Daily Account, South Dakota deer, turkeys, trout.

[DonBo]

Following a tradition started by Scoot, Id like to tell the story of my recent annual trip to the northern Black Hills.

We hunt a river bottom area near Sturgis. I've been doing this trip for nearly 30 years. We hunt an 800 acre private ranch for turkeys, archery deer and all the trout fishing you could hope for. My partner on this trip is my old friend Gary. Gary has joined me on this hunt for about 20 years now. We camp on the property and it is the best week of the year for me.

Day 1. Friday, Oct. 9.

As we drove across the So. Dakota prairie conditions faded the entire way. By the time we reached Sturgis the temp was 9 degrees, it was snowing hard and the wind was blowing 30-40 mph. We were pulling my old tent trailer and there was NO WAY I was about to set it up under those conditions with just a few hours of light left, so we found a cheap motel and settled in to watch the Twins lose. Again.

Day 2. Saturday, Oct. 10.

We slept in and had our last hot shower for the week then headed out to our hunting area. After setting up camp in 10 degree weather we found out there was no heat in the camper. Yikes! After much running around we got a new regulator and we were in business. Seems we got some moisture in it on the drive and it froze solid in the cold.

I finally got hunting late in the afternoon. I set a ground blind in a good area and waited. There were deer and turkeys everywhere! Saw probably 30-40 deer and missed, with my bow, two turkeys. I also saw the biggest 8 point of my life. Had one doe eye to eye as she munched leaves on the branches I used to brush in my blind. That was cool.

Gary also saw several deer that night, including a few good bucks.

[Scoot]

Following a tradition started by Scoot, Id like to tell the story of my recent annual trip to the northern Black Hills.

Sweet! Most traditions I start involve bad luck and unintended outcomes. Did I actually start some good for a change!?!

Great start, DB. I hope you had your camera busy! I'm looking forward to the rest of your adventure.

[Deitz Dittrich]

This should be good!.. cant wait to hear the rest of the story.

[Cheetah]

Don needs a camera. Who doesn't take a photo of a deer eating your blind while you sit in it?

[DonBo]

Guys, I did get some photos to show off, but it was so cold I was afraid to bring it with while hunting because of the batteries going dead with no way to charge them.

[DonBo]

Day 3, Sunday, Oct. 11.

Sat same stand as last night as there were some turkeys roosting in the area. This spot is too close to "The Big Field" to be a great morning spot but it was all I had. The turkeys flew away and I only saw 7 or 8 deer, all does and fawns.

I should mention that on this property, parallel to the river is a huge hay field, probably 1/2 mile long or more. It attracts wildlife from a long ways. Most of my deer hunting here is either along this field edge or one of several river crossings as deer head into or away from this field. Most deer bed across the river.

Temps today never got above 15 or 20 with 15+ mph winds and occasional snow. Nice day to trout fish! Gary caught the biggest fish of the week this morning, right behind camp.

Here he is fighting the fish. Note the shotgun over his shoulder, just in case the turkeys come around.

A beautifull hook nosed 22 incher.

Later I sat a tree stand on a river crossing and had 21 deer come through, 12 of them within 10 yards. One buck in the middle of this group was a shooter, but with so many deer so close I never got my bow into position before getting busted.

Gary had better luck and took a nice 9 point right behind camp. Not a huge buck, but one of the nicer ones he's taken out here.

Sorry about the blood, we tried to clean it up, but it had frozen solid in no time. More later, as I have to get some work done today.

[sticknstring]

Sounds like a great hunt so far Don! Deer, turkeys, & trout in one trip - tough to beat that. Keep us posted. You need a power inverter for your truck so you can charge your phones, camera, etc. I bought one for our black hills hunt last spring and they work great.

[Scoot]

Awesome! Keep it comin'!

[DonBo]

Originally Posted By: DonBo

Following a tradition started by Scoot, Id like to tell the story of my recent annual trip to the northern Black Hills.

Sweet! Most traditions I start involve bad luck and unintended outcomes. Did I actually start some good for a change!?!

