Bounty in South Dakota?

The new governor wants to put a 10 dollar bounty on skunks, coons,possum,fox and Badgers. They have not given a lot of info on it, kinda looks like it may only run April through July...Coyotes will be addressed in a different manner... Not real sure how I feel about this.

first ive heard of it ... she must be a bird hunter..

There was an article on it in todays Mitchell daily republic. Yes, it is a plan to save nesting birds.

Maybe she will kick that anti game commissioner to the curb soon too. Heck the way its going badgers are about the only thing we have anymore around here starting to look like Illinois all over again!

They cut back on the CRP and I see the wheat is planted fence row to fence row in a lot of places now and I am starting to see more slash and burning now they are just making the predators the bad guys. The GFP will just raise their fees AGAIN to pay the bounty back to us, no thanks.

Where are they going to get the money to pay a bounty...? The state never really has much extra money unless the GFP is going to pay for it by hiking license fees again.

Well they never get tired of that your new license for 2019 will cost you more even though you do the work filling it out! LOL Never ending it seems can't think of a fee or tax out great Governor has not increased.

There's your answer! There is always a pool to draw from,..ever be it so subtle ,...no one wants to question an established entity,..it is all available!

I know large numbers of people from Ohio go pheasant hunting in South Dakota. Most spend many hundreds to thousands of dollars. Increasing pheasant numbers to get more hunter/tourist dollars seems like it would make good sense.

Keith

Well the anti's will have a hay day over this...especially when badger are being on the species at risk catagory

If the state says so,..have at it!

I don't believe they have put much thought into this. First of all - there will be a wave of coon from neighboring states, plus a mad dash for roadkills. How can they limit it to certain months- we all have freezers. The answer to our dwindling pheasant numbers has always been obvious - HABITAT Why not tell every farmer who farms the right of ways they have to pay rent on those acres. OR if you want to be federally insured you have to put 10 percent of your acres in conservation. When CRP was in full swing we had countless birds - the federal govt can fix this with a stroke of a pen

I see the same thing in my area. Guys complaining about lack of game and blame it on predators. Yet this time of year you can walk for miles without hitting any grass or brush over your tennis shoes. Most every ditch around here is buzzed down a couple times a year to golf course length grass. With good habitat predator numbers don't matter.

This some it up .Seen the same in this state for how the birds was and are now. they are just make a come back around my area. Some ground is going back into CRP since grain is down. That helps some .Years ago when grain was not like it was there was alot of CRP and also birds and other wildlife ,But when grain came up so did the CRP ws taken out of the program and now grain is down so CRP is show up now more.

Thats a little overboard... maybe a relaxed season but a bounty???

Fence rows are an endangered species here. They used to connect cover to cover, state to state. Most are gone along with wildlife. CRP and KREP programs really helped...then corn went to $8 and beans over $15. Bye bye cover. Well we see where we’re at now. Not even close

Below is a link to the article in the Mitchell Daily Republic, the governor’s proposal is discussed toward the end of the article.

A love for the fur market- https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/sp...ridgewaters-potter-fur-company-sd-rarity

10 free live traps per land owner, that could be a lot of traps.

Supposedly the SD "shoulder season", mostly based on pheasants, is a 200 million $ industry with all the trickle-down and recycling of money. I may po some of my fellow state tman guys but this industry is fairly selective in who actually is getting and cycling that money. I suppose I benefit from it because the state hasn;t cranked up the sales tax burden on the citizens (I currently pay 7.5% sales tax on most of my in-state purchases, including food (state- 4.5%, my local munis 3%) and some of that 200 million may go into funding state Walk-In Areas ($1-2 an acre to the landowner) for public access, but other than that its pretty much invisible to me, especally after I moved from Sioux Falls where the pheasant-money people may do weekend spree shopping. I certainly don't have a pile of Uncle Bens to drop into the hand of good pheassy habitat landowner so I, and a lot of the resident hunters, pick off the bird crumbs on the periphery.

The federal gov isn't overly interested in a non-native species unless there are other ecosystem services, such as improved water quality with more habitat (probably) and if they could reduce their other USDA paymnets to rural South Dakotans. But the latter isn't going to happen even with much improved pheasant habitat so the selling point for pumping CRP back up to pre-2007 numbers would have to be more desired environmental consequences of increased federal land idling. I would lijke to see more CREP CRP because there must be a clause in that provision that allows public access to that land because CREP parcels are shown on the state hunting atalses published e ach year.

There is no current season on any of those species except if you are trapping within 30 feet of water, then the muskrat/mink/beaver start date is in effect.

The state pen "industry" makes very nice, large live traps. 10 per landowner would be at least a $500 gift to landowners. Sounds like a good gig. Don't know if the inmates could supply enough though...

I wonder what the criteria will be. for the live traps as it says "up to 10 traps per land owner" .I agree with this not being thought through. I think it will be a disaster.

Do you remember Janklow's ear-tag coyote bounty...?

I had a friend at the time with the GFP and they didn't even know about it until old Wild Bill announced it publicly. The agency had to scramble like crazy to get the coyotes caught, tagged, and then released again. I never heard if anyone scored a double ear tagged one (worth $1,000) or when the last tagged yote was caught. i think the effort was quietly deep sixed after the first year but maybe my memory fails me...

Maybe they will sell unicorn tags they don't need habitat just glitter to reproduce!

Agree habitat is the answer. Where i grew up in nw iowa. Theyve put a TON of crp in the past couple years and pheasant numbers have exploded. I was told the state was paying around $340/acre. Im probably one of the only SD residents that pays 130 bucks for an out of state IA license, but it’s where i have to go to shoot birds and i can get on a lot of private ground. The public land get pounded hard around here and getting on SD private land isnt an easy task.
I wonder, if this bounty thing happen, how will we prove we killed the animals? Tote around bloated carcasses?

Just read the article.... tails will be turned in with no limit. I dont like where this is heading.

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Habitat being the problem not predators.

I haven't seen even one response that wants to have a season hawks or owls.
The "kill every predator" guys must be sleeping.

You South Dakota Ladies ought to let back in all the non-resident trappers you kicked out of the state a few years back.

Let us trap all predator species and muskrats with the same opening dates as residents currently have.

Maybe that would put a dent in predators and you would not need a ineffective bounty system.

Karma continues to bite you girls in the arse !!

w

Everything getting tore out or tiled isnt an issue for bird numbers?

walleyed- I have to hand it to you, nothing but consistent in your whining about our trapping regs. I don't know why you would give up catching higher value EASTERN rats for our first weekend of Nov CENTRAL rats with the cost of a nr license!!! Now, if you want to go hut busting with me in January, bring a chain saw and we'll go at it, although it might not be a good idea this January because our ice isn't that stiff. I found a pix of you on the internet. You do take good photos!!

I find it funny how south dakota gets picked on from the NR trapping brigade which we allow by the way walleyed ... you know why we have good outdoor opportunities in sd, its because south dakota is full of south dakotans. How many ppl do you know that want to go to new york from south dakota to do anything.. Make your own bed and lay in it. we are pretty generous enough with hunting and fishing, and do allow NR trapping. sorry its not exactly how you like it, but i dont live in south dakota so i can trip over some city slicker/weekend warrior every day. by the way your more than welcome to move here.

Bla bla bal!

He ain't coming here he would have nothing to complain about oh wait he would find something, other states have restrictive rules for NR but always the cheap shot just to be "that guy!"

on top of that we dont have the rats that was a once or twice in a lifetime boom therenwont be any 1000 rat guys this year maybe 500 if someone wants too put on some miles and lots of hard work finding them.

Typical whiner! Don’t worry about our backyard. Clean up your own. Keep out!

We are about to have no coon as well....

Sure seems to me that lack of water has been a big problem over the last 5-6 years in the area I hunt. Crp is down too but I think water has a bigger impact

I'm not going to get involved in a nonresident peeing contest just wanted to comment that when the ice is poor the trapping is good.

Funny a NY troll lacking social skills is unhappy, talk about karma! LOL Come out to SD and see what freedom really is about!

Have not seen a rat in many years here no extra water no rats! The East end of the State seems to be getting the moisture but still not many houses along the interstate even when heading East.

OK not a fan of whining. This statement seems to point out no real concern over fair reciprocal trapping. Greed got SD in this spot. Let 13 guys get the spring season closed with no biological reason. Sixty Nine total NR licenses sold that last year they had spring season. Thousands of rats died that year from dry conditions. Not whining just facts. LLL

No whining here.

Just pointing out the fact that you are going to get a Non-effective bounty program rammed up your butts when it could have been addressed, in part, by allowing whatever non-resident who want to come to trap on equal footing with residents.

Like Coon Combine said, regulations effectively excluding non-residents for no sound biological reasoning except greed by some S.D. residents.

My comments aren't directed at anyone in particular on this thread but rather to SDGFP and the S.D. trapping community as a whole.

If you don't like my comments, change your draconian & discriminatory regulations on non-residents.

Every trapper in the country knows the real reason S.D. has, for all practical purposes, excluded non- residents.

Stop the greed and let non-residents back in and maybe your pheasants will come back, and KARMA will stop biting you in the arse.

w

Someday you boys will grow up and realize throwing shade on the guys that don't like the delay anymore then you trolls do accomplishes nothing we have the same power you do to change stupid laws in your States that would be none! Like I said many States have more restrictive rules for NR including delays and no season on several species been that way for years. All you do by talking smack is turn off the people that agree with you so keep up the good work!


Like it or not we have a 90+ day season with a lot more options then the folks complain about how it is until it changes. Most places will sell you a license and access is about impossible to run a decent line so the license equals about nothing.

