drhntr178

Making my first trip to the black hills. Any tips, suggestions, or recommendations? I am looking to hunt around Custer, is that a good area? Also, are ATVs a good idea?

Adrian J Hare

Custer , is a good place to start and better in the early season. The hills is one of the only hunting locations that weather can play a factor with your hunt. Early season can turn very fast and a snow fall can shut you down in no time or at the leased limmited your travel. Hunting the hills is a great experence for any turkey hunter and you I'm sure will love it there. Calls for the hills is more of the same type of calls that you would normally use where you hunt now, the only difference is that it is a good Idea to have a couple of calls with Volume. Boat Paddle Box calls or tube calls are great for getting your sound out across some distance of land to strike a bird and work him into a normal calling location that your regular calls will work better.

Not sure on the ATV question , I found there is lots of roads that one can travel on with a truck and it would be far superier then a ATV.

Merriams , tend to travel and fast , so being in shape is a good idea as the air volume is low and can play with you on the first few days of the hunt. There is lots of area to cover in that location , so you won't be short land to hunt...BT

ultimag

Custer isa good place to start make sure you bring clothes for the cold and snow and also for mild weather you can have either of these weather conditions from day to day bring some good binoculars you may spot aflock in the distance, determine the travel route and position ahead of them and setup this is agood tactic on merriams they like to travel so bring good boots like Adrian said bring a boxcall or alongbox with volume the country is big you should extend your stay and hunt the wyoming Black Hills also tags are over the counter and cost around 70 dollars asfor atv i have not hunted the S.D. black hills since they went to applications a few years back you might want contact S.D. fish and game i hunt Wy. black hills evry year and they shut down ATV use on many of their closed roads

drhntr178

Thanks for the tips. I am planning on going the 2nd week of season (April 16th-23rd), is this a good time to go? I could switch if it is a factor. Also, how easy is it to locate birds, i.e. gobbling or by glassing. One last thing, What can i expect as far as hunting pressure, i've never had to turkey hunt on public land.

ultimag

gobblers are going to be henned up you should not have any problems locating birds allot less pressure in the middle of the week I have found allot of people like to road hunt also that is not my cup of tea

Borch

We'll be out there that same general time period. It's hard to predict what phase the turkeys will be in in the hills. Weather has such an impact on them. Last time I went out the second week in May. The toms were terribly henned up. Often two or three toms with up to 40 hens in a group.

The guys ran into the same thing the end of April when they were out. Other years they weren't henned up at all. It's a crap shoot.

ranchand99

I might go too,I like a challenge.