Looking for info on South Dakota whitetails

Does anyone know anything about the hunting aroung Shadehill Res. in South Dakota? We are looking for a place that I can bowhunt whitetails since I can't go very often here in Colorado (once every 4-5 years on the draw). If anybody knows anything about the hunting in NW SD or if you know of any other public land that we could check out in SD/Nebraska/WY/North Dakota I would appreciate the information!

I got the itch pretty bad this year when I had my whitetail tag and now I am looking to go more! Would love to find something that has some sleeper bucks in it if possible (don't we all want to find that though) :) I'm not looking for 200" bucks but some around the 140/150+ mark would be awesome!

THANKS!

There is a lot of public land in the Little Missouri National Grasslands of North Dakota but is more muley country than whitetail. There are definitely whitetails there but I'm sure it would take some scouting to find them. You can find big whitetails on other public lands in ND too but you really would need the knowledge from one of the locals who would be reluctant to give up their honeyhole. Including me, sorry. Haha. My 2 biggest whitetails(150-155") from ND have come from small pieces of public land.
Have you looked at the private lands open to hunting that SD has? There are some very large chunks of land open to hunting in the northwest part of the state. Not sure how good of hunting it is but I've looked at it on their website.

You could also look at the Black Hills. Lots and lots of public land and I think that you can buy a bow tag OTC. Not 100% sure on that though. From what I've gathered though, 120-130" is about as big as they get there.

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Originally Posted by bowhuntress

Would love to find something that has some sleeper bucks in it if possible (don't we all want to find that though) :) I'm not looking for 200" bucks but some around the 140/150+ mark would be awesome!

THANKS!

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Only a 140-150? You're not asking for much are you? Look at Nebraska, there's not as much public land there as there is in the Dakotas, but you're more likely to find a trophy.

Have you thought about Montana? There are tons of whitetails in this state, including some real gaggers. I have heard the whitetail densities in the Seely Lake area are some of the highest anywhere. The Libby area also has hug numbers, and has produced some monsters. In Eastern Montana, all of the river bottoms are crawling with them. You can hunt them every year you get a general deer license, but nonresident licenses in MT are expensive.

Thanks for all the info! This is what I am looking for, just starting to look around for something to go to in a few years.

And you're right CrimsonArrow, only a 140-150 ... lol ... I'm not looking for every buck to be this big, but maybe there will be one hanging around that would sneak under my tree. :) I am actually from Nebraska and a couple of those big bucks shot last year were within 30 minutes of where I grew up, but those are few and the hunting isn't like it use to be 10 years ago where anyone would let you hunt their farm land. We have also done some hunting up in the NW corner, but that is starting to get lots of hunters there too.


NDHunter - we have a friend in SD that hunts the black hills and my husband has looked into it too. He says the same thing you do. Lots of bucks but not many that are real big. Something to look into though. Thanks :) I think you should give me a few hints on where those pieces of public lands are so I can go looking! :) But I know what its like keeping your honey hole a secret. We'll look into ND a little more too! Are the tags for archery OTC there?


Bitterroot - I have thought about Montana but like you say those tags are spendy! Might be something to look into though if we can find something good. Thanks for your reply!


I am also thinking about Missouri .... other than lots of hunters I don't know what the public lands are like or how tough it would be to find some big ones.

Bowhuntress- Whitetail only non resident archery tags are OTC, $200. If you want a mule deer archery tag you have to apply for those although it is roughly a 90% draw. Even with my honeyholes aside, I still think your best bet would be the Little Missouri National Grasslands. I'd be able to help you out at least a little bit there. We've had 3 terrible winters in a row here though so deer numbers are way down.

Here is a link to the SD GFP hunting atlas. There is quit a lot of public land in the area of shadehill. WIAs, National Grasslands and State Rec areas. For west river rifle, the season opens the 2nd saturday in november, prior to that, archery hunting should be very good with the deer moving into the rut. We have hunted to the east of shadehill, in Corson County, and had some fun hunts. Numbers of both whitetail and mulies are decent, and if you spend some time, you should be able to find a nice buck.
P.S.
Dont forget the shotgun for pheasants and the fishing rods for some walleyes!!

http://arcgis.sd.gov/Server/GFP/HuntingAtlas/

Thanks for the info ffd061! I appreciate it. We'll definitely bring the shotgun and fishing rod! :)

before you go check to see how the deer numbers are. I live east river but my inlaws live over in that part of the state and last year we had blue tounge go through the state and kill alot of deer. Some parts of the state loosing 80 to 90% of the deer. Some places it didnt seem to hit while it hit others really hard. i live in the north central part of the state and there isnt a deer over 3 years old left. We lost at least 80% of our deer. Just because the game and fish are issueing alot of tags doesnt mean there is a lot of deer. check with local businesses about the deers numbers. There arent many businesses that in that part of the country that dont hunt or knows someone who does.