Mrats don't take out pheasant nests so how would starting the NR season the same time as the resident season have anything to do with this bounty,,,? Non-residents are going to come here the first weekend of Nov and target skunks and possums as well as catch some rats? I doubt it. Why would anyone who likes to do coon want to leave their region in these volatile price times and come here EARLY to possibly catch some Western Northens that might not be found in their state? As for letting rats go to waste in the spring by keeping out NRs, a rat die-off may have happened in the spring of 2012 because of the drought but the sloughs were aalready going dry by the fall of 2011. We all live under some non-biological reasons when it comes to game management in this state, such as starting to hunt pheasants at noon and 10 clock instead of starting at sunrise as some states do or not keeping the season going through all of Jan such as some state do. Wildlife management is also a political thing, always has been.

My State does not offer NRs any opportunity to trap unless you own land and then only on the land you own. While I find that unacceptable along with many other trappers it's an up hill battle. I got to trap rats in the spring in SD the last year and had a blast, and am thankful I was lucky enough to do so, Once in a lifetime deal. I almost moved to SD that next year, had a house picked out and everything but the water evaporated and so did the rats. I could live in SD, great state and much better than my home state. That being said every state better mind their own, we and many others are going to be under fire just to keep what we have.

Predators do make a difference with their numbers down for what ever reason in our area the birds did better this year along with a wet spring and green grass all summer long. The hawks come and go (but they are going someplace) overpopulation and the loss of habitat are the biggest problems in the up and down cycle of wildlife.


If laws were so easy to change for the better you would think NY would not have all of them stupid restrictive gun laws in place so talk is cheap!

South Dakota doesn't have 9 million New York City Residents who are Progressive Liberal Democrats who voted for Cuomo who passed all those gun laws.

You Girls couldn't overcome 13 greedy anti-trapper trappers who lobbied to exclude their fellow non-resident trappers.

Not a realistic comparison.

You girls need to do the right thing and let non-residents back in.

w

Nothing but a internet troll with excuses you can't do it but we should be able to no problem what a joke! LOL Bla bla bla I will type this slow so you can keep up a little story to put things in perspective for the people that might be able to grasp the reality of the situation so good luck.


A few elections back the people of SD voted to limit/end certain perks that were out of control with the Representatives in Pierre, the vote passed but the first chance when they got back in session was to change things back to the way it was before the people voted like it never happened. That is how much say we have in what goes on here in SD and we are no better off then you are in NY in fact you have way less "freedoms) then we do here in SD so maybe work on that.


So 13 people or what's left of them got someone's ear and got this passed the GFP and the majority of people in SD had nothing to do with it stop acting like a child!

Well that went downhill fast.



We are experiencing the same phenomena, that said there are always some places with rats, a man just has to seek them out if he's motivated. Hard to get too motivated in this market lol.

ND no NR taking of furbearers, MT is similar if not the same, NV no NR can take cats and grey fox, WI 2 week delay on coons, MI I believe closed otter, fisher, marten to NR maybe more I think bobcat? A lot of places are going to draw tags so you can buy a license and not draw a tag. Lot of limiting rules out there some way more restrictive then SD present regulations but the trolls never say anything about that.


I don't trash MN for not having a season like the trolls do with SD, but I will remind them folks that like to kick dirt and forget where they live.

Not in the central parts of the State I have a spring fed pond thick with cattails that holds seed and not much of that the golden triangle probably holds up better to changes but the other parts of the State have extreme swings. A low spot will be a pond for a few years then planted for several years after that bone dry.

If you spent as much time and effort trying to get rid of your anti-trapping non-resident trapping laws as you do trying to silence my opinion, you'd be halfway down the road to getting them repealed.

Talk sure is cheap. Why not expend some of your hot air lobbying your elected representatives to repeal the non-resident anti-trapping regulations in your own state instead of attacking someone's difference of opinion.

Must be you really don't like out of state competition and are happy with anti-trapping trapping regs.

w
,

I know how it works Jerry. There isn't many rats up here either but I could find some somewhere in this state if I was motivated

You don't have to trash MN, I'll do it for you lol.

No desire to bash anybody people seldom see the big picture and some just love running others into the ground, sad this thread went the way it did but the trolls are as relentless as they are clueless!

Obviously your reading comprehension sucks maybe have some one read this to you slowly. Focus on what you don't know and ignore what could be learned, a troll is just a bully that never grew up! This thread had nothing to do with NR trapping it was just another opportunity for you to be a troll again.

So who where the 13 people?

I agree that it was a greedy few that got the law you have now. I don't think I would give the state of South Dakota the time of day, But I will give them my possum tails. I wonder what 500 coon with no tails would bring at NAFA.

The majority of my 250 coons have at least a partially docked tail and I run slightly above the NAFA averages for Western Northern and Western North Central. I can't seem to get that cut down unless I'm having a really good day in the shed but it doesn't seem to matter price wise and a fair number of our larger ones have naturally lost part or all of their tail anyways. I'm more worried about the skunks...it pretty much destroys their fur value.

I think we will be OK! LOL

Come to a post to:
Start trouble by calling names, wish people the worse, have unreal expectations they can not achieve themselves in their own State (excuses), be misleading by making it sound like we don't have a 90+ day season, make assumptions who is against NR trappers and you have trolls plain and simple.

I cannot think of another reason to do such a thing it does not promote anything but bad feelings, it helps nobody but it makes the troll feel better about themselves maybe to spread the misery around?

walleyed- You still haven't answered my question why you (or anyone else with EASTERN muskrats) would want to trap CENTRAL muskrats during the month of November? Don't EASTERN muskrats generally have better price at auction than CENTRAL rats...???

My rats here look like they are on fire when you pull them out from under the ice they are so red, as red as a red rim beaver. LOL We don't get to trap rats here but about every 10 years when we have a very wet spring then it last a few years and they are gone. I live on a 7 square mile lake and never see any rats on it anymore.

In my township, they put a bounty on pocket gophers of $3. That's about all most guys are averaging on rats after they skin and flesh them. All I have to do is snip the feet off.

Warmer than trapping mrats as well!

Aren't you conveniently forgetting the cessation of the spring non-resident season for rats BEFORE Ice out effectively and purposely shutting non-residents out of the SPRING rat season ?

December 1st to Marsh 15th forces non-residents to start after everyone else, and then quit in the spring on March 15th before Ice Out which everybody knows is the best and most productive part of the Spring season.

Don't play dumb, You know dang well what the real issue is.

w

You should be ashamed to be part of state where you defend the disenfranchisement of your fellow non-resident trappers from out of state and do nothing about it.

Then get butt hurt when you are occasionally reminded about it.

If you haven't done anything about the wrongs of those 13 anti-trappers, and then attack your fellow trappers for bringing up anti-trapping, anti-nonresident rules then you are just as responsible as those 13 anti-trappers.

You can call me a troll, handcuff boy, but you are an anti-trapping troll as well.

All in my opinion.

w

I have no skin in this but WTG walleyed, great post!

And you (or most non-resident rat trappers) would be willing to come here and trap 10 days or so of open water in the spring before the rats tear each other up? Seems like sort of $250 license gamble. As others have already stated, the days of seeing hundreds of rat huts in half a dozen decent sized sloughs is pretty much over. Huts just started showing up in the western half of my county (where most of the close by wetlands to me are located) this year after being gone 6 years. Maybe Law Dog and I can get a bill passed in our legislature (they are meeting now) to get you exempt of the NR closure after Mar 15 for next year so we can watch the famed New York technique of spring rat trapping. Would you come and trap our rats then...?

Who attacked who? LOL A Bully can always justify the BS they pull never seen you as a big helper kind of guy just guy that spreads nothing but manure! Might want to ask the NR folks that stop by how poorly and unhelpful I can be.

One things for sure.

Out of State, non-resident trappers who formerly trapped the spring rat season during the S.D. rat population boom won't be back to trap spring rats until those discriminating laws are repealed, and they are on an even playing field with residents.

New York State has wide open non-resident trapping regulations just the same as those for Resident trappers.

Excluding fellow trappers is a foreign concept to me, and If I don't speak out, nothing is going to change.

How many years have those anti-trapping regs for non-resident trappers been in place ?

What has been done to work towards repealing them by any South Dakota trappers association ?

If No effort has been expended by S.D. trappers to right these anti-trapping wrongs, I'll Keep Whining about it.

w

This is a crazy thread and did it ever go off track.
To those that are mad about the NR trapping, write letters to the South Dakota legislature. Join the SD Trappers Association and be a voice, and if the rat trapping is that outstanding move there - then there would be no issue.
Last time I drove through SoDak there wasn't much water.

we've done our jobs at home for them.

walleyed- did you or anyone you actually know in NY really trap spring rats in SD when supposedly the nr and resident seasons were the same? Where does the legend of fabulous SD spring rat trapping come from?? I just looked up the NY muskrat trapping seasons and it appears that 2 zones close in Feb and 2 others go into April, including yours. If your zone is open to April 15 and the Hudson Valley through April 7, why wouldn't NY trappers who wanted to trap into April head to those zones that were open? Why show up in SD on April 16 to trap 2 weeks of increasing higher percentage of damaged rats? I just don't get it...

So law dog you are willing to let 10's of thousands of rats shrivel up and die because 13 greedy people wanted them all for their self. The residents of your "great state" in no way could of trapped the excess of rats during the SD rat boom. Now you don't have rats in even the good habitat. There is probably a reason why, it sure as heck isn't that non residents caught them all.

For what its worth I stated at the spring meet at the lake south of britton This is the united states of america. trapped along side many out of state guys including phil brown with no problem... my traps were full and hands tired...the total amount of rats caught wasn a poot in a hurricane compared to the ones left to die by nature. was some time later that the season dates got changed for out of state guys was out of my hands, as with any crowd there were some slobs that thought they were owed a catch and get out of there way!
hope i live to see rats like that again so we can fight over it!! but this thread is about bounty maybe they will add muskrats id clip the tail for a nickel.

