over the MO river areas.

Weatherman says it will another week before any kind of a push. Could be almost two weeks before snow cover and or cold pushes birds

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

11-30-2012 12:25
– – –
Most of the pot holes are froze up but the birds are using the rivers for water sources. No snow in SD yet. Just talked to a guy in Aberdean and he had 7,000 in one firld and 10,000 mallards in the adjacent field. Geese are using the rivers in HUGE numbers. City of SF has thousands of geese using the big sioux river and feeding at night just outside the city limits. Lots of birds remain but it is getting harder to pattern them. Temps are suppose to be in the 40’s for highs next week so with no snow in sight i expect they stay for a couple of weeks more.

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

South Dakota 11-27-2012 14:08
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Any birds in state?Very little information being posted.Bird status in your state is important to us here in the states south of S. Dakota.

Posted By:
stumper
Web Member

Grand Island, NE 11-13-2012 13:15
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Next week I am planning on taking a drive up into southestern So Dak from Grand Island, NE on my way back to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. I would like to do some scouting (not hunting) for the northern mallards/snows. I am in college and didn’t bring my gun with me to school, but I always enjoy watching the annual fall migration, and they say this is supposed to be an historic one. Any suggestions on where (what towns) I might want to hit in NE Nebraska and SE South Dakota? I will take I-90 back east into LaCrosse, WI.
Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

11-12-2012 21:56
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mike , the ducks made to central Nebraska Sunday morning, and the dark geese showed up today (monday)

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

11-09-2012 15:55
– – –
New birds, just had a phone call that had thousands of birds hitting central SD. Going hard this weekend…the beginning hopefully has started.

Posted By:
OTAKTAY MAGA
Web Member

SCSD (*South Central South Dakota) 11-05-2012 11:43
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
South Central South Dakota- Hunted both the Missouri river and some surrounding fields October 31st thru Nov 3rd. Very few maga and maga sapa (ducks and geese) migrating. Small flocks of snowgeese, white-fronts, and sandhill cranes pushing through high. A couple small flocks of divers and mergansers flew the river. Bird counts still very thin. Too warm. Too early. Wind was from N to NE. Cloudy, with surface haze which would burn off after sunrise. Morning temperatures start 38-41 F warming to high 50’s low sixties. Switched to siyosa (pheasant). Killed many. Maybe hunt maga and maga sapa in few weeks after some freeze.

Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member

S.D 10-21-2012 04:04
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Maybe nothing to report like indiana.

Posted By:
jefbet03
Field Editor

10-17-2012 15:37
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Do you guys hunt up there?????? Or do you just not talk about it??????

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

NW of Sioux Falls 10-01-2012 10:00
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Was not able to hunt the opening weekend in SD as my wife and I went to the Wisconsin/Nebraska football game (anniversary thought I should keep her happy at lease one weekend a year). Talked to a couple of groups that went out and hunting was spotty a couple of groups did very well but a couple saw limited action. People are having to find new spots to hunt as alot of public and private ponds are completely dry! Seeing mroe and more geese every day. Temps to be in the low 50’s for a high this week.

Also used the new swarm stick by swarmwaterfowl company (a new sponsor on this site). Great product if you use spinning wing decoys…this things is compact light and brings alot of attention to your hole. We used this last weekend during the Iowa opener and six of us took a 36 bird limit in the first 30 minutes of shooting time. Support our sponsors on this site if you can! www.swarmwaterfowl.com

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

South Dakota 09-14-2012 16:14
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Virtually every pot hole is dried up in eastern south dakota. If you want to hunt ducks up here this year you will have to hunt a larger body of water. We have a private pond that normally holds 5-6 foot of water on normal conditions and it is bone dry!!!

when you find water you find ducks. starting to see alot more teal in the area and the mallards are getting a little more color. Crops are just coming out this week so the geese are getting into a very nice pattern when you find them.

dont know what to expect for the season the ducks might just fly right on by due to limited water or we may hit the mother load becuase the ducks have to congrigate to areas of water…time will tell but looking forward to it.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Drought 09-13-2012 22:12
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I was through the NE portion of the state this week and it is extremely dry! I would hate to see what the “exceptional” drought looks like as the area I was in was only moderate.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

S. Dakota 09-01-2012 11:55
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Hello,anyone home?Be nice to get some information on conditions in your state such as water conditions and crop conditions for those of us considering a trip.

Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor

Springfield bottoms???? 06-18-2012 16:04
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Anyone know what is going on? Trying to figure out whether it is worth getting into the non-resi draw.

jacduck Getting the plans in motion for the 12-13 season. Hope to be able to hunt 130 days + in several states again. You guys in the central flyway keep your powder dry! A serious hunter has to plan ahead! BSEG!

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

SE SD 03-07-2012 10:57
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The guys shot 11 snows yesterday morning (only 1 juvenile)..they said they did not see as many birds as they would of thought. DNR says the snows have pushed to N of I90.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

SE SD 03-06-2012 08:45
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Have a couple of friends set up in SE SD and they are starting to see large numbers of adult snows. This week should see the majority of birds come through SD.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

03-05-2012 15:33
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Lots for geese flying over Mitchell today 3/5/12

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

02-28-2012 11:16
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Traveled from Wayne Ne to Sioux Falls on Sunday. we saw 2 flocks of no more than 50 in each flock. Weatherman says we might get 12 inches of snow tonight. Might be a week or so before we get some birds through this area.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

nebraska 01-07-2012 23:05
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Anyone left in S.D. that hunts,,, or makes reports. Would like to know if the geese ever got to your state???

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

11-25-2011 13:55
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3 man limit of mallards and 7 geese by 8:15 this morning, 4sobs 3 honkers. Ducks were in large flocks and decoyed easy. There were ducks and geese everywhere you looked. Big NW wind forcast for Saturday. Hope they don’t push out

Posted By:
randy01
Guest

Central SD 11-23-2011 20:12
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Sloughs froze up but birds keeping some holes open in the middle. birds feeding early am and late at night. Sat morn during the blizzard got 20 mallards, 3 pintails and 1 widgeon before 9am. Classic!!

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

11-23-2011 10:47
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Don’t give up yet there is still tons of ducks and geese around. Went out this morning hopeing to get in to a lake we hunt but it was frozen, but there were thousands of mallards and snows, blues and honkers on it.
With the weather forcast I bet we will be in there Friday Highs in the 60s lows in the low 30s

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

11-18-2011 14:45
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This morning was the kind of day you dream about and wait for all year. When wwe got to the lake it sounded like a waterfowl refuge. Had to break about 1inch of ice for a ways out, got to some open water and cover, set out the decoys and the show started. One time must have had 500 mallards work us. Didn’t know what way to look. By 9:00 had our limit of greenies and 2 honkers. Going to try it again tomorrow. Only perdicting an inch of snow here and upper 40s to 50 by thanksgiving. Hope this is correct.

Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor

Springfield 11-04-2011 10:14
– – –
Marshman, that is what I expected, I also expect more spring floods next spring because of predicted heavy snows so it may take a long time before that beautiful area recovers.

jacduck Getting the plans in motion for the 11-12 season. Hope to be able to hunt 130 days + in several states again. You guys in the central flyway keep your powder dry! A serious hunter has to plan ahead! BSEG!

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

10-30-2011 17:50
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Must have had a push of new birds in. On the way out to our spot this morning in the dark we must have flush a couple thousand duck up. As soon as the decoy were set they started working. Took our time and got our 10 greenheads. Had a couple flocks of 20 to 30 work us. Best day of the year so far. Also saw a single whooping crane this morning

Posted By:
jesslab
Web Member

North Central Iowa 10-28-2011 06:51
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Been seeing some GWT and mallards that last few weekends. If the wind is right the mallards wanted to finish and do it right. Very few gadwall and widgeon. Curious as to where the bulk of the birds are at this time. SD, ND, NE, Canada? Any thoughts or information would be appreciated.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

10-25-2011 10:53
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John
Have not been down there but i talk to a friend that has a cabin down by appel tree.
There is not much left of the marsh, hopefully it will grow back next year. My friend said no one is even going above appel tree as there is to much debris in the water. the road from springfield to running water is gone. The water is back down to normal levels

Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor

Middle of the Mitten 10-25-2011 05:55
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Springfield bottoms

From my earlier post “Anyone know what the conditions are on the upstream side of Lewis and Clark lake? With the flooding I am wondering if there is still a marsh between Springfield and Niobrara. Any info would be appreciated. ” thanks for the info.

