# South Dakota and Wyoming Black Hills Success.



## ChattNFHunter (May 27, 2016)

So, as some of you guys know, I took a trip to South Dakota and Wyoming to chase Merriam's turkeys in the black hills national forest.  This little scheme came to mind way back in last fall.  I made the plans and enlisted a friend to make the trip with me.  We both participated in Graduation at UGA on May 12 and 13 and then I came home on the 14th to pack and prepare to head out.  We packed all day and ran to the store to buy last minute food and supplies.  We loaded everything into plastic tubs and duct taped the lids down.  We shipped off on the 24-hour drive to Rapid City, SD at 9:30 PM on the 14th, 30 minutes ahead of schedule!  I have made a habit of leaving at that time in order to allow us to drive through familiar territory during the dark and be able to see new sights throughout the day. We swapped driving after every tank of gas, which took 4 tanks I believe.  We also made a pit stop in Sioux Falls, SD to see the water falls at the park.  24 hours after leaving North Georgia, we found ourselves parked at the end of a forest service road, with a barbwire gate and a sign that says "please close the gate", watching deer and bull elk in a small meadow with a stream running through it.  South Dakota has a tremendous deer herd.  Deer are seriously like squirrels, armadillos, or opossums are here.  we actually got to a point where we didn't even mention deer when we saw them.  We saw well over 100 per day.
  Anyways, we attempted to roost a bird that night before our first day hunting, but there were none gobbling.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all quite cold and windy and this didn't help with gobbling activity.  However, after taking the afternoon off one Tuesday and visiting Devil's Tower, we were able to spot a gobbler on a hillside with a couple of hens.  We watched their direction of travel for a few minutes, then made a move to get in front of them.  It worked like a charm.  Hardly even had to call before they were in our lap and my buddy harvested the first bird of the trip in the Black Hills of Wyoming.  






















After cleaning the bird and going into Sundance for dinner, we checked the weather and sure enough, Thursday through Sunday were predicted to be much warmer.  We spent Wednesday morning in Wyoming to no avail and headed out for South Dakota/Wyoming State line to finish off the week.  Wednesday night I hiked into a spot and found where someone had killed a bird that day!  We opted to try another spot that hadn't been worked so hard.  Thursday morning, we woke up at the end of a Forest Service Rd in South Dakota and we eased out the road stopping and locator calling.  It only took about three stops to find a bird roosted about 150 yards off the road over a gulch.  We slipped in as close as we dared, but after gobbling several times on the roost, he flew down and went silent.  He had some hens with him that just wouldn't come to my calling.  
  We left and ran into some local men and talked to them for a good while, and they shared with us a location to try.  We got to the road at about 9:30 and started driving out the road stopping and calling every 75 yards or so.  About half way down the road I finally struck a bird just off the side.  We made a move down the road and into the draw he was in.  We set up and I called.  He gobbled but far away.  I called some more and he gobbled again but was farther away.  I realized he was trying to work the other direction around the hill side we started on.  We jumped up and sprinted to the road and ran back to the truck and then beyond it.  We ran down a small ridge and got WAY in front of the bird.  I finally stopped, caught my breath, and called.  He was WAY behind us! We started walking straight toward the bird, but used the contour of the land to hide ourselves. We walked about 80 yards set up and called.  He gobbled and was closer, but there was another lead between us, so we moved another 60 yards closer to make the top of that lead only about 50 yards in front of our set up.  The bird gobbled and got closer every time.  Finally, I saw that white tipped fan walking along the top of the lead.  He walked down the lead a ways and then turned and walked diagonal back up the lead.  At this point I could se his whole body.  He never broke any farther than 3/4 strut the whole way in and he would have walked all the way to my tree, but something happened in my brain and I just decided to shoot that bird at 40 yards.  I dropped him like a stone and the celebration started!



















 











