Ken Barrett's Fast Facts
For TRCP's Life in the Open

South Dakota Cheyenne River Reservation Turkeys

Location: We hunted near Whitehorse, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, approximately two hours, by car, northeast of Pierre.

Access: Many of the tribal lands of the reservation are accessible as are both private lands, with permission, and state lands. To learn more go to the tribe’s website at www.crstgfp.com and South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks at www.sdgfp.info

Best time of year to go: The Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation’s turkey season runs from early April to mid-May, please check their web site for exact dates and application deadlines

License Availability: Licenses are limited, but your chances of getting one are extremely good, many hunters apply to two or more reservations in the area to assure they receive at least one turkey permit. Non-resident reservation licenses are very reasonable. Mine cost $38. Many hunters also apply for a state permit and hunt either private lands or state lands. If you want to hunt turkeys in South Dakota, there are many options and all of them are good! Visit http://www.sdgfp.info/licenses.htm for more information.

Recommended equipment: Springtime in South Dakota is unpredictable. Driving to my hunting destination I had to detour two hours out of my way, because of deep snow and two flipped tractor trailers blocked my route. Bring both rain gear and warm clothes. Check in advance for weather conditions. This is open country so bring along good binoculars or even a spotting scope. Bring along an assortment of calls and your favorite tight patterning shotgun. I like size 5 or 6 shot.

Costs: If you are arriving by air, fly into Pierre and rent a vehicle there. There are a number of ways to do this hunt: on the cheap, by camping on your own, staying at moderately priced local motels, or staying at a local hunting lodge. I was a guest at the Double A Outfitters, and hunted with old friend Mark Kayser. The owner of Double A Outfitters is Lyle Anderson, a tribal member who controls 300,000 acres of great habitat.

Tips & Comments: South Dakota is a turkey hunter’s paradise. In addition to state tags, there are a number of reservations offering tags. A crazed turkey hunter could secure over 20 different tags, if he wanted to! Turkey hunting in South Dakota is partly a game of spot and stalk. You can spot turkeys from a mile or more away at times and make a stalk to within 100 or two-hundred yards and set-up. If you plan to undertake a “do-it-yourself” hunt I’d suggest doing your homework before you go. If you’re a first-timer to South Dakota or want to treat yourself to something special, I’d consider going to one of the South Dakota’s many hunting lodges. Double A Outfitters is reasonably priced, provides great accommodations, food and drink, and limitless habitat in which to hunt. Lyle Anderson, owner and former professional bronc-rider is a knowledgeable and entertaining guy, whose company I greatly enjoyed.

Special thanks go to:

Wyoming Sagebrush Safari

Wyoming Pronghorn

Location: Northeast of Farson, Wyoming. Farson, a site of one of the original Pony Express Stations, sits on the old trail (now Route 28) that leads east to South Pass, made famous by wagon trains heading west to California and Oregon. This is a lightly populated area with vast expanses of sagebrush and grasslands; ideal habitat for pronghorn and sage grouse.

Access: Much of the land in this part of Wyoming is controlled and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and it’s open to the public. There are a number of convenient access points. To learn more about accessing these public lands, please contact the BLM at http://www.wy.blm.gov/lfo/cultural/southpass.htm. And be sure to get their maps of the area, which will help you plan and carry out your hunt (http://plicmapcenter.org/WY/).

Best time to go: Wyoming’s general antelope rifle season usually begins between mid September and October 1st. I like to hunt as early in the season as possible. The weather can be very warm, even hot one day, and the next day it can snow (http://wy.weather-forecast.ws/farson.) Come early and be prepared for all sorts of weather.

License availability: Both resident and non-resident antelope tags are by lottery. Go the www.gf.state.wy.us to learn about the deadlines, downloading permit forms and other pertinent information. The cost of a non-resident permits start at $238.00. Applications are due by March 15th.

Recommended Equipment: Three pieces of equipment are paramount: good binoculars or spotting scope, you’ll be doing a great deal of glassing; good foot wear, chances are you’ll be walking miles each day; and a good flat shooting rifle, such as a .243, .25.06, .270, or .280. You can stay a motel and day hunt, or you can bring a tent or camper and camp close to your hunting grounds.

Cost: The most expensive part of this hunt, if you chose to do it yourself, will be the license and getting there. I suggest that you try and get a couple of friends together to share the driving and gas. You’d be surprised how reasonable and satisfying it can be to do a hunt like this on your own.

Tips & Commentary: Anybody in reasonable shape and with a desire can do a self-guided antelope hunt in Wyoming and many other western states. These critters inhabit large areas of public lands and in many western states, private lands are available to public access through walk-in programs. First thing you need to do is decide you want to do this hunt, then start your homework; get on the phone or Internet with agencies like BLM and State Fish & Game Depts. And before you know it, you’ll have a spot picked out. Then get a license, even if it takes a couple of tries. Be forewarned: antelope hunting out in the big wide-open is very addicting; once you do it, you’ll want to do it again and again.

Wyoming Sage Grouse:

Location: Pinedale, Wyoming. There’s a great deal of country around Pinedale, much of it publicly accessible BLM land. Many consider this part of Wyoming the sage grouses greatest stronghold. It is also home to the Green River Country, made famous by the fur trade rendezvous of the early 19th century. The area around Pinedale, with the exception of the areas being developed for oil and gas, is among the most beautiful in the west

Access: There are hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands out here. There’s more than you can hunt in a year, or even a lifetime. The only thing limiting your access is the number of miles you can walk. Get BLM maps before you begin your hunt and throw a couple of darts at them and start there.

Best time to go: Sadly, sage grouse, once one of the most populous game birds in the west, have seen their range and habitat greatly diminished. There are still plenty of birds in this area, but in an effort to assure them a bright future the season is short, only 10 days each year, with a 2 bird limit each day and four birds in possession. The season usually runs the last week of September and the first few days of October. Go to www.gf.state.wy.us for more information.

License availability: You can buy two-day non-resident licenses over the counter in Wyoming; they are among the most reasonable in the entire country. Mine cost $32. Check with Game & Fish for details at www.gf.state.wy.us

Recommended Equipment: Sage grouse are very big birds, some cocks can weigh-in at six or seven pounds; twice the size of a big cock pheasant, but they are far easier to bring down and kill. However, many shots are long; sage grouse often flush right on the edge of gun range. I use a sixteen gauge with size 6 shot, but any 20 gauge with heavy loads or preferably a 12 gauge with field loads will work. Bring good boots because sage grouse are where you find them; sometimes a few hundred yards off the road, and sometimes six miles from the truck! Also bring a vest capable of carrying lots of water. You’ll need it… especially if you have a dog with you.

Cost: The license is inexpensive, you can camp on public land for free or a small fee. You can stay in a local motel, in Pinedale or a nearby town, but be forewarned; prices are higher than one usually encounters in the rural west, because many workers, employed by energy companies, pass through the area on a regular basis.

Tips & Commentary: Sage grouse are not to be compared with our more commonly available game birds, especially those available on shooting preserves. These are truly wild birds, icons of the west, a bird of the purple sage, living where buffalo once roamed. They are rare, and they are by any measure a treasure and a trophy. Hunting them is far more about experiencing and enjoying a unique land, where the last vestiges of the Wild West can still be experienced. If you have a hankering to walk across sagebrush flats that looks the same as it did when the wagons passed a 150 years ago, and to shoot a wild trophy grouse, get yourself to Wyoming in late September. And if you see a guy with a Brittany out in the middle of one of those flats… it just might be me. I’d trade fifty pheasants for one of these grand American birds!