10 s of thousands would have died if we would have had every trapper in us here. if they would have went into the pasture and got off the right of way numbers in the millions just took more work and couldnt run as fast as just down the road to the next ditch .
i had a honey hole caught my 1000 in half mile stretch of jim river... they just kept comeing.. outta state guys ran outta traps before they got this far west..... my observation of some of the slobs were so worried grass was greener over the fence tore all over the country few traps here few there if they woulda stayed put in a area and worked the ground ,they would have made less of a imprint and caught more.

Super Troll will save the day~ No good will come of it but he won't give up driving a bigger wedge between trappers and not even understand what he could have, I trap the majority of my rats through the ice so the idea others can't do the same boggles the mind. I am too busy trapping predators to worry about rats in the fall maybe expand your horizons a bit.


90+ season right now the only thing holding you back is a ice auger and a little work until it changes if you think you made any advances with your trolling I would bet you pushed some off of the fence the other way. LOL Our biggest fear is ending up where you guys are in NY and the endless restrictions and idiots running the State. I have no hard feeling for the people of NY really it's just a fact been there done that in IL don't want to do it again.


The fact that you worry about us in SD so much and ignore the other States that have restrictive NR rules like it never happens seems odd for a social justice worrier but then it's all about the rats but of course but we are the greedy ones. LOL

The same thing happened here just on a smaller scale they were walking on the roads when they started to freeze out and over populated as the habitat dried up, I would get 3-4 a week in town or walking on the roads. Like I said I never agreed with the 13 I was shocked who it was made up of some guys I would never think would do that.


Just wondered why the NRs would be willing to only save us on the easy rats and not trap through the ice like I did? SD always had a lot more then just rats but we only hear about the rats for some reason. I don't hold a grudge but trash talking gains nothing but expands the gap. Keep in mind you have nothing to offer SD so coming here with our liberal season, no limits, good weather and relaxed trapping restriction is your gain. Come if you want or not until the current rules change that's your 2 options. I don't like but that's the facts.


If you change the rules in your State that you don't agree with easily then let me know how you did it.

Law Dog. I have followed you for a few years but have to take ya to task on the comment. “where you guys are in NY.
I can trap mink and muskrat 10/25-4/15
Beaver and otter 11/1-4/7
Coon,Fox,Coyote. 10/25-2/15
Bobcat. 10/25-2/15
Fisher 10/25(too early)-12/10
And here it is! NO BAG limits on the above
Like all states we have regs but IMO they prolong our right to trap.
Whatever happened to the discussion involving bounty’s in ND?

I would. Get it done.LLL

You will not find a nicer guy Walleyed. Jerry my posts are never an attack on trappers unless they have dirt on their hands which I know you do not. It really surprised me when they passed that regulation. I love your state and the great hunting, trapping and fishing you all have. They usually side with the outdoorsman as well and for biological reasoning and $$$. LLL

playing devils advocate> Seems like non residents only want to come here for muskrats and when it is easiest for them to trap as many as they can out of the road ditches by the thousands. This seems to me to be NON RESIDENT GREED!!!!!!!! Seems the goal is to come in and take as many muskrats as they can in little time when it is easiest too do so... If it was about just trapping for sport you think our current season would be suffice. Just saying not taking a position but i keep hearing about these 13 greedy south dakotans, when the only reason ppl are upset is because in extreme wet years we had a rat infestation and they loved the money they made in south dakota. Don't hear anyone complain about not being able to nail those coyotes from montana. Seems to me that might actually take some work.

No ,the reason people got upset was there was NO biological reason to shut it down. Every land owner and road person was thankful for the trappers helping to thin the rats. There was plenty of room for all and places that never saw a trap in the spring not to mention ponds that a road didn't intersect. I f I was a resident I would have had more ponds to trap by getting permission on the 100s of ponds off the road that never got trapped, and yes I was there.

I agree that it was a greedy few that got the law you have now.


My question is who is the greediest--The anti NR trapper or the ones who want to come and take fur from that state??

Million dollar question.

Being there were more rats that died of old age than got trapped the answer is pretty easy.

very well put
i will say again i think this is the united states of america !! not special set of laws here and there to protect a few. im all for full resprocity laws . agree no reason to shut it down.
not sure how much gdp we all added that year or 2 to the nation but it was in the millions...and was renewable resource.

I feel like I need to edit the title to this thread to "Blah, Blah, Blahh"

hey now we gotta keep the story of them rat years alive... just like whisky is for drinking and water is to fight over

The SD rat boom will live in the memory of those that were there.

Still not connecting the dots between rats and game bird depredation.

No connection to the OP just a troll jumped in with the intent to bash the thread is all it happens about every time the same trolls and the same BS it's never ending.

That was about the trapping restrictions we have a lot less rules then out East I have lived in several States and SD is by far the least restrictive on trapping and the 2nd amendment you guys are buried in the liberal BS you get out of NY that's just a fact was the point. I have nothing against you NY guys but that's what you have to live with and we don't, I hope that cleared things up a bit.

rats=marshes = water= cover for game birds
no water = no marshes= no cover= no birds = no preditors

Coyotes are not a furbearer in MT. You can come and trap all you want.

Has nothing to do with the OP

Sooo did you guys hear about how we arent gonna have any coon to trap when theyre prime after a couple years of bounty?

its my understanding that the bounty will be in effect year round. as to whether or not it will help is questionable. while it is true that habitat loss is the leading cause in our bird decline, one of the reasons habitat loss is so bad is because it concentrates the remaining nesting hens into certain areas, making them extremely vulnerable to predation. if youve got one 40 acre piece of nesting ground per section, then a single coon could wipe out the nests in a night. i dont agree with it, needs more thought put it into it, but i see where theyre coming from.

and the whiners. they want what we have. greed had nothing to do with it. its because the out of staters flooded in so thick, that a resident couldnt find a puddle of water to put a float in that didnt already have three. then the NR's had a habit of upsetting the landowners with attaching things to fences, crossing fences to get to more huts, tearing up field approaches, and the trap theft was out of this world. To be blunt, i dont think south dakota cares enough about non resident trappers to pee on your head were you on fire. the seasons were changed so that residents, people who actually live here and have a right to the states resources, could do our thing in peace. then you people can come. greed. cmon. like theres money in trapping.

I am surprised that no one brought up another debacle from SDGP. Two years ago they shut off access to a majority of the lakes that were made back in the 90s by flood. The SDGP stocked all of them with license money. Land owners got paid from the Feds for the loss of land and then they shut the public out. Well that lasted about a season and the residents in SD somehow got that bad idea overturned. How? They had skin in the game and could not get on the lakes that everyone has fished since they were made.


Disclaimer: I love the state of SD. I hunt and fish there and would love to trap there. I have lots of friends there and most SD residents are good folks. My friends up there will not let me bring my boat or truck to the lake because they don't want anyone knowing they are fishing with someone from IA.


Also I see where someone wrote that it was greedy for someone to want to trap the easy season for the most money. My question is who don't? Who waits for the hardest time to go trapping the least amount of fur for the least profit? LLL

LL, the GFP has become a disaster but that fishing deal wasn't really on them. That happened in the courts and state government and to my knowledge unless I missed the news it still has not really changed. If a landowner puts up buoys and signs a lake can be cut off. I saw a lot of buoys when I was trapping and I wasn't even in Day County. I can't imagine what it looks like up there.

I don't think mrats make water. A couple of tings happened starting in 2011, the deep drought of '12 started in late summer of 2011, in my neighborhood the spigot got turned off in early August and in the next year, we only got about of third of the normal precip. A lot of still mostly "unaltered" marshes dried up and stay mostly dried up until this year. On the other hand, land-use practices have been changing where typical marshes, many of them the larger ones in the neighborhood, that used to go occasionally dry (cattails need a dry period for the seeds to get ready to germinate) are now shallow lakes (some of them not so shallow) because of increased ground and surface water flow changes. There may still be small rat pops in such waters using bank dens but the aquatic veg for large scale hut building (a proxy for an increasing or booming pop) just isn't there. A lot of tiling going on in my region of e. SD. I cross creeks now that are flowing hard this winter even though there hasn't been any precip percolation for 2+ months now. Almost all of that flow is base flow coming from ground water infusion. As I said earlier, rat huts are showing up again in my county because of the wet year has cattails growing again in many places that were dry so we'll see what the state reports for critter take estimates for this season.

My trapping license costs $35 plus $4 "agent fee" even though I buy it directly from the state. I'd be willing to pay another $20-25 "marsh restoration" stamp to have funds deciadted soley for wetland rehab. If non-residents would be willing to pay another $25 on top of the fairly heavy $250 non-resident furbearers license, I'd be willing to fight for resident/non-resident same season change even if their state doesn't allow SD residents to trap or has more restrictions on us than we do them.

The low lands have always been farmed I the years when they dry up and then will hold water/wildlife when it's wet, the drop of the bird numbers seems to parallel the drop on CRP acres and the increase in acres being planted like wheat that is planted fence to fence with no grass buffer. Big or corporate farming operations clear cover for maximum harvest yields removing trees and filling in wetlands and cover.

GFP went to bat on those lake closings in court they fought the fight on that issue it was the Courts that ruled against them.

Now you know that "You guys" was not directed towards anybody but the people effected as a whole by the laws and it was not a judgement just a fact. Imagine you had a post about say bobcat trapping in NY and I jumped in calling you all ladies and blaming you for the regulations I did not like in NY how would that fly for you? Now what if I did that on every NY trapping post I came across and did it for years how would that fly for other people? Think about that a bit what would you think of such behaviors if that kept happening to you if you had a self appointed troll was messing with your posts?

