Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Places to stay near Huron South Dakota

Looking for some dog friendly places to stay near Huron. Trying to plan a public land hunt with my buddy and our 2 dogs for 2025 opening week. My dog probably has about one maybe 2 mores years of hunting left. SD is on his bucket list so I gotta get him there once. Anyone know any pet friendly Hotels or Motels in the general area. If there's a better area to hunt with places to stay, I'm all ears. Iv'e been searching the intenet and apparently SD has a quite a few "pheasant capitals of the world" towns in it. I am looking to stay on the eastern side of the state since we are driving from PA. Any info would be greatly appreciated!! If you don't want to have all your secret spots all over the internet, feel free to PM me.

Thank you!

Have you considered this?

https://www.facebook.com/BirdDogBunkhouse57442/

It’s a little further than Huron but not much and is still East River.

My buddy and I probably aren’t the right people to be in a bed and breakfast. I appreciate the info.

Pheasant Hunting is a major business for the state. I think a large portion of the motels are hunter / dog friendly. so much so there are signs in the rooms asking you to not clean birds in the sink or bath tub etc. The bars / restaraunts in all the small towns are awesome, and pretty cheap. Just a couple years ago I had a soda, burger and chips and it was like $4.

Flyphishr

I sent you a PM

Got it.

Found a house to rent for the week!
Thanks!!

Glad you found a place to stay, opening week often requires reservations more than a year in advance in popular areas. The guys I hunted with a few weeks ago have the house reserved for the next three years as of now. Dog friendly places to stay are pretty much the norm that time of year.

I would make a couple suggestions though.

First, I would suggest a later date if possible. You will be dealing with far fewer other hunters for what public lands are available. It's been years since I've hunted the opener in any popular area no matter the state.

Second, early season weather can often be rather warm which can have a negative affect on the dog. Several years ago the weather was warm enough to cause a bloom of blue-green algae which caused a number of dogs to become ill as well as kill a few.

Third, there corn harvest is often in its early stages of harvest which gives pheasants plenty of safe places to hide during the day. This limits the opportunities one can have during the day.

Fourth, hunting hours start at noon the first week. It starts at 10:00AM about a week or so later. Those extra hours may or may not be a concern but I prefer to have as much opportunity as I can.

Lastly, the crop harvest, particularly corn, is further along which reduces the amount of cover (on private land) pheasants have to hide in. This can drive them on to public lands offering better opportunity. Catching the birds the day after harvest can make for some easy shots as the birds' are pretty confused by the loss of cover.

My first trip to SD typically ends just before Halloween. Even then many of the above problems can occur but they are lesser. I would prefer even later but I am a guest and have little input. A second group I hunt with does go later, in fact I just got home from their first trip of the season and most of the points mentioned above were moot though there is more ranching country than what is seen further east.

No matter, you should have a good time. The expectations of a couple guys is different and easier met than when in a larger group.

I'm going to take the advice of WOODMATER81 and change my dates to first week of Nov. Has anyone hunted the area east of Aberdeen near the James River??

Wouldn't be my first choice. Not even my tenth. More likely, year over year, to be in pheasants south and west of there. Pheasants can be spotty due to weather now, weather then, etc. In that country, you're taking more chances with your trip than you are farther south and west. YMMV.

[quote=BKinSD]Wouldn't be my first choice. Not even my tenth. More likely, year over year, to be in pheasants south and west of there. Pheasants can be spotty due to weather now, weather then, etc. In that country, you're taking more chances with your trip than you are farther south and west. YMMV.[/quote


When you say south and west, Would chamberlain and Winner be that area?

10 AM start time all season now.

We hunted opening weekend last year and fought standing crops all over. This year we went out the weekend of the 9th and while some were still unharvested, most were out. Every year is going to be different though.

Woodmaster81 is correct on all points prob especially for a nonresident. Acknowledging that weather is more of a Russian Roulette thing later on, “early” means more crops in, perhaps hot weather, and more competition, none of which is conducive to better hunting.

There will still be plenty of birds later on. Even more than “plenty”.

I’ve hunted Iowa and SD all my life..our group doesn’t even go to SD until mid-December.

I might not go that far but you can. It will all probably work out any where you go but Aberdeen wouldn't be my first pick. Neither anywhere east of I-29, including SF/Brookings/Watertown. People will shoot limits all the time in those areas but for people coming here from afar, I think its reasonable to put yourself in the best position possible for success at your time.

Its all a balancing act in terms of when you're going and where, and then what was the weather for the winter, the hatch, the summer storms and the harvest. Aberdeen/Brown County is a different climate than south and west (you'd probably have to live here to understand) and somewhat at the edge of the pheasant range going both east and west, you can't go north on the SD hunting license into ND, and so what do you do? You're kinda stuck. (Winner/Gregory is kinda the same thing but they have more favorable overall weather typically.)

Huron/Pierre/Mitchell/Chamberlain/Gettysburg would give you the ability if necessary to strike out 90 minutes in any direction to find birds, deal with the vagaries of a trip etc. The crops could be ahead/behind, summer storms might have struck or not, etc. You might find too many public land hunters etc.

It will all work out but giving yourself options/choices would be my advice.

Looking at the SD harvest report and its showing Brown and Beadle counties with the highest harvests in 2022 and 2023. Hoping it's somewhat accurate and not a bunch of liberals doing the counting. Anyway, I booked a house in Mansfield. That'll put me close to Brown and 1hr 15 to Huron area. I booked it for Nov 1st-8th. That's the latest I can take vacation from my work. Hopefully the coming weather will be favorable for the crops and the birds.

I applaud you for doing your research and hope it goes great. Good luck!