South Dakota Buck (Pictures)
11-18-2006, 04:43 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Southeast PA
Posts: 1,490
South Dakota Buck (Pictures)
I just returned from a hunt in South Dakota. I have never hunted out west and needless to say I had a learning curve. The ranch I was hunting on was 90,000 acres!! Much larger than the 240 acres I am used to hunting in PA. I have been practicing 350 yard shots all summer long in preparation for the more open terrain on the prairie.
I started hunting on Monday and located an 800 acre alfalfa field. I could view all the activity on this field from an elevated position about 1200 yards away. There was activity on this field all day long with several buck checking doe in the field. The rut appeared to be coming in to full swing. Since there are virtually no trees on the prairieI kept trying to figure out how I would approach these deer without busting all of them out of there. Here is a picture of the field I am talking about.
Well I tried to get as close as possible and hoped the deer would wander by. This was very low percentage but I thought it was worth a shot. So I tried this Tuesday evening and the closest buck came in to 600 yards. Needless to say it was a helpless feeling sitting there watching several buck in a field that I could not get close enough to.
My brother joined me Wednesday after filling his tag on a 4x4 Mule Deer. We were again as close as we could get watching all the activity in the field when I decided it was time to try to put a stalk on a buck at the far end of the field who was preoccupied with a doe. When we started our approach we were apporximately 1200 yards away. We were able to close the distance to 500 yards in several minutes. We were able to use the terrain to this point to partially hide our approach. The rest of the way was on the same level or plain as the buck. As we started our belly crawl the buck actually bred the doe right there in the field! We belly crawled and got to within 300 yards but I could not get a shot due to the grass being to tall for me shoot from the prone position. We continued to belly crawl and got to 150 yards but I still could not get the deer in my scope due to the grass. It was then my brother became my human rest. He knealt and I layed my rifle accross his shoulder and quickly got the buck in my crosshairs and fired. The buck dropped instantly! Deer scattered and were running everywhere. We took our eye off the downed buck momentarily which was not visible due to the height of the grass. When all of the sudden a buck was standing close to where my I shot at my buck. I clicked off the saftey and took aim when my brother said wait it may be another buck. With the few seconds of hesiation the buck started to run away obviously hurting. He ran about 70 yards and bedded down. By this time we realized this was the buck I shot at and light was fading fast. We slowly approched where the Buck bedded down and when we were 50 yards away he popped up and ran. I fired twice but missed both shots. We watched the buck run in to a very small patch of willow trees. At this point we decided to back out and come back the next morning.
After a sleepless night we were at the Alfalfa field at dawn to scan the field. After about an hour we went looking for my buck since we did not see him moving around the field. As we approached the willow trees we could see my bucks rack sticking up above the grass. We approached and I was able to finish him off.
While skinning him out I was able to determine where my first shot had hit the deer. I hit him right between the spine and the shoulder. An inch higher and I would have broken his backbone. An inch lower and I would have hit lungs. I was fortunate to recover him the next day. It was a ton of fun hunting different terrain than I am used to, an experience I will never forget!!
I started hunting on Monday and located an 800 acre alfalfa field. I could view all the activity on this field from an elevated position about 1200 yards away. There was activity on this field all day long with several buck checking doe in the field. The rut appeared to be coming in to full swing. Since there are virtually no trees on the prairieI kept trying to figure out how I would approach these deer without busting all of them out of there. Here is a picture of the field I am talking about.
Well I tried to get as close as possible and hoped the deer would wander by. This was very low percentage but I thought it was worth a shot. So I tried this Tuesday evening and the closest buck came in to 600 yards. Needless to say it was a helpless feeling sitting there watching several buck in a field that I could not get close enough to.
My brother joined me Wednesday after filling his tag on a 4x4 Mule Deer. We were again as close as we could get watching all the activity in the field when I decided it was time to try to put a stalk on a buck at the far end of the field who was preoccupied with a doe. When we started our approach we were apporximately 1200 yards away. We were able to close the distance to 500 yards in several minutes. We were able to use the terrain to this point to partially hide our approach. The rest of the way was on the same level or plain as the buck. As we started our belly crawl the buck actually bred the doe right there in the field! We belly crawled and got to within 300 yards but I could not get a shot due to the grass being to tall for me shoot from the prone position. We continued to belly crawl and got to 150 yards but I still could not get the deer in my scope due to the grass. It was then my brother became my human rest. He knealt and I layed my rifle accross his shoulder and quickly got the buck in my crosshairs and fired. The buck dropped instantly! Deer scattered and were running everywhere. We took our eye off the downed buck momentarily which was not visible due to the height of the grass. When all of the sudden a buck was standing close to where my I shot at my buck. I clicked off the saftey and took aim when my brother said wait it may be another buck. With the few seconds of hesiation the buck started to run away obviously hurting. He ran about 70 yards and bedded down. By this time we realized this was the buck I shot at and light was fading fast. We slowly approched where the Buck bedded down and when we were 50 yards away he popped up and ran. I fired twice but missed both shots. We watched the buck run in to a very small patch of willow trees. At this point we decided to back out and come back the next morning.
After a sleepless night we were at the Alfalfa field at dawn to scan the field. After about an hour we went looking for my buck since we did not see him moving around the field. As we approached the willow trees we could see my bucks rack sticking up above the grass. We approached and I was able to finish him off.
While skinning him out I was able to determine where my first shot had hit the deer. I hit him right between the spine and the shoulder. An inch higher and I would have broken his backbone. An inch lower and I would have hit lungs. I was fortunate to recover him the next day. It was a ton of fun hunting different terrain than I am used to, an experience I will never forget!!
