I have seen them strut here in January on sunny days especially when in large groups. In my opinion the hens come into breeding season around relatively the same time. I know its exciting now but 4 days of 40s and rain in april an will all remember what its like to hear no gobbling and birds on the low down. That being said I have multiple tags again this year and am pumped for april 2nd. – QB
Nice Work, great weather and great fishing, – QB
Talking to buddies today I would use a wheeler or sled, truck might be dicey – QB
Depending on when you want to go Sodak is a few year draw for mule deer for nonresidents currently. 2-4 preference points depending on where you want to go. – QB
No ice on the big lakes as of yet. 50 and 20 mph winds today.
Steep breaks on pickeral in relation to the midlake points especially now end of september have always been good fish seem to be related to bottom in 12-14 of water and suspended the deeper you go but slow rolling small cranks of drifting with bobbers and you should run into some nice size crappies out there. – QB
I know over in Sodak our COs would be out for blood and i doubt 3 years would have covered it. The funny thing is I am pretty sure you would get 1 year for 1 deer so three years for 13 seem absurd. In South Dakota if you are caught knowlingly tresspassing even for small game or fishing without a license automatic 1 year revocation of priveliges. This guy kills 13 deer illegally and is singing and dancing as far as punishment goes. – QB
Orca is American made and basically the same as a YETI, I got a few Yettis on discount and I like them, but the Orca from what I heard is easier to get parts for and cheaper in price. – QB
I think alot of it depends on environment as well. Western whitetails on average more white racked timber deer more dark. A prairie buck spends all day in the sun. – QB
Second James on the Shimano’s I have had great luck with the 500 series sienna model. And usually for the great price of less than 35 dollars you cannot beat it, -QB
I love the forgiveness of mono with rigging usually 8lb test for casting ripping raps and jigging I prefer 832. For jigs and smaller swimbaits I like 6lb test and for larger cranks I move towards 10lb test. I do not personally own a lot of rods so I tend to make 6lb and 10lb work for most applications. – QB
Joel Nelson would be a good person to PM about this or maybe he will chime in on here.
Yep pretty much spot on easterns shorter tail feathers have the brown on them where Merriams are white. In my part of the state we actually have a mix of all three species as the SWO tribe introduced rio grand turkeys awhile back in with native eastern and merriams. In talking to our biologist at times you would need a DNA test to actually prove what you shot. I harvested a bird that hard very carAmel coerced fan this year along with caramel colored short tail feathers and looked identical to the Rio I shot in kansas so in the end it is hard to tell. By far tho the merriams are a very beautiful bird with there white tipped fans. QB
Heat sure fired em up out west, good luck in NY.
My drive to work is when I get my most practice in, but they sure are nice when running and gunning in the field. – QB
Looks like everyone has a full boat this spring. If a guy didnt have basically two months to cram it all in I would definetly do more. I know that I Iowa, Wisconsin, nebraska as well possibly wyoming and idaho will happen in the next 5 years.
I did see the new merriams they look very nice, in south dakota i think they would be an advantage but the merriams I have killed have not seemed to mind the regular patterned DSD. I like the avians as well just started with DSD. SOdak as well as Nebraska seems to have so much hybridization that I think we are losing more merriams to cross breeding, I am not a bioligist just a obervation I have seen over the years. – QB
Actually on the right day you can kill juvies with non target decoys and a caller as long as you are in the right location or on the X.I highly discourage jump shooting, heard way to many stories about cacklers , ducks, and big honkers being killed with this method. – QB
If you keep em in the box you can still return them and get some Dave Smiths. – QB
I have been watching a few groups of deer out here in Dakota, and still have a few bucks carrying. I figure give it a few days yet, but impatience might get the best of me. – QB
Friends of mine fish out of one, they are fast on the ice and pull nice with even a 500cc wheeler. I fished out of it a couple times and was impressed at how fast we could move spots. QB
It surely is an amazing place!
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If you would have ran across the ice faster you would still have your rod. Never seen a man move so slow towards a doubled over rod bouncing on top of a 5 gallon pail.
When searching out perch mid day look for small changes in basin countour. A small point or turn in a basin countour can make a big difference in a reletively featureless basin. I also like to look and fish on small outcroppings of the basin that might be a foot or two shallower than all the surrounding water. I have at times found active mid day schools on structure like this gorging on a bug hatch. The shallower water in a sea of deep like this is sometimes a slight change in bottom composition that fish love. In the end move move move to find active perch. VMC tingle in perch pattern with silver back is my go to for deep basin bites on bitter and waubay. Aggressively jigging this lure seems to get fish coming your way and can even call them back after a school has left. -QB
West End
Nice work, I know that most bluegills will stay near weeds all year long as long as they stay somewhat green and they will almost burrow into them from watching underwater footage to avoid predators. In South Dakota we find some of our sunfish in 5-7 fow all winter long. – QB
Looks like you got a big fish pattern going, – Qb
anywhere from 2-7 inches, weather doesn’t look good and with open water and wind I worry it might end soon. We had local contacts which helped. – QB
Good topic to start the new year, I know that this last year I put a considerable more amount of time into my offseason preparation. I am fortunate enough to have some good friends that I trade information and hunts with that they are doing the work in there backyard, while I am doing the work in mine. I think that I plan to spend a considerable more amount of time in the field with offseason scouting. We pick up antlers here around March and really hit our cameras hard around the end of July establishing what is available for deer. I plan to spend more time in a few actually small tracts of land around late august hoping to pattern a few deer that I believe are gonna still be in these areas. My goal is hopefully to get a good buck on the ground in the first few weeks of the season. I have harvested all my deer in November and December and next year would like to get one down in September or October. I was just out this past week hunting pheasants and saw a couple muleys that I am hoping add a few inches come next fall. Appreciate the process Gentlemen – QB
I know a few states have hunts that you can apply for I would also look to some of the indian reservations as they have smaller herds you can check into. Free Range is a loose term as you stated, I know The buffalo in South Dakota’s Custer state park are technically free range, but in the end they get herded up every year for testing. – QB