I would like a fall report if anyone has been there. What is it like? Any marsh or channel changes or was it changed at all. Looking forward to coming out next year and I like to long range plan. Thanks!

jacduck Getting the plans in motion for the 11-12 season. Hope to be able to hunt 130 days + in several states again. You guys in the central flyway keep your powder dry! A serious hunter has to plan ahead! BSEG!

Posted By:
Swamp Gas
Web Member

10-19-2011 01:36
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Thanks for the info guys. First hunt should be this Friday morning.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Sioux Falls 10-10-2011 15:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Swamp Gas,

There are birds in the area. Little to no migration as of this weekend although we did watch a couple of very high gadwals heading south (maybe 100 or so).. starting to see more canadas in the area as well… having been scratching out limits about everytime we go out but taking most of the morning to do so.

Need to find water as most of the small potholes are drying up.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

10-07-2011 09:15
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Swamp Gas
Ponds are drying up. There are serveal larger wetlands that right now are not holding very many ducks. The place to be is on the smaller ponds but like I said they are drying up.There are alot of ducks around you just need do do some scouting. We sure could use some rain.
Alot of canada geese around

Posted By:
Swamp Gas
Web Member

10-02-2011 17:02
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Any SD reports? Headed out the last week of October and just curious. My brother-in-law has been doing good in the Mitchell area.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

08-16-2011 12:07
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Marsh Man

I agree..I started to scout this weekend as well, and you are correct in saying the duck numbers seem up as well as the water. we tried to get into our honey hole and the water is over our waders. I dont know if I agree with you on being a good season though I am very conserned that the birds will have to many watering holes to choose from…this year more than ever will be a year to scout very hard!

hope everyone is starting to get ready for the year it is coming soon!

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

08-08-2011 14:57
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Went out and started looking around this past weekend and like has beed reported there are ducks and water everywhere. Saw broods of ducks that looked like they were about ready to fly to broods of newly hatched ducklings. Saw a couple families of mallards standing on the gravel roads, and when we drove by they would just waddel into the ditch and swim away. Water condintions are unbelivable, which is good and bad. Some of are regular sloughs have gotten so deep that it has flooded out the cover. When that happens it seems like it takes a few years for them to recover. On the postive side there are new sloughs and wetlands to hunt, ones that I have never been in before, and that is always a fun and exciting adveture. Youth season is only 5 weeks away so until then I will keep looking for new places to hunt. I’m very optimistic this will be a good season

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

07-12-2011 14:24
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John
I was down at Springfield last weekend and I’m afraid the water is wide open bank to bank. Keep in mind the water is about 15 feet higher then it usally is, so when the water goes down I hope there is something left. I’m hopeing for the best, as we had a great fall down there last year, but right now it does not look good

Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor

07-04-2011 06:41
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Mike I just caught your comment on geese. At least here in MI we have what we call “molt migrators” which is those that do not nest for one reason or another. These are “local” geese who mostly do not leave MI to migrate south in the winter. They flock up around early June and migrate further north to molt. Ours go to southern St James bay according to banding reports. Could that be what you were seeing? MI migration date is generally around June 5 and return is around Sept 17.

jacduck Getting the plans in motion for the 11-12 season. Hope to be able to hunt 130 days + in several states again. You guys in the central flyway keep your powder dry! A serious hunter has to plan ahead! BSEG!

Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor

Springfield 07-04-2011 06:37
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Anyone know what the conditions are on the upstream side of Lewis and Clark lake? With the flooding I am wondering if there is still a marsh between Springfield and Niobrara. Any info would be appreciated.

John Cottenham VFE from MI

jacduck Getting the plans in motion for the 11-12 season. Hope to be able to hunt 130 days + in several states again. You guys in the central flyway keep your powder dry! A serious hunter has to plan ahead! BSEG!

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

SD 06-09-2011 13:31
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starting to see the geese V-UP and taking to all the standing water in SD. I am not a biologist so i dont know exacly what is going to go on with all this flooding but the birds should have plunty of water to choose from this coming season. God Bless all the homeowners in SD and along the Mightly Mo that are being affected by the floods. Hope it all gets back together before hunting season!

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

Pierre 02-11-2011 15:24
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Members might update the massive kill on mallards near Pierre,7000 mallards found dead on a pond,cause was eating molty corn at a feed lot.US Fish and Wildlife and your Fish and Game dept. handled this.Need more protection that this does not happen again,can be done by putting potholes and etc. back under the Clean Water Act which the US Supreme Court ruled on back in 2001 that these types of water holes do not come under the protection of the Clean Water act,thus the additional plowing of wetlands and these types of tragedies would not be occuring.

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

12-31-2010 21:09
Arctic Blast – Below Zero
Nasty here. Blizzard. 10-12 inches of snow. NW winds 25-40 & COLD. Birds will be leaving here the next several days. I have a feeling birds might finally move out of ND too. But when they get here they will just kept moving south to NE.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

12-13-2010 15:00
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Still seeing a ton of cans and ducks on the river heading south. Too bad we are closed up here!

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

11-24-2010 13:00
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endless V’s of canadian’s all day yesterday. Most potholes are froze over and birds are now using the small creeks and rivers in the area. There are birds to be taken if you can locate the fields they are using.

Posted By:
Budheavy13
Web Member

Around Vermillion 11-18-2010 15:19
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Last night saw thousands of mallards and other puddlers in the area. Not many are decoying well but still managed to shoot a few. Smaller puddles should be freezing up soon, Most around here are frozen in the morning. Hopefully this will concentrate the ducks.

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

SD 11-15-2010 08:10
– – 40-45 Degrees
Getting to be more birds around but they are hard to hunt. There’s water everywhere and the birds are really scattered out. No real concentrations for birds. All waters are open. Have notices some migration the past 3-4 days. Still most birds in North Dakota and Canada. Waiting.

Posted By:
Roosterman
Web Member

Missouri River Above Ponca State Park West of Elk Point,SD 11-14-2010 19:42
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Morning Shoot this morning pretty slow. Had a few nice flocks of Mallards later in day but were not very interested. Worked us and two other boat blind spreads close by. Had a pair of Woodies in and got one. Sun came out midmorning and stopped everything for a while. Saw a lot of flocks Friday night from I-29 between Sioux City and Elk Point at Dusk but there were long gone this morning.

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

11-03-2010 07:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
A few waterfowl around. most locals blew out with the 50-60 mph NW winds and snow last week. All the birds are still north of SD. Lots still in Northern Canada per my source. Need cold and migrating conditions.

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

11-01-2010 16:33
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Decent number of birds on small wetlands.

[Edited By CRP on 2010-11-03 07:33]

Posted By:
Terry Wiseman
Guest

10-31-2010 07:48
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webbie, the pheasant hunters were not the issue. it was the so called duckhunters jumpshooting every pond in site. 95% of time they were from the same state,

Posted By:
webmaster
root

10-29-2010 11:09
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Terry — that’s what happens when you put waterfowl licenses in the hands of upland hunters who think you have to “walk” everything up.

I don’t think any duck hunter or SD resident would mind reducing the number of non-resident upland licenses by 10,000 and creating a new pool of “waterfowl only” licenses that could not be purchased if you purchased and upland license.

It’s a shame that a paltry 6,000 non-resident waterfowl licenses stand in the shadow of 100,000 upland licenses and the chaos it creates.

