Bad timing for a blizzard!!
 

I don't mind a blizzard once in a while. That's part of living in South Dakota but this one hit at the wrong time. We are presently buried with 12 to 15 foot drifts and the drifts are not going anywhere soon. The problem is that I only have 4 days til my buck tag converts to antlerless. That's the bummer. I have been hunting a 13 point whitetail. He has survived the rifle season, the road hunters and the poachers. I have seen him several times but never got closer than 151 yards. I know where he is bedding and feeding. I was planning on trying to get him but now it looks like he will survive my efforts also. I would have had him once but when I looked at my gun while setting in wait for him I saw the sight had got knocked and was almost off. It must have been the 4-wheeler ride. I went home and decided to sight in a different gun. I have 4 sighted in but they have scopes and we are not allowed scopes. I only had 2 without scopes sighted in and the other one I couldn't load because of the temp. It was a Renegade I got from Bronko. with the 45 cal barrel. I had it sighted in with a 200 gr barnes saboted bullet. At a windchill of -25 the sabot would not go down the barrel. I guess it was just to stiff and cold. I decided that if I had to sight in a new gun I would sight in the Pro hunter that I just got. I was amazed that it only took 4 shots at 100 yards. i shot 6 " low. I adjusted ( open sights ) with a screw driver a couple of turns and the next 3 were a 1 1/2 inch group.( 105 gr blackhorn 250 gr Barnes T-EZ) I thought my luck was changing and I was ready to go back after him when the blizzard hit. What a bummer. i have til Jan 31st on does at least but only til Dec 31st for the buck. My wife doesn't understand these type of things. Here we have livestock and dogs and everything else that we need to deal with because of the blizzard and the damage but I make a comment about not being able to go after this guy and she just shakes her head. She should be thankful :s4: after all I got her a "tripod stand" for Christmas.
Oh well as a consolation I can hunt Coyotes after the deer season I guess. I see a lot of them lately. Then again maybe a miracle will happen After all i have 4 days and the blowing snow should end today sometime. I will not give up!! I must go after him, somehow. Ever have that feeling??

I hear ya there. I remember two years ago on my first day of vacation it snowed about 15" and the deer movement STOPPED! for two days I never saw a deer. But, I kept at it, strapped on the snow shoes and headed in. That third day the feed bag was on because I must've seen a dozen deer, it was a great hunt that resulted in a filled muzzle tag. I would have the same feeling as you, but maybe you can get out...good news is, if you can, the deer probably aren't going to move far.

:wink:just answer yourself 1 question,what would borecleaningweasel do:happy0157:

Blame the Snow on Global Warming.Im in the same boat you are with the Snow, Im just off Lake Erie and we get the Lake Effect all the time, were used to it. It's not over untill the last Seconds tic away, there's always a chance to get him and that's all you need. With the snow and Cold he should be up moving around as soon as it settles down and that's when you make your move.
Success to You!
(BP)

Is there a good time for a blizzard? You just keep that out in the Dakota's and don't send it to Wisconsin. We have that ice crystal snow falling today that is hard to clear. But it makes a good crust on the snow, so the coyotes and wolves can run down the deer.

Hunting in a blizzard is not a good idea, although I bet you could walk right up on the deer in their beds. If you could find their beds. I got caught in a white out on deer season. It was a real experience.

Here's a couple photos of the yard. The first one shows the dog pens. It's a 5 foot high fence with 2 hot wires above that to keep in my Wolfhounds. The second photo shows the back door to the church . It's there somewhere. But i think i will have the 4-wheeler out by tomorrow. So it's not over yet. I have to include the Christmas dinner photo of the family. :)

LOL I think April is coming soon!

I now where they are bedding and feeding but I get worn out trying to walk 50 yards in the snow . I got to find a way in where it isn't so deep. But It's not over yet. I will let you know by the 31st if he wins or If I win. It's become personal now,:fighting0007::biggrin:

Wonderful looking family picture there. Break out the snow shoes and get moving. I have hunted with snow shoes and your rifle... its a lot of work. Good luck. I hope you win. If not, lets hope the deer makes it through the winter.

Nice pictures Chet. Everyone looks happy and healthy. Who is the maker of that woodstove?
Art

unreal snow.we have like 2 inchs here in central pa and i dont want to even go hunting for buck.
last 3 weeks we have seen temps in 20s and high winds.i guess i am spoiled compared to you folks......

its just too cold here,we are used to 35 and above for deer hunting..........

