This species is characterized by its rapid flight. The Dakota skipper is found in gravelly, calcareous, alkaline, dry to moist prairies, often on glacial lakeshores. Eggs are laid on broad-leaved plants such as vetches. Larvae make long vertical silklined tubes at the ground surface, leaving the tubes to feed. The tubes elongate into the soil as they grow and are underground by fall.
Adults seek high vantage points on the windward side of the prairie.
In North Dakota, alkali grass is a reliable indicator of Dakota skipper habitat. Adults range only about 100 feet from the emergence site. The Dakota skipper is a northern prairie endemic species that historically ranged from southern Manitoba south through Minnesota into lowa and west to the Dakotas. Present populations exist only in Minnesota and the Dakotas. It has been collected in 11 counties in northeastern South Dakota.