Yes Scoot, you did start something good and we all enjoyed it!

[Jim Uran]

Sweet story so far Donbo! Nice trout, and darn nice deer.

[DonBo]

Day 4. Monday, Oct. 12.

Another cold morning, probably about 20. Winds were light and coming from every direction. Tough conditions. Sat in my river crossing stand again. Saw 20+ deer and almost every one of them busted me because of the fickle winds. Never saw a buck.

I heard some turkeys not far off, so I called and was rewarded with the sight of 20 or more headed my direction. Sadly, they too busted me while trying to draw on them. People ask me all the time why I don't hunt turkeys from a tree stand. There just is not enough cover to hide you from a sharp eyed creature who routinely looks up for predators. In 30 years of this kind of hunting, I've only shot 2 or 3 turkeys from a tree stand.

Did some more fishing this afternoon. Caught 8 trout, all from 15"-19".

We also came upon a large flock of turkeys today and tried to surround them. Gary had a shot, but they got away.

Set a new stand on the edge of the Big Field for this evenings hunt. Loads of deer in the portion of the field that I could see. Had 14 come within 25-30 yards, one small buck among them. Saw 3 bucks running together inside the woods but the biggest, a P&Y candidate (a shooter in my book) came to the fence in the same exact spot that I had crossed and decided he'd go somewhere else.

Here's a view of "The Big Field" looking to the north into the open country. My stand is in the point of trees on the right.

Gary found a flock of birds roosting behind camp so we went in after dark and set up his pop-up blind for the next mornings hunt. This is my favorite way to hunt fall turkeys, set up right underneith them and wait for fly down time. There is nothing more exciting to me than being in the middle of dozens of birds and hearing them anouncing a new day, anticipation building the whole time.

Later, after dinner, I was in the "outhouse" and heard another flock of turkeys roosted right nearby, only about 300 yards from Gary's flock. Something, owl, whatever must have spooked them for the amount of noise they were making after dark. We headed over that direction and set up my blind. Guess the deer can live without me for one morning. Tomorrow early we're planning on sneaking into those blinds and hopefully, put our first birds on the ground.

[triggertrav]

sounding good so far, can't wait for the rest.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Fun stuff.. I'll get the popcorn ready and wait for the next installment.

[Scoot]

You bet- sounds like a blast!

[Cheetah]

Awesome trip so far Don. I hardly recognize the hills with all those leafy trees in your area. It's all pine where I've turkey hunted in the BH.

[DonBo]

Day 5. Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Another cold, carpy morning. 15-20 with light snow/sleet mix and windy to boot. Had no problem getting out of bed knowing I had a nice ground blind to crawl into with a bunch of turkeys roosted right on top of me. The drawback to this type of hunting is you need to get in and settled early, before any hint of daylight so they don't see you. The upside is I can bring my thermos of hot coffee to get a great start on the day.

As dawn creeped in I could hear turkeys all around me, way more than I expected. As it got lighter I could see several silhouettes of birds roosted near me. I even had droppings hit the top of my blind. They were close! With every passing minute more and nore birds were waking up and calling to their buddies. Kee kee runs, yelps, weak attempts at gobbles (that always gets me smiling)putts, clucks, every turkey call imaginable was right there, times 50! (or 60 or 70)

Before any finally flew down, I heard Gary shoot, and shoot, and shoot. Three times! The first in my flock to fly down was going to land right on top of my blind but veered off at the last moment and sailed behind me. Usually where the first goes they all go, so I was excited! This time though, most of them headed to the east, as they were going to head up into the hills for the day. There were so many everywhere though that I had a dozen or more behind and around me. I found what I thought was the biggest of the red-heads (toms) and shot. I had my first bird of the week on the ground! I saw another with a short beard run past me at no more than 10 yards but I never could get the shotgun on him before he was gone. WOW! What a great start to the day.