Never blamed you personally for enacting those anti-trapping, anti-nonresident trapper regulations that discriminate against anyone from out of state.

That blame lies at the feet of the 13 anti-trappers and the SDGFP

However, your state and it's trappers have done nothing to mitigate the damage to the trapping community and quite a bit of time has passed without any movement on this front.

The Disenfranchising of non-resident trapper continues with no end in sight.

Apparently, while you personally might not support these anti-trapper regulations, you seem to be quite comfortable with the status quo, since you haven't done anything substantial to effect their repeal.

New York has no anti nonresident trapping laws. Non-residents have the same trapping rules as residents.

As long as those South Dakota Anti-trapping regulations remain in force, I will continue to advocate for Their Repeal.

If that makes me a troll in your eyes, so be it, but you won't have any success in silencing my voice on this issue

If you don't like my comments, don't read them or put me on ignore.

w

I have delt with people behaviors for the last 30 years and I learned a long time ago that you see what a person does not what they say they are doing and everyone does something for a reason just figure out what that reason is. It's safe to say your not coming to SD to trap and your surely not making yourself welcome by acting like a butt muncher on here. You offend and assume the intentions of the guys on here that welcome NR trappers/hunters and do what we can to help others but that allows you to be the "punisher". You say it's the 13 (11 now 2 have died that I know of) but you call us ladies and wish bad things on us (Karma) like a jackwagon so what you say your doing and really doing are not the same thing! You admit that you have no power to change the laws in your State but we somehow are complacent if we don't do it.

You say that NR are shut out, not true but that it is dramatic the way you put it, if I say a guy could do well in a 90+ day season with liberal trapping regulations that's just a fact, just because I don't by your BS view and see the worse I'm somehow at fault. So a guy won't catch 1000s of rats he won't come and trap 100s to a thousand then it's his choice the opportunity is still there (fact).

Quote from above "If you don't like my comments, don't read them or put me on ignore." What a arrogant person that would come to a SD thread to trash it and think others need to make way for him! I guarantee I would not go out of my way to do the same to you maybe step up to the big boys table someday! You say one thing and do another thing then you say your not doing what you were doing! LOL

You push I will push back every time you can bet on that if you choose to play the fool on here I will be glad to help you do that!

It is a proven fact that bounties do not work. I have no interest in trapping in South Dakota..I am against exclusion of non residents ANYWHERE. I am against jacked up prices for non resident hunting, fishing, or trapping licenses for non residents.New York does not prohibit non resident trapping, BUT the price of a license is outrageous and cost prohibitive.The idea of non residents coming in and trapping our fur is short sighted; just as short sighted as a governor that has no sound biological reason for a bounty.

None of the guy the troll is messing with are in favor of any exclusions or restricted season dates that's what makes this all so stupid to begin with! LOL The reality of what does not support the BS he is selling is left out at least your honest about your thoughts I thank you for that. A lot of things need to be taken into consideration I know many States you can purchase a license and never be able to put a line together but you can buy a license. LOL

I heard the opposite Jerry. I have friends in Watertown and in Clark County. They claim that the Feds gave SD a bunch of disaster money that was supposed to buy the land that flooded but instead they made flood payments tell the money was gone. Then the landowners had got their lakes stocked for free and some even got nice concrete ramps. I spend a lot of time that area. LLL

Maybe you misunderstood my post the GFP was in court fighting to keep access open but the landowners wanted it closed and took it to Court and won I don't think the Feds were involved in this deal that I knew of.

Whatever Handcuff Boy,

You say I'm a name caller ?

Lets check your scorecard in your latest post.

Butt muncher.

Punisher.

Jackwagon.

Arrogant.

Troll.

One can always tell when someone has run out of intelligent points in a difference of opinion when they start throwing insults.

I'm more convinced than ever that you are an anti-non resident trapper masquerading as trapping's "Mother Teresa".

New York State doesn't have any trapping regulations that are Anti-nonresident and need to be changed.

We are a Non-resident trapper friendly state and have same rules for Out Of State trapper as we do for residents.

I find it comical you are a landed refugee from Illinois trying to pass yourself off as a South Dakota Native when in fact you are just an Imported non-resident from out of town.

I'll see you in on the verbal field of battle the next appropriate South Dakota thread.

In the interim, try brushing up on your grammar, spelling, and most of all your punctuation.

w

I will look into it. We fished a few of those lakes this fall with no issues. They just don't like the jackboots bringing trash out on the ice and leaving big messes. Some bad apples ruin the basket. LLL

Walleyed lets see how long you get to play your games they will get tired of your games! Harassing people just because you think your entitled won't last long so dig yourself a hole.


If I respected you as a person I might respect your opinion but that is not going to happen. I keep telling you your harassing the wrong people but you seem to lack the IQ to understand that but keep digging. I will say I have done more for the NR that come to SD then you ever will. You just keep making my point for me don't you!

Not sure if all of the landowners shut out the public some might of come to terms with the GFP and worked things out not sure if that was the goal for some from the start.

I have always been amazed at the people who don't live here but think they can make the rules.

It would be fine with me if there were no non-resident trapping in SD. Non-residents ruined pheasant hunting for residents already so I am fine with the non-residents shooting the birds if we can have the predators.

It was all about the rats~

It was all about the rats really!

So who are 13? Or 11 now. Pm if you wish.

The problem with South Dakota started with an Obama Republican named Dennis Daugaard who was no Bill Janklow or Mike Rounds. Daugaard ran an insider's network of cronyism in the state. His idea was the Tony Dean way of Tony Dean got paid to hunt, residents of the State could not afford to hunt, as they got to watch Tony hunt, as non residents got the game.
The Game Fish and Parks of South Dakota was corrupted under Daaguard. It only handed out jobs to the insiders. It has awful policies of double paying farmers for goose predation and blasting the nesting hens off of nests. It raises coyotes to kill wildlife as it is easier to let coyotes and cougars run than deal with resident hunters. This all started when Daugaard hired an Iowa college boy who opened up non resident trapping which wiped out the muskrats in South Dakota and turned wildlife over to special interests marketing the States wildlife to millionaire non residents.
I would urge a respectful contact of South Dakota's new Governor Kristi Noem to explain the need for an overhaul of the GFP and to return South Dakota wildlife management to raising wildlife for the people. The Lt. Governor is a good West River Christian who needs trappers, hunters and outdoors people support. Fighting the issue out here is not going to solve it. South Dakota if properly managed as North Dakota is, has more than enough game for affordable resident hunting and catering to the wealthy non residents.
Some species though in trapping simply have to be off limits to out of state trappers, and that is the muskrat and the mink as they are confined species that can not run 200 miles as a coyote can.
I hope Governor hears from the people and cleans out the Daugaard corruption. South Dakota has fantastic Republican grass roots leaders, but the elected leaders lose their way in Washington and at the Governor's mansion these past 12 years.

13 guys 2 are dead that I know of shortened the NR trapping season so the NR would start later and end sooner a bad move but they had the ear of a guy at the Capital.

What?

I weighed in at the beginning of this thread with my opinion, and you went ballistic and commenced to harassing me with personal attacks.

Now you are starting in with veiled threats

Intimidation doesn't work with me, even if you have handcuffs.

In your world, only YOUR opinion is valid, and you want to shut down or silence anyone you disagree with.

This is the United States of America, not the kingdom of Jerry Herbst.

Your State wants to enact a year-round bounty on Raccoon but you'll restrict nonresidents to starting after December 1st until March 15th.

They are a nuisance predator to be bounty eligible by residents, but you restrict Non-resident trappers until after December 1st.

It would be too funny, if it wasn't so sad. And that is a fact.

Another example of no sound biological reasoning, but it makes perfect sense as a greed based regulation for residents.

w

Star Flakey have you ever been to SD. WOW

walleyed the fact is that the predators are not the problem, its the habitat. the gov thinks the predators are the problem. she is wrong. no amount of trapping resident or non resident is going to make the farmers not plow too the center of the section lines. Therefore you karma assumption has no basis in the problem. on the other hand i agree with Law Dog.... this started off as a post on the bounty. in no way was your comment appropriate on this subject, its only point was to chastise South Dakota trappers because we don't have the seasons you want, quite frankly makes me a little sick and tired of it as well. you act like your some warrior for the greater trapping community but in fact its ppl like you that drive the trapping community apart. in no way is our state the most discriminating to other trappers, but some how every time i see a post on here with SD you chime in with this NR BS.

LOL The more you type the goofier you sound Walleyed so you just "weighed in on a post" how innocent that sounds the fact that it had nothing to do with NR trapping ya right, it was just another opportunity to harass people in SD plain and simple and you start out with "Ladies" for a opener and your the victim. Give me a break and you have pulled this numerous time the same old song.

No threat just common sense you vow to jump into threads from SD and play your games that will get old. I'm just bringing it to the forefront for what it is, what is done about it more up to you more then it is up to me really. I'm not a mod so there is nothing I can do about you so no threat but nice try. I have seen people keep working it until it doesn't work any more for them but you go Skippy you got this.

You admit you do it to SD threads and to people that have NOTHING to do with what your ranting about while several other States have similar types of restrictions for NR but your issue is with SD only why is that? You even find a need to make up what my thoughts/intentions are (Russian Collusion Next?) to continue your stupid moves, how sick is that you have nothing to back that up and there is nothing so your making it up? Continue if you want but I would guess that leash is getting shorter by the day go back under that bridge and fix NY!

