South Dakota hunting sites?

[patrickhudson]

I’m driving back to Montana from Kansas this weekend and wanted to stop in South Dakota or eastern Montana to do some quick Dino hunting.  Does anyone have any advice for the badlands area or western Montana?  Preferably the badlands area.  I heard you can just surface hunt in the badlands national park, but wanted to see what you guys had to say.  Kind of a broad area. 
thanks 

[connorp]

I don’t believe there is such thing as “quick Dino hunting.” My understanding is that almost all public land out West is managed by the BLM, and the collection of vertebrate fossils is not allowed on BLM land. The rest is private land which you would have a very hard time getting permission to collect on.

[smt126]

Yea all the pay to dig spots in Montana shut down for the season and illegal to collect on public land. There are lots of invertebrate spots to hunt though.

[Troodon]

Unfortunately the only opportunity most have to collect dinosaurs in SD is through private pay to dig groups unless you are fortunate to have access to private land.  Its also illegal to surface collect in Badlands National Park but a cool place to visit.  Its not a place to typically find dinosaur material, the deposits around Rapid City are 35 myo.  The Black Hills Institute, SD School of Mines and especially the Carter County Museum(MT) are great places to see Dinosaurs around the Rapid City region.

[jpc]

"I heard you can just surface hunt in the badlands national park, but wanted to see what you guys had to say. "

 

NO NO NO and NO.  This is a National Park.  The most restrictive of all landowner situations. remember this National Park motto from years ago:  "Take only pictures, leave only footprints".  

 

As for a Quick Dino trip, as connorp mentioned, not that easy unless you have a landowner all set up to let you on already and have an established site on said land.  In which case you wouldn't be asking us.  : )

[patrickhudson]

5 minutes ago, jpc said:

"I heard you can just surface hunt in the badlands national park, but wanted to see what you guys had to say. "

 

NO NO NO and NO.  This is a National Park.  The most restrictive of all landowner situations. remember this National Park motto from years ago:  "Take only pictures, leave only footprints".  

 

As for a Quick Dino trip, as connorp mentioned, not that easy unless you have a landowner all set up to let you on already and have an established site on said land.  In which case you wouldn't be asking us.  : )

I’m confused.  I was just on a badlands site, and it talked all about how you can surface hunt, and if you find something they encourage you to fill out a form.  It talks about the best layers to find, where to go, etc 

[patrickhudson]

4 minutes ago, patrickhudson said:

I’m confused.  I was just on a badlands site, and it talked all about how you can surface hunt, and if you find something they encourage you to fill out a form.  It talks about the best layers to find, where to go, etc 

 

[FossilDAWG]

I think there is a big difference between "discovering" fossils and actually collecting fossils.  There is nothing wrong with looking for fossils and, say, photo-collecting them.  However on land owned by the federal government (BLM, Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and especially the National Park Service) you cannot collect vertebrate fossils (not even shark teeth) at all.  The same is true of state-owned land.  You can collected limited amounts of invertebrate or plant fossils on BLM or National Forest land (except for designated protected research localities) but not on any land controlled by the park service.

 

Don

[Troodon]

Following comment's made on these sites:

 

"Public fossil hunting is allowed in South Dakota. Keep your eyes peeled, it is possible to find fossils just lying on the ground or on an exposed rock face.  That being said, if it’s on public land it either belongs to the state of South Dakota or the United States. Unless you have permission from the landowner, staging your own dinosaur fossil dig isn’t allowed." 

"If you find a fossil, take a picture of it.  Note the location.  If you can get a GPS location, that is amazing.  But get as much info as you can."  Paleontologists are available to explore the find when reported.

 

Read about it:

https://nationalparkobsessed.com/fossil-hunting-in-badlands/

Edited July 10, 2020 by Troodon

[patrickhudson]

On 7/10/2020 at 11:45 AM, FossilDAWG said:

I think there is a big difference between "discovering" fossils and actually collecting fossils.  There is nothing wrong with looking for fossils and, say, photo-collecting them.  However on land owned by the federal government (BLM, Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and especially the National Park Service) you cannot collect vertebrate fossils (not even shark teeth) at all.  The same is true of state-owned land.  You can collected limited amounts of invertebrate or plant fossils on BLM or National Forest land (except for designated protected research localities) but not on any land controlled by the park service.

 

Don

Agreed 

thanks for all the replies 

I needed up walking the national park a bit just looking around.  Bones are a bit different out there compared to Montana.  Thought I saw some saber jaws, but I think they were just oreodont jaws.  
fun, and pretty nonetheless