South Dakota Recap

I spent a couple days last Friday – Sunday at the farm in central SD since it was MEA weekend in Mn. The plan was for some archery, coyote, and pheasant hunting and to start tearing down a barn. Dad is retiring this winter so no more pen raised pheasants at our place(THANK GOD). I archery hunted Friday AM in 30+ mph NW winds. I had low expectations walking in that very dark morning. Mother Nature didn’t disappoint. As I was getting ready to leave the blind, I did spot a small group of bachelor bucks at 8:45AM. They went out and fed on the alfalfa for 5 minutes and back to bed. I had small hopes they would show up for a drink that evening.
Friday night Jocelyn(9) wanted to hunt with me so we headed into the blind about 4:15. Since she doesn’t have all the fancy no scent “stuff” I decided to go casual also. No shower blah, blah, blah. It was nice not having the scent control routine over my head. We were having a good talk and fun using the binoculars to spot stuff out on the prairie when 3 does came in for a bite and a drink. I had shot the alpha doe out of this herd 2 weeks prior. It was nice to see the young of the year still being watched over by the other deer. They fed by us for 15 minutes then started to circle downwind of the water tank. Well, they smelled us and off they went. Not horribly spooked, but spooked none the less. At this point, I was reminded to turn on the Ozonics and give the blind another squirt of Nose Jammer.
Shortly after the does left I spotted what looked to be a pretty good buck on the western edge of our property. I knew he was decent but couldn’t tell just how good looking through the trees and CRP grass. He was feeding towards the south and disappeared so I assumed he would keep on that path. 10 minutes later I looked out and there he was. Standing in the trees studying the opening he had to cross to get to the water tank. I love how patient deer are. He stood there studying the path for at least 10 minutes. It’s no wonder they bust out in the woods at times when we don’t even know they are there until the telltale blowing sound. I looked him over in the binocs and decided I really wanted a closer look. Thankfully he was finally comfortable enough to head out way. I grabbed my bow and got Jocelyn positioned so she could see the shot and deer at the same time.

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Well, wouldn’t you know it; he circled downwind just like the does did. I thought for sure we were done. I was peeking out the blind window and couldn’t see him coming. I watched for a good 5 minutes of nothing. I hung my bow back up and told Jocelyn he must have smelled us. A few more minutes go by and I decide to look again. Oh my, here he comes! We got positioned again. The buck was very spooky and I was already planning to shoot a little low in case he jumped my string. When he stepped in front of us at 12 yards I finally had the look I wanted at his horns. I just couldn’t pull the trigger no matter how badly I wanted Jocelyn to experience her first deer with me. This buck is 3.5 this year and I passed on him several times last fall as a 4×4. He’s just 4×5 this year but he got much taller and heavier. He has potential to be special next year. Jocelyn was very disappointed I chose not to shoot and we talked a lot about how age of deer is very important if you want to shoot bucks to hang on the wall. Over an hour later she was still giving me grief, “DAD, I can’t believe you didn’t shoot that buck!” I hugged her and told her thanks for being with me on one of my most fun sits in a long time.
Saturday AM I was in another blind trying to callin a yote. No luck. I had them talking to me well to my west, but nothing. I headed back to the house for some grub and to keep working on the barn. I got about 1/3 of the ceiling tore out last weekend. Who knew 6 years ago when I was blowing in that insulation that I would have to also take it out. At noon was the annual SD pheasant opener. We had 9 hunters this year. Most of these guys come back every year and it’s about the only time I get to see them. I didn’t hunt but chose to guide this year. I think I have more fun doing that anyway. I certainly don’t have to worry about getting ripped for missing birds this way anyhow.
The birds numbers are definitely up over last year. They guys didn’t limit but with a few lost birds and plenty of shooting, they felt it only right to quit after a few hours. I’ve seen it a 100 times, that one guy who no matter how hard he tries to share the love he is in the right spot at the right time. Well, Max was the man and he must have shot over half the limit. Just his day. While I don’t care for pheasant hunting much anymore, the comradery was great. I got to go visit several buddies who happen to come home this time of year and it’s the only time I see them of course. All in all, it was a pretty darn good weekend. I’ll be back on November 1 – 9 for my annual vacation with one of my oldest friends. He has already emailed me this AM stating he can’t wait to get back out there. Neither can I.

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One more pic.

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Sounds like a great weekend in the field. I can just hear myself, when I was a kid saying the same thing she did to my dad.

In the end it’s a great lesson, and very memorable!

Fun weekend, and the Rut is almost upon us!

Nothing better than taking a kid hunting or fishing.

Nice read Kooty that deer should be a dandy next year.

Cool pic of the buck, and over time your daughter will forgive you. Especially if you smack a deer the next time you guys sit!

Joel

Great report and nice pictures of the hunt, but what I like better is hearing about everyone getting the kids out there.

Not taking anything away from the boys, but it’s especially great to read about the girls like Jocelyn going out there and enjoying it. I hope that this leads where all the fathers out there want it to: Toward a lifetime of enjoying hunting and the outdoors and both taking the experiences nature offers us and lending to others the joy that those experiences bring.

Who’s going fill our boots out there? Who’ll be in that stand or bind to greet the dawn? Who will hunt with grandpa’s rifle 50 years after he’s gone? Everything comes and goes and it won’t be us forever, my friend. As anybody with kids will tell you, it’ll be them and all too soon. But like us, they need to be shown the way.

Grouse

Great read Kooty! It’s stories like this that make even more excited for my little guy Hunter to be old enough to join me in the woods.