Fort Dodge Hunting

[Mississippi Mud Hunter]

Looks like you got the world by the short and curlys TH. Good luck with that.

Sound advice about staying in one school if you can. I went to 4, including SDSU, with a year off mixed in. My first semester was a nightmare academically largely due to being more concerned about hunting then being in class. Don't care what your doing now college is different.

It's been said there are 2 primary parts of the college experience, academics and your social life. Make it 3 if you add a sport. You can only be good at 2 of them.

For what it's worth I don't remember anyone even talking about deer anywhere around Brookings.

X2. The best advice I was given (and unfortunately did not follow) was from my coach in college:

Your a student athlete. There are 3 things you can do in college.

1. Academics
2. Athletics
3. Party

You cant do all three successfully.

I didn't think anything of it when my coach told me that my freshman year. But it is absolutely true and i didnt realize it until it was to late.

I was also a multi-sport athlete in college. Whether its academics or athletics, college is at a different level. You will make each experience your own by how much time and effort you put into it.

In the classroom, courses are more difficult and take way more time out of the classroom (study) to be successful, than any class in high school does.

On the field/pool/court, you were probably the best on your team, conference, state, etc. When you play collegiate athletics, every teammate and opponent was that elite player in high school. It will take a lot more time and practice to compete and be successful. ESPECIALLY trying to compete at a high level in multiple sports. Everyone played 4 sports in high school, so that's not a comparison to college.

You make this experience what you want it, in classroom or on the field. If you are competitor and want to compete and be successful in either, it will most definitely consume most of your free time.

That's just my opinion based on my experience. Just the fact that you asked this question (hunting around each school) most likely means your taking that into consideration with your decision, and you shouldn't. It would be a different story if you were just going to school for academics. Putting athletics into the equation will leave little time for hunting.

It sounds like either school you are considering are close enough to make it back during your breaks to get hunting in. If you have extended breaks.....most sports get to stay back for practice .

Enjoy your time in school!!! Have fun and stay on top of your academics. The best friends I have today are those who to college with and played athletics with. You have the rest of your life to enjoy the outdoors!!

Best of luck on your decision!

 

[MO-APE]

Good thing I'm part way to having an associates right out of high school and have been handling 12 college credits for two semesters just fine this year. Along with YMCA Swimming, High School Swimming, Club Swimming, Track, FFA, 4-H, Cross Country, USA Cross Country, AAU Track, USA Track, used to have band, jazz band, choir, plays, and everything else thrown on top and still seem to maintain a 3.98 Cumulative GPA while going to Kansas, Colorado, and Iowa to hunt. I think I'll be okay wherever I go, but thanks for the college advice guys! I'm asking about the hunting, not where to go to school.

TH, listen to the advice in these threads. I know you think you have everything figured out (I know I did at your age), but remember this in life - You have two ears and one mouth...learn to listen.

There are some guys with real world experiences offering some sound suggestions, no need to get flippant with them.

Now for some unsolicited advice - go to the four year school (assuming the financial picture is relatively equal for both). College will go by faster than you can ever imagine, being in one place for four years will allow you to dig deeper roots and form deeper friendships that will probably last forever.

As far as hunting goes, SD is an outdoorsman's paradise. It sounds like you have a decent whitetail farm in Iowa already, you will meet new people from SD that will have access to different habitats. Think about it...lions, sheep, goats, elk, mulies, merriam turkeys, whitetail and not to mention world class upland and waterfowl game.

 

[Central Iowa]

Personally I agree with this. I went to a college and played football in a town with limited outdoor opportunities (Fargo/Moorhead) kind of by design. Although it was only 45 minutes from great hunting and fishing, it allowed me to concentrate on school and sports. If I had went to say Bemidji State, where there is a huge classic walleye lake right off campus...well I don't know that would have been hard to focus. Then again, I was not a 3.98 GPA D) Good luck to you!

I did similar to get myself out of my element and away from my distractions, great advice if your easily distracted! But SD would definitely be a pull!

