well, we had a lot of snow this winter, but a fairly dry spring as far as rainfall goes. there is plenty of water (so ducks will be great), but it's not as bad as it was first thought to be.<P>as far as access goes...i refuse to pay to hunt. my uncle owns a farm near me, but it doesn't take long to shoot that up, so it's off to public land. brule co. has some pretty large tracts of public land, where the bonus is that there is a healthy grouse population, too. lyman county is the same as brule. both are easy to get to (i-90), but the hunting is tough as it is river-bluffs. just about all public land east of brule county is very small, and overrun opening weekend. to the north, which had a pheasant population explosion last year, is very wet this year, and the hunting will probably be pretty cool this year. anything further west than lyman county (mo. river) are likely to be difficult to find pheasants, but grouse should be easy.<P>as far as trespass fees go...i'm not positive, but i believe some farmers are getting $100/gun/day. if you wait until later in the season when the initial craze goes away, access is usually easy. just knock and ask, and drop a bird off on your way out. a hint: get ahold of a car w/ sd plates...there are a ton of slob hunters, and most of them drive vehicles w/ out-of-state plates, or sioux falls plates.<P>i rarely fish, and if i do it is for catfish, so i don't have any firsthand reports of oahe. guys at work spend all weekend there, and they claim fishing is pretty good, w/ most of the walleyes being caught in deep water!
