I’m about a week behind posting this, been busy. I drew rifle tags for antelope the last two years in western SD and finally drew a deer tag this year. It’s always a quick trip up north 1k miles and back and this year is the same. I left Dfw last Thurs evening and got there Fri afternoon after a few hrs of truck-sleep in KS.
I was hunting with my wife’s cousin on my in-laws land and some other area ranchers that allow him access. This area is a mixture of rolling prairie, ag fields, and breaks that give the deer a lot of places to hide.
At daylight Saturday we spotted a couple bucks sparring about a 1/4 mile off in a planted wheat field. We walked a draw up to the edge of the breaks to set up on them and they ended up coming right where we hoped, crossing in front of us at about 50 yards. 3 small bucks and 4 does in that group. The bucks were both nose to tail pushing those does around.
Moved on to another section down the road bordering my BIL’s land where I had seen a nice buck this summer and where one mulie group hangs out. According to my wife’s uncle they have not left that section for the last two months, but we did not have permission to hunt that since someone else was on it. That was the largest buck they had been seeing in the area and it was killed that morning.
So we moved in on a thicket of trees where some decent whitetails had been hanging out and we could see one buck tearing up some trees from about 1/2 mile away. Sneaking in from the other side so we had the wind and can still see the buck in the trees. Tons of rubs and beds throughout this area. Very few trees around there and the whitetails like to hang wherever the trees are.
Sneaking through the trees we pushed up 2 more whitetail bucks, but nothing big enough to take and moved on up north several miles. We came into a beautiful area where you can see down into a large creek bottom.
We spotted a group of 15 mule deer way off to the north and spooked 3 nice whitetails in a little draw below us that ran down into the bottom in the trees. We were trying to figure out how to get to them and spotted a doe bedded on the hillside about 1000 yrds away to the East. We figured there was a buck with her and worked our way around to get a better look and finally saw the buck stand up from his bed. This was at over 400 yards. I thought about taking a shot but the wind was really whipping and knew I could get closer. We backed off the edge of the canyon and worked in closer but still couldn’t get a decent look. I backed up again and worked in above them but they were gone. The wind was gusting 40 mph and swirling so they must have winded us.
I started down through the brush into the draw to get closer and saw the buck crossing the creek below and headed out of sight of my view. I ran back up to the knob of the hill and crawled to the edge where I saw him across the creek looking back. I decided to take him and the hunt was over.
He’s not the biggest by far but was the biggest I saw after the one I was hoping for was killed. Western spot and stalk hunting like this is just plain fun. In this part of the state you will see wt, mule deer, and antelope. Flushed several sharptail grouse and also saw a pair of bald eagles while we were hunting.
This deer tag took 4 yrs to draw as a non-resident. I’ll probably concentrate on whitetails next time I draw a tag in SD. Saw some really nice WT but when they spook out in this open country they are gone. My wife’s cousin was nice enough to ‘guide’ me on opening day and he took a nice whitetail the next morning in a nearby hunting unit from a treestand along the creek.
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I was hunting with my wife’s cousin on my in-laws land and some other area ranchers that allow him access. This area is a mixture of rolling prairie, ag fields, and breaks that give the deer a lot of places to hide.
At daylight Saturday we spotted a couple bucks sparring about a 1/4 mile off in a planted wheat field. We walked a draw up to the edge of the breaks to set up on them and they ended up coming right where we hoped, crossing in front of us at about 50 yards. 3 small bucks and 4 does in that group. The bucks were both nose to tail pushing those does around.
Moved on to another section down the road bordering my BIL’s land where I had seen a nice buck this summer and where one mulie group hangs out. According to my wife’s uncle they have not left that section for the last two months, but we did not have permission to hunt that since someone else was on it. That was the largest buck they had been seeing in the area and it was killed that morning.
So we moved in on a thicket of trees where some decent whitetails had been hanging out and we could see one buck tearing up some trees from about 1/2 mile away. Sneaking in from the other side so we had the wind and can still see the buck in the trees. Tons of rubs and beds throughout this area. Very few trees around there and the whitetails like to hang wherever the trees are.
Sneaking through the trees we pushed up 2 more whitetail bucks, but nothing big enough to take and moved on up north several miles. We came into a beautiful area where you can see down into a large creek bottom.
We spotted a group of 15 mule deer way off to the north and spooked 3 nice whitetails in a little draw below us that ran down into the bottom in the trees. We were trying to figure out how to get to them and spotted a doe bedded on the hillside about 1000 yrds away to the East. We figured there was a buck with her and worked our way around to get a better look and finally saw the buck stand up from his bed. This was at over 400 yards. I thought about taking a shot but the wind was really whipping and knew I could get closer. We backed off the edge of the canyon and worked in closer but still couldn’t get a decent look. I backed up again and worked in above them but they were gone. The wind was gusting 40 mph and swirling so they must have winded us.
I started down through the brush into the draw to get closer and saw the buck crossing the creek below and headed out of sight of my view. I ran back up to the knob of the hill and crawled to the edge where I saw him across the creek looking back. I decided to take him and the hunt was over.
He’s not the biggest by far but was the biggest I saw after the one I was hoping for was killed. Western spot and stalk hunting like this is just plain fun. In this part of the state you will see wt, mule deer, and antelope. Flushed several sharptail grouse and also saw a pair of bald eagles while we were hunting.
This deer tag took 4 yrs to draw as a non-resident. I’ll probably concentrate on whitetails next time I draw a tag in SD. Saw some really nice WT but when they spook out in this open country they are gone. My wife’s cousin was nice enough to ‘guide’ me on opening day and he took a nice whitetail the next morning in a nearby hunting unit from a treestand along the creek.
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