Myself and a buddy will be making our first trip out there this spring towards the end of may. Looking for tips on places to stay, restaurants,cafes etc. also anything that is a must have to make sure and bring?
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Flyrod, bring a flyrod for Spearfish Canyon.
And Casino money....bring some money for the casino.
If you're near Custer and its still open I'd eat at The Custer Wolf. They have some of the best food I've eaten anywhere.
Needles and 385 highway are great scenic tours.
This all is assuming that you harvest your Turkey.....
Lots of cool sights to see around Custer, if you get it done in time. Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse are cool. I'd make sure to bring good hiking boots and clothes for all types of weather. I went a few years back and got hit with a snowstorm that dumped about 4" of snow sporadically around where we were hunting. Good amount of birds, but we had to really go find them. Great trip to go on for sure, I am ready to go back again.
Town below Mt Rushmore to take old train trip.
Devils Tower, Badlands National Park. It is so beautiful out there. Head to Glacier Nat. park myself this year.
I see your from Ohio if you go through Iowa stop at I 80 truck stop Worlds Largest. If you go through Mitchel SD stop at the Corn Palace. Very cool to see.
Alpine Inn at Hill City for evening dinner.
Thanks for the replies so far! Any recommendations on places to stay? I believe we are going to start around Custer but who knows where we may end up. Not opposed to a ranch bunkhouse type of deal if anyone knows of something.
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You mean to tell me there's things to do there besides turkey hunt? ??? ;D
Going out there myself end of May, maybe I'll run into ya. Let me know where you decide to stay out there
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There are plenty of places to stay in Hill city or custer and surrounding area, just dig. There are a lot of cabins to rent and some motels. I will second the Alpine Inn for dinner, but get there early and get on the list, you will wait. They only serve two entrees, one is a filet Mignon and one other. but it's really good and great deserts. https://alpineinnhillcity.com/
There is a real good burger place on main street in custer too; https://www.blackhillsburgerandbun.com/.
If your traveling through Iowa this is a good eat stop: https://www.bing.com/search?FORM=U528DF&PC=U528&q=the+machine+shed+restaurant+davenport+ia
That ought to take care of your food Lol.
Here's a neat site to see: https://www.mammothsite.org/
My daughter lives in Pierre and works for the state, we're out there at least once a year. We'll probably be out there in May or June
Quote from: simpzenith on February 25, 2021, 07:28:07 PM
You mean to tell me there's things to do there besides turkey hunt? ??? ;D
Yea I'm just looking for a clean place to stay and a place to grab a hot meal in the evening from folks that have been out there before. I'm not really going for the sites, I'm going out there to hopefully shoot a merriam in the face!
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Quote from: Smooth_Operator on February 25, 2021, 07:32:18 PM
Going out there myself end of May, maybe I'll run into ya. Let me know where you decide to stay out there
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I will let you know! If we happen to be out there at the same time you are welcome to join us if you are going to be out there by yourself.
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Quote from: nebgoosehunter on February 25, 2021, 06:43:09 PM
Alpine Inn at Hill City for evening dinner.
I ate there a great many of times when I lived in the hills. About as good as it gets!
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Been going the last few years. Stay in Custer and stay at the Rocket M. Guys name is Don. He's the freaking man. Nice, clean little rooms. Usually talks turkey with ya. Even willing to point you in the right direction. Acts like you know specific roads and what not even though he's aware you just drove in. So nod your head as he tries to describe places to you. He's a great guy and that's where I'd stay if I was hunting around Custer. However, I thought about maybe hunting up a little more north towards Sturgis this year
I've been through multiple times but went there for the first time to hunt last year. We stayed at a Super 8 in Hill City. It was nothing special by any means but it was clean and we could walk from there to eat every evening. My wife had seen the whole place after a day and a half.
Luckily I killed a bird within a few days and spent the next couple days taking her to some other places. We'll probably stay in Custer next time. I think it has a little more for her to walk around and look at. However, I didn't get a chance to hunt down that way, so not sure how it compares.
We don't care for Deadwood. It's just a big casino.
Quote from: turkeyfool on February 25, 2021, 10:49:44 PM
Been going the last few years. Stay in Custer and stay at the Rocket M. Guys name is Don. He's the freaking man. Nice, clean little rooms. Usually talks turkey with ya. Even willing to point you in the right direction. Acts like you know specific roads and what not even though he's aware you just drove in. So nod your head as he tries to describe places to you. He's a great guy and that's where I'd stay if I was hunting around Custer. However, I thought about maybe hunting up a little more north towards Sturgis this year
I Appreciate the info I will look into this place.
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Quote from: Hobbes on February 26, 2021, 01:04:48 AM
I've been through multiple times but went there for the first time to hunt last year. We stayed at a Super 8 in Hill City. It was nothing special by any means but it was clean and we could walk from there to eat every evening. My wife had seen the whole place after a day and a half.
Luckily I killed a bird within a few days and spent the next couple days taking her to some other places. We'll probably stay in Custer next time. I think it has a little more for her to walk around and look at. However, I didn't get a chance to hunt down that way, so not sure how it compares.
We don't care for Deadwood. It's just a big casino.
Thank you for the Info. If we make it to that area I will keep this In mind.
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You'll find the highest concentration of birds closest to towns and private ranches, but those will also be the most pressured birds. We stay in Hill City and venture out from there. Weather can be wild. It can be 65 and sunny one minute and the next its sleeting. So bring layers that are easy to shed and carry with you. Don't expect these merriams to be easy like some people claim. They will gobble their heads off, but that doesn't mean much. When they fly off the roost they have somewhere in mind they want to be and you'd better be in between them because you'll never catch up to them once they get going. These mountain birds travel a long ways on a daily basis. You almost have to pattern their travel route to be in the game. That doesn't mean that you won't find an easy one that wants to die, but from my experience those are few and far between in those hills. Good luck!
Also, bring a coyote howler or if you can howl on a mouth yelper that'll work too. They don't seem to gobble to owl hooters nearly as much. They will gobble to a coyote howl very late and night and also early in the morning. So they are somewhat easy to get one roosted. There was a roost tree we would drive by every morning at about 3:30 and they'd already to gobbling their heads off. Luckily for them birds they were on private property!
Dress like you're going to deer hunt. I delayed my trip one year untin mid May and it snowed 6" the first night i was there. It's a beautiful place and I'm seriously considering moving there when I retire.
I'd also seriously consider looking into the AirBnB's available. We lucked out and got one stay backed up to public land and some great private. One of the guys in our group ended up sleeping in one morning and got on some right out the back door, it was pretty wild. Look into using the app TURO if you havent already, it's basically an airbnb for car rentals. Super easy and much much cheaper than the rental car companies.
Quote from: Bern_pine on March 01, 2021, 12:26:50 PM
I'd also seriously consider looking into the AirBnB's available. We lucked out and got one stay backed up to public land and some great private. One of the guys in our group ended up sleeping in one morning and got on some right out the back door, it was pretty wild. Look into using the app TURO if you havent already, it's basically an airbnb for car rentals. Super easy and much much cheaper than the rental car companies.
I was considering an AirBnB, didn't know anything about TURO I'll check it out. Thank you for the information
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Happy I found this as I'm heading to the Black Hills for the first time myself. Good luck!
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