Hunting and Fishing

The thousands of acres of ranchland and public lands around Belle Fourche are not only home to cattle and sheep, but they are also home to a diverse crop hunting. From whitetails and mule deer and antelope to upland game birds and waterfowl, hunters have plenty of animals to pursue.

Antelope offer hunters opportunities to hunt the fastest mammal in North America. Each year, when the West River deer season opens — traditionally in mid-November — hunters head to the nearby ranches and walk-in areas in hopes of taking one of the large mulies or whitetails that feed in the alfalfa fields or sagebrush draws. Butte County is home to some of the largest mule deer in the country with the No. 8 ranked mule deer killed in 2008 and one of the largest deer killed in South Dakota with a muzzleloader a few years later.

While the majority of hunters chasing deer around Butte County are seeking a large mule deer, the whitetail population is still high and large bucks can be frequently found.

While South Dakota’s central and eastern counties are home to the heart of pheasant country, a hearty population of pheasants call Butte County home. The birds can be found in the same type of areas as they would in prime pheasant habitat — near corn, in cattails, in tree rows, and in alfalfa fields. Sharptail grouse can also be hunted.

Large turkey populations also give hunters a chance at providing the bird for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. At many of the area lakes and stock ponds waterfowl can be abundant. The numbers of birds are not nearly what hunters can find along the Missouri River or in the eastern part of the state, but success can be found especially in creeks that remain open long after the flat water freezes over. Belle Fourche is home to one of the largest bodies of water in the state — the Belle Fourche Reservoir. Fishermen use the shores, their boats, and the ice to bring home their daily catch of walleye and other fish. When the walleye spawn, the dam becomes alive with fishermen trying to catch the big one. Catfish and bass can also be found in the large body of water that has filled to near capacity in recent years after nearly a decade of drought. Other nearby lakes and ponds, in addition to the Redwater River, are home to prime fishing as well.