South Dakota

[slicendice]

I have an opportunity to head to an Indian reservation in SD this spring to hunt merriams.  I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing?  Is there anything I should know before going? Anything to look out for?  Any questions to ask before I commit to the trip? 

Tentatively,  the trip is scheduled for the middle of April.  Does anyone know what the weather is like that time of year in SD? 

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!

Jon

[GSLAM95]

Which reservation are you hunting?  I have hunted both Rose Bud and Pine Ridge but it was years ago when all you had to do was buy the tags.  I have friends that have been back out and now say you must pay a guide their daily fee.  The "guides" have been nothing but a sad experience to say the least.
It was once simple as they would give you a map of the reservation and you could hunt anything that was not posted.  You could usually go up and ask the people who had their ground posted and get permission as well. 
I would say the best piece of advice I can give you is call several of the "guides" on their list before you go and speak with them and ask a lot of questions and then ask a lot more questions!

[slicendice]

Thanks for the reply.  It looks like the trip is to Pine Ridge.  What I'm being told is that the guide is $500 for 3 days and that they don't neccesarily need to accompany you if you don't want.   I'm told they'll drop you off and point you in the right direction of you choose.  Does this sound right? 

[mdtkyhntr]

I've hunted Pine Ridge. Tons of birds that's for sure. Also had a decent guide who just turned us loose into birds and let us hunt. I filled 2 tags in less than one day and so did my buddy. Let me know if you want any more info.

[agturkey]

Weather can be all over the place.  You need find a good guide one that does not have baited areas!  Pay extra money get a guide who is not Indian and has guide lic truck and goes legal.  Last few years poor hotels theft and other things have keep me from going back.  My friends that still go say its getting worse every year... Could be a great or bad experience.  Their guide is booked for the year he is getting 1000 for four guys.  They are killing less merriams each yr and more hybrids and some mix bird they think is somewhat a domestic wild cross very Buffy color and strips in fans.  I think you may want to get all your ducks in a row and think this over but you could have a great trip. Mtheir guide did not rec anyone to use that he knew of.  They have all said depending results this yr it could be the last and look at other options for 2014.

[slicendice]

Thanks for the replies!  I'm definately having second thoughts now.  This trip is being organized through another board so I don't have direct contact,  just second hand info from the guy organizing it. 

Mdturkeyhtr,  where in md?  I do a lot of hunting in md from Garrett county to Somerset county.

[mdtkyhntr]

I'm in the middle of the state, Frederick and Washington county hunter mostly. I also echo the comments of some of the other posts. I didn't stay on the res and wouldn't.

[cohuttahunter]

I hunted in the black hills in the May of 2007.  I just showed up and hunted public land around the hill city area.  I hunted 4 days.  2 days were very windy and I did not see or hear anything.  Two days were sunny with no wind and I heard multiple gobblers. I was able to harvest 1tom on the last day.  I felt it was a good hunt to just show up with a map and a call.  Only problem I ran into was a lot of the forest service roads were not open for the first couple of days and it limited access.  There were signs on the gates telling when they would open and it was while I was there, but I can't remember the exact date.  The turkey I killed was behind a gate that had just opened so I guess the limited access prior to my arrival helped.