Heading West? Be aware

A general discussion area for turkey hunters.
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joey46
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Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Been looking at a late season trip to the Black Hills in WY/SD. I have no intention of driving 2300 miles each way from S/W Florida so flying was my only reasonable option. Airfares are still very good BUT when I started to try and lock in a needed rental car things got almost funny. Allegedly because of the pandemic (what's new) rental car prices are off the charts. Many have mentioned it is best to fly into Rapid City SD. Today's best rate for a 6 day rental in Rapid City is $1,120 and that's not including the damage waiver coverage. Denver somewhat better but still 2x what I consider reasonable. This will probably cause this trip to be a "wait until next year". Too bad. Was looking forward to it. :banghead:
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Hoobilly
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Hoobilly »

Dang that sucks!
Don't start none, won't be none!

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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Still shopping on all the discount sites. I have a target "go or no go" figure. We'll see. The current airfare is through Southwest so cancelling for a 100% refund is not a problem. Tired of everything is the virus' fault. :banghead: :banghead:
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Price drop alert! Rapid City down to $1,101.00 for an intermediate size car. LOL. Wouldn't you like to have a big deposit down at one of the many hunting operations in either state? Take a Uber.
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soiltester
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by soiltester »

i don't know what my buddy got for a rate for us next week on a mini van, big enough for the 3 of us and guns & luggage at Rapid, but then again it was a couple of months ago that he booked it!
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Booking early probably helped. Good luck.
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MFL205
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by MFL205 »

Just got back from Wyoming/SD...the birds are hot! We tagged-out in Wyoming and then headed to SD and tagged-out there. Came home a few days early because we ran-out of tags.
It was my first time hunting Merriams...and now all I want to do is hunt Merriams!

Go!!!!!!!
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Stinky J Picklestein
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Stinky J Picklestein »

Some folks are booking U-Haul trucks, because they're cheaper.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Roy »

I have to say I cannot believe the money that people spend to kill turkeys. Seriously. I would spend money to hunt elk, grizzly, moose, caribou, and big whitetails but not birds. Not trying to give u a hard time north port joey.
" Y'all keep discussing it among yourselves...I'm sneakin' in to pop the noisy one. " - Stinky J Picklestein
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

LOL. Turkeys have been my passion since the late 1970s. I've always wanted to see Wyoming and the west and this is a good excuse to do it. The nice thing about a turkey is that in an hour I can have him cleaned, iced and in a cooler. An elk maybe not so much. To each his own. Good luck. :turkeywave:
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Turkinator
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Turkinator »

Headed to South Dakota Saturday. I thought about a rental but for what they were asking I’ll rack up some miles on the Tacoma!!!!
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by tazmaniac »

Prices were reasonable reserved back in Feb. $750 for a full sized truck or SUV for a week in Rapid City.

The problem is, you can reserve a vehicle like that you need, and they can do the old 'switch a roo' on you when you land and swap u out to a subcompact because all their trucks are gone. Consider renting from a local company. Have to Uber from the airport, but you should get the vehicle you reserve.

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Turkinator
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Turkinator »

joey46 wrote: May 4th, 2021, 3:44 pm LOL. Turkeys have been my passion since the late 1970s. I've always wanted to see Wyoming and the west and this is a good excuse to do it. The nice thing about a turkey is that in an hour I can have him cleaned, iced and in a cooler. An elk maybe not so much. To each his own. Good luck. :turkeywave:
Same here! Other than an occasional jaunt across the border into Kentucky deer hunting, I never consider traveling to hunt anything but turkeys.
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redarrow
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by redarrow »

Seen the news report a couple nights ago about this. People have resorted to U Haul.Heck if you rent a big enough box truck you can even sleep in it at night.
Put you plans in the nail scarred hands.
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

I've found some good deals off airport in Denver on Ford cargo vans but it doesn't mention unlimited mileage. Bet not but still investigating. I could sleep every other night in a van. Be like the 60s. LOL.
BTW - my 2005 Tacoma just turned 170,000. Not sure it's ready for a 2300 mile trip and return. My back would never recover.
deerhunt1988
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by deerhunt1988 »

Yup, was planning to rent one for 2 weeks in May. Prices over double what I paid in 2019. We will be driving instead!
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Either that or just won't go - again very frustrating. Not sure I want to do 4600+ total miles in a truck with 170,000 miles. Even if the truck does ok my mental condition probably would not.
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Turkinator
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Turkinator »