I found this post on this thread to be hilarious because Walleyed's first post on this thread was this:



This line says it all:



By his own logic, I guess Walleyed was out of intelligent points from the get go.

Keith

From the get-go ! Lol !!

I found this post on this thread to be hilarious because Walleyed's first post on this thread was this:



This line says it all:



By his own logic, I guess Walleyed was out of intelligent points from the get go.

Keith
[/quote]


Game. Set. Match.

Attacking the people that agree with him on the main point and that are not in favor of the restrictions is nuts, feeling the need to self appoint himself to be the "Punisher" of all SD is even crazier!

Of Course It's the habitat.

But cutting the tails off coons year-round, and then throwing a valued fur resource away is unsustainable and wasteful.

Bounties never work.

Keeping non-residents from trapping coon (or muskrat) until December 1st so you can

waste those coon later is the height of stupidity and equally unsustainable not to

mention discriminatory towards non-resident trappers.

The fact that the Governor is misguided with the bounty proposal is immaterial.

The fact that many South Dakota trappers continue to support

Anti-nonresident trapping regulations by their acquiescence

to the status quo is precisely my point.

w

Not sure that anybody here thought the bounty WAS a good idea to begin with so we agree on that, FYI I'm still trapping coons now I can't keep them out of my cat sets so your looking at the impossible and not the possible and fixated on your "status quo" that you keep coming around to it one way or another. Your preaching to the choir again when we don't like it either so tell it to the Trappers Asso. not us harass them. Many of us have spoken up and made the contacts we could to voice our opinions, I deal with the GFP often and I speak my mind freely to them. It's just a thought now it is not even in play yet and may never become a real program, this was just a opportunity for you to do your thing a segue to where you really wanted to go in the first place really everyone an see that.

Kudos to you for your Image of Don Quixote jousting with windmills.

Other than that, Meh.

w

The answer to most questions is both or a little bit of all of the above. Both better habitat and lower numbers of predators will increase the number of pheasants.

Wolves, black bears, grizzly bears and mountain lions were exterminated over most of the United States, in large part, because they were killed for bounties. Of course there are much fewer apex predators to kill off than coons and oppossums, so they are easier to exterminate. High fur prices, which work basically the same way as bounties, led to the extermination from most areas of high priced furbearers like beaver and fisher.

To work best, bounties have to be large enough to motivate people to kill the target animals. The whole breeding population has to be targeted, to prevent recruitment from other nearby areas. I am sure I am not the only one to see more small game animals on a property I trapped hard the year before. Though later in the year, the birds of prey and other predators have knocked the population back down.

One problem with bounties, in a limited area, is that people will bring in tails from other areas. South Dakota should do DNA tests on the tails and talk about checking for cheaters. Mainly to scare would be cheaters, because testing all the tails would be prohibitively expensive. Fear of being caught, would keep many people honest.

I would run box traps all year, for $10.00 a tail, in the areas I go anyways. It's not a huge amount of money, but I would not have to put in much effort, to make a little money.

Keith

Money could be made sure I trap the year round on skunk complaints but I don't go out of my way to set for them in the summer months most times people call me when they catch one. Turning in a tail and keeping the rest would increase the value of many of them for me a $10 grinner would make me giggle a bit. But other then complaints/roadkilled critters I'm out.

We had a dramatic drop in coons and skunks here and even a reduction in the yote numbers and I have seen a increase in birds this year but with the amount of released birds it makes it tough to judge what the increase really is.

the worst part about this bounty is going to be the increase in spotlighting on the roads

I see a great new start up business for me in selling possum and coon tails to honest SD sportsmen. Question though.. Can it just be the coon tail without the fur? This could be really good. LLL




(this is truly sarcastic if wondering)

Not for it but it beats the strychnine eggs they tossed many years ago a coon was a rare critter back then!

Better then a can/bottle refund scam! LOL

Can I bring all my (and everybody else's around here) aluminum cans over into IA and get 5 cents a crack instead of the current 35 cents a pound...? I've never tried it but maybe I should. There's an interesting Al can black market from NV and AZ into Cali, I wonder if anyone from SD or MN has tried that with Iowa...? Just giving you crap LLL, I respect your opinion on things!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it has snowed in se SD and will again on Friday. And cold starting on the weekend. I hope that gets the yotes moving around here more. My kid and I have snares out on 3 different farms but no action so far. I would like to see at least 1 good one all tangled up soonly befoe the fur starts to go down hill...

i frankly dont understand whats going on. why on earth does that man think we should care about non resident trappers? or non residents in general? the entire point of letting coastal people and big city boys come into our state and hunt or fish is to bring money into sd. a trapper? psh. tightest bunch in the world, bring all their stuff with them sleep under the truck and harvest potentially thousands of dollars of sd fur to take home and sell in a different state. yea that makes sense. we should definately accomodate that. i get hes upset. wants to come here and ditch trap 14$ dollar rats by the thousands like back in '11. i just dont understand why he thinks anyone from sd should care what the seasons or prices for a ny trapper are.

You sound like one of the thirteen. As far as the can redemption take them to Michigan and double your money.

I'm sure it was a futile effort, but I sent the Gov and all of the Game commissioners an email with my thoughts and concerns......

14 dollar rats in the spring, you have not trapped in the spring if that's what you think.

Yup,

And there more of these anti-nonresident trappers than anyone on here is willing to admit.

But some of them give themselves away.

w

And there more of these anti-nonresident trappers than anyone on here is willing to admit.


You are spot on on that observation-far more than you think...and they would speak up more but they don't like the harassment they get when they do!!!!!!!!!!!

Every State has them even States that don't much like other parts of their own States coming their areas to trap their fur even. People are a piece of work for sure.

We have people up in northern Mn. that dislike southern Mn people coming up to trap "their" beaver. No wonder we can't get NR trapping done.

we did sell spring rats for 11-16$ back in 11 i think it was. i was there, right in the heart of it in eastern sodak. i have no issue with non-resident trappers. but why a nr trapper deserves to be treated differently than a nr hunter i dont understand. why wouldnt we give residents preference? doesnt it make perfectly logical sense to have resident seasons longer, with fewer restrictions or higher limits and lower prices than non-residents? residents get more and cheaper deer tags. longer and cheaper pheasant and grouse hunting. way more waterfowl opportunity. That is logical. we live here, pay taxes here, its our backyard. i wouldnt go to someone elses state and expect all the same privileges as a resident

dont even think about comeing to brown county skunkin!!! i own all the culverts here!

You got skunks??? That was a slip up buddy the truck is warming up now! LOL

LOL

Abby is warming up the rig for me!

poor little thing ... i should turn u in to peta u just using her like a milk cow!

all bs aside i dont know if i could take the hounds and find a den anywhere.... talked to one of the skunk bros nw of me said they were way down this year

besides that new truck dont smoke good nuff to gas em out!!

Same here along with the coons, badgers are the only thing we have a lot of this year!

i trapped for about a week after deer season caught a coon a digger and a 70 lb beaver... wanted to get a cpl yotes but as usual they outsmarted me.... wasnt paying for the gas so i pulled . didnt even get a stinker... now that i think bout it that would be first time for long time... does a guy call that getting skunked or not getting skunked??

I freely admit it

I'd have to have a lot of cans to justify a trip to MI from here. Iowa is only 15 miles away...

Law Dog- You probably explained long ago, but did you de-scent Abby and how did you do it...?

Heck you'er not only greedy you are lazy too?

I can't figure out if you're trying to be funny in an ironic way or if you're serious. 1300 miles round trip from here to the closest town or so in Michigan. Need a lot of cans to make up the nickel difference between MI and IA's can return, if it could even be done. I don't drink that much beer or pop to acquire the needed payload. But maybe you can run your Iowa cans to Michigan and see how it goes...

Yep she was fixed when I got her!

I have several friends, who raised skunks. Older skunks were put in a paper bag with starting fluid sprayed in it, for the ether, which is a good anesthetic. New born skunks did not need anesthetic. They made small incisions by the anus, where the glands emptied and scraped the glands out with razor blades.

Keith

Seen the sacks pulled out with forceps and a circular motion a few snips and the look like a rotten grape on the little pups.

This thread stinks since you guys hijacked the subject line again.

w

did you miss the proud anti Walleyed??

Nope,

Stop stirring the pot, pcr2 !!

That one is a regular in touting his anti-trapper, anti-nonresident trapper opinions.

(Not you Law Dog)

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, though.

Just once again proves my point.

w

Never figured what your point really was it seems you just make up a lot of things so your main goal is to just screw with the SD post mostly. LOL Once minute it's was me but now it's not so it's somebody else now! LOL What a piece of work.

Guess.

It's sad that you think we would really care what you think and you can't figure out why the results are what they are I'm surprised they are not worse but you might get it there! LOL

I don't care what YOU think , I think this whole thing is funny. To keep on topic, this bounty system that is proposed is the dumbest thing since they passed the law limiting the NR trappers. How's that. I hope you can get 14 guys together to get it stopped before it becomes law. Because it is evident that once it becomes law there is very little you can do.

Well that cleared up that guessing answer! LOL I has little to do with any need for it and few will want it I have not seen any of us say it was a good idea yet or even that we wanted it! I don't think the bounty is on the rats anyways so I guess I'm missing how the NR rules apply to the bounty thing really as it seems to ONLY apply to rats. I have yet to hear much about anything else but rats, rats and rats. I seemed to be the only one saying we have more then rats, rats, rats but that falls on deaf ears it always comes back to the rats.


The bounty thing comes up in many places and seldom gets off of the ground a lot is just politics.


Good to see them true colors coming out!

Now what's that to mean "true colors coming out"?

Maybe its all about the rats cause thats all they can catch??

