New Years South Dakota Late Season Deer Hunt

Well, it is all over with but many good memories are in my mind of this past season. Sadly enough my deer season has finally came to an end. However, it went out in a flurry as I visited Western South Dakota on the edge of the Black Hills during the New Years weekend to celebrate the Holidays with Stacie’s family. The first morning hunt I had high anticipation and excitement as they were also hit with the Holiday storm we experienced back here in MN. Early that first morning Stacie’s brother Tyler and I got ready out in the garage and gathered a game plan as we both arrived late the night before. We would be hunting South Dakotas late doe season that lasts for about a week and a half. Tags that were not used during the normal rifle season could be used now. Tyler missed the rifle season altogether so he had a couple of tags to burn. I never harvested a deer during my 5 day hunt out there earlier this year, so I also had a few tags in my pocket burning a hole. Our goal was to harvest a few whitetail deer on our hunt as Stacie’s Dad wanted a few less of them around eating his hay.

We got to our spot a little late and left the truck 10 minutes after legal shooting light began. We proceeded our way up the hill slowly as we still hunted our way through the edge of the Black Hills. We would stop often and take our time to glass our surroundings for sightings of deer. The fresh snow made still hunting and spot and stalking easier as the snow was still fluffy and relatively quiet yet. I was toting the camera gear and tripod along as we finally spotted some deer making there way through the scattered pines and cedar trees. We continued to climb the hill in attempt to get on top of these deer when Tyler spotted a small group in a opening of some cedars. I got the tripod set up and started to capture some film on two of the three Muleys. I was just trying to collect some footage of deer when Tyler got an itchy finger and wanted to shoot the Muley doe standing broadside looking directly at us. Tyler asked where I wanted him and as I instructed him to get in front of me this doe was still standing there looking at us trying to figure out what we were. Tyler got in a kneeling position in front of the camera as he zeroed in on this doe. I established both the Hunter and the quarry in the camera lens and was just starting to zoom in on the doe when she got nervous and Tyler steadily squeezed down on his trigger and fired a shot that made the doe jump straight up and hump up as she bounded off. The shot looked good, but we decided to give her some time as we continued hunting the hill side looking for more deer.

We came onto a ridge with a steep draw below us when Tyler spotted some whitetail near the top of the opposite ridge. I got into position and ready for a shot as the deer were making there way through the pines on the far ridge. A lil confusion between camera man and hunter transpired and I thought Tyler was on the deer as a big doe stepped out into the opening and I squeezed down on my trigger and sent a shot across the draw to the far side. This whitetail doe looked like it was hit also and ran off over the ridge. After hearing the fact Tyler was not on the deer with the camera as we took different paths around a tree separating us and the cold weather zapping my batteries on microphone, we did not get our 2nd shot on film. So Tyler and I began to climb down into the draw below us and reached the bottom. We just started to climb up the other side to go look for my doe when we noticed some very fresh tracks in the snow as we look at each other with a weird look. We took a closer look at these tracks and noticed something different about them. We back tracked them about ten yards and noticed a huge depression in the snow and it verified our thoughts to the maker of these tracks. Those tracks were made very recently by a mountain lion. That was a pretty cool sighting andsomething I will remember. We continued up to the other ridge and found my deer as she only made it about 75 yards over the ridge and we took a few pics. We then back tracked and found Tyler’s Muley as we got the deer tagged, ready, and took a few pictures as we came back later with the 4 wheelers to take them out.

We hunted the next morning with not much luck but again got to witness some breath taking scenery. So that brings us to Saturday mornings hunt. Tyler and I were joined by Stacie’s Dad and brother Travis. We had 5 tags left between the 4 of us as we started the morning before day break making a game plan to hunt an area where we could do a lil deer push to help. With the cold weather the last two days, still hunting had become more difficult due to the cold temps making the snow very loud and crunchy. This made it a lil more difficult to be stealthy and hard to sneak up on the deer. So with our game plan Travis was our designated walker as we split up and got into position. We got set up along different lil ambush and pinch points along the way. Stacie’s Dad was set up mid point of the area by himself as Tyler and I were set up together at the end of the area. We barley got into position and soon heard a few shots from what we thought were Travis. Then a few more from Stacie’s Dad. We knew our time would soon come as Tyler spotted a group of deer coming our way. We communicated that I would take the lead deer when they got our shooting spot. This lead deer changed a few times as they made their way down to our location. There was a small buck in the group as Tyler and I warned each other which one it was. They finally got in our range and did not appear they were going to stop, so we lined up on our deer as I fired off a shot and missed. The deer then stopped not knowing where the shot came from as I ranged the deer that were now stopped, broad side, and @ 244 yards from us. We had two does that were side by side next to each other as Tyler and I again take aim. On the count of three we both sent another round toward the does and this time they both dropped in their tracks and they fell within 10 yards of each other. The deer drive and the season is now over as we turn the remaining deer back around as we stand up from our sniper positions and watch as they run for cover.

As Tyler and I are dragging out our deer, Travis and Jack come rolling up in the pick up as we see they have 3 deer on the back. The New Year begins with 5 does taken on the final hunt of the season all before the sun even came up. We loaded the rest of the deer up in the truck, took them over to snap a few pictures, dressed and skinned them to let the meat cool down in the frigid air, and got them ready to be cut up before we headed in for lunch. I spent the rest of the day with my brother, father, and mother in laws cutting up the deer we had harvested during this memorable short few day South Dakota hunt. Who ever said visiting the in laws is a bad thing??? Not me, I love spending time with my other family. Afterwards we deep fried some of the fresh venison, along with some pheasant, french fries and even had a few as we had dinner in the Garage with the entire family. That is the end of my deer season, but don’t think it is over, because deer season is never over for me. As I’m already starting to plan for next year as food plots, stand placement, shed hunting, filming plans, and a new bow are just around the corner and will be here for you know it.

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