iDoHunting.com: Southeastern South Dakota Turkey Report

South Dakota Merriam/Rio mix longbeard

We returned last weekend from our annual turkey hunting trip to South Dakota. As always the trip started off with high hopes of bagging a few birds with our bows. South Dakota offers statewide non resident tags for archery that are good the entire season. You must apply for the tag but you are guaranteed to get it. Although a guy can apply for a gun tag our group of 6 chooses to chase the longbeards each Spring with our bows. We usually end up with 3-4 birds for our group but this year was definitely not like usual!

A shot from on "top" of the Missouri river breaks

We hunt a couple different pieces of property that run along the Missouri river breaks. If you've never seen this area you are certainly missing something spectacular! The rolling hills and ravines that dump into the Missouri river are truly breathtaking! The birds are usually roosted in specific areas each year and those roost sites are very easy to find. There aren't a lot of big trees in the ravines we hunt. It mainly consists of smaller cedar trees and thicker brush.

A hard earned turkey!

The first morning started off with a bang! Birds gobbling from two different roost sites. I kid you not when I tell you there were probably 30-40 different toms and jakes between the two roost sites. The amount of birds these areas produce is just amazing. As the birds began to disperse from the roost sites we soon noticed something unusual. The birds were completely avoiding our decoys and calling. After a long couple hours we finally had a lone tom sneak in on us. I was first up so I pulled the trigger and let loose on a nice tom with a Rocket Hammerhead. The arrow found it's mark and hit the bird hard. As the bird walked off and disappeared into the ravine I noticed two things. One, the arrow had gotten a complete quartering away pass through which I've never had before on a turkey with such big broadheads. And two, the left leg of the bird was completely covered in blood. I had high hopes this bird wouldn't make it far. To make a long story short we blood trailed that bird for over 300 yards before jumping him at the bottom of the ravine. He took off and we never recovered him. That is just one of the many highs and lows that come with bowhunting turkeys. It can be very frustrating but also rewarding when things do come together.

Another shot from on "top" of the breaks

After two long days of everyone seeing the same thing I decided I needed to change things up. The birds were definitely avoiding the decoys and were very call shy...due mainly to the fact that they were very henned up. I spent the next day trying to pinpoint where the majority of the birds were moving in and out of the roost areas at. I finally made my move early Saturday morning and setup where I thought some birds would move through after coming down from the roost. My homework paid off and I was rewarded with a nice tom at about 8am Saturday morning. As it turned out that would be the only bird we harvested the entire trip. There were many reasons why the hunting was not nearly as good this year. The late Spring and temperature fluctuations had the birds behind in there breeding. It was 93 degrees Thursday and only a high of 53 on Friday! We then woke up to snow on the ground Saturday morning and only a high of 45 that day. Adjustments needed to be made and that was the difference maker this year. My best advise for any turkey hunter is to always keep an open mind and be willing to make adjustments when needed. I always say...turkeys are the most unpredictable critter there is out there! As always, I'm already looking forward to next year!!

Good luck to everyone else still trying to fill those tags!