Your not here to help just looking for the chance to get in the same old digs and act like a child is all, unreal expectations (so how many laws can you change in your own State) I'd like to see that. I help people on here about every day who are you helping and I don't care where they are from I help anybody that has any self respect and shows respect for others.

Said it before I have no problem with the seasons being the same as ours never have had a problem and voiced my opinion when it happened and still do when I deal with the GFP people but that never sinks in it seems to a few of you. The people your screwing with, about every one feels the same and help others also on here and they do what they can. You guys can say your doing what you do "for trapping" but are you really helping anything but fueling a division of what you say your helping give mw a break.

What a post!!!!!!! Everybody has an opinion and has no qualms about stating it. Not relating to NR furharvesting but just to clear up a loose end or two. The aluminum cans have UPC codes telling where they are marketed and when checked they can only be redeemed for deposit in that state (we tried the Iowa deposit a long time ago here with cans from NE --- won't work). And the pet/wild skunks --- there is no known vaccination for immunizing skunks against rabies!!!!!!!! If you are familiar with that disease you know there are 3 tiers or levels of infection that wildlife/animals transmit. A lower tier species can only infect members of that tier,,, upper tier members are immune to that lower's form of virus. Birds are immune to all. Even rats are immune to almost all tiers. However us humans are on the lowest tier and skunks are on the highest tier so contact with them greatly increases a human's potential for contracting the rabies virus,,,,,,,,,, so be cautious around all forms (domesticated or wild) of animals. My neighbor had a calf (in the barn) contact a skunk (no bite, just an odor and we assumed nothing more) and a full 80 days later the calf died and was posted for death. Vet happened to take a rabies test on the calf and the neucropsy showed positive cause of death was rabies. Neighbor had to take the shots and was lucky from the health dept report. My point is if you all go to a bounty harvest date (year round) and start handling potential carriers, consider getting the prophylactic shot (vaccination). Standard health procedures should win out so you can trap another spring rat season!!!! the mike

The cans in the fridge don't even have that refund thing on them but ones a water and the other is a cheap Dr. Choice (Dr. Pepper) so I think the idea was maybe just hypothetical but I do remember a truck that full of cans that was going to do that and they got caught so it is illegal. LOL That was someplace around MI or IN and was several years ago.

Skunk shots are not backed by the maker and lack any define research they are a feel good thing mostly they give the feline type of shots along with the distemper shots you and will not get a tag from the Vet after getting the shots.

Perhaps Cali government finally got it squared away as well but black market recycling was an issue more recently than this article. There were people on Scrap Metal Forum talking about guys buying cans and plastic bottles on the streets of Vegas for more than aluminum scrap was going for at the time (there really isn't a retail market for consumer recycled plastic bottles). The common belief was that the CRV (?) containers were being smuggled into Cali for redemption. Cali gov has banned more than a 100 lbs of al cans being turned in at one time. The smugglers got around that by having a legion of homeless peeps each turn in 100 lbs and getting a cut from the profit. I haven't heard much about it for a couple of years so perhaps things have changed. But Cali certainly WAS NOT a leader in getting your UPC codes on their beverage containers.

https://www.sgvtribune.com/2012/02/11/can-anything-stop-the-latest-wave-in-criminal-recycling/



There must have been virus transferred via saliva or blood contamination that the calf got somehow. Or perhaps extremely fresh aerosolized virus that the calf contacted. From what I understand, the rabies virus can live only a very short time outside of host animal's body.

You'er Right Law Dog-- " there is no known vaccination for immunizing skunks against rabies" so everyone needs to be careful. Rabies exhibits 2 forms of expression in mammals,,, active ( the frothing, aggressive behavior) and passive (calm, quiet almost "dumb" behavior). In Nature 90% is exhibited as passive form where individuals just crawl into a den or hole and die...... so odd behavior of an affected individual can not be counted on as a symptom. My mom tells the story of playing as a child when a stray dog wandered on their "alley" playground and exhibited the aggressive form (forming and growling). It was shot and tested positive. When I was at MSU ( a long time ago) one of the grad students doing work on the virus and I talked (he knew I trapped). His research in animal diseases was on rabies (specifically in skunks). He had skunk heads in the freezer for over 2 years that when thawed, tested positive for the live virus and it was surmised they could infect other animals if ingested or otherwise exposed. The hot and cold of season changes in the wild seemed to destroy its viability though. Perhaps the guys who do bat removal work can help if someone has further thoughts handling potential carriers. Interesting to note that coons east of the Mississippi are big time rabies carriers but west of the Mississippi are not. Significant difference in the testing/research. Some type of immunity must be why your SD coons are so big and healthy!!!

man,great info-thanx

Years back we had a explosion of skunks catching 9 in the same cage trap was rather common and getting a 100 a years was no problem and getting another 75 from others was the norm. I talked to the State Vet and she predicted a crash in the near future then 2 years later they crashed along with the coon. The coon were dead all over the place and found around stock dams, old farm places distemper would be my guess.

Had a landowner point me to a skunk in a ditch and that one looked like it was on it's side doing circles and was biting the grass as it went around. My guess there was rabies the Vicious type. What got my attention was the State Vet said like 70% of the wild skunks carried the virus but only a small amount had the active symptoms of rabies.


She also stated that the virus is killed by drying conditions and exposure to sunlight, I dry and place all of my skunk skulls in the sun to dry them a bit and to kill the virus at the same time before I ship them. Plus nobody wants a box of skunk skull soup when the box arrives. LOL


Always consider that the brain holds the virus yes but the so does the brain stem so if your removing the skulls be careful with the brain stem also. Always wear gloves and don't touch your face with those gloves.

Jerrry,

The non-resident Rules which mandate a December 1st start for non-residents applies to Raccoon as well as Rats.

Residents can target coon year-round but non-residents must wait until December 1st when most coon are holed up and in semi-hibernation.

That non-resident rule restricting out of staters until December 1st makes the contemplation of a Bounty on Coon even more ridiculous.

If the state is going to put a year round bounty on Coon then it only makes common sense to take the December 1st start date restriction off of non-residents to facilitate the timely harvest of more raccoon.

Leaving that restriction on non-residents just hampers the alleged goal of removal of these Pheasant nest predators.

So the non-resident restriction has everything to do with a bounty on coon.

w

you are right they are holed up... big bunches in old farm housed ,, old farm houses usually have big xxxx coon, hay stacks ,wood piles ect... best if ya have a hound to locate them. or a yag or hole dog to move em around....oops outta staters cant hunt coon with dogs here.

I have always been vocal about the restrictions imposed against my fellow americans... you are makeing me reconsider

Nice white leather on most Dec caught coon in this state. Sure, the weather can be a crap shoot in Dec but I've seen winter come Veterans Day and stay so you never can tell. A person can certainly catch coons in Dec but perhaps not in the numbers as in Nov so it all comes back to big numbers again for non-resident trappers and I suppose that's a concern given that their license is $250. Could switch over to targeting k-9s that don't have the same nr season restrictions as muskrats, coons, and mink. Or go trap one of the Native American reservations that have control (and their own non-tribal member regs) trapping seasons. That might be interesting.

Well Geeze,

There's another stupid anti-non-resident rule to keep Out of Staters from harvesting coon that the State of S.D. wants to put a ineffective, unneeded, year-round bounty on.

Clip the tail off that coon and throw the rest away year round, but whatever you do, don't let one of those nasty non-residents harvest that coon and put it to good use in a manner consistent with sound conservation (wise use) practices.

New York State allows Non-resident Coon Hunters to use dogs to harvest raccoon with the same regulations that apply to resident hunters and trappers.

Sad.

w

The point is the absurdity of the State of S.D. having restrictions on Non-resident hunters & trapper's harvest of Raccoon while simultaneously proposing a year round, un-needed, ineffective bounty on the same animals.

It's the Theater of the Bizarre.

w

I have pulled 11 coon out of a hollow tree in December.
Our record was 21 coon out of a silo. I think that was in January.

We also got the most coon when it got really cold.

Did you use a length of barbwire to pull the Coon out of the hollow tree. ?

What was the record number of coon out of a silo ?

Translate we coon.

w

not counting reciprocosity,how many other states still restrict non residents.i know Minn. cause my buddy les can't come here and trap.can both go over to NY and trap together though.

Sorry. I edited my post to fix.
11 out of the tree and 21 from silo. The silo coon is a pretty good story I might type up later.

Used bard wire all the time. I had a bag of tools I kept in the truck I called my coon gettin bag. A big sharp treble hook on a length of twine was another one I used to use in haysheds when a dead coon was stuck down between the bales and we couldn’t reach it.

Also 8ft lengths of conduit that could hook together to get really long with a sharp hook on the end to get up into a tall cottonwood to pull a dead coon down.

Do you need a fishing license to angle for coon ?

Can a nonresident obtain a coon fishing license

or are we barred from that method as well ?

w

I'd like to see walleyed climb up into a cottonwood tree to noodle out coon. Maybe he could sell tickets to that one and pay for his non-resident trapping/shooting license...?

34 outta one big old house and cpl out buildings was record for us . we were there all day .that was the place my old (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) female dog kept going to this wash machine out in a garage and howling i crawled around shining light everywhere no coon would take her to the action back in the house and the kids.... finally after about the 3rd time i opened the lid there he was he had learned how to open the lid and had a cozy living spot!
... its been on the books forever to restrict outta staters w dogs .. im really mad cause it affects me the worst as i live near nd border and cant run the hounds there either !! never thought i should blame it on all my buddies from nd!!

MN,WI, MI, NV, ND, MT might be others

Before I discovered where the cheeseburgers were hidden, When I was in my early twenties, I worked as a climber for a few tree companies.

