NW S.D. antelope hunt.

[bmc]

As promised, I'll do a little write up about my antelope hunt last week out in NW South Dakota. While the numbers are way down, there were some shots taken, blood on the prairie, a pile of good laughs, and a practical joke or two as well.

To start it off, here's the 4 hunters. From left to right, Me, Danny, Troy, and Kyle.

We left Deer River, MN on Sept. 19th and were in Buffalo, S.D. early in the afternoon. So after getting our gear put away at our home away from home, the Tipperary Lodge/Motel, we hit the field.

Kyle and I drove around and saw a few antelope on some public land. I was anxious to get my first stalk under my belt, so when we saw a buck and doe laying with in 30 yds or so of some hay bales, Kyle turned me loose. He ended up missing a shot at a small buck while I was on my stalk.

After a 450 yd belly crawl through a cut alfalfa field, I ran the final 50 yds to get on the right side of the 1st rows of bales. After catching my breath, I peered around the far side of the bales. Mr. and Mrs. were up and feeding at 95 yds. I settled in and ranged a couple clumps of alfalfa. They then bedded and it turned into a waiting game. About 20 minutes later, Mr. sees a competitor about 500 yds away and goes and runs him off. He comes back and I decide to try and flag him w/ a white hanky. Neither one of them liked that and they ran off. Here's a pic of where my first stalk went down.

Meanwhile Danny and Troy had 3 stalks, but couldn't get close enough for a shot.

Day 1 was in the books.

[sticknstring]

Can't wait for the recap Brian - looks like a blast!

[mrklean]

did you hunt all public land?

[bmc]

Yep, 90% of our hunting was on public land. We did meet a farmer who let us on his property to hunt as well.

Day 2 started off w/ a 5 am wake up call. As foggy as it was we should have slept in as it was near impossible to get a stalk in till around 10 am.

Kyle and I headed toward the Camp Crook area. We saw a lot of deer over in this area, maybe the wooded creek bottoms helped them get through the past 2 bad winters?

We then returned to the alfalfa field where I had my 1st stalk yesterday. We saw a couple of antelope, but they were too far away to bother with. Around 1 pm we saw a buck chasing a doe near an abandoned farmstead on public land. With the grove of trees between us and the goats, it was game on.

We made it to the goat's side of the tree grove with no problem, but where did they disappear too? There was a ravine in front of us, so Kyle manned the decoy and I was designated shooter. We crawled up to the edge and peered over........nothing. We looked to the right and they both exploded out of their beds in the tall prairie grass and headed east over the next hill. They were about 70 yds out when they boogied. We crested the next hill and saw that our 2 had joined a larger herd with 3 other bucks and 15 or so does and fawns. We were caught in the open and put the decoy up. The herd stayed about 300-400 yds out and never got closer. We then headed back to the truck and onto our next stalk.

While looking for our next stalk, we drove by a cool site, unless you were the guy who wasn't in his blind when he should have been. Yep, that's a nice buck antelope within 20 yds of the blind and no one was home.

After a good laugh, we headed SE towards Reva, S.D. We wanted to check out the terrain there, in case we wanted to come back and do a mule deer hunt in the future. We drove through the Custer Nat'l Forest south of Reva. What a beautiful area, but no deer were seen.

We did however see a nice herd of antelope, 20+, that were on some private ground.

We then headed back to the alfalfa field from yesterday and put out 2 ground blinds, in the dark, in an area where we had seen a nice buck and his harem of 15 does, on our way into town on Sunday afternoon.

We then headed back to the hotel, confident that there would be "blood on the prairie" in the morning.

I almost forgot to mention the big blisters that had formed on the outside edges of my heels. That was only the beginning of my foot problems.

[triggertrav]

looking good so far - i have been out to reva for a few years chasing whitetails and mulies - and love the country. Hope things work out for ya!

[Scoot]

BMC, thanks very much for taking the time and effort to take the pics in the field and to share them with us. Looks like we're in store for a great adventure!

Whoever started doing these play-by-play stories here anyway? Whoever he is, he must be a genius!!!

Looking forward to the rest of the story...

[mrklean]

did you see alot of deer out there? Might go deer hunting in that camp cook to buffalo area

[slopmaster]

BMC "Around 1 pm we saw a buck chasing a doe near an abandoned farmstead on public land. With the grove of trees between us and the goats, it was game on.

To funny right there i hunted that same exact piece of public land this year chasing goats in late august. we also stayed in buffalo. That area was where we seen the most goats. straight west of that farm site about half a mile there is that alfalfa field with bales i got within 50 of a nice buck but he seen me when i drew. We had some shots and close encounters but never "sealed the deal". alot of spots for them to hide that you never realize from the road until you walk a couple miles... great story man! cant wait to hear the rest

[huntnfish]

Whoever started doing these play-by-play stories here anyway? Whoever he is, he must be a genius!!!

I just wish that whoever started it would have put the whole story up in one day instead of making us impatient people wait to hear the outcome.

Great story so far. Like everyone else, I'm looking forward to the rest.