After hooking up with Gary later, he only got one with his three shots. Not uncommon for him as he is left eye dominate and shoots right handed. In the excitement, he often forgets and uses the wrong eye, or closes both, or....whatever. I once saw him miss three big toms one afternoon and drive into Spearfish that very night to buy a new gun, only to miss two more the next day. Between us, we figured there were at least 100 birds roosting within 200 yards of camp. Gotta like that!

Both our birds were young of the year toms, about 12 lbs each. Perfect for the table!

Later in the day we headed into Sturgis to meet the FishingMinnesta moderator of the Western So. Dakota forum, "Pac" and his buddy from Minnesota whose name eludes me now. (sorry) There are so many good people on this site, it's great to meet some along your journeys when you can. (Paul, thanks for breakfast by the way!)

The remainder of the day was relatively uneventfull. Got above freezing for the first time. 35 degrees, foggy and windy. I sat the same field edge stand as last night, but most crossed about 60 yards to the north of me tonight. I did catch a glimpse of one big buck but he never did come out to the field.

Gary was back in his roost area blind tonight and though a small flock came in to roost, he had no opportunity for a shot.

More later...thanks for reading!

[Scoot]

Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to do this. It's greatly appreciated!!!

[hartner62]

Hey Scoot,

Can you shoot me an email, I have a question for ya. It is my user name at hotmail.

[Jim Uran]

Nice birds and stories!!!!!!

[Bran32]

really cool to do 3 things in one spot, turkeys, deer, and monster brown trout!!!

[harvey lee]

Yes, thanks for the awesome recap of your trip.

Thanks to scoot for getting others started in the story telling.

I really enjoy the stories and photo's.

[sticknstring]

Looks like a few good wing bone yelper candidates Don - Congrats!

[DonBo]

Looks like a few good wing bone yelper candidates Don - Congrats!

Glad you guys are enjoying my story, like I said, this is the best week of the year for me and I enjoy sharing.

Day 6. Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Really warmed up overnight, about 40 this morning, calm, cloudy. Sat my river crossing stand again. Had 5 does and fawns right under me (literally) and saw a couple more but was pretty slow action this morning. I did have the same flock of turkeys from two days ago come right in to me. I actually got drawn back on them this time, but they never did offer a good shot.

Gary shot a young hen near camp this morning, half his turkey tags are now filled.

Today was about beautifull weather (finally) and lot's of trout. Big trout! Sunny and 50 today with light SW winds. The river is absolutely FULL of big trout. Not sure how many I caught, maybe a dozen? But the smallest was about 16" and 2 were pushing 20". I've had the good fortune to fish the world famous Big Horn River in Montana, and today was better!

Gary has no camera and it is tough to take trophy pictures of yourself when you want to release these fish without taking them out of the water, but here's a nice one that came to hand.

I saw one trout today on a spawning bed that had to be at least 24", probably closer to 26. I caught another smaller one, probably a female and a larger one followed her right to my hand as I unhooked her. Pretty cool stuff.

Sadly the rest of the day was a bust. No turkeys came to our roost area and I sat a new ground blind that the wind was perfect for, but nothing showed. That's huntin...

This is one area we fished. Perfect habitat for a triple play, deer, turkey, trout.

[bmc]

Great read Don!!!

I can see why it's your favorite week of the year! What more could a guy ask for?

My brother just moved to Oakdale, by the Mills Fleet Farm. He doesn't have any connections down there so he can get out and bowhunt.....not that he has much free time with his 6 and 4 year olds.

If yer ever in need of a partner for an outdoor excursion, he'd be most appreciative.

Thanks,

Brian

[DonBo]

My brother just moved to Oakdale, by the Mills Fleet Farm. He doesn't have any connections down there so he can get out and bowhunt.....not that he has much free time with his 6 and 4 year olds.

If yer ever in need of a partner for an outdoor excursion, he'd be most appreciative.

Thanks,

Brian

Not sure I could get him in a stand anywhere near here, but if he want's to get together for some shooting or whatever, have him get hold of me. My email is below.

BTW, we may be neighbors, I live right near Fleet Farm.