Get away from crowds in S Dakota?!

elvspec

New Member
Aug 20, 2015
22
0
I bow hunted Harding County last year and there were quite a few folks and pretty hard to get away from anyone. The walk in areas just aren't very expansive.

I left the day before gun season opened up and the hunters were pouring in. I'm sure after opening weekend it calms down a bit though just like anyplace else.
 

sd_smith

New Member
Aug 20, 2018
5
0
W. SoDak
The National Grasslands are packed during rifle season. Check a road map of it and you'll see why. I bow hunt Perkins county pretty heavily and rifle hunt where I can, but its pretty filled up with people. They shoot some nice bucks and all, but it gets sketchy real quick getting caught in the middle of deer drives. There are loads of places in Western Harding Co. that you can get a couple of miles or more off the road. Look for big patches of school land and BLM bunched up to walk-in. Its there trust me, way too many lazy hunters.
 

BrettKoenecke

Member
Jun 28, 2013
137
5
Oh Perkins County is hunted waaaaay less than Harding County is. Western Harding is full of hunters on public ground.
 

sd_smith

New Member
Aug 20, 2018
5
0
W. SoDak
Oh Perkins County is hunted waaaaay less than Harding County is. Western Harding is full of hunters on public ground.
Full of hunters within sight of a road. Perkins you can't get away from a road! Harding and Northern Butte counties have tons of School and BLM land that you can get several miles away from a road. Just look at the hunting atlas?
 

BrettKoenecke

Member
Jun 28, 2013
137
5
And all of that public ground is blaze orange the whole time.
Unlike Perkins County. Nobody lives there, nobody goes there.
Heck, nobody even knows about all that 154,000 acres of public ground in Perkins County.
 

elvspec

New Member
Aug 20, 2015
22
0
And all of that public ground is blaze orange the whole time.
Unlike Perkins County. Nobody lives there, nobody goes there.
Heck, nobody even knows about all that 154,000 acres of public ground in Perkins County.
Ha! An obvious difference of opinion here! Sort of hard to know who's right unless you go or have been there. I know the parts of Harding I've been in were difficult to get away from folks.
 

kesand72

Active Member
May 5, 2013
373
8
Joliet, Il
Very contrasting stories here lol.
Well, regardless, I drew the N Perkins unit 53A tag and I'll be poking around looking for a deer Thanksgiving week!
 

elvspec

New Member
Aug 20, 2015
22
0
Very contrasting stories here lol.
Well, regardless, I drew the N Perkins unit 53A tag and I'll be poking around looking for a deer Thanksgiving week!
I didn?t draw this year and so will be heading elsewhere this year after three in a row in SD. Best of luck to you and let us know how you do, And how the crowds are too! 😂
 

kesand72

Active Member
May 5, 2013
373
8
Joliet, Il
Well, my N Perkins hunt was interesting to say the least. Covered alot of ground by truck and on foot.
Killed a nice 4 point mule deer, the only mature buck I found on public land the entire week. Here is the only pic I will ever get with him....20181121_082615_HDR.jpg
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
3,811
3,011
I swam 75 yards across a lake in my underwear in Canada in 40 degree weather just to retrieve an arrow just to finish off a bull moose once....ya...its long story but its true...

Just saying.
 

Daubs

Active Member
Aug 5, 2016
424
74
Nebraska
I swam 75 yards across a lake in my underwear in Canada in 40 degree weather just to retrieve an arrow just to finish off a bull moose once....ya...its long story but its true...

Just saying.
Not only no, but HELL NO. I have visions of hypothermia and frost-bite.
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
3,811
3,011
Not only no, but HELL NO. I have visions of hypothermia and frost-bite.
It was the purest definition of shrinkage this young pup has ever seen to date...lol

Best part is that by the time I got back and put my clothes on the bull had fallen in the water and drowned to death and I didnt even need to shoot it...

Ooooh the things we do for hunting.
 

kesand72

Active Member
May 5, 2013
373
8
Joliet, Il
Strip down and go get him!
Oh I did. At least I tried. My first thought was, ok they do the polar plunge in Chicago every year. So I stripped down n started wading out to get him. When the icy water got to the top of my calfs, that was it, couldn't tolerate it.
I boogied back to shore, put my clothes back on n walked out to call the fish n parks office at the lake to see if they had a boat to help me get him. That was a no go. So they loaned me a pair of waders n some rope to try. By the time I hiked back in he was gone. Hiked around n glassed to see if he floated off n didn't sink. No luck. Heartbreaking...
 
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