Now I'd use Cherry picker/bucket truck If I was going to harvest coon at extended elevation.

w

If coon did not travel in the cold they would be extinct that's when they breed! LOL Have had coons plugging up my cat sets this year "oh my" I am still trapping how can that be, impossible? Well you are one of the few to complain about coon the lions share think it's all about the rats here and it's not we have a lot to offer. I can start on most critters anytime but I start the 3rd week of Oct and I trap up to before the badgers start to pup. Our weather is not your weather but then your not trapping here just complaining about it.

That still might be something to see!!

Do any of the northern NY coon get graded W. Northern or W. North-Central or do they mostly grade E. North-Central or Canadian...?

Why can't your buddy come here and trap?

Les can trap in PA

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.

Mostly Northern if they measure 7.5" to 8" at the base of skirt.

If they are 9" at the base of skirt, they always grade Canadian.

They tend to be wooley.and yellow necked

w

OK!!! OK!!! you'er state is great. You'er state passes nothing but good laws. Everybody else doesn't know squat, and their state sucks. GOOD NIGHT!

He's finally snapped !!

Handcuff boy got to him !!!

He folded up his teepee, and went home.

w

Why don't you go read the latest addition of the International Trapper.

coon by yah my lord,coon by all.

I Don't read propaganda and lies.

I can get all of that I need from BOCO & GIBB on here.

w

and the free dvd's

I see everybody has their soft spot.

No more DVD's

NAFA isn't producing any more DVD's.

They're copying Groeny and switching to youtube.

w

Just got back from dinner with the wife Jr. at the end of this day I will have helped other trappers today and what have you done but behave like a morons again! LOL

this has been interesting for sure.my son bought a place near Minot but i promise not to steal all ya's fur but guess i don't have to worry.Texas is warmer anyway.

hope all on here are blessed on this fine Sunday.

Oh, so now I'm a moron. I haven't said one word about you personally, but you have to call me a moron. You are a great example for the state of South Dakota, who's governing body, and the laws they passed, are the only thing I have called stupid. As far as that goes you are a great example for law enforcement. Remember you have the right to remain silent but I question if you have the brains to do so.

Been dealing with people's bad behaviors for many years and you think a couple of juvenile T-man trolls will ever get to me but keep on trying, dream on! Looks like Teepee ran out of what little input he was adding and had a fact breakdown. LOL

We are on what page 9-10 and I have yet to see anything beyond "SD season bad!" and that we do agree on but from there we go in separate directions because the trolls are so child like they destroy any good will they had and just make it worse rather then come up with anything workable like a adult would. You can bet they drove some folks the other way with the trolling of them folks that supported the same way of thinking in the first place but live in SD so they must be punished.

That is typical bully type of behaviors as what is to be gained by the childish actions that target innocent people just because they live in a State and no other reason more then that. Demonizing them, assuming things that fit their bill, mining the personal info into what it is not, unreal expectations they themselves cannot achieve and on and on never ending kids games. My advice grow up!!!

I didn't think so.

There's a bully on this thread all right, but It's not teepee2 or myself.

Since you've appointed yourself as S.D's. chief apologist for it's

Anti-trapper & Anti-nonresident, discriminatory trapping AND hunting regulations,

you need to follow your own advice and grow up as well.

Trying to bully and intimidate others into not expressing their opinions on their

displeasure with these stupid trapping regulations is not going to work,

even if you wear a badge, carry handcuffs, and wear an official costume.

Nobody has accused you of being responsible for the passage or support

of these draconian laws, so stop blatting like a spring lamb

that you are some kind of victim.

Your alleged pain is self inflicted.

w

You aligned yourself with bad behaviors, ignore any facts, you still have unreal expectations like we make the laws and can just change them at a whim, you have no plan that I have seen yet and your buddy try's to make you look foolish the 1st chance he gets. You want us to think what your doing it to promote trappers but can't back that up and your clearly driving a bigger wedge rather then looking at the possibilities right in front of you. Not rocket science really.

I went to look up to see what the NR numbers were before and I seen a 90 something number on here for current NR trappers and I wanted to compare how many people that was affected by the delay and you know what came up on a web search, it was this thread so ya your helping just not in the way you think.

GO back to your 1st post that says it all! Stevie Wonder could see that. LOL

JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHAT THE OP WAS!!!

JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHAT THE OP WAS!!!


Good job Stumper--and by the way I think a bounty is a good idea if properly implemented. It could be very effective at least short term

Aligned myself with bad behaviors? Watch out there you might be profiling, you should know better than that.

A year round bounty would open up tremendous abuse potential and not that successful. Blanket trapping during nesting season in certain habitat has proven to work.

From what I saw working for Delta Waterfowl for 8 years, it works best in areas of small grass. That is why Delta is doing small grass work rather than large grass areas. In large grass ground nesting birds have a better hatch rate than in small grass areas. The smaller they are the worse it is. Quarters and larger do pretty good on there own. You catch way more predators on the edges, than in the center of the big grass areas. I can not say I feel it make more ducks/ground nesting birds to trap the small grass, but it does show a higher percent change on less nests. You have to really clean an area out for it to make any difference. If you take 50% of the predators it will not make a difference in your hatch rate. The ones left just get more nests due to less computation. I feel it is a total waste of money for SD to have a bounty, which would be much better spent on habitat. Not only is the number of ground nesting birds going down, so is the number of predators, due to the loss of habitat.

plow a little snow and ya miss all the good stuff.everyone is welcome here but bring a shovel.for poop and snow.

Tell me what laws you have changed so easily and how you did it? Or do we need to guess at that too?

SO if your the self appointed punisher for the NR cause and as all in as you claim to be why do you not do the same BS on the MN threads? I can't remember you doing that so why not?


(Not throwing you MN guys under the bus just a valid question.)

South Dakota needs the most help.

Minnesota has a outfit already battling to bring non-resident trapping back to Minnesota.

Commercial Trappers of Minnesota.

I've already been involved supporting that group.

South Dakota's trappers have, so far, sat on their backsides and done nothing to repeal the anti-trapping, Anti-nonresident regulations.

Therefore, S.D. trappers need a little nudge here and there.

If you are so broken up over the discriminating Anti-non resident regulations perhaps you should consider some activism to change the regulations.

Put some effort into repealing the bad laws instead of waving your handcuffs and flashing your badge trying to intimidate trappers with whom you disagree.

w

You guys ought to make fun of me. I live in Colorado, we suck really bad, worse than law dog..........

and..........wait for it.............

I SMOKE WEED!

Well that's something to be proud of.

You have done more damage then good your just not bright enough to figure it out, I don't disagree with what your saying I disagree with what your doing about it heck you are a poster boy for not allowing NR trapping the way you act. I again refer you back to your 1st post on here you came here to start trouble and not to "fix' anything and along the way turned off the people you think you gained ground you are clueless as can be. Just a bully justifying being a bully that is easy to see but you keep going skippy you got this! LOL

Minnesota is a jewel upon itself!,.....just messing with ya,all....

Man this is quite the thread,,

not really dozer joe....

i wonder if a bunch of would be non-resident trappers being combative and onry to locals is the best way to get us to lobby on your behalf....good plan! you been so rude to us sodak folk ill walk over to noems office today and tell her to let you kind folks come on in and trap as many critters as you like whenever you like wherever you like and for free.

I doubt anyone in SD is trying to change the current laws on the books, could be wrong but I doubt it. Just think how much pushback SD would be getting if rats were $10 and the population was like 2011, 2012.

Referring to (some) S.D. trappers as "ladies and girls" in my initial post on this thread was a ball-bust, nothing more.

My post was to point of the absurdity of a predator bounty while restricting non-residents from targeting those same predators.

If you can't handle "ladies and girls" then you have much greater problems than my busting your balls.

Suck It Up Sally, and then lead, follow, or get out of the way.

w

Maybe people would buy a auger if they were $10-$12 again and take advantage of what is offered, funny we have a 3 month season but they had to try to sue the Game Dept to try to get it passed because the majority does not want it and we need the nudge, really! MN has been working on it (and I believe some have) but that does not change the fact that we have and they don't at the end of the day.


We have $80 coyotes but few are taking advantage of them but then they are a lot of work so it's always the rats, rats, rats!

If the rude and condescending people think they will change things they are doing a bang up job of it just not in the direction they keep thinking they are going. (Not directed toward you ratm you have been fair about the whole thing)

Thanks MJM for a reasoned reply, a rare thing here at times.

What do you mean by Small Grass and Large Grass?
Same as Short Grass and Tall Grass?

I've always harped on habitat.
Many see predators as the biggest issue with wildlife populations.
Its a simplistic view of the world that eliminating depredation will some how have wildlife populations exploding.
It might short term but then disease, destruction of habitat or another factor kicks in and often times the populations are less than with predators.

The 1st step in improving wildlife populations is always improving habitat for them.
Predator and prey have existed for thousands of years and I can't think of a example that a native predator wiped out a native prey.

I think he meant small areas of grass vs large parcels of grass. The small areas concentrate where the birds can nest compared to the more spread effect of a larger parcel of cover.

I believe when Delta did some spring trapping they would trap a 40 acre piece of nesting ground and not trap a similar piece and then check nesting success on both pieces. There is probably some on here that know more about this than me.

Thank you for your kind offer, Nativetrapper10.

That would be a good start.

Could you also apologize for the state of S.D. to all nonresident trappers for all the harm done.

