Larry in SD
Handloader
- Nov 8, 2004
- 426
- 1
For the most part deer are scarce in my part of the woods (or maybe it is lack of woods in my part of the country). At any rate we had to venture to different parts of the county this year in search of deer. Now that was not a BAD thing as we got to hunt some new areas. Generally I hunt to the east of Rosholt near my home in or near the Mud Lake Lake Bottom and the White Rock Dam Lake Bottom. These two areas combined are 9 miles long (north to south) and 2 1/2 miles wide (west to east) with a single road dividing the two going west to east.
This area has been flooded so badly for the past couple years it is all underwater for too much of the year and the deer seemed to have moved out of this area and in the case of this year, did not move back in after the water level went down.
With that said my son in law talked to some of his relatives that live near Clare City South Dakota near the western boundry of Roberts County. There is a LOT of CRP Grassland over west with some large areas signed up for the South Dakota Walk in Area program. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we headed over to Clare City and met up with my son in law's cousin.
That first afternoon we scouted things out, and in the last hour of shooting light we saw 15 - 20 deer. In watching we were able to figure out travel pattern and located several well used deer trails. Thanksgiving morning found us out in the middle of a section (640 acres) of CRP at shooting time (In South Dakota our shooting hours are from 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset). We saw some nice deer but no shot opportunities.
Thanksgiving afternoon we hunted an area 3 1/2 miles west of Rosholt in one of my favorite spots. I positioned my son in law, daughter and grandson in my favorite spot by a rock pile overlooking a small field and a huge cattail slough. My grand daughter and I went 1/2 mile east of them on the edge of a CRP field.
With about 10 mnutes of shooting light left there was a nice doe about 100 - 125 yards out in front of my daughter. She crawled up on top of the rock pile, had a rested shooting position for her new Ruger KM77RFP MKII .308, but did not connect, a clean miss. At Thanksgiving supper I made the dumb comment that ya know my 11 year old grand daughter is the only member of this hunting party that HASN'T MISSED YET. My daughter countered with "you and ma haven't killed anything yet". To which I replied we haven't missed yet either.
The next morning we headed west again and didn't see much at all, that that afternoon was a different story out west. With 25 minutes of shooting time left my son in law missed a nice doe. In his defense it was a long shot (lasered at 400 yards).
The next couple days we hunted around home as it was horriblly windy and I choose to hunt some sheltered areas with no luck.
Monday afternoon found us out west again, this time we split up as we had noticed the deer were moving in one of two different paths. My son in law and grandson took one spot and my wife, grand daughter and I took the other. My son in law and grand son had 9 deer cross within a couple hundred yards of his location, but again no luck, he missed. (yeah I know, these kids need to shoot more).
Tuesday afternoon found us in the same two spots. Tuesday the deer moved on the trail I was overlooking, but it wasn't to be my day either. I had a large doe at a lasered 398 yards, but shooting from a solid rest I MISSED TOO (yeah I took some grief over that one).
Wednesday afternoon again found us in the same two spots but this time the outcome was different. I connected on a big fat doe at 125 yards. The doe was facing me (I thought at a sharp angle but it turned out she was straight on facing me). I settled the crosshairs at the junction of the neck and shoulder and sent a 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from the 24" T/C Encore on it's way. At the shot there was a loud thwack and the doe was on the ground. At the shot we had deer running everywhere we hadn't seen. These CRP Grasses are so tall this year due to all the rainfall it is hard to imagine. The height of this grass ranges from crotch high to arm pit high on me and I am 6'2" tall. At the shot and while I walked out to recover the doe I had at least 12 deer run past me. In fact I had walked to within 20 feet of the downed doe and I still had deer running past me.
After the field dressing chores I discovered the digital camera was in my office. Oh well we loaded the doe in my deer sled and drug her back to the trail. Actually this deer sled works quite well (makes dragging much easier) even on grass.
Thursday afternoon again found us in the same two spots. Most of the deer had traveled past my son in law but no shot opportunities. With 3 minutes of shooting time left I whispered to my wife today is not the day when I turned and spotted two does behind us. I whispered for my wife to get ready to make the shot, but she insisted she was too cold to make the shot (it was 12 degrees) and urged me to shoot the doe. At 80 yards I once again sent a 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from the 24" T/C Encore on it's way. Again I was rewarded with the resounding THWACK, but this doe took off like she was jet propelled. As she was looping through the tall CRP Grass I readied for shot #2 when I saw her crash.
I immediately marked her location against a tree groove off in the distance but unfortunately by the time we got to looking darkness had closed in and I could no longer see the tree groove off in the distance. My son in law, grandson and I looked for an hour with no luck. My son in law said we are not going to find her in the dark. I said we can come back in the morning as in these temps the deer will be good provided all the coyotes that were howling around us didn't find her before we did.