Posted By:
Terry Wiseman
Guest

northeast 10-28-2010 08:13
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we cut our anual trip 2 days short due to the storm. wind,snow,freezup. No big deal thats part of the game. The unbelievable numbers of road blasting morons tho was a whole different issue! Who told these clowns this is duck hunting? They were destroying EVERY pothole in sight. Probably my last trip there. I”ve always enjoyed sodak for hospitality and varity of birds and quality of the hunt. quality and quanity are definitly gone now. would not recomend this state to anyone unless they quit selling license to a certian state.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Eastern SD 10-26-2010 13:05
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Alot of new birds in the area. We shot 2 man limits both saturday and sunday. only shot 4 teal the rest mallards and wood ducks. Saw a couple of nice flocks of widgeon come through on Sunday. Seen quite a few large flocks of mallards heading south. Things are starting to heat up around here. Hunting should be good the rest of the way out.

Posted By:
LTDHunting
Guest

None 10-25-2010 08:58
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Lets go back to reporting on how the hunting is going on up there. I love to hear if birds are moving and if people are having any luck!

Posted By:
wilsonro
Guest

Migrants 10-22-2010 18:07
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We’re talking about migratory waterfowl,not deer in Iowa. If the argument is “we should be able to hunt and control what we produce in SD “, then ask for a two week season early and hunt local birds like many states do with resident geese. I think we all know that’s not the case. It’s about closing out the competition of nonresidents and always has been. Little has changed since no nonresidents were allowed to hunt waterfowl many years ago.

These migratory rescources belong to us all and are controlled by federal law and agencies not SD. I blame them (the Feds) more for allowing it to happen than I do SD for trying to get away with the bogus nonresident program they have. No federal funds for anything stops it.

[Edited By wilsonro on 2010-10-28 00:05]

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

10-20-2010 08:11
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The limited draw is a win-win for all waterfowlers in SD. Good quality hunting… not a CIRCUS. SD has witnessed a busted system in North Dakota and has taken notes. SD has also seen what happens with the pheasant hunting. They have learned from it. Plenty of non-residents visit SD and have GREAT hunting every year.

Every state has their laws to protect wildlife and for good reason. I can’t hunt whitetails in Iowa or Elk in Montana or Colorado every year either. I pay for their programs also. But I’m not crying about it. I just apply and have a quality hunt.

Climate change has changed the traditional great waterfowling areas. It hurts SD too.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

South Dakota 10-19-2010 14:55
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John I feel your pain. I grew in Iowa and still ahve many friends and family members that live there and want to hunt in SD but the cost/limited days/lottery make it difficult to hunt here, so I hunt Iowa alot to share a blind with some of my best hunting partners. BUT i will say that living in SD and seeing what commericalised hunting has done in the Pheasant hunting relm is unbelievable. It is very hard to find good hunting becuase all the farmers save their fields for paid hunters and the public land is overhunted becuase of this. I think permits need to be relaxed a little but not as much as other states.

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

South Dakota 10-19-2010 11:26
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To Crp,love your statement that your state protects it’s ducks with the number of non-resident permits that are issued.Your ducks are funded by everyone who buys a stamp,supports Federal Govt. programs,Ducks unlimited and Delta waterfowl.Hopefully some time in the future this local resident club for hunting ducks,increases their non-resident numbers,Been to your state twice,both times noticed a lot of land and no one hunting in large numbers.This issue of your permits needs to be addressed either by S. Dakota or the Fish and Wild Service,since every one hunting ducks pays for the ducks you call YOUR ducks.My last report on the S. Dakota situation.

Posted By:
tcsduck
Guest

Springfield, sd 10-19-2010 09:46
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I see the corp allowed permit blinds again from santee to the lake. These guys that have those permits must know the laws. They do not have a 300yd exclusive area around there blind and they have to have a properly constructed blind with there number, name and where there from. A box in the water does not reserve a spot for a blind boat.

