Pictures of the Hunt

ronlaughlin · 10-03-2010, 02:51 PM

Our doe season for the prairie opened yesterday, and i have been out there. Yesterday the only doe i saw were on private land. Today, at dawn i managed to spook 3 whitetail right away driving in to park, and they were still running the last i saw them near a mile away.

Walked in and followed a fence between private and government land. After walking about 45 minutes i looked behind me i saw movement a way off, and brought the glass up. The movement was two deer on the run toward me. The one in front was a big enough buck, i could see it through the glass, but the trailer looked like it might be a doe. I laid down in the grass, and waited. I should have dug out the camera, because the behind one was a small buck, but i was ready with my rifle because i thought there was a slight chance it was a doe. They were running down wind, and the bigger buck ran right up to me to within about 30' before he noticed me. He was a huffing and puffing with his tongue hanging out. He walked about 3 steps along the same line, and then spooked and turned 180* and ran back where he came. Would have been fun to take his picture.

I was careful when i laid down in the tall grass, but my right knee managed to find a bit of cactus. It wasn't bad at all, and right now i don't even feel it. Here is what they look like in the tall grass.

One absolutely shouldn't wear shoes that have any Cordura as part of the uppers out on the prairie. All leather uppers are required. The cactus needles go right through the plastic, but not the leather.

Continuing my stroll, i spotted some deer a way away on the sky line to the East. First picture is what i saw without binocular, and second is zoomed in 10X.

When i got there, there were no deer to be seen; they faded away into the hills and coulees of the prairie. I did get close to this structure, which is in the first picture showing as a point kinda to the left.

That was enough hiking for me, so i headed back to the truck. Looking West this is what one sees.

The truck was parked in the same drainage as the far string of Cottonwood. The Black Hills can be seen a way off in the distance.

I took this last picture looking South as i was walking out.

MountainDevil54 · 10-03-2010, 02:56 PM

great pictures. The land looks like someplace where you wouldnt want to be stranded though lol.

Josmund · 10-03-2010, 04:14 PM

Ron,

Thanks for posting. I lived in SD for 27 years before moving South 11 years ago. Although I was an East River Boy, I spent plenty of time on the prairie hunting.

To the untrained eye, it looks like wasteland but when you get out and about, it's amazing how much wildlife the prairie holds.

Good luck and thanks for bringing back the memories.

JSO

Breechplug · 10-03-2010, 04:33 PM

Wow that's some Beautiful Country! But it looks like a real hard place to stalk and kill Deer. Im sure you have to take some long shots out there. Good Luck and Im sure you'll connect with one soon enough. Oh, good thing you did'nt sit on that Cactus, Im sure you'd still be feeling that one!
(BP)

cayugad · 10-03-2010, 04:39 PM

Beautiful pictures. Really pretty country. But a dog would explode before he found a tree to lift his leg on..

(Just kidding) Thanks for the pictures. That cactus looks like it would be painful, but really kind of pretty too. As long as you don't get stuck on it.

Is there a river or water source on that land? I was looking at your pictures and noticed the rolling prairie grass but no big rivers or anything.

.

flounder33 · 10-03-2010, 04:51 PM

That is nice country. We use to get our feeder cattle from that general area. Do you have whitetails and mule deer both there?
Art

ronlaughlin · 10-03-2010, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cayugad

................................Is there a river or water source on that land? I was looking at your pictures and noticed the rolling prairie grass but no big rivers or anything.

The Cottonwoods yonder in the picture are on French Creek. I didn't look at the crick yet this year, but i imagine it is about 6' wide and 6" deep right now. The closer Cottonwood are on the same drainage as the ones in the following picture.

The Cottonwood a way yonder in this second picture are on a unnamed crick that is running water about 6" wide and 1/2" deep.

Maybe 10 mile East is the Cheyenne River which maybe 50' wide, and can be forded right now in the right spot, but in the wrong spot a truck would have water run through the cab and worse i.e. quick sand. This country is so different than where i lived most of my life--Montana. Up there the cricks carry more water than most Rivers do here, and one can always count on drinking water any where in the mountains. Maybe 200 mile East is the Missouri River which is very wide, and has a large flow, but actually most of the water comes from Montana.

ronlaughlin · 10-03-2010, 05:36 PM

flounder33

Today i saw 5 whitetail, maybe 11 mule deer, and a few pronghorn where i was hunting. On the way in, the county road parallels French Creek, on which there is a lot of Ranching and Farming. On these places i saw many many whitetail, some pronghorn, and 100's of turkey.

WOODTICK49 · 10-03-2010, 05:59 PM

Ron,
that was just beautiful.thanks a lot. good luck on your next trip out.