I envy you guys that have turkey hunting buddies. I can’t find anyone who wants to travel to hunt them. Typical response, you’re going all the way to South Dakota to kill a turkey??? So I’m going by myself. My circle of friends are not as fanatical as I am.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Ozark Ridge Runner »

We just finished our annual trip to South Dakota. 7 day rental fee for a Ford Expedition was $1509. Just a little bit higher than in years past. 😂
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joey46
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by joey46 »

Still have flight reservations into Denver on 5/24. Rental cars still IMO about 2 to 3 times higher than I'm willing to pay. The only thing I'm seeing is cargo vans, in town, at a reasonable price. Would require getting to a rental place 25 miles from the airport and then driving probably a thousand miles or so total in a cargo van. Yuck. Deal breaker.
Had an alternate trip up to PA discussed with a cousin's kid who lives in NJ. He's now waffling because of worries about gas. I would drive up and that is a concern since I'd be going through all the states currently having lines and shortages.
Afraid we're back to "try again next year". Still good for a laugh to look at rental car prices in Rapid City SD. Hard to believe.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by 935 »

joey46 wrote: May 17th, 2021, 6:23 am Still have flight reservations into Denver on 5/24. Rental cars still IMO about 2 to 3 times higher than I'm willing to pay. The only thing I'm seeing is cargo vans, in town, at a reasonable price. Would require getting to a rental place 25 miles from the airport and then driving probably a thousand miles or so total in a cargo van. Yuck. Deal breaker.
Had an alternate trip up to PA discussed with a cousin's kid who lives in NJ. He's now waffling because of worries about gas. I would drive up and that is a concern since I'd be going through all the states currently having lines and shortages.
Afraid we're back to "try again next year". Still good for a laugh to look at rental car prices in Rapid City SD. Hard to believe.
Here in my part of NC the gas "crisis" seems to be easing.
Thank you Lord for creating these wonderful birds and allowing us to chase after them.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Hobbes_mobile »

Fly into Helena and I'll rent you a 1999 Honda Civic for half the cargo van price. :) I can't guarantee it's performance on gravel roads. I can guarantee that you'll feel like a mouse when you pull up beside a big 4x4 at a stop light and that you have to look up at every drive thru window that you go by.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by sasquatch »

Turkinator wrote:I envy you guys that have turkey hunting buddies. I can’t find anyone who wants to travel to hunt them. Typical response, you’re going all the way to South Dakota to kill a turkey??? So I’m going by myself. My circle of friends are not as fanatical as I am.
Most times it’s the best way. It’s about all I do


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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by jhogue »

Hobbes_mobile wrote: May 17th, 2021, 8:55 am Fly into Helena and I'll rent you a 1999 Honda Civic for half the cargo van price. :) I can't guarantee it's performance on gravel roads. I can guarantee that you'll feel like a mouse when you pull up beside a big 4x4 at a stop light and that you have to look up at every drive thru window that you go by.
2 years ago I was still driving a Honda Civic all over National Forest gravel roads in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Wouldn’t have been much different than most of the roads I drove last week in Nebraska. The 2 days it rained would have been very different though on the couple dirt roads. Civic wouldn’t have made it on them. Amazingly, in all the travels I did in the Civic, I never messed up a tire on gravel.
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Re: Heading West? Be aware

Post by Hobbes_mobile »

jhogue wrote: May 17th, 2021, 10:25 am
Hobbes_mobile wrote: May 17th, 2021, 8:55 am Fly into Helena and I'll rent you a 1999 Honda Civic for half the cargo van price. :) I can't guarantee it's performance on gravel roads. I can guarantee that you'll feel like a mouse when you pull up beside a big 4x4 at a stop light and that you have to look up at every drive thru window that you go by.
2 years ago I was still driving a Honda Civic all over National Forest gravel roads in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Wouldn’t have been much different than most of the roads I drove last week in Nebraska. The 2 days it rained would have been very different though on the couple dirt roads. Civic wouldn’t have made it on them. Amazingly, in all the travels I did in the Civic, I never messed up a tire on gravel.
I bowhunted whitetails and turkey hunted from a 1988 Dodge Daytona back in the early 90s to about 1995. I sometimes had to walk a little farther than other folks. :)
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