Posted By:
CRP
Web Member

South Dakota 10-19-2010 09:09
– – 60-65 Degrees
Decent number of ducks around but mostly the ones that nest and where raised here. Not much from the north yet. Haven’t had any decent migrating conditions. Lots of water around.
The state is swarming with non resident pheasant hunters. The big money has real hurt the resident hunter opprotunities. Thank the Lord SD protects its waterfowl a little with a limited draw.
Quality hunting for everyone.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Eastern SD 09-29-2010 16:02
– – 60-65 Degrees
Had a nice hunt on Sunday. Shot 2 GW teals, 4 drake wood ducks, and 2 drake mallards.

Most of the morning was filled with wood ducks and shovelers. Very suprised that we only saw a couple of teal. Good number of geese have moved into the area over the last week.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Western Iowa 09-21-2010 11:20
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 60-65 Degrees
Hunted the Iowa opener Saturday-Monday. Saturday shot 10 teal and 2 woodies rained and thunderstormed most of the morning. Teal were flocked up in large numbers some flocks had 100+.. Sunday the ducks were scattered only scrached out 11 with four guys teal went from 100+ to groups of 5-10. Monday we hunted a couple of different spots with a mixed bag of 11 teal 4 wood ducks a mallard. Birds decoyed very well but really shut off after 8am. Should be a interesting opener this weekend I think alot of the early teal have made their way down south.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

09-17-2010 15:22
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Went to four marshes that usually hold a good number of birds amd pnly saw a few groups of teal on each lake. Alot of water up this way and the birds are really spread out! It may be tough the first couple of weeks until the water level starts to lower. Geese are really starting to group up, quite a few flocks around should be good hunting this weekend! Going to Iowa for the duck opener there will report after the weekend.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

08-19-2010 12:11
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MIxed bag of results reported on the resident canada goose season. If you were on grounds that held alot of birds most people filled their bag. All in all most parties seemed to do very well.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

08-06-2010 13:13
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With the season just around the corner I have started to scout some of the ponds and lakes that I use. Water has entrenched most areas that we put our blinds in years past. Things might be interesting for the first couple of weeks! Everyone is going to have to scout much harder with all the standing water that we have in nearly every field in South Dakota!

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

07-23-2010 15:49
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Had to stop in the middle of the second busiest road (and almost was rear-ended)in Sioux Falls this morning to let a momma hen and her 8 ducklings cross the road.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

SE South Dakota 07-22-2010 14:32
– – –
Here in the Mitchell area we received 4 inches of rain last night in alittle over an hour. Enough rain already, everything is flooded. I have been out a few times when it hasn’t been raining and we have water an ducks everywhere. Drove down a county road west of town with water on both side of the road and there were hundreds of ducks and ducklings. There were so many ducks in fact there were quite a few road kills. I had to slow down and stop so they could get off the road. North of town it is the same every low spot seems to have water and ducks in it. It is going to take alot of scouting this fall to stay on the ducks

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

SE south dakota 06-13-2010 10:13
– – –
It has been raining pretty much non stop since the first of June. Here in Mitchell we have had 7 inches so far and it is only the 13th of the month. If every duck pond wasn’t full, they are now. Last night the 12th Interstate 90 was closed west of town because water was running over the top of the interstate. Never seen that before. My only concern with all this water is how many nest it flooded out. I think the geese were just abount done nesting but I wonder if the ducks and pheasants won’t take a hit.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Sioux Falls 04-29-2010 14:34
– – –
Started seeing the first hatches of the season. Always a fun time of year.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

South East SD 03-23-2010 16:34
– – –
Saturday- set up in south eastern SD down by the iowa/SD border. 400 rags and 4 guys only had 1 Ross goose break from a pack and commit. Saw a few flocks but not what we expected.

Sunday- spent the afternoon in the same field only saw 1 flock of about 75 snows.

I think the push is past us…

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

03-19-2010 09:50
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We had a couple of guys set up 300 decoys in a field just east of the missouri last night inbetween Sioux City and Elk Point. We plan on hunting this weekend. Report was a couple of 50-100 flocks were in the air during set up.

