Looking for locations in SD for next year

[Tall Shadow]

Hi all!,
I am finally setting up the trip that I've wanted to take for years!
Two friends and I are planing on driving to South Dakota next year and doing some prairie dog hunting for about a week. We are all experienced shooters/hunters and responsible sportsmen.

What I'm looking for are locations, and/or contacts of people/farmers/landowners, who might be willing to allow us to hunt/shoot on their land.

I've been trying to figure out how I would go about finding & contacting these people?

I'd also take suggestions on possible public land locations.


Can anyone help?

Thanks!
Tall Shadow

[Tall Shadow]

Hello!?!?
Anyone?

Tall Shadow

[Jonesy]

Your best bet would be to hit the small town cafe's and bar's. Try the towns of Lemmon, Faith, Newell, Phillip, Hermosa or Buffalo. Or you can put an add with what you want in the Rapid City Journal. Most Ranchers in Western South Dakota get that paper mailed to them. Good luck with your venture.

[Tall Shadow]

Thanks Jonesy!

Your help is appreciated VERY! much!!!!

I knew someone would help Us out!


I will start looking into the newspaper ad too!

Thanks Again!

Tall Shadow

[Bonkers]

Tall Shadow,
Still looking for places to go? Do you mind paying to shoot? I've got a few names I can pass on to you.

kennethmayer@hotmail.com

[Tall Shadow]

Originally posted by Bonkers
Tall Shadow,
Still looking for places to go? Do you mind paying to shoot? I've got a few names I can pass on to you.

kennethmayer@hotmail.com

Hi,
Yes I'm still looking! (It never hurts to keep looking for new spots!)

I'm not sure about paying or not....I really have no idea what the "Going Rate(s)" are for "Pay" shooting spots. I'd be open to it if the fee(s) were reasonable. I'm not about to be able to afford $100+ a day for what is available for free (or cheaply) elsewhere tho'.

Does one usually pay for access, Access & a guide, or is it something else?

What should we expect to pay & expect for Our money??

Thanks for the help!

Tall Shadow

[Jonesy]

I don't know if anything as changed, but 3 or 4 years ago the going rate for a couple of the area guides was $150 per day, with a two guy, three day minimum. With a PD shooting day being 4 hours, with the availability to buy more time per day. Don't know what it is now.

[Bonkers]

I've heard similar from Jonesy statement. $100/day - 3 day minimum. But I do know a couple of guys that were charging us $25 - $50 a day per person to shoot unsupervised on their land in the White River and Vivian areas. Just be sure to let them know if you tap a fence line so they can get it fixed soon enough.

One of them raised his rate to from $25 to $50/day because his neighbor is one of the high dollar joints charging $100/day 3 day minimum and he now wants to cash in. Sort of like every pheasant farmer does in Eastern So Dak. The high dollar joints did have lots of dogs though but if they're running a 4 hour/day scam I'd stay away myself.

The other guy had a few thousand acres of land containing dogs but he did run through them all with poison 2 years ago and I haven't checked back since to see if they're on the rebound yet or not. At the time the kill rate on poison was guaranteed to be about 90%.

Send me your email address and I'll get the phone names and phone numbers for you. It would be worth the call to see what the latest news is and maybe make some plans for 2007.

Public land = Buffalo National Grasslands are huge and open to shooting dogs for a specific time of the year. You'd have to look at the So Dak Game Fish and Parks website to get those dates. I've never tried the area but many have. I-90 runs through part of it in the Western part of the state.

There are walk-in areas but I've just learned from the state capitol that those walk-in areas are leased for public hunting of large game animals during the fall and winter months. After their seasons have ended some of the areas are reverted back to private land in which you need permission and possibly pay a fee to hunt. It's a mess since the walk-in guide books have never stated this fact and caused some confusion among shooters, myself included. Found out that we were officially trespassing on some land while shooting short dogs. No harm was done and the landowner simply asked us to pay a small fee then we were back to shooting.

It's getting harder and harder to find these places though. Don't take it personal if you run across an angry rancher or two. It just seems to be getting out of hand but most will work with you if they have dogs to be shot. Pests.

[Tall Shadow]

Thanks for all of the help guys!

I just don't want to drive all the way out to SD, only to have to "Hunt around" for someplace to shoot some doggys....Wasting valuable shooting time....maybe days worth.

I don't know about the "Pay to Shoot" idea....I guess you always have to pay, one way or the other....But having to pay to help a land owner get rid of a varmint problem, kind of "chaps my a$$!"

I guess the quest for information..Goes on!

Thanks Again!

Tall Shadow