Rog's Rod & Nimrod

When Ice fishing, I hope and assume that you will never go alone and that you will tell your spouses/parents/ friends where you are going and give them an expected time of return. You will be wearing a flotation device, and you will have ready access to ice picks. I think taking a length of rope with a throwable handle is a good idea. The winter 2020 edition of S.D. Game, Fish, and Parks Conservation Digest contains a piece of advice by Chris Hull I never thought about. It is huge! When you go through the ice, pulling yourself out while your body is dangling perpendicular to the ice might require more energy than you or I possess.

To quote Hull: “Once you are calm, holding on to the edge of the ice, start flattening out your body by kicking your feet in a swimming motion. Once your body is flat, use your ice picks to start pulling you out. Keep kicking your feet while crawling.” Wow! Thanks Chris.

I feel strongly about this. Of all the assets we South Dakotans have outdoors wise, our ice fishing might be the greatest. It is an awesome social/family activity, and freshly caught fish from that cold water just can’t be beat.

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If you really enjoy deer hunting, and you are frustrated when you don’t draw your unit of choice, consider using the second choice option that SDGF&P offers. Let me give you some of my personal past history on this matter.

In the early 80’s, I could draw my home Charles Mix County tag every time I applied. By 1990, it wasn’t a sure thing any more. Through the 90’s I enjoyed some great hunts in “second choice” Jerauld County. Yes, we had friends and relatives in Jerauld, but I also had good luck knocking on doors. That was then. Today all of the Jerauld County tags go in the first round. What about now?

In both 2018 and 2019, I failed to draw my first choice Charles Mix County tag, but I enjoyed great hunts in Brule County, my second choice. My East River Brule County tags were for “any whitetail.” In our somewhat immediate area, Buffalo County, along with Brule, usually have some left over “Second Choice” tags.

What about West River? In 2018, my partner, Mike Hall, and I failed in our First and Second choice bids for Corson County tags. We went to the SDGF&P website and learned that Lyman County had some left over “any whitetail” tags. This time there were no relatives, but a Lyman rancher was kind enough to let us hunt after opening weekend. Mike shot a beautiful buck.

I believe that in the near future, because of our growing population, left over “any whitetail” tags in our somewhat immediate area may become a thing of the past. However, left over “antlerless whitetail” tags might be available for a long time to come. To ensure this, I’d like to see our SDGF&P refrain from the double tags and make more individual antlerless tags available.

A doe hunt is still a hunt. Pack your camera and “shoot” some of those bucks you see. Also, that doe venison is just as good, if not better, than that buck venison. In 2018, had Mike and I not drawn the left over “any whitetail” tags for Lyman County, we had already agreed to go for left over Tripp County doe tags in the third round. We still would have enjoyed hunting new country and visiting with new rancher friends.

Now is the time to think about what I have just said. Go to the SDGF&P website and see where the left over tags were this past 2019 season. They break it down unit by unit. When someone moans to me that they couldn’t deer hunt this past season, I’ll tactfully tell them that they failed to explore all of their options.

I see by SDGF&P news release that additional SD units have yielded deer that tested positive for CWD or Chronic Waste Disease. This is bad news indeed.

See you next week.