# SD Duck Hunting?????



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Another Dakota delight 
Doug Smith, Star Tribune 
October 31, 2004 DOUG1031

WEBSTER, S.D. -- The three gadwalls cupped their wings and glided towards our dozen decoys.

The early dawn sky was steel gray; a stiff breeze nuzzled our backs and rippled the long narrow slough ringed by cattails and surrounded by farm fields and more sloughs.

Three of us hunkered in the cattails, watching the birds extend their webbed feet.

When our shotguns fell silent, there was a duck for each of our three dogs to retrieve.

"They came right in," said Ryan Sauter, 24, a former Minnesotan and avid hunter and angler who now calls South Dakota home. And for good reason: the state's fabulous hunting and fishing.

South Dakota is renowned for its pheasants. Some 20,000 Minnesota hunters journey there each fall. But South Dakota is more than pheasant heaven; it's also a waterfowl haven. The state's prairie potholes produce untold ducks in the spring and harbor huge numbers during the fall migration.

"That lake there is black with ducks when the migration is on," Sauter said later, pointing to a small, shallow basin just off a gravel road. He and his hunting partners don't hunt it; instead they leave it as a mini-refuge, keeping the ducks around so they can be hunted on other nearby waters.

If Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, eastern South Dakota is the land of a zillion potholes -- ranging from small, water-filled depressions to sprawling lakes. Most are shallow. Some are surrounded by cattails. Others are sparse basins.

Waterfowl -- and waterfowlers -- covet them. And last week, most that we drove past held ducks. Sometimes lots of ducks.

Go west, young man

Which brings us back to Sauter, who, on a day off work, showed me and a friend around one of his hunting spots.

He grew up in Arlington, Minn., but moved west seven years ago to attend South Dakota University at Brookings, S.D. He lives in Lake Preston in east-central South Dakota now. A diehard hunter since he was a kid, he found South Dakota a hunting and fishing paradise. He is a hunting addict: Ducks, geese, pheasants and deer all are a passion.

He'll likely spend 25 days this fall hunting waterfowl, from an early goose season in September (which was excellent) until ice ends the season, likely sometime next month. Then he'll hunt snow geese in the spring.

How does waterfowling in South Dakota compare to waterfowling in Minnesota?

"I think it's a lot better, but I haven't hunted back there since I moved out here seven years ago," he said.

There's no reason to.

"This is the flyway," he said, nodding to a landscape literally brimming with water. Just then, a large flock of mallards winged low over the water where we had just removed our decoys. "Look at that," Sauter said with a smile.

But, just as in Minnesota, weather plays a key role in waterfowl hunter success. We chose the last week in October to hunt waterfowl there -- normally prime time. Northern birds should have been descending into the state, jamming those potholes and the airspace overhead like O'Hare International.

But not this year.

An unseasonably mild fall has hampered migration, affecting waterfowl hunting in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Last week, we encountered temperatures in the 50s and 60s with south winds -- less than ideal waterfowl weather. But we found enough ducks to satisfy us and our retrievers: mallards, gadwalls, ringnecks and green-winged teal. We bagged seven ducks with Sauter, eight the next day without him. And, of course, we missed a few.

*For waterfowl hunting, timing -- and luck -- is everything.*
Last year, many ponds and lakes were frozen by the first week in November, Sauter said.

*South Dakota issues only about 4,000 10-day nonresident waterfowl licenses. The 10 days run consecutively. The nonresident license limit has been, and remains, controversial.*
"That has a fairly long history of being contentious," said George Vandel of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. "But it's more liberal now than any time since the 1940s."

*In 1947, nonresident waterfowl hunters were banned from the state. Officials wanted to ensure resident hunting opportunities weren't diminished by nonresidents willing to lease or buy prime duck-hunting sloughs, or compete for space on those sloughs.*
That changed in the 1970s, when a small number of nonresident waterfowl licenses were issued. The number gradually increased to 4,000. Proposals to increase the number are made regularly at the South Dakota Legislature.

"It's almost become an annual event," Vandel said. "But it usually fails. Four thousand seems to be the right number. I don't think the Legislature is going to change it."

Vandel said some nonresident hunters support that restriction. "They know if they come here *they'll have good quality hunting*," he said.

And he disagrees with those who say waterfowling is under-utilized in the state.

"You have to have the right set of conditions to have a good waterfowl hunt; a slough that you have access to, one that's not crowded and that holds lots of ducks. Those situations are not as common [here] as people think they are."

We found a couple such places last week.

The next day, I stood in knee-deep water among cattails, my Lab about 10 yards behind me in on mucky terra not-so-firma. My partner hunted an adjoining wetland.

Hunting alone in two different spots, we figured to double our odds that one of us might score some ducks. Both of us found action.

No, it wasn't fast and furious. But there were enough ducks flying, and decoying, to make for a memorable morning.

There was the lone drake mallard that banked into the wind at midmorning, then cupped its wings before falling to my 12 gauge -- and the long retrieve by the old hunting dog.

There were three ringnecks that rocketed over the decoys, two of them escaping unscathed. And there was the mallard that turned me into a pretzel as I tried -- unsuccessfully -- to make a twisting, overhead shot.

"The key is being in the right spot," Sauter had said earlier.

We had found one.

Doug Smith is at [email protected].


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

God do those arguments sound familiar!!!!!!


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

That sounds like good ol SD.


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## recker (Oct 12, 2003)

Despite the fact the licenses are limited it is becoming very crowded in the last few years. All of the hunters have now found out about a two or three county area that are the best. After twenty years this year we did not hunt a big water lake at all given the pressure of people. Twelve rigs one day launching from a spot that was a secret up until last year. We had great success hunting small potholes away from the crowds. For us this will be the future of our hunting in south dakota each year on our trip.It is scary to think how crowded it could be if they did not limit the licenses given what i have seen in the last few years. This was one of the last great undiscovered areas but no more. People are showing up like crazy and doing everything they can to burn the ducks out quick.


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

> People are showing up like crazy and doing everything they can to burn the ducks out quick.


Been there seen that and man does it suck!!


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

There is plenty of ducks around where I hunt, I think the place that has been getting hit hard over the past couple years is the Waubay area. :eyeroll: Otherwise it stays pretty good around here.


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## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

Quote from trib article:
We bagged seven ducks with Sauter, eight the next day without him. And, of course, we missed a few. 

Duck hunting nirvana? Yes I suppose so 0 right behind ND! 8)

I am not one to worry about limits - but with a little scouting - ND is just as good any day of the week and week of the month.

Spent 10 days in ND (hunted waterfowl for about 7). Hunting pressure nearly absent - no one in our way or our spot once (this included so called MEA weekend). Success was very good. Only thing that slowed our success on waterfowl was the fantasitc pheasant hunting :beer:


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