 

[hotshott2289]

im agreeing with everyone else..make choices based on your future life not on where the best hunting is.. and just a heads up college courses at college are a just a little bit harder than community college online classes.. just throwing that out there. make new friends and study hard. life is full of deer seasons.

 

[streitl]

Lots of good advice already given here TH. And if I was going to give you advice, I would echo many of the things that's already been written. But I won't give you advice because you didn't ask for it. Instead, to answer your question...

There is some good habitat around fort dodge. However, IMO there's more hunters than habitat. A lot of the public gets hit hard and so does much of the private ground. There are big deer shot there every year I know. But there is a fair amount of competition for real estate to hunt. There is significantly more upland habitat, but if you're not a bird hunter, then that doesn't have much draw. I don't know much about Brookings.

 

[Liv4Rut]

The best advice I can give you is go to SD, find the ranchers daughter whose daddy owns over 10,000 acres of great hunting land. (She don't have to be pretty if great land) Marry her, move back to Iowa, kill big deer every year and go back to SD every year to hunt various game.

Focus hard on doing good in college, get a good paying job you love, make a few babies to stay in the will and some day own a huge ranch in SD.

Good luck in whatever you decide!!!

 

[Booner]

The "butthole" of Iowa. Honest opinion, go to SD get out of Iowa and experience what else is out there. Sounds like you have a great foundation of hunting back home that you can easily come back to. Good thing about being a college student is your able to draw duel residency so coming home during the rut will be no problem if that's what your really worried about.

Fort Dodge is a terrible town, period. Many refer to it as "dirty dodge" for a reason. Not much hunting opportunities honestly outside of DM river corridor and that's hunted harder than single woman in a bar on a saturday night. There are big deer around but few and far between compared to God's country (south of highway 80). Good luck with your choice, if you do end up that way shoot me a PM and I'll try and point ya in the right direction on something to keep ya busy during the week.

 

[JEarl]

Look man I play football at northern Iowa good luck finding time to hunt or fish. I have a passion just like you but high school "college classes " are nothing like actual college. You have to much shit going on and barley time to hunt so I would tell u know to go with one sport at either place.

 

[shadowpeople]

The "butthole" of Iowa. Honest opinion, go to SD get out of Iowa and experience what else is out there. ....

Fort Dodge is a terrible town, period. Many refer to it as "dirty dodge" for a reason. Not much hunting opportunities honestly outside of DM river corridor and that's hunted harder than single woman in a bar on a saturday night. There are big deer around but few and far between compared to God's country (south of highway 80). Good luck with your choice, if you do end up that way shoot me a PM and I'll try and point ya in the right direction on something to keep ya busy during the week.

Now I'm not much one to be confrontational and don't mean to steer this thread off topic, but I am a little put off by your comments about Fort Dodge. I realize it's no Orange City, or Pella, but I moved here a few years ago, and I have had nothing but good experiences living here, and in the surrounding area. There are some great people here, and some exciting things to do. I always hear people who don't live here call it the "dirty dodge" without actually living there (not saying you live here or don't because I don't know), the "butthole" comment is a new one to me. In the past, it was a big meat packing town, and those places closed down years ago. What is it you think that makes Fort Dodge such a terrible place? What makes it so much worse than other towns in Iowa of comparible size? Compare it to Burlington, Marshalltown, Clinton, etc... if you like. Are the crime rates that much less, or better?

Here's a link...
http://www.homesecurityshield.org/news/most-dangerous-cities-iowa/2/

Fort Dodge has tons of things going at this point with new projects like the new Fort Frenzy, the Frontier Speedway renovation that is in the works, the new crosstown connector project which would include a new state of the art recreation center, the Ag park with Cargill coming to town, CJ BioAmerica, Nestle Purina, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmed, USG, Decker Trucking, and Koch Nitrogen facilities which have some real professionals working at them. Those companies do an awful lot to support the community. They have some great concerts every year, the frontier days, etc... Fort Dodge has changed a ton and for the better in the few years that I have lived here. I can think of few towns in Iowa that I would not care to live in/around, but the Fort Dodge area is not one of them.