[bmc]

Mrklean,

We saw very few deer actually, except for the foggy morning over by Camp Crook/MT border. Depending on how picky a person is on what they shoot, you could probably get a deer out there. If you were looking for a decent buck, I'd wait a few years to see if the numbers re-build.

Day 3

We woke up at 5 am and Kyle and I were out to our ground blinds in the alfalfa field by 6am. We set up 120 yds apart, so if anything walked between us, one of us would get a shot.

The only action was a whitetail doe and fawn that almost ran through Kyle's blind and ran past me at 20 yds. The herd of antelope we had seen here Sunday was MIA. Did I mention the AWESOME sunrise?

At 10 am, we decided to walk west into some broken area, to see if the goats were still around. This area seemed like a rattle snake hotel to me, so I was on pins and needles as I walked through it.

I ended up getting within 30 yds of the 2 WT's and could have shot them in their beds. We saw a herd of goats heading south out of the broken area, into the alfalfa field, about a mile S.W. of our blinds. We headed south into the alfalfa field, only to find that they had disappeared on us. I continued south and Kyle headed east. I saw a small antelope buck standing behind some hay bales and I went into stealth mode. I closed the distance to about 70 yds and ran out of cover (hay bales). The little guys' 6th sense eventually kicked in and he boogied.

We circled back to our blinds and decided to take them down, have some lunch, and then head south west to explore some new country.

We found a nice buck and doe bedded in a ravine in an ideal position for a stalk, so I circled around them to the north and then got on the east side of them, within about 80 yds. I don't know if the wind swireld or what, but they blew out of their like they had rockets strapped to their butts.

Kyle then made a stalk on a nice antleope buck, but went too far past the goat. He ended up spooking a 3 legged antelope doe ( missing 1/2 of her back leg), who in turn took the buck with her.

We pressed on, frustrated with our "so close, yet so far" stalks. While we were parked on the side of a road [PoorWordUsage]'ing and doing some glassing, a local farmer pulled up to us. He said if we didn't care about bucks or does, we could hunt his 2800 acre farm. They love to eat his rye when he plants it, so he would love for us to "deter" them a bit.

We took him up on his offer and followed him to his farm. All of his ground was in alfalfa and he said he had 5,000 bales in the field. He had been seeing quite a few goats around and wished us luck. Before we parted ways, he said he usually collects $30 a tag for unfilled antleope tags, from people who hunt his property. No pressure there! LOL

We drove around his farm at twilight and saw some goats running around. We made plans to be there at sun up and headed back to the motel.

When we got there we found out that Danny and Troy each had a couple of stalks today and that Troy had missed a shot.

We went to bed with re-newed enthusiasm, because of our new area to hunt in the morning.

[bmc]

Sorry for the delay guys.....busy weekend w/ grandkids, duck hunting and bowhunting.

So here's what happened on Day 5.

Kyle and I headed out to the private land we got permission to hunt and parked off the edge of the driveway. We got our gear together and put the target out for some practice shots. This is always a good idea and I try to do this every time before I get out to hunt, although early mornings are tough to do.

While we were shooting our bows, we saw 3 or 4 different smaller antelope bucks running around. We had that feeling it was going to be a good day.

We walked east into the alfalfa field with our homemade decoy. We made it a couple of hundred yards and we can hear antelope calls over the hill. We sneak up to the edge and get behind a hay bale and peer around the side of it.

There was a nice antelope buck chasing a smaller buck away from a herd of 6-8 does and fawns. They were about 400 yds out and below us. We talked it over and decided to set "Fred" up and see what happens. So I lean out to the left of the hay bale and set the decoy up. Kyle says they are moving to our left, angling in our direction. I sat down behind "Fred" and readied an arrow, as did Kyle who was to my right, behind the hay bale.

Pretty soon I can hear hoof beats. Kyle says here they come, get ready. I peek around the side of the decoy and see the little buck running head on at me with the bigger buck in hot pursuit. I ranged a hay bale at 40 yds, clicked my release on, and tried to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest.

I come to full draw and lean out around the decoy, the little buck veers to my right. The big guy has slowed down, but is still going at a good clip, right at me. When he gets next to the 40 yd bale, I put my 40 yd pin dead center on his chest, and squeeze the trigger........

Just as I squeezed the trigger, he hooked to the right and I shot behind him. Little did I know, that he stopped at 35 yds, quartering towards us. Kyle says stay down and steps out at full draw. I hear him shoot and hear that sweet sound of an arrow hitting flesh. Kyle says he hit him. I lean out to see the buck run out to 120 yds and stand there broadside. The arrow is sticking out both sides, buried almost up to the fletching. The bad part is, the shot hit the antelope behind the last rib on the right side, angled under the spine and femoral artery, and exited in the middle of the upper left rear ham.

As the buck stands there wondering what happened. I ranged him at 120 yds and let Kyle know. He decided to take a shot, being he's already wounded the animal. He takes his time and shoots, only to have the arrow land about 20 yds short. The buck trotts off to the west, following the other antelope.

