Flying Into Winner, SD for a Hunt: Airports, Drive Times, and Logistics
We're an hour from nowhere and worth every minute of it. But we know that "getting to Ideal, South Dakota" doesn't show up cleanly on a travel site, so here's how our guests actually do it.
Flying Private: Winner Regional (ICR)
This is the easy answer, and it's how many groups of four or more arrive.
Winner Regional sits one mile northeast of town, with a 5,500-foot concrete runway, pilot-activated lighting, and both Jet A and 100LL through Howard Aviation on the field. There's no TSA line, no baggage claim, and no wondering whether your gun case made the connection.
From wheels down to a cold drink at the lodge is about a half hour. We'll have someone waiting at the ramp.
Flying Commercial
Three airports make sense, depending on where you're coming from:
Sioux Falls (FSD) — about 193 miles, right at 3 hours. The most flights and the most rental cars. This is what most guests use.
Rapid City (RAP) — about 216 miles, a little over 3 hours. Worth considering if you're tacking on the Black Hills.
Pierre (PIR) — about 92 miles, an hour and a half. The shortest drive by far, with United Express service to and from Denver.
A word on rental cars: October and November are the busiest weeks of the year in this part of the state, and the good SUVs in Sioux Falls go early. Book the car when you book the flight, not the week before.
Getting Your Guns Here
TSA's rules are simpler than you'd think. Firearms travel unloaded, in a locked hard-sided case, declared at the airline counter at check-in — and you keep the only key. Ammunition has to be securely boxed, and most airlines cap it around 11 pounds per passenger, so check yours before you load up.
The Last Hour
However you come, the final stretch is two-lane and then gravel, and it runs through some of the best grassland left in the country. Watch for deer at dawn and dusk...they're the real hazard out here, not the roads.
Cell service gets thin west of the river. Download your directions before you leave the interstate, or just call us and we'll talk you in.
Tell Us Your Flight
Send us your arrival details when you book and we'll sort out the pickup, whether that's the ramp at Winner or a rendezvous somewhere in between. Getting here is the only hard part of the trip, and it isn't very hard.
Call or book online at lazyjclub.com.
