SD PRAIRIE UNIT HUNT THOUGHTS

[turkey junky]

hey guys im planing a trip well thinking of planing to apply for a SD prairie unit turkey tag & i have done my research & got a idea of what to expect & i do under stand there is many different types of terrain types that cover the SD prairie units but i was just wanting to get some others views & thoughts on there past hunts in the beautiful prairies of SD wear turkeys share the prairie with pheasants prairie grouse mule & whitetail deer & antelope & even a few tame buffalo lol!!!

i know it will be wide open & wear you find water food & roost trees & did i mention water you will find turkeys im really looking to tag a prairie merriams with a snow white tail fan & rump feathers that mite actually put out a decent spur not worn down or blunted like in the black hills...

i mention the black hills region because i know many would recommend me going there for my snow white merriams i may do that if i tag out in the prairie unit but simple math is 2 turkeys 100$ prairie tags 85$ for 1 bird black hills plus the black hills has a much lower success % then most of the SD prairie units do so...

also i am a little gun shy to hit the SD black hills as there are tons of roads road hunters there & its actually accepted hunt method out there as is rifle turkey hunting to things im really not a fan of at all!!! ever... not to mention the hills is just like big woods hunting any wear hit or miss at best hard to figure the birds out in the big woods not so in the prairie wear you can at least figure out the roost & water part if not the food part of killing turkeys....

any views thoughts & tips would be much appreciated by me & my father also a reason i choose the prairie units are for my dad the he loves the big hills but they do not love him & with past cancer issues i think hes better off in the prairie units VS the black hills & its never ending hills...

thanks & any tips views or opinions are welcome guys so let me have it.... safe hunting to all this season guys be safe

[Treerooster]

I think SD made rifle hunting in the spring season in the Black Hills illegal a few seasons ago, but it is still legalin the prairie units. Best check the regs though.

[turkey junky]

u can still use em in the black hills & many if not all the prairie units after reading my regs again i hope my killer B dose not draw rifle fire from road hunters man what a buzz kill that would be!!! i rarely use a decoy so hope thats not prob...???

[turkey junky]

the prairie units must be good as there are no comments on if im on the write track or not??? non of you guys ever hunted a SD prairie units???

[Gopherlongbeards]

I have never hunted the prairie units, but they certainly have birds in them. They tend to stick to the draws and river valleys, and can be pretty concentrated. There is a lot of public land in many of these areas, but you do need to be careful and make sure you're not on a res unless you are supposed to be. As far as the road hunting thing in the hills, I have never had a problem with road hunters interfering with my hunt. I think you're misunderstanding what people mean by "road hunting". Some people drive the roads, get out of the car and call to try and locate a bird, then if they don't get a response get back in the truck and drive another 1/4 mile. Someone actually shooting a bird from the road is almost unheard of. Roads are typically along the side of a hill, or in a deep valley. Combined with the woods there really isn't much opportunity to see birds at a distance.

[turkey junky]

you are write gopher there is alot of yelping from the car in the hills even the 3 biologist i have talked to said as much so thats what i guess im reffering to as road hunting or lazy hunters... there are many of the areas i looked at going that had 1 road or another with in walking distance so i was told to try to find a area wear i can walk a 0.5-1.0 miles off the road & then hunt & i wont have probs with road hunters... man that not what i was expecting to hear NE dose not sound as pressured SD black hills??? the WY side of things dosent have as many road or landmarks as SD side so i may try that???

i love birds that are concentrated i guess it sure beats birds so spread out that locating them is a real chore also herd stuff like the birds really like it around homes & hunt near homes but on NF lands in the black hills ??? i really dont want to go all the way to the hills to shoot a pet turkey that eats from a bird feeder... call me a turkey hunting purest if you want to but thats lame in my book... i just hope them birds spend some time in the creeks & not all there time in the open prairies they mite be real hard to kill if thats the case i better get a winter wheat gillie suit!!!