Hunting In South DakotaMichael A. Duch

South Dakota offers a variety of settings for you to hunt in, there are forests, grasslands, mountains, and river bottoms. While South Dakota is known for pheasant hunting there is also a vast amount of other small game, waterfowl, and big game animals to hunt as well.

Upland: Pheasant.Pheasants tend to be on the ground under heavy coverings #

. Typically a shotgun is used with a smaller gauge, 16 /20 / 28

Waterfowl: Duck and Goose. Ensure you have a discreet enough blind, and decoy strategy in place#

. 12 and 10 gauge shotguns are recommended

Wild Turkey. Scouting your turkeys is probably the most important element, try to get within 100-200 yds of them#

. Single-shot, a variety of gauges would work 12/16/20

Whitetail and Mule Deer . Magpies can be helpful when scanning for mule deer, use a flawn beat as a trick#

..270 Winchester and .280 Remington