South Dakota Coverage
Grand River Country Duck Migration Forecast
Lemmon and the west river prairie. Stock dams and creek bottoms, thin water that fills only in a wet year.
See today’s live scoreAll of SD
Season dates: South Dakota duck season 2026-27, dates and migration timing
Where Grand River Country is
Grand River Country is drawn from 7 counties in South Dakota: Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Meade, Perkins and Ziebach. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.
When Grand River Country peaks
DuckCast’s season model puts the mallard peak here around mid November. Grand River Country carries its own mallard timing rather than the statewide curve, because the season here runs on a different clock from the rest of the state. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year. The actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the state wildlife agency, linked below.
What DuckCast watches upstream of Grand River Country
3 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Dickinson, ND, about 100 miles north, Williston, ND, about 195 miles north and Minot, ND, about 195 miles north. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.
Radar over Grand River Country
Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KUDX, the National Weather Service radar at Rapid City, about 100 miles south of the region’s weather point. That is well outside the region, so treat the radar reading as area context rather than a measurement of this ground. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.
Locations stay generalized
Hunter reports for Grand River Country are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.
Also covered in South Dakota
Nearest first. Distances run between the regions’ weather points.
- Cheyenne River and the Hills, about 95 miles south
- Oahe and the Missouri, about 120 miles southeast
- Sand Lake and the Upper James, about 190 miles east
- Mid James Valley, about 205 miles east
- Prairie Coteau, about 245 miles east
- Glacial Lakes, about 250 miles east
- Big Sioux Corridor, about 295 miles east
- Lewis and Clark, about 300 miles southeast
Across the state line
- Southwest North Dakota, North Dakota, about 75 miles northwest
Season dates and regulations change. Always verify with SD Game, Fish and Parks. DuckCast forecasts conditions, not legal seasons.