Thanks again in advance.

w

Like I said a condescending troll and bully NOTHING more you say one thing and do another then make excuses for it, you cannot admit your a self appointed avenging troll that lacks social skills, integrity and leadership skills. You manipulate everything into what it is not, you assume other motives (again manipulate), say one thing then play the injured bird when it comes back at you and then claim intimidation then. LOL How do I intimidate you I'd like to know I have no real power to hurt you in any way but to show everyone what a train wreck you are pretending to be a guy helping anything but your twisted ego. Funny with all of your deflection skills you never called me a liar so you must see the truth in what I'm pointing out with your ongoing BS. You push I push back but you have to push first I don't go around crashing your post where I'm not welcome but then I don't have the need like you do.


You claim your doing it for the good of trapping yet the outcome is the exact opposite and you ramble on and on, in just a short amount of time you managed to take a group of helpful folks doing all they can to help others to the point to many won't care now. Good job skippy your on a roll.


Your lack of maturity stands out with the ongoing child like actions/games you display, you think a joker from NY that talks down to the people in SD like we are sheep to be herded will ever fly you Sir have no clue about the West that's obvious. How many years have we been waiting for anything to happen in MN and we need a nudge from you (really do we) just a cherry picking hypocrite from NY. SD needs your full attention really does it when there are several states with even more restrictive NR rules seriously why do you people seem to ignore that oh it's the rats.

So what have you helped in the last week and what damage have you done by coming to a thread that has zero to do with you that you injected yourself into to be a arse on AGAIN? You don't care about the bounty and never did you just found a way to get on that condescending soap box and say what you said on the last 10 posts you tried to screw with. Grow up it's not as bad as you must think it is.

"Never argue with an ignorant person.

They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience".

w

LOL ... definitely rollin in the mud with a pig

I think this thread has changed my mind from being general neutral to NRs having the same season length as residents to leaving the situation as is. If walleyed can’t use an ice auger, chain saw, or an old-fashioned ax (like I used to do to open up a rat hut) and ice trap during the winter, then he doesn’t need to come to this state to trap. I’ve never caught 1,000 rats through the ice but then again big numbers aren’t my goal in trapping, the enjoyment is but a little cash back for the experience is a nice. A guy would probably have to work harder than open water trapping but with a chain saw could probably lay in a bunch of steel. Come right after the pheasant season ends in early Jan and most of the public land that holds rats is yours for the taking. Set the upland with yote sets after getting in the rat traps and take 2 species.

Typical liberal idea, somebody else has a resource I want so I’m entitled to it the same way as the people who live there by spending a little extra cash. Get a chain saw and learn to hut trap and you can still get a lot of rats. But that doesn’t fit the entitlement culture. Suck it up yourself Sally…

Still can't fight the facts can you! Go back to that bridge you crawled out from under and save your BS for the many issues NY has to deal with (NYC) you might be better off there we will be fine without you and all the damage you have done already but you won't see it.

This saying comes to mind! “insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” LOL

The lack of winter cover has hurt Iowas pheasant population as much or more than the lack of nesting cover. One or two blizzards will kill a lot of birds if they don't have a place of refuge. Long cold winters with deep snow aren't good ether. I look at some of the places we killed hundreds of birds at in the 80's, they look like a moon scape now when we get a snow cover. A bounty on rotary mowers would be more effective.

Had a hen right at the house yesterday looking for either food or cover not a good sign she might of been a released bird we get a lot of that so her coping skills might be lacking.

Again let me say no offence to the people of MN, NY or any other States that was not the intent, I am just pointing out the facts if I got them wrong please let me know no problem.

Well asking me what laws I have changed in Iowa was kind of pointless. Come on over, you can trap the same dates and species as I do. Iowa is reciprocal but I don't think they hold you to your stupid late start and early close. As far as offended, I am not, although I don't like being called a moron. Sorry you take criticism so hard.

What a shat_ storm!

Walleyed.... Stay Home!

You know the laws are stupid and we agree with you, we have from the start but you just keep saying that over and over. Then in the middle of this PC asked you what you meant by lazy and your reply was "Guess" was that a joke, game or was it bad timing or a bad comment that he was trying clarify? If it was the wrong time at the wrong place I do apologize if I misunderstood the comment but sometimes you are hard to read.

I probably should of added the smiley face, my fault.

All good here~

MI had a bounty many years ago it was $20 or $25 a yote they would chop the front feet off for the bounty then the price of yotes went up and they called that double dipping then. LOL I just can't see how turning $70 yotes into a $10 ones in the summer will fly but I could see if a guy is doing ADC work for landowners it would pay for some gas.

I don't think Noem is thinking this thru. I drive all over IA and MN and there wont be a tail on a roadkill for 300 mi if this goes into effect. I'd rather see a program for more crp and quit mowing every ditch around! give those birds some habitat and you'll have more birds!

here is my order of enemies of birds
1 habitat dont let em burn the sloughs
2 Hawks and eagles
3 egg eaters
feral cats/ fox but not many fox around

few years ago gfp released hens i think that helped them rebound faster havent seen them do anything these last few years...

Here we had a big increase from none to some but our coons and skunks took a hit at the same time, we are on our 3rd snow storm now and the temps dropped to below freezing at night it will be tough on the released birds. Many years ago I asked for pheasant info from MI DNR and that paperwork said out of 100 released birds the average that would make it to spring was 3 of them.

The state used to have a law that they couldn't mow the ditch until after July 4 or something like that unless there was a hay emergency. Maybe have a state program that gives a little coin to landowners that manage their ditches more for pheasants. CRP is a federal program but with Kristi's DC connections, maybe make some of the CRP more enticing for targeted for upland wildlife production. The CREP provision of CRP has been enrolling acres in the recent years. Was it last year that Thune called for a 5-year "bump up" ito the current CRP cap? I think he was targeting giving crop growers some more stable cash flow on some of their acres compared to the lower crop prices and was hoping that 5-year hence, crop prices would be better. Maybe Gov Noem can get the feds to enhance some of the WPAs they already have and plant a more diverse grass cover than just stinking smooth brome. Mallards and such do well nesting in smooth brome but its pretty worthless for any kind of winter thermal cover for pheasants...

agree averages are bad ... hatched 500 a few years back ... left em in barn under ht lamp till they could fly.... they escaped at will.... place was over run with red tail hawks for a few days they got most of them... still some survived and i think that contributes to some of the birds i have in slough today.... i think releasing bred hens in spring ... most will not make it but a few will ... if there is some seed stock they can rebound pretty quick... i have lotta roosters in my slough right now im sure are released from hunt club a cpl miles away.. they got a ways to go to make it to spring ... need more hens..

How many of the last 20 years have they wacked the CRP stands anyways!

several wpas in edmunds co where i grew up have been grazed last few years.... loyalton wpa isn fenced so they burned the east side of it this year... not sure the mentality..they say the grazing isnt about the money its about management ha ha. i dont think the fed s give a rats arse about pheasants... 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

They did that grazing thing here a few years ago then last year burned the GFP places off. Trying to seed got to be a joke too my bother-in -law wintered a pile of turkeys for many years and I was only able to get 6 bags of seed for him from the pallets they had at the time.

Maybe the people that come there to trap and do well keep quite. They don’t want another 13 restricting them more than what they are now.

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...

the state will take most things for walk-in, this is fact. but in many cases they have potential for something. the fields are leased, and on the corn years could hold feeding geese and ducks, and often they have grassy water ways or sloughs. the dollar amount paid to the landowner, however, varies based on the usability of the parcel in question. so the bean field doesn't get a lot of money. for whatever reason, the last few years the residents in this state have decided that we hate the sdgfp. but im here to tell ya, we have one of the finest state run wildlife and fisheries agencies anywhere in the world. it is staffed with top notch biologists doing top notch work. but they can only do so much. they cant control the farmers who seem (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) bent on leaving no habitat standing. they cant stop the corps from flooding the river. they cant stop EHD from coming through and wiping out our deer herds and they cannot control the weather that has caused huge percentages of nesting failure. GFP does a good job, weve just been hit with an almost unreal string of bad luck the last 6-10 years.

There's that KARMA thing going on again.

w

Just went by a walkin today down by Yankton you could play golf there no problem the stubble was as flat as it could be or it would of been dirt! 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. The caravans of cars/trucks have disappeared the first day and are replaced by small groups of buses, van or SUVs hauling paid hunters. I live just down the road from a small GFP area and weekends go by and I don't hear shots even. Sure a couple guys go out here and there but just on a small scale the opener was like the 1st day of deer season now it's nothing really.

I mostly agree. There's a lot of the "city" SD people who don't have much of a connection to rural communities anymore (and there are more South Dakotans who live in the "cities" than any place else). Get a generation or two removed from the land and rural residents, maybe even those by blood, and it doesn't count for much more than a relationship that at least was started by money. I had a bunch of cousins, most of who grew up on a farm or small town. While my dad and his brothers and sisters were alive, things kind of held together, although if I wanted to hunt, it was always me that would have to start the conversation. That older generation is mostly gone and my generation is scattered and rarely talk with each other. Not that there are bad feelings but the blood just isn't thick enough to to make up for distance and time.

I'm pretty sure that I'll never experience a 400 bird flush again or limit out a 15-20 person party in an hour or two. I've resigned myself to that fact. I'll pick a few off here and there on the edges and call it good and if I can do it with a few friends or my kids and maybe my grandkids someday, so much the better. Or maybe someday, I'll say to what the he!! and throw down a roll of Uncle Bens in some guy's lap and say, "batter up on one of those multi-hundred bird flushes" and relive some of the past. If there is anything to relive...

Did not see anyone walking a field this year that was not a pay hunter with a payed guide service running the show. Seen maybe a dozen hunters on the public next to me and a few ROW guys, I try to point them to where I have seen birds on the section lines or thick ditches.

Did see 1 pond today with several nice rat huts on it the most I have seen in years and a few singles here and there but not many! No flags on any of them that I could see.