Not feeling very good we headed for home. On the way home I phoned a buddy to inquire if he had a blood tracking device / light and or something that would help us locate that doe. He said he'd be right over, sowhen he arrived at my house we headed to see if we could recover the doe. Well I am glad to say at 8:10PM, almost 3 full hours after I shot the doe we did indeed recover her. As I field dressed the doe in the dark we had coyotes howling all around us and I swear they were getting closer with every howl, but as we loaded the doe anddrove out on the trail we never did see a coyote.
Friday we took the day off from hunting, we butchered one deer and skinned the other one.
Saturday morning though found my nephew, son in law, grandson and I back at the same spot out west. We actually saw 5 or 6 deer on the trail as we drove in to our hunting area before shooting time. Right at shooting time we saw a doe and fawn at 310 yards but no one seemed interested in trying a shot in the low light at that distance. 20 minutes later on the edge of some cattails out about 60 yards I spotted a doe and fawn. I commented "there's your shot" but no one seemed interested in shooting. Being a smart _ _ _ I said what they're not close enough and started doing Doe Estrus Bleats with a Primos Can. Low and behold just like a couple other times out there the doe and fawn came closer. At 24 yards my nephew in a voice loud enough for the deer to hear said how can you guys shoot deer in a petting zoo and the deer took off. We talked about those deer and the use of the Primos can. My nephew couldn't believe we had actually been calling in does with that can all week, and only had a few shoot oppotrunities. I explained to my nephew that while this is a great hunting spot the downside is there are huntings driving past this area constantly.
Saturday afternoon we had just that happen again with a couple of pheasant hunters that actually shot a pheasant in a farmers yard about 1/2 mile to the west of us. With these two kids screwing around (driving like it was a race track) shooting and hollering I knew we weren't going to see any deer. Little did I know that the farmer called the Conservation Officer (who is a good friend of mine) and when he came screaming in to the area about 90 MPH I knew we were done hunting for the day as we weren't going to see anything with all this commotion. After a short phone conversation with my friend the CO we headed back home.
Sunday morning we had deer around use again and I was trying despirately to get my grand daughter a shot but it wasn't to be. The first doe was really nervous and as I got my grand daughter up on the shooting sticks the doe started to head for deep cover. I tried bleating with my voice but this time it only made her run faster. ABout an hour later we spotted another nice doe walking in and out of some cattails. Several times I bleated with my voice to stop the doe, and several times she stopped but everytime she was in the cattails and my grand daughter said she didn't have a clear shot.
That brings our season to an end, for now anyway. My grand daughter's youth license is still valid through January 15th. December 31st our Antlerless Season opens for 8 or 9 days so those of us that still have tags have another go at it.
All in all I had a great deer season. We have meat in the freezer, I got to spend time with my family enjoying nature at it's finest and best of all we made some memories.
Larry
This area has been flooded so badly for the past couple years it is all underwater for too much of the year and the deer seemed to have moved out of this area and in the case of this year, did not move back in after the water level went down.
With that said my son in law talked to some of his relatives that live near Clare City South Dakota near the western boundry of Roberts County. There is a LOT of CRP Grassland over west with some large areas signed up for the South Dakota Walk in Area program. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we headed over to Clare City and met up with my son in law's cousin.
That first afternoon we scouted things out, and in the last hour of shooting light we saw 15 - 20 deer. In watching we were able to figure out travel pattern and located several well used deer trails. Thanksgiving morning found us out in the middle of a section (640 acres) of CRP at shooting time (In South Dakota our shooting hours are from 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset). We saw some nice deer but no shot opportunities.
Thanksgiving afternoon we hunted an area 3 1/2 miles west of Rosholt in one of my favorite spots. I positioned my son in law, daughter and grandson in my favorite spot by a rock pile overlooking a small field and a huge cattail slough. My grand daughter and I went 1/2 mile east of them on the edge of a CRP field.
With about 10 mnutes of shooting light left there was a nice doe about 100 - 125 yards out in front of my daughter. She crawled up on top of the rock pile, had a rested shooting position for her new Ruger KM77RFP MKII .308, but did not connect, a clean miss. At Thanksgiving supper I made the dumb comment that ya know my 11 year old grand daughter is the only member of this hunting party that HASN'T MISSED YET. My daughter countered with "you and ma haven't killed anything yet". To which I replied we haven't missed yet either.
The next morning we headed west again and didn't see much at all, that that afternoon was a different story out west. With 25 minutes of shooting time left my son in law missed a nice doe. In his defense it was a long shot (lasered at 400 yards).
The next couple days we hunted around home as it was horriblly windy and I choose to hunt some sheltered areas with no luck.
Monday afternoon found us out west again, this time we split up as we had noticed the deer were moving in one of two different paths. My son in law and grandson took one spot and my wife, grand daughter and I took the other. My son in law and grand son had 9 deer cross within a couple hundred yards of his location, but again no luck, he missed. (yeah I know, these kids need to shoot more).
