South Dakota pheasant and buffalo hunting are just two of Jim River Guide Service's specialties. We also offer predator/coyote hunting, prairie dog hunting, archery whitetail deer hunting, and fishing.

Jim River Guide Service is located in the game rich area of South Dakota known as the James River Valley. We are located within a one hour drive of the Aberdeen Regional Airport and the Huron Regional Airport. These airports can accommodate all of your luggage, including ice chests, dogs, weapons, etc. We are located at Mellette, South Dakota.

I am a full time outfitter, not a rancher or other businessman that outfits part time.

I and/or my wife go on at least one guided hunt every year so I know what it is like to be the "client".

I take very few clients. That means I only have to find a few exceptional trophies to have a great success and great average trophy score.

WHEN RESEARCHING A HUNT, YOU SHOULD ASK TO SPEAK WITH ALL OF THE CLIENTS WHO HUNTED THE SAME TIME YOU ARE CONSIDERING HUNTING THE PREVIOUS
YEAR. IT IS FOOLISH TO CONSIDER BOOKING A HUNT WITH AN OUTFITTER BEFORE YOU SPEAK WITH HUNTERS WHO HAVE HUNTED THE SAME TIME AND PLACE DURING THE
PREVIOUS SEASON. IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW AHEAD OF TIME WHAT YOU ARE GETTING FOR YOUR MONEY. I AM PROUD OF THE ATTENTION I GIVE MY CLIENTS
BEFORE,DURING, AND AFTER THE HUNT. MOST IMPORTANTLY, DON'T CONSIDER BOOKING A HUNT WITH ANYONE WHO IS NOT WILLING TO SEND YOU THE NAMES AND
NUMBERS AND/OR EMAIL ADDRESSES OF "ALL" OF THE CLIENTS FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

I offer guided archery-only hunts on about 15,000 acres of private ground. I also offer guided rifle hunts on thousands of acres of private land. These hunts are offered in very small numbers and sell out early. You will find my conservation strategies provide hunting with great opportunities and great trophies, year after year. It is realistic to expect chances at buck deer every day. Bucks with PY/BC scores of 120-140, although we see bigger bucks regularly, would be a reasonable expectation on an archery hunt. Rifle hunters should expect a little better. Our mule deer can get up to 170-180 Boone & Crockett.

We have had the Chinese Ringneck Pheasant inhabiting this area for nearly 100 years. They have flourished and become one of the most successful game transplants ever. After experiencing several mild winters, the pheasant population in our area has grown to be the best ever! Pheasant hunting is great. Spink County is once again the Pheasant Capitol of the World. Brown County and Spink County are the #1 and #2 pheasant producing counties in the United States. I live on the Brown/Spink County border!

We focus our pheasant hunting business towards two groups of hunters. Day hunters arrive at our farm/ranch to hunt one or two days on our land, with or without our dogs. We can accept large numbers of hunters this way due to the thousands of acres of land we operate on. We ask that you contact us as early as possible to book your dates as we do fill up.

The second type of hunter that we cater to is the full service hunter. The full service hunters typically spend 3-5 days hunting with us. We can pick you up at the airport or you can drive right to our front door. We provide you with lodging, food, lunches, and atmosphere to go along with everything we provide for our day hunters. All groups will have at least one guide to help put you on birds. We are concerned for you and your safety! You can bring your own dogs or we will provide dogs with our guides. You will have a great time.

Some of today's outdoorsmen have the urge to take one of America's largest plains animal. . . the American Bison! Jim River Guide Service provides an avenue to accomplish this. Bison, sometimes called buffalo, provide gorgeous mounts, extremely warm rugs, and excellent, lean table fair.

Buffalo are very big and extremely hearty. For this reason, we recommend a caliber of 30-06 as a minimum with a .300 Winchester Magnum as a better choice. Heavier calibers also work well.

Due to the nature of buffalo hunting, no license is required and success is guaranteed. Jim River Guide Service will do everything we can to ensure you an enjoyable experience with excellent photos, video, meat, and rug/head mount. It is essential to book the trip to take place in the months of November, December, January or February. Our experience has shown us that those are the best months for tanning the hide or cape.

Predator hunting is a great way for outdoors enthusiasts to spend time in the field when there are no other seasons open. It can also be the most exciting time an individual can spend in the field.

Jim River Guide Service offers a great variety of predator hunting options. We hunt for coyote, red fox and raccoon. On our western hunts that take place in western states, you may also get a chance at gray fox, bobcat, cougar or black bear.

All hunts include lodging, meals, lunches, transportation from/to airport, excellent guide, caller, and transportation in the field.

