I find it strange that people that have never been here or never plan on coming here that know little about how things are have so much to say. I remember my first trip to Arizona I thought trapping the middle of the washes was the place to set I quick learned that you trap the edges. I was told they are traveling when they were in the middle of the draws and hunting when they worked the edge of the draws. Made sense after I learned that but that came with the experience.


We have several weather patterns in our State some areas are very cold for most of the winter some areas stay above freezing during the same time. Just ran into a bit of serious frost last week its been freezing and thawing a lot. Where I live we have had 3 snow storms so far but where I trap cats at 50 miles away they have only had 1 storm and are always warmer then we are.


We have few trees here in SD compared to other places so our coons don't have the den tree options like in a lot of places so they favor hay stacks and old farmsteads along with brush/junk piles and culverts. I talk about access often as that is probably the #1 hurdle to trapping in the East especially in States that lack a lot of public lands. I know in IL it was a struggle to line up just a few places but a local in the farm country had a lot more options to trap on so what chance would a NR have?


People come here and trap and do well but they won't speak up, the reasons should be obvious and I don't blame them the way some behave on here. LOL Most of the negatives in other States don't apply here including the access issues, ROW trapping, snares, crowding and less theft problems. I cannot think of a eastern State that has the same to offer us but we offer it to others.

It's just a shame that the ones driving the wedge and not seeing what is being offered for now that just drive people to the "other side" but then they have nothing to lose so what are they really doing at the end of the day but making it worse.

I find it strange that people that have never been here or never plan on coming here that know little about how things are have so much to say. I remember my first trip to Arizona I thought trapping the middle of the washes was the place to set I quick learned that you trap the edges. I was told they are traveling when they were in the middle of the draws and hunting when they worked the edge of the draws. Made sense after I learned that but that came with the experience.


We have several weather patterns in our State some areas are very cold for most of the winter some areas stay above freezing during the same time. Just ran into a bit of serious frost last week its been freezing and thawing a lot. Where I live we have had 3 snow storms so far but where I trap cats at 50 miles away they have only had 1 storm and are always warmer then we are.


We have few trees here in SD compared to other places so our coons don't have the den tree options like in a lot of places so they favor hay stacks and old farmsteads along with brush/junk piles and culverts. I talk about access often as that is probably the #1 hurdle to trapping in the East especially in States that lack a lot of public lands. I know in IL it was a struggle to line up just a few places but a local in the farm country had a lot more options to trap on so what chance would a NR have?


People come here and trap and do well but they won't speak up, the reasons should be obvious and I don't blame them the way some behave on here. LOL Most of the negatives in other States don't apply here including the access issues, ROW trapping, snares, crowding and less theft problems. I cannot think of a eastern State that has the same to offer us but we offer it to others.

It's just a shame that the ones driving the wedge and not seeing what is being offered for now that just drive people to the "other side" but then they have nothing to lose so what are they really doing at the end of the day but making it worse.

I find it strange that people that have never been here or never plan on coming here that know little about how things are have so much to say. I remember my first trip to Arizona I thought trapping the middle of the washes was the place to set I quick learned that you trap the edges. I was told they are traveling when they were in the middle of the draws and hunting when they worked the edge of the draws. Made sense after I learned that but that came with the experience.


We have several weather patterns in our State some areas are very cold for most of the winter some areas stay above freezing during the same time. Just ran into a bit of serious frost last week its been freezing and thawing a lot. Where I live we have had 3 snow storms so far but where I trap cats at 50 miles away they have only had 1 storm and are always warmer then we are.


We have few trees here in SD compared to other places so our coons don't have the den tree options like in a lot of places so they favor hay stacks and old farmsteads along with brush/junk piles and culverts. I talk about access often as that is probably the #1 hurdle to trapping in the East especially in States that lack a lot of public lands. I know in IL it was a struggle to line up just a few places but a local in the farm country had a lot more options to trap on so what chance would a NR have?


People come here and trap and do well but they won't speak up, the reasons should be obvious and I don't blame them the way some behave on here. LOL Most of the negatives in other States don't apply here including the access issues, ROW trapping, snares, crowding and less theft problems. I cannot think of a eastern State that has the same to offer us but we offer it to others.

It's just a shame that the ones driving the wedge and not seeing what is being offered for now that just drive people to the "other side" but then they have nothing to lose so what are they really doing at the end of the day but making it worse.

get a kick outta walk in program where farmer puts in a section of bean field... makes for a nice spot on the map book but when ya get there its pretty easy walkin bare field! or pasture

GFP does a good job, weve just been hit with an almost unreal string of bad luck the last 6-10 years.

Totally agree. Makes me wonder if any parcel gets turned down for the state walk-in program if a landowner offers it? At least with corn stubble, a guy might be able to field decoy ducks and geese before it gets disced up. I was hunting in Butte Co one time for antelope and we swept through a Walk-In that was about 2,000 acres. We didn't cover it all but between walking and glassing, we figured that was saw most of it. Kicked up a couple of jacks but that was it, no ante goats, no mulies, no grouse, pretty much nothing on it except short-grass. I estimated that during the course of a hunting season (grouse, antelope, deer, and varmint) perhaps a couple of dozen guys walked on that land. At a buck an acre, the state paid about $80 to the landowner for each hunter to have access to that Walk-In. And maybe that's ok for allow hunters the chance to see some game but I wish there was a little more selection process than paying for anything offered...

If you think about resident bird hunting is a thing of the past. When was the last time you seen a group of residents doing the opening day group hunts and feeds (along with NR) I have not witnessed or heard of a local hunt in the last 15 years since it went to paid hunting. Heck that was like a Superbowl party.