Gee I'm surprised anyone noticd. It's an Okonom deluxehttp://www.tradad.com/venkov/cook_stoves.htm
We got it about 5 years ago. It's nice because it's small( we have a small house) but the whole top is a cook surface so you can get 5 or 6 pots cooking st the same time. The firebox is only 9"x 14" but it cooks a whole meal with about 6 or 7 pieces of wood. The extension cord you see hanging on the wall is for when we don't fire up the stove. My wife uses a hot plate or electric skillet , but most of the time it takes the stove for a family of 10. It's a great cook stove. She loves it, unless I don't get wood split :s4:

Well the snow is blowing and the wind is howling here. You just could not keep it out there in the Dakota's could you!! Although all they are calling for is snow showers. This is probably lake effect snow.

I had to go and get a little more wood for my wood stove this morning. My old Ford really groaned when I drove it to the woodshed to fill it. The nice thing about wood heat... it was seventeen degrees out, but after I unloaded that truck load of wood you'd of thought it was 90 degrees out the way I was sweating...

A couple years back there was an old abandon farm out in the middle of no where and they were going to bulldoze it. The guy (from the cities) that bought the land wanted to build his family a new "cabin" where the old house was.

A friend of mine got permission to go in there and take what he wanted. Well in there was one of the old porcelain door wood cook oven/stoves and it was in real good shape. It had the water boiler on the side, but that was rusted out.

So of course he called others and me to come and help him get it out of there. He put that in his kitchen and that thing almost heats his first floor of the house. His wife cooks on that all the time.

boy, i thought i was in sticks here in north central pa.:rolleye0011:you guys are having it rough not only with weather but hard work with wood etc.
not many in my area use wood anymore,its oil/electric heat but we very seldom lose our power and most have a 4,000 watt generator and 5 gallons of gas all time in winter to run our homes until the power comes back on .i only used my generator 2 times in last 30 yrs.....
women here will not allow wood heat in home or coal.......most both work so they just come home and turn up thermostat.ones using wood are catching their homes on fire, we had 3 homes last week on fire......they dont clean chimneys in summer before using or get crack in liner and it takes off..
a lot are going to outside wood/coal furnaces BUT their chimneys are too low and are causing the fumes to get in others homes.so they made them put up 25 ft chimneys on them.then wind came and blew the chimneys down on neighbors homes.......:jaw:
some went to corn burning stoves.but corn has to be clean and dry to work and you get mice..........
wood pellet stove/pellets are great one BUT now price of pellets went way up like everything else.............

after you buy furnace,5,000 dollars,,,,then cut wood and have to replaced furance in 25 years,i felt i am way ahead just useing my electric baseboard heat.
but i can see why you guys are using wood, your conditions are unreal in winter.........

DANG Chet. Those first two pictures near froze me to the bone. But the third one warmed me up real nice. Beautiful.





.

Chet I've got just one question, How the heck do you get around in all that snow? If that happened here in Arkansas we would go no where until the spring thaw. Nice family pic there.

Hi Chet, Just to let you know we used the same plates at our Christmas Dinner. I am a Senior Citizen now but I am also 1 of 8 children. I also like the stove,

Do you have any snow shoes? with that snow you should be able to shoe right in on them and then worry how your going to get all that meat out. :-)

Ken
Central NY.

back in 70s here in pa. we had snow about 4 ft deep.i actually walked on top of laural with snow shoes.laural was about 5 ft high and snow drifted and we walked on top to hunt........
we have not seen snow like that inongtime.this year its COLD/WIND that is killing us here.we are not used to temps like 11 degrees to 22 degrees.everyone wanted me to go hunting today at 15 degrees and 45 mph winds.

no way, yet thats a great time to out fox a nice buck.

When it crusts over and I can walk on top it isn't so bad. The kids can walk on top but I had one to many Dinners and I sink in to deep:wink: I am going to invest in snow shoes though. It's a chore sometimes just to try and get the chores done. I'm still trying to come up with a plan to get hay in for the goats and milk cow. I should have brought more from the far pasture during good weather but I was to busy hunting. Now I'm in trouble with the wife if her milk cow runs out of hay:D

they have cheaper aluminun ones now in snow shoes.mine are 40 yrs old and make a great looking thing on your wall.they are wood ones.
but i only used them 1 time in all those years here in pa.it was fun.i remember i was wearing hip fishing boots too.i walked right up to within 10 yds of 9 deer and 3 had holes in their head from losing their horns..............

boy, that was great hunting in pa then.every hollow had deer.now you dont see 9 deer in 2 weeks of hard hunting.......