South Dakota Hunt (Long Post)
11-17-2009, 04:33 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Southeast PA
Posts: 1,490
South Dakota Hunt (Long Post)
I recently took a trip out to South Dakota with my Father and two Uncles for a 4 day rifle hunt. We all had any deer tags (Mule Deer or Whitetail) and all but my Father had a second Whitetail tag. We hunted with C&D Outfitters on about 90,000 acres of working cattle ranches.
The terrain is rolling prairies with draws, breaks and creek bottoms. Being from the East, at first glance across the Prairie, you say to yourself, "There is no place for deer to hide out here." Well let me tell you, there are plenty of places, and they are good at it. The only trees are around the creek bottoms.
My one Uncle and I were going to hunt primarily spot and stalk, while my Father and other Uncle would be hunting out of Box Blinds. We would start each day glassing and walking, usually a 3-5 mile loop. The middle of the day would be spent driving and walking to check creek bottoms where the some deer bed for the day. With the end of the day setup near food sources to try and catch the deer coming out to feed.
The first day we saw several good WT and Mule deer buck with lots of small buck and doe. My Uncle passed on a 160" Mule deer which he would regret later.
The second day I started the day looking over a draw. After no activity for the first hour of daylight we moved to higher ground to see around. We spotted a large Whitetail about a mile away. We moved in his direction after losing site of him in a bottom with three draws coming together. Just as we approached where we last saw him, we spotted him returning from a creek bottom at 246 yards. I setup quickly with some standing bi-pod sticks and missed a broadside standing opportunity. I shot just over his back. The guide guessed he was a solid mid 150's WT. I was bummed to say the least. So after the dust cleared I picked myself up off the dirt and tried to put on my best "we'll get him next time" face, while inside I was just crushed. I don't get many opportunities on a buck of that caliber.
That afternoon we returned to a creek bottom we saw a lot of movement in the day before. My Uncle and I split up, he would take a huge 2 mile loop to get to higher ground to look down in to the bottom and I would sneak around the lower part of the bottom to look directly in to the bottom. I got in position after belly crawling the last 100 yards to have a good vantage point. I was able to glass several Mule deer bedded along with a small MD buck. I also passed on a young 9-Point WT that was working a doe. After a while I caught a glimpse of a Buck chasing a doe in the bottom. After glassing for a while they came out to my edge of the bottom and I was having trouble judging his Antlers, but my guide saw a split G2. That was all I needed to hear. When the buck cam in to an opening at 142 yards I shot sitting with my bi-pod extended. The guide immediately said I dropped him. When we went down to recover the deer we could not find him. So I started broadening the search and found my deer in a puddle of water down a 6' drop off.
Success! He was a main frame 10 with a small split on his G2 making him an 11-point.
I also harvested a nice 8-point later in the week. My Uncle that was hunting with me shot a nice 10-point WT. My Father shot a nice 8-point WT and my other Uncle shot a cool weird racked Mulie and a 8-Point WT. All in all we had a blast! Thanks for reading my long winded post!
The terrain is rolling prairies with draws, breaks and creek bottoms. Being from the East, at first glance across the Prairie, you say to yourself, "There is no place for deer to hide out here." Well let me tell you, there are plenty of places, and they are good at it. The only trees are around the creek bottoms.
My one Uncle and I were going to hunt primarily spot and stalk, while my Father and other Uncle would be hunting out of Box Blinds. We would start each day glassing and walking, usually a 3-5 mile loop. The middle of the day would be spent driving and walking to check creek bottoms where the some deer bed for the day. With the end of the day setup near food sources to try and catch the deer coming out to feed.
The first day we saw several good WT and Mule deer buck with lots of small buck and doe. My Uncle passed on a 160" Mule deer which he would regret later.
The second day I started the day looking over a draw. After no activity for the first hour of daylight we moved to higher ground to see around. We spotted a large Whitetail about a mile away. We moved in his direction after losing site of him in a bottom with three draws coming together. Just as we approached where we last saw him, we spotted him returning from a creek bottom at 246 yards. I setup quickly with some standing bi-pod sticks and missed a broadside standing opportunity. I shot just over his back. The guide guessed he was a solid mid 150's WT. I was bummed to say the least. So after the dust cleared I picked myself up off the dirt and tried to put on my best "we'll get him next time" face, while inside I was just crushed. I don't get many opportunities on a buck of that caliber.
That afternoon we returned to a creek bottom we saw a lot of movement in the day before. My Uncle and I split up, he would take a huge 2 mile loop to get to higher ground to look down in to the bottom and I would sneak around the lower part of the bottom to look directly in to the bottom. I got in position after belly crawling the last 100 yards to have a good vantage point. I was able to glass several Mule deer bedded along with a small MD buck. I also passed on a young 9-Point WT that was working a doe. After a while I caught a glimpse of a Buck chasing a doe in the bottom. After glassing for a while they came out to my edge of the bottom and I was having trouble judging his Antlers, but my guide saw a split G2. That was all I needed to hear. When the buck cam in to an opening at 142 yards I shot sitting with my bi-pod extended. The guide immediately said I dropped him. When we went down to recover the deer we could not find him. So I started broadening the search and found my deer in a puddle of water down a 6' drop off.
Success! He was a main frame 10 with a small split on his G2 making him an 11-point.
I also harvested a nice 8-point later in the week. My Uncle that was hunting with me shot a nice 10-point WT. My Father shot a nice 8-point WT and my other Uncle shot a cool weird racked Mulie and a 8-Point WT. All in all we had a blast! Thanks for reading my long winded post!
11-17-2009, 06:23 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,304
You know, those 2 bucks side by side? Well, the one on the left is the father to the one on the right. LOL!
Nice bucks and great pics. Good story too. I love the terrain. Nothing like that here.
iSnipe
Nice bucks and great pics. Good story too. I love the terrain. Nothing like that here.
iSnipe