You can hunt predators year round with Jim River Guide Service. Certain months are more productive than others, but there is always a great chance for action. As with the other hunts that I offer, I try to video the action in the field to go onto my annual videos. The first annual video is currently in production and will be available shortly.

Calling predators is challenging and exciting. I use several brands of electronic game calls when calling predators but find I have better luck with mouth blown calls. I am in the call making business and use Jim River Game Calls exclusively for this purpose. I have great results with them and my clients/customers have great results using them on their home hunting turf as well. They really work for those "tough to call in animals". I've personally called in red fox, bobcats, coyotes, wolves, grizzly bears, lynx, deer, and crows for myself and for my clients using these calls! Many of my clients and customers have seen the same great results with these calls on everything from deer to bobcats. If you would like to try any or all of these calls, contact me by e-mail or phone or go to www.jimrivergamecalls.com and purchase them online using PayPal. I will get them sent to you right away so you can see for yourself.

Spring snow goose hunting on the central flyway is becoming a major attraction in South Dakota. Every year we have hundreds of thousands of snows and blues come through this area on their annual migration north and south. The geese make their way through the James (Jim) River Valley usually in February, March, April, and May. We hunt them by decoying them into grain fields, jumpshooting them off of water or fields, and pass shooting them between fields. The legal use of electronic calls is a great asset to the spring season. The most exciting shoots take place over decoys but I try not to limit myself by committing to one specific method of hunting. I hunt on thousands of acres of land and feel that is one of the keys to getting clients in on some great shooting. I have dogs or you can bring your own. The package includes lodging, meals, guide, dogs, etc. You can find pictures of my headquarters here on my website. Layout blinds conceal the hunters in most cases. Safety is always number one on the priority list with having fun a very close second.

South Dakota antelope numbers are back in full force! After the winter-kill of the late 1990's, the antelope have made a great comeback and licenses are being offered in great numbers, promising many great years of hunting trophy antelope in the future. I've been hunting deer, prairie dogs, and coyotes on these rangelands and have seen a great comeback in numbers and quality, and I am looking forward to harvesting some great animals this fall. Hunting South Dakota is a dream of many sportsmen. A combo hunt for several species offers the best bang for your buck. When picking an outfitter, you should look for someone you can trust and someone with a great track record. I bring both to the table and would really like to show you how hunting with a full-time outfitter is superior to hunting with the part-time guys.

The antelope hunts are offered in three day and five day packages. All hunts include lodging, meals, trophy prep, airport pick-up, if needed, transportation in the field, and an experienced guide to guide you through thousands of acres of private ground that is breathtaking to look at and awesome to hunt on. As with any hunting, the longer you spend in the field, the better your changes of harvesting a bigger trophy.

Other species that may be included on combo hunts are trophy archery whitetail and mule deer, prairie dogs, and coyotes. If you would like a custom combo hunting package including any of these species, contact me for pricing and availability.

South Dakota prairie dog hunting is legendary. I have heard reports stating that South Dakota has more prairie dogs than the rest of the country combined. To the South Dakota prairie dog hunter, that means an awful lot of long range target shooting!

Prairie dogs offer sportsmen countless hours of entertainment. We can set up within 200 yards of prairie dog towns or set up out past 500 yards for a real long range challenge. You can expect shots of less than 100 yards to as far as you can see. Either way, prairie dog shooting is an excellent way to sharpen all of your shooting skills that you will need when you go after that big buck this fall, settle in for that 400 yard shot on your elk across the canyon, or prepare yourself for that 100 yard shot on the great Alaskan Grizzly/Brown Bear. The best practice a person can do for your dream hunts is taking shots at game at varying distances.

Prairie dogs are small targets that will stand still, often times give you a few chances, and seem to replenish themselves as the day goes on. I keep the pickup close by with your gear and refreshments in the cooler. We don't drink alcohol while shooting but you are more than welcome when the day is done. I also provide tarps to lay on for prone shooting and benches for bench rest shooting.

We will stay in hotels in local towns on these hunts. I hunt on several ranches with towns ranging in size from dozens to thousands. The advantage to this becomes evident when summer storms or other weather systems come through and force the prairie dogs to "hole-up" for the day. It makes your whole trip when we can pull up stakes and move 100 miles to shoot at dog towns that are not getting pounded with rain or experiencing very windy conditions. This move will often only take 2 hours and you will be right back to doing what you came here for...shooting South Dakota Prairie Dogs.

You can add predator hunting to the prairie dog package at no cost. We will typically go after the coyotes at first and last light. The midday hours will be saved for prairie dog shooting.

Bring your buddies and plenty of shells. We have a lot of shooting to do!

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