Kyle takes off after the buck and I retrieved his 2nd arrow and I couldn't find my arrow. I grab Fred and run west to the driveway and lean the decoy on a fence post and continue west to hopefully find the antelope.

Kyle was to my right about 200-300yds and we kept the antelope in sight for 2 miles and then lost sight of him. We looked and looked, but couldn't find any sign of him. Not even a drop of blood where he had stood on a hill side for a couple of minutes.

We meet up and Kyle feels the wounded buck continued west. So he's going to continue to head west, while I back track to the truck, and call Troy and Danny, who were hunting a public alfalfa field not too far away.

While walking back to the truck, I prayed to the hunting gods that we find that buck. I also had to dodge what I termed, "South Dakota IED's" along the way.

I get to the driveway, about a 1/2 mile south of where we parked the truck, and see the wounded buck laying in the alfalfa on the east side of the driveway about 200 yds away. He had done the old "double back" trick that wounded animals seem to do quite often in my experience. I immediately sit down and grab the Swarovski's to size up the situation.

While watching him, I can see his horns and that the blaze orange fletching of the arrow is still in him. His head would be up and then go down, completely out of sight. This happened several times. I thought for sure that he was dying and the best thing to do was to let him lay there and hopefully bleed out.

The thought did cross my mind, to try and make a stalk on him to get another arrow in him, but I figured being he was bedded, to leave him be. Not to mention, I he spooked he might not bed up again. I called Troy on his cell and what had taken place. I told him I had Kyle's buck in sight, still alive, the location, and to go and find Kyle.

I must have watched the buck for a good 20 minutes when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. To my right, another buck antelope appears at 150-200 yds and makes a bee line to the wounded buck. He walks up to him and gets him nervous enough to get him up and heading east. Hind sight being 20/20, I wish I would've tried to make a stalk and get a second arrow into that buck.

I start following the bucks east bound for about 2 miles, not pushing them, but just keeping them in sight/binocular range (300-400yds). I called Troy again, saying I was following the buck to the east and I would get back to them when I could.

Troy and Danny had a general idea of where I was and got on the tallest hill in the area. Danny stayed there and helped me keep track of the buck while Troy went and picked Kyle up.

The buck then headed north, so I continued following him. At one point he started heading in Danny's direction, so I backed off a bit, hoping Danny would get a shot at him. At this piont, I found an antelope doe that had got caught in the top 2 strands of barbed wire and fell victim to the fence and coyotes. The buck then decided to head north along a fenceline, dividing the alfalfa fields, towards some CPR grass that was tall.

I got to the edge of the CRP grass and see Kyle a few hundred yards to my left, west of me. I then see Troy in the truck north of us on the County Road. At this point, I was looking at an open gate w/ a fresh pile of antelope [PoorWordUsage]. I inspected it carefully and saw there was some faint traces of blood in the [PoorWordUsage]. I then motioned to Kyle that I had found some sign and that I felt the buck headed north into the CRP grass.

We waded into the CRP and I got to a high spot and see the buck heading behind the truck. I raised my bow above my head and jumped around to get Troy's attention. I then pointed my arrow fletching's in the direction the buck was headed.

Troy did his best to cut off the buck, but it ended up getting by him and continued to the Northwest. Troy then jumped in the truck and paralleled the buck along the County Road. Kyle and I made it out the County Road and Troy picked us up and we drove to where he had last seen the buck standing on a hill.

Sure enough the buck was there and heading west again, paralell to the road. I told them my feet felt like hamburger, so I would sit here and keep an eye on the buck while they tried to get ahead of it.

Side note: It is a good idea to have a magnetic box with an extra set of keys somewhere on your truck and to make sure your hunting buddies know where it is, it saved us from having to walk back the to truck.

I immediately took my boots and socks off and called Danny, who drove to my location. While waiting for him, I kept an eye on the buck and popped mulitple blisters w/ a Slick Trick broadhead.

Before Danny got to me, I lost sight of the buck, but saw that Troy and Kyle were still on him. Danny picked me up and he loaded my gear in the truck while I hobbled into the truck.

We then found where Troy and Kyle had parked. About a hafl hour/45 minutes later, they both came walking up. They had lost the buck and had no idea where it went.

We took a break and ate our lunch, discussing our options. We figured we had followed the buck at least 6 miles from the time Kyle had shot it.

We decided that we would go set some blinds on the private ground we had been hunting that morning and then we went back and looked for the buck some more, to no avail.

We then headed back towards town and Danny had 1 quick stalk before shooting time was done. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but he got to 35 yds and got busted.

We got back to the hotel and talked to some other hunters who had to leavea a wounded antelope overnight. They found it the next morning, but getting out early and listening for the coyotes, which led them to their antelope. They got lucky as the coyotes had already gutted the 'lope for them. They said all the meat was salvagable.

We all went to bed that night dead tired and feeling horrible about the days events. However, there was a glimmer of hope that the coyotes or birds might lead us to the 'lope in the morning.