yeoman

Pale Rider, I've gone to DeSmet the last two years for waterfowl in conjunction with the pheasant opener. I'd suggest going a week or two later for several reasons. 1) lots of local ducks early, mostly gadwalls and teal, but mallard numbers and shootablility improve later. More geese later also. 2) lots of unpicked corn early. All the pheasants were in standing corn this year, nearly impossible to get 'em out. Later, with more picked, the birds are in shelter belts and around slews. Most of the walk in areas and waterfowl improvment projects have this kind of cover. I'd also strongly suggest going where the water is for ducks. Rainfall varies considerably across the state. This year, 50% of the potholes we hunted the year before were dry, the rest very low. Bad news. Your decoys are in the water, 30 yards away from the nearest cover. Your shooting suffers badly and you'll loose cripples. Also, when you have water, the bouyancy you get in chest waders allows you to wade most of the sloughs even though the bottom is mud. Without the bouyancy, it's a quagmire. I think in the future I'll go to North Dakota. You can hunt pheasants in the morning there which you can not in South Dakota. If waterfowling is a bust, as it was this year, you get two prime times a day to hunt pheasants. Just a thought. good luck!