Back to the original post, as far as hunting and school go... go where you can afford, and don't worry about the outdoor opportunities. There will be plenty of time for that later. If you were to choose on a hunting/fishing basis between the two, I would go to SDSU. South Dakota would be a great place to spend some time. I agree with Booner about the DM River Cooridor. Most of the hunting will be centralized around that, Brushy Creek, and South to Boone Forks, etc... and it can be heavily pressured at times. But the same could be said for the area around Sioux Falls. Best of luck. I'm sure you will have no problem keeping yourself busy.

 

[Booner]

Now I'm not much one to be confrontational and don't mean to steer this thread off topic, but I am a little put off by your comments about Fort Dodge. I realize it's no Orange City, or Pella, but I moved here a few years ago, and I have had nothing but good experiences living here, and in the surrounding area. There are some great people here, and some exciting things to do. I always hear people who don't live here call it the "dirty dodge" without actually living there (not saying you live here or don't because I don't know), the "butthole" comment is a new one to me. In the past, it was a big meat packing town, and those places closed down years ago. What is it you think that makes Fort Dodge such a terrible place? What makes it so much worse than other towns in Iowa of comparible size? Compare it to Burlington, Marshalltown, Clinton, etc... if you like. Are the crime rates that much less, or better? .

And as for bad experiences, I don't have the time or feel the need to highjack Teenage Hunters thread to explain to you how big of dump Fort Dodge, Iowa is. And Yes, I'm originally from those parts, moved away and don't plan to ever return. Not saying any of those other towns are any better, but TeenageHunter was asking for personal opinions about the town itself. I gave mine

I grew up in Webster City, 20 minutes to the East. Huge walleye guy, so of course many many many hours were consumed in the spring from the little dam north up to Rutland and everywhere in-between. I've got more "bad" experiences than I care to explain. I also intern with Webster County Conservation for a summer and that was enough to send me over the edge and turn me away from a natural resource degree.

Lets remember TH was asking about hunting/fishing/outdoor experiences not what type of people and the living conditions are in the town (my mother works at the hospital in FD, so I'm not grouping all residents into that category).

Glad you've had great experience, to be honest the town is definitely making improvements. However IMO you can polish a turd all you want and at the end of the day it's still a turd

 

[JUNIOR]

Go D1 bud! Also South Dakota will give you a new look at deer hunting! Might as well get used to it if you are going to end up there in the long run.

 

[isu22andy]

People love to jump on college kids on forums. Regardless of what half these people say you will have time for it, just not near as much. I graduated from ISU 2 years ago, granted I didnt win any academic scholars or play sports I did however work 20- 30 hours a week and drank my fair share of beer. Your going to have to accept the fact that you may only hunt 3-4 weekends a year however with beautiful women and beer drinking buddies back at school sometimes its hard to leave to go chase whitetails back home.

Dont be that ghost that leaves every weekend he gets , made alot of good friends that loved to hunt and fish and we'd mess around the outskirts of Ames all the time we got.

Just relax, youll be fine whatever you choose, its not cracked up to be as scarey and hard as most people make it out to be if you have a bit of self discipline and a good head on your shoulders .

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Regardless of where you go have as much fun as possible. You will only have the college experience and be surrounded by 18-22 year old women once....

That's my advice.

 

[MissionMan]

I went to Kirkwood in cedar rapids as Brus said don't be scared to stay at college a few weekends you will meet some great like minded friends.

I'm a firm believer that I learned more about myself and other people then I did the schooling part. I met many a woman while doing 12oz curls as fast as I could every day. In the end everyone ends up old and married and all those stories will be all you have left to remember you were a man who did what he wanted.
Be careful with the drinking it can become a slippery steep slope to the bottom that said, 5 years later I bet you could go back to kwood and say my name and I will still be remembered I left an impression

 

[TheMadCatter]

I went to Kirkwood in cedar rapids as Brus said don't be scared to stay at college a few weekends you will meet some great like minded friends. I'm a firm believer that I learned more about myself and other people then I did the schooling part. I met many a woman while doing 12oz curls as fast as I could every day. In the end everyone ends up old and married and all those stories will be all you have left to remember you were a man who did what he wanted. Be careful with the drinking it can become a slippery steep slope to the bottom that said, 5 years later I bet you could go back to kwood and say my name and I will still be remembered I left an impression

Don't worry, never drank don't plan on starting any time soon I'd rather spend the time, energy, and money on hunting or sports. I'm with CurtisWalker on this one.

