Well after a good turkey hunt this spring which was more of scouting trip to find hunting places for the fall we got home with some high expectations for the upcoming fall. My hunting partner and I left for west central SD on the 19th to get there early to get scouting done and hang stands to be ready for the opener on the 22nd. We went out and touched base with land owners on the first afternoon of scouting and got some great info from one in particular and decided to glass a certain field from about 3/4 of a mile away with spotting scopes and saw some great deer and knew right where to set up the next day. After the scouting we went in to opening morning looking to fill a couple of our 4 doe tags saving our best spot for evening sits only. Going in to a spot that was a creek crossing and we were set up on the creek to be able to use it for access to intercept the deer coming off the fields crossing the creek going to bed. I got in to my stand about 45 mins before shooting time and I had deer walk under me almost immediately and hang around tell first light when I was able to see my sight pins and make a great shot at 10 yards and watched her fall about 40 yards later. At 8:30am my buddy walked over to my stand and said that he had also shot a doe and saw her fall also so the work began. After quartering the does and getting them on ice we went out for the evening sit, we got in early and were settled in long before any movement started. I let several deer walk including a couple of young bucks and did see one nice shooter he just didn’t quite do what I wanted him to do. When I got back to the truck I learn that my buddy had put the hammer down on a great 10pt probably 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 years old after a short track job and drag he was in the back of the truck. We hunted hard to fill the other doe tags on mule deer during the day and I hunted hard to get an arrow in a buck moving stands and ground blinds while all the time we were fighting a moon that was getting fuller every day and the deer were coming out to the fields later every night. My buddy glassed for me on Tuesday night to figure out exactly where which drainage the bucks were coming from. Now knowing where they are bedding exactly I went in on a go for broke mission knowing that if I don’t kill I would blow out all the bucks in that draw but running out of time it seemed like the last option knowing that there were about 5 shooters bedding there. So Wednesday night I grabbed my stand, climbing sticks, pack ,and bow and packed them all in 2 1/2 miles from the truck, I had glassed a small group of trees about 80 yards from the draw the bucks were bedded up in I wanted to get to and the wind was perfect to do so. I got to the group of trees and there was only one that I could put a tree stand in and was able to get it hung without bumping any deer and the sit began, a small buck came by about 7:15pm 15 mins later a buck stepped out that I recognized from the earlier scouting and sightings from the field and I had passed him on the second day I guessed him to be 4 1/2 but didn’t have a lot on his head he is a crab clawed 8pt with a sticker on his base and one his brow tine and with only one day left I decided to take him if he gave me the opportunity. The buck walked right in to 7 yards and I let the rage eat for the second time of the trip and it did its job. So the long pack in paid off and we have the 4th deer of the trip in the truck. I couldn’t be any happier with the way the trip turned out and look forward to next year.
October 3, 2012 at 5:47 am
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