I am just curious about just how many bucks some one is willing to spent to shoot those critters..... and what is expected on a good hunt.....per day $.. food?..etc....
Thanks.....

Like the undergarments, it "Depends". I live a heckuva long ways from South Dakota, and I don't want to drive out there and NOT have a place to shoot, so I use a guide service. I try to get "the package deal" they offer, as it's usually the best price.

Last trip, it cost each of us $475, for three nights lodging, all meals (and we ate like KINGS!) and two days shooting. We also tipped the guide $20 each day, and had to buy our licenses on the Rosebud, which was $42, if I remember right. It's a heckuva lot cheaper than a trip to Florida....................

I've used a service on the Rosebud proper, it cost $375 for two days shooting and three nights lodging, food NOT included, and it was a pain to find a place to eat without driving 50 miles one way, and we still had tips and licenses to buy, so overall, the the "new" place was about the same, dollar wise. Nicer accomodations, too.

You can spend more, or a lot less, depending on where you go. I went with a guy who goes to SD on one trip, OK on another, and CO on yet a third trip, (he's retired and gets around a LOT), he thinks the SD trips are a bargain. As with anything, shopping around is the key. Check in The Varmint Hunter Magazine, or online, for good deals, or check out the official VHA website and they might have some tips for you.
I ain't giving out my honey hole, last time I did that, I got crowded out completely.

We didn't shoot as much ammo as on previous trips, but we killed a lot more dogs (conditions were better, less wind) and we each shot perhaps 200 rounds a day, maybe a bit more. It varies with the service, we were a bit late in the year, and the towns HAD been shot on previously) That's the rub, you can go out mid May, and MAYBE the weather will be kind, or it might snow on you, or go out in mid June, and get burnt up in 100+ degree heat. You never know about SD weather.

Hey Thanks Glenn.. I'm kicking around the idea of taking some shooters out this spring......
Thanks again...

I go every year to SD to shoot PD in June and I am in NJ
This will be my 6th trip coming this June
It is 3 days of shooting with all meals and lodging
Cooking is really good and accomodations are outstanding
You can fly or come in the PM the day before .
If you fly, as I do, they pick you up at the airport and drive you to their very well accomodated lodge
They have thousands of acres to shoot and you go to a different site each day that has not been shot at for over a week if at all.
They supply all large shooting benches and rests
Depending on the style of rifle you can shoot from 150 to 250 + shots a day
Always pleanty of targets
Then they drive you back to the airport the next day in the AM after the 3rd day of shooting
All the food and drink you wish included and it is all good
Price is $1200 +/-
Bad River Birds and Bucks in Draper SD
They have an internet site

We don't use guides. The upside of not using a guide is the big cost savings. My biggest expense is gas. Driving 800-900 miles one way and then the miles put on looking for the dogs on private property. You must allow time to find these spots and have some ideas on where you're going ahead of time. At times we've hit on a good spot on day one, other times it has taken a day or two before we've found "the spot". Good spots seem to get harder to find each year although we generally find at least one real honey hole that provides for multiple hundreds of rounds to be fired by each of us in a single day, can't always count on it though. It takes a lot of PD's to keep 4 guys busy all day long.

If we use the current price of gas

round trip of 422 miles, maybe slightly less

about $50

plus 450 rds. of ammo

everything else (food, place to sleep) I have to have anyway. My sister doesn't charge me to sleep in her house and I bring my own food, snacks, beer, water. The accomodations don't get much better than that.

Hey Gunsmoke, where in the country would you be taking folks? My buddies and I are always trying to find guides. We have a place in western Kansas, but we're not sure how long it's gonna last. The landowner is being forced to poison, plus the guy is getting up there in age, and we're not sure what's going to happen if he cannot continue. His current rate is $150 per day per hunter. He supplies a cabin, and some hamburger meat, and we supply everything else. He shows us around, and then just let's us come and go on our own and hunt at our own pace checking up on us every evening.

Having done it several ways, guided/unguided/lodge/motel/food included/restaurants and camping, I now go unguided, stay in motels (nothing like a shower and a good clean rack at the end of the day), eat one restaurant meal a day and energy bars, oatmeal, and out of the cooler for the other two meals. It runs me about $75/day for everything including gas but not ammunition. And I've never been happier.

If you come by yourself its free. Bring friends and there isn't enough money to be found...........