Tuesday afternoon found us in the same two spots. Tuesday the deer moved on the trail I was overlooking, but it wasn't to be my day either. I had a large doe at a lasered 398 yards, but shooting from a solid rest I MISSED TOO (yeah I took some grief over that one).
Wednesday afternoon again found us in the same two spots but this time the outcome was different. I connected on a big fat doe at 125 yards. The doe was facing me (I thought at a sharp angle but it turned out she was straight on facing me). I settled the crosshairs at the junction of the neck and shoulder and sent a 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from the 24" T/C Encore on it's way. At the shot there was a loud thwack and the doe was on the ground. At the shot we had deer running everywhere we hadn't seen. These CRP Grasses are so tall this year due to all the rainfall it is hard to imagine. The height of this grass ranges from crotch high to arm pit high on me and I am 6'2" tall. At the shot and while I walked out to recover the doe I had at least 12 deer run past me. In fact I had walked to within 20 feet of the downed doe and I still had deer running past me.
After the field dressing chores I discovered the digital camera was in my office. Oh well we loaded the doe in my deer sled and drug her back to the trail. Actually this deer sled works quite well (makes dragging much easier) even on grass.
Thursday afternoon again found us in the same two spots. Most of the deer had traveled past my son in law but no shot opportunities. With 3 minutes of shooting time left I whispered to my wife today is not the day when I turned and spotted two does behind us. I whispered for my wife to get ready to make the shot, but she insisted she was too cold to make the shot (it was 12 degrees) and urged me to shoot the doe. At 80 yards I once again sent a 165gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip from the 24" T/C Encore on it's way. Again I was rewarded with the resounding THWACK, but this doe took off like she was jet propelled. As she was looping through the tall CRP Grass I readied for shot #2 when I saw her crash.
I immediately marked her location against a tree groove off in the distance but unfortunately by the time we got to looking darkness had closed in and I could no longer see the tree groove off in the distance. My son in law, grandson and I looked for an hour with no luck. My son in law said we are not going to find her in the dark. I said we can come back in the morning as in these temps the deer will be good provided all the coyotes that were howling around us didn't find her before we did.
Not feeling very good we headed for home. On the way home I phoned a buddy to inquire if he had a blood tracking device / light and or something that would help us locate that doe. He said he'd be right over, sowhen he arrived at my house we headed to see if we could recover the doe. Well I am glad to say at 8:10PM, almost 3 full hours after I shot the doe we did indeed recover her. As I field dressed the doe in the dark we had coyotes howling all around us and I swear they were getting closer with every howl, but as we loaded the doe anddrove out on the trail we never did see a coyote.
Friday we took the day off from hunting, we butchered one deer and skinned the other one.
Saturday morning though found my nephew, son in law, grandson and I back at the same spot out west. We actually saw 5 or 6 deer on the trail as we drove in to our hunting area before shooting time. Right at shooting time we saw a doe and fawn at 310 yards but no one seemed interested in trying a shot in the low light at that distance. 20 minutes later on the edge of some cattails out about 60 yards I spotted a doe and fawn. I commented "there's your shot" but no one seemed interested in shooting. Being a smart _ _ _ I said what they're not close enough and started doing Doe Estrus Bleats with a Primos Can. Low and behold just like a couple other times out there the doe and fawn came closer. At 24 yards my nephew in a voice loud enough for the deer to hear said how can you guys shoot deer in a petting zoo and the deer took off. We talked about those deer and the use of the Primos can. My nephew couldn't believe we had actually been calling in does with that can all week, and only had a few shoot oppotrunities. I explained to my nephew that while this is a great hunting spot the downside is there are huntings driving past this area constantly.
Saturday afternoon we had just that happen again with a couple of pheasant hunters that actually shot a pheasant in a farmers yard about 1/2 mile to the west of us. With these two kids screwing around (driving like it was a race track) shooting and hollering I knew we weren't going to see any deer. Little did I know that the farmer called the Conservation Officer (who is a good friend of mine) and when he came screaming in to the area about 90 MPH I knew we were done hunting for the day as we weren't going to see anything with all this commotion. After a short phone conversation with my friend the CO we headed back home.
Sunday morning we had deer around use again and I was trying despirately to get my grand daughter a shot but it wasn't to be. The first doe was really nervous and as I got my grand daughter up on the shooting sticks the doe started to head for deep cover. I tried bleating with my voice but this time it only made her run faster. ABout an hour later we spotted another nice doe walking in and out of some cattails. Several times I bleated with my voice to stop the doe, and several times she stopped but everytime she was in the cattails and my grand daughter said she didn't have a clear shot.
That brings our season to an end, for now anyway. My grand daughter's youth license is still valid through January 15th. December 31st our Antlerless Season opens for 8 or 9 days so those of us that still have tags have another go at it.
All in all I had a great deer season. We have meat in the freezer, I got to spend time with my family enjoying nature at it's finest and best of all we made some memories.
Larry
