South Dakota West River 27L

[tzone]

Have any of you hunted this unit for WT's? It's pretty limited entry for non-residents. 1 NR tag for mulies and 1 for WT's.

I've been to the area last year to scout a bit and my son took a doe there on a youth tag while we were scouting. There is no shortage of deer but Im not sure I saw what's representative of the bucks. I saw one "big" one on the first morning. Didn't get a good look at it because we spooked it in low light, and it ran away, up a hill. We could see it was wide and was at least a 4x4. But that's all we could identify. We saw a ton of bucks that were basket racks. I mean a TON. My son didn't want to shoot a deer the first day so we had some time to look around. The first doe we saw gave the best chance but he passed it. It was a parade of bucks and out of range does for the next few days. lol

Most of the bucks were anything from spikes to basket 100" racks, with the exception being the first buck we saw on day 1. For those of you that have hunted there...what can expect for a nice representative buck for the unit. The hunt will be smack in the rut and I have 7 or 8 days if I need it.

Thank you

 

[mevertsen]

27L is the West of the reservoir?

My daughter killed a doe on the east side of the reservoir in 27b I think in 2017 on private property near Oral.

We went into the camp area on the west side and fished some and drove all around that country around Hot Springs for a few days. We saw a ton of deer. Never any WT bucks i would say we're over 120 or so. MD we saw there were a couple in the 160 range.

 

[tzone]

Yep on the west side. We saw plenty of mulies as well. My tag is WT only.

 

[Keeptrying]

27L is some rough country. Look for public near ag fields. That's where we tend to see WT in that country.

 

[tzone]

27L is some rough country. Look for public near ag fields. That's where we tend to see WT in that country.

Thanks. It’s almost all public. There are a few exceptions.

We found some nice rubs in the shelter belts by the ag fields the DNR made. Are there others?

 

[Keeptrying]

Along the river.

 

[tzone]

Along the river.

Thank you.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Going to be tough finding a WT I would imagine. Trees if you can find them are a good place to start. River bottoms are another good tip.

I go Antelope hunting in that neck of the woods and haven't seen a WT, but I'm sure they exist, just about finding the right habitat.

 

[tzone]

Going to be tough finding a WT I would imagine. Trees if you can find them are a good place to start. River bottoms are another good tip.

I go Antelope hunting in that neck of the woods and haven't seen a WT, but I'm sure they exist, just about finding the right habitat.

That's interesting. We were seeing plenty of them...but you're correct. It was lower by the river and agg fields. I'd love to see some antelope when we're there.

 

[Keeptrying]

That's interesting. We were seeing plenty of them...but you're correct. It was lower by the river and agg fields. I'd love to see some antelope when we're there.

Drive south. Thick as fleas once you find them.

 

[tzone]

Drive south. Thick as fleas once you find them.

South of what?

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

South of what?

He's saying closer to the NE border you get into the high antelope numbers around there

 

[tzone]

Ahhhh. Gotchya.