Posted By:
jefbet03
Field Editor

03-17-2010 07:30
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How are the numbers looking for you guys up there? Hopefully you get some smaller, more workable flocks then what we did.

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

South Dakota 02-11-2010 14:28
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Mike-Gorsett
Welcome aboard.Look forward to your posts next season,as well as nesting conditions in your state.Glad they finally got a VFE in your state.

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

South Dakota 02-11-2010 14:28
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Mike-Gorsett
Welcome aboard.Look forward to your posts next season,as well as nesting conditions in your state.Glad they finally got a VFE in your state.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Eastern SD 01-29-2010 13:30
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I have finally figured out the new password and log in, I will do my best to keep the waterfowler.com nation up to speed on what is happening in South Dakota.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

01-08-2010 12:13
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The last blizzard just past, the second strom since christmas. Have not seen this much snow on the ground since the 70’s. The entire state got a blanket of 15 inches on christmas some ares got more then that. In my back yard there is at least 2 feet with some higher drifts. We had a wet fall so I would predict excellent runoff this spring possibly alot of flooding as lot of the ponds and sloughs were already full. I think our pheasants are going to really take a hit this winter.

Posted By:
PlatRvrJake
Web Member

12-19-2009 02:04
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anybody hunt up there? No posts since 11-28?
Great reporting!

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

SE South Dakota 11-28-2009 17:57
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We have really been in the mallards lately. Had a 3 man limit this morning by 8:45 plus a giant honker. There is also alot of Canadas around. The mallards this morning were what you wait all year for. Large flocks that would come right in, even got some video of it. It looks like about Wednesday the slough hunting will be done, The weather is forcast to turn cold but no snow. Been a strange year, the mallards would be here one day gone the next.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

SE South Dakota 11-22-2009 13:38
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Quite a morning. There were ducks and geese moving all morning. Alot of mallards and snows and honkers high and flying south. The mallard that would work came right in after alittle calling. The most mallards I have seen all year. Thanksgiving weekend should be good.

Posted By:
MarshMan1
Guest

SE South Dakota 11-07-2009 11:20
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Hunted the Thursday and Friday with poor results. Did not see many birds hunting the sloughs and wetland we had good results on in the past. Decided to start driving around to see if there are any ducks in the area. Boy have we been hunting the wrong spots. We have alot of ducks in the area but they all are sitting in the small little wet spot all the rain has left. Found a nice bunch of mallards in a flooded corn field watched them Friday night and this morning and finally got permission from the farm for tomorrow.This should be a slam dunk. I’m jacked.

Posted By:
steveandzoom
Guest

NE South Dakpta 11-05-2009 20:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Water, water, everywhere…..

Hunted in NE counties for a week. My traditional area (for the past 13 years) was nearly void of birds. A few bluebills and ringbills were scattered about, but very few except for the rafts of wary divers in the middle of some very large lakes. Seems like some boats have spooked those birds a time or two. No mallards, gadwell, widegon or teal of any consequence. I scouted for a couple of days and drove hundreds of miles before I located flock after flock of mallards, pintails, and other species. These birds were concentrated in flocks ranging from 500 to 5,000 birds. Unbelievable. I have never seen so many pintails in my life, and I go back a long way; wonderfully mature birds. I also saw ten of thousands of snows and blues.

Since my modest decoy spread (I typically use up to 13 decoys) could not begin to compete with the tens of thousands of mallards, I hunted smaller water and did very well. I finished my hunt with a mixed bag, but the real highlight was witnessing flocks of 1,000-5,000 mallards and pintails almost everywhere I drove. Pheasants were obviously way down.

Posted By:
tlimoges
Guest

11-05-2009 14:38
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Hunted a small farm pond last night south of Sioux Falls. Saw 2 flocks of mallards both circled 2-3 times and neither liked the spread enough, also had a nice flock of widgeons 20-30 that buzzed the spread but i was to busy talking on my cell phone to take a shot… I have made a new rule and that is no cell phones in the blind.