After the picture taking session, lunch, and cleaning the bird, we decided to forget my Wyoming tag and head South to the Hill City area where we were told there would be the largest population of turkeys.  We spent the majority of the day in Spearfish, Sturgis, Deadwood, and then Hill City.  We finally pulled onto the Forest Service road at about two hours before dark.  My buddy pulled over and decided to do an owl hoot just because he was “feeling it”.  Three birds fired back and we went after them.  Long story short, they were a gobbler and two jakes we believe but we pushed too close and they were coming our way without us knowing and they saw us and eased off.  We went on out the road and just before dark, I was “feeling it” in another spot and sure enough, one gobbled to an owl hoot on the roost.  We had two options for Friday morning!  Morning came and we had a good game plan for the bird we roosted, however, he wasn’t actually where we though he was.  You would be surprised how far a gobble can carry in those hills.  We made the adjustment and had a small field between us and the birds roost.  He was probably 150 yards away.  Never in my life have I heard a bird gobble that much.  He gobbled over 120 times on the roost and then flew down, in our direction, and gobbled another 143 times on the ground before he finally headed off another direction and a 4-wheeler came through and ended the whole thing.  I know the bird gobbled 263 total times because I videoed it and we watched it back and counted!  
  We left there and struck two more birds but couldn’t get them to come in either.  I think they spotted us trying to set up both times, one serious problem when running and gunning with a truck.  
  Saturday was our last morning to hunt and we headed back before noon.  We got back in the same spot as the previous morning, hoping that bird would be roosted in the same general area.  However, he was roosted across a large pasture to the East that was private property.  We had no way to get around the pasture without trespassing so we just sat and listened hoping he would fly down into the field and come across to us.  Another bird sounded off down the ridge across the pasture too.  They both flew down and moved to the top and over the ridge.  We made an attempt to get around to them with the truck, but it was too muddy from the previous night’s storm and we elected to be content with our two birds and head for home before we stuck the truck!  
    This turkey hunt was incredible!  The scenery, the wildlife, the success, the friendship, all of it culminated into a trip to remember for the rest of my life.  I hope to continue this traveling turkey hunting as I am now addicted!  Thanks to the forum members who helped me out and gave some pointers (Gut_Pile, Covehnter, and sman)  All of your advice was greatly appreciated and helpful!  Hope y’all enjoy the pictures and the read if you could stomach it!  Wish I had more pictures to share, but my phone memory was almost full and I don’t have a good camera yet.


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## cr00241 (May 27, 2016)

Congrats on graduation and a successful trip out west. Beautiful pictures and birds!


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## padula54321 (May 27, 2016)

Great trip!


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## turkeykirk (May 27, 2016)

Congraulations on a great trip!


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## NUTT (May 27, 2016)

Congrats on some great success! Nice pics


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## Gut_Pile (May 27, 2016)

Awesome! I've been looking forward to this post. Glad yall found success. Also, congrats on graduating!!!


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## Timber1 (May 27, 2016)

Beautiful piece of the world for sure.
Thanks for the photos and story.


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## ryanwhit (May 27, 2016)

Congratulations!!  The West is a wonderful place to turkey hunt, and the turkeys are gorgeous.  Glad you had a great trip.


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## sman (May 27, 2016)

Beautiful birds and country! It's like the good Lord put an extra touch out that way.  Great pics! Pretty fans on those birds! Congrats!


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN (May 27, 2016)

Awesome man!! Congrats!


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## 01Foreman400 (May 27, 2016)

Congrats!


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## wvdawg (May 27, 2016)

Great story and pics!  Congrats!  Love the fan pics at Rushmore!


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## Swamperdog (May 27, 2016)

Great story and pics!  My son starts at UGA in the fall.  We may have to plan a graduation trip like that in 4 years!


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## Tnhunter (May 27, 2016)

Congrats and great story! I am wanting to do that trip.


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## Curtis-UGA (May 27, 2016)

Congrats! Really enjoyed the read and pics!!


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## Gaswamp (May 29, 2016)

wow, what a graduation gift/trip.


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## Arrowhead95 (May 30, 2016)

Congratulations on a great trip.


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## Covehnter (May 31, 2016)

Congratulations on what sounds like a phenomenal trip! It's those first trips to new, strange territory that open your eyes to what's really available to a turkey hunter. It'll be up to you now as to how much of it you want to see. It's a disease. 

I remember my first trip to the Black Hills like it was yesterday. It was one of my first onto strange ground. It's one of those "have to" places for a turkey hunter. 

Congrats again!


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## ChattNFHunter (Jun 2, 2016)

Thanks Cove and you are right!  There really is a lot available to turkey hunters out there!  Turkey hunting licenses seem to be a good bit cheaper than deer or other big game licenses in most states.  In reality a trip like this split between two people can be very cheap if you are able to fore-go a hotel.  We did the whole trip for about $1300 including gas, licenses, food, and one night in a hotel (everything).  We could have shaved it down to about $1000 if we had tried a little harder.  Split it between two people and that is a 7 or 8 day hunt for $500 - $650.  I mean really that is quite affordable. Only catch is having a 4wd reliable vehicle, and putting about 4,000 miles on it lol. 


I promise you I'll be doing more trips like that in the future! I appreciate the kind words guys and I encourage those of you thinking about doing a similar trip to go ahead and do it.  You won't regret it and the planning and anticipation is almost as fun as going... if you like maps and google earth as much as I do.


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## deerslayer357 (Jun 7, 2016)

Looks like an awesome trip!  I went to North Dakota pheasant hunting last October for the first time and I can't wait to plan a trip for turkey hunting!


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## Jcurtis4 (Apr 2, 2017)

Just read this Caleb, great job and story hope y'all get to go
Again and have success like that this year.


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## Echo (Apr 3, 2017)

Wow! Looks like ya'll had an incredibly good hunt and trip - Congrats on the fine Tom's!


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## Nicodemus (Apr 3, 2017)

Congratulations on a great hunt in a magical place. I can understand why the Oglala loved the area so much and why they considered it a sacred land.


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