 

[Sligh1]

I "managed my courses" so I could hunt all November. I stacked em all Tues through thursday and did em all back to back midday. I dropped out of the classes that wouldn't let me skip class much All I'm saying is... I put more effort into how I could hunt a lot than actually caring about my courses. Courses got in the way of my hunting and I was able to hunt a ton. NOT RECOMMENDING THIS TO KIDS!!!! still worked at nights & daytime when not in class - just took work time off during Nov. Just thinking out loud on my jumbled memories and how I did it - college was ton of fun, I worked to pay for it, goofed off a ton, worked hard to be able to free up Nov and hunted like crazy all Nov & some december (including out of state 3 years of 4 years in college and paying for it on my own, DIY hunts). Just depends on how bad you wanna do it. I put myself through school, paid for hunting and did some hard courses- doing well in school and ton of time to hunt.
2 cents about above... Had a ton of fun, too much fun sometimes. Lot of my buddies got themselves in deep trouble after college ended and couldn't stop drinking. Most did not have this trouble but some did and it was really bad. I don't drink now but I pounded some beers in college. My house was a "party house" and I actually got sick of it. It did have its fun. I usually got out every weekend or chance I could to leave and go hunt or scout. My friends were mainly "big city kids" where mommy and daddy paid for school and they thought I was nuts for hunting. ha. Fun memories.

 

[CurtisWalker]

Don't worry, never drank don't plan on starting any time soon I'd rather spend the time, energy, and money on hunting or sports. I'm with CurtisWalker on this one.

Yes, I do not drink or party, and I do put more time in the stand then most people. However it's probably because I can walk out my back door to hunt.

Like Skip said, I schedule my classes for the hunting season, I work multiple jobs through the summer so I can play in the fall and winter. I also would not take every weekend away from college because you'll miss out on a lot of great people and experiences.

With all this being said I still plan on hunting 90% of the days during bow season.

 

[hoosierhunter]

Hey guys, it's coming down to crunch time and I'm not sure if I'm going to sign with Iowa Central to do Track, XC, and Swimming or go to South Dakota State and swim. Was wondering what the hunting is like around the Fort Dodge area? Or the competition to get on to private property.

TH

What's most important is your education and dedication to your chosen sport. Future quality employment opportunities or lack there of will directly be attributed to how you manage your sports and studies together. Employers covet college athletes due to their competitive nature combined with the proven discipline of being a collegiate athlete.
I highly recommend hunting taking a back seat during your college stay. This is the time when you earn your own way going forward. No matter what your family has now you can never count on anything being handed to you later in life. The best laid plans change.
I was fortunate enough to already experience the path you are about to take. I chose to make my education a priority and mix in hunting when I could. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. I buckled down and earned a double major in 4 years while playing a major college sport at a high level.

The point is hunting can wait, but you only get this college opportunity once, take advantage of it......

 

[Sligh1]

Yes- that's far better advice than mine. Why I put my "not recommending" part on there but I shoulda been a better example there. My grades were fine and I can handle a good bit but it got many others in trouble.
Side note to add... What saved my butt.... I did 3 internships in college. Great paid experience working a "kinda real job" and had those 3 on my resume when I graduated. That earned a lot of opportunity and my GPA was good too (I did work hard at school- don't wanna give wrong impression there). I found plenty time to hunt but I worked hard all yr at work & school. U are all smart guys- u will find Your unique balance. Keep the GPA up, get experience when u can, try and get out with as little debt as possible, have fun, shoot some mammoths during the way- life will be good.

 

[JUNIOR]

Keep the GPA up, get experience when u can, try and get out with as little debt as possible, have fun, shoot some mammoths during the way- life will be good.

I have got the "get out with as little debt as possible." Check! Haha only 4 more to go You could go to Iowa with me Biebs!