Day by Day Recap of my Black Hills Combo Hunt.

[DonBo]

Wednesday, October 13th. 50 degrees up at camp this morning, frost down in the bottoms.

While fishing yesterday I found a well used trail crossing the river. It fanned out big time on each side, so I built a brush blind right near the water. Only saw two deer here this morning but they were both NICE bucks. An 8 and a 10 running together. The 8 was similar to the deer I passed on Monday, the 10 was much nicer.

The 10 was in the lead and crossed right on my trail. As he walked down into the river I got my bow in position and the 8 (still on the far side) saw me and jumped. The 10 either didn't hear him or thought he was just slipping down the river bank, I don't know, but he kept coming. At 10 yards there is a big full bush between us and I drew. The 8 blew and both were gone in a heartbeat. There I was at full draw wondering what just happened. Dang! (I may have said a few words a bit more harsh that that)

Gary was back in his roost blind and though he saw maybe 50 birds (50!) he still has no shot.

We fished a bit after stand (only caught one 14") when Gary spotted a flock of turkeys across the river. We "surrounded" them and Gary dropped his first bird of the week, the big lead hen.

Later in the day after putting up a new stand for the changing wind at the far south end of the big field I fished a bit more. Catching just one, a nice fat 17 incher.

In my new stand that evening I had 9 deer in range but not one horn in the bunch. I did see a big flock of turkeys in the field and 3 nice bucks running together. The first two were like the ones from this morning, the last was HIM! Even at 300 yards with my binocs I could clearly count all ten tall heavy points. His rack was way beyond his ears. This was the nicest buck I've seen in years and may have been pushing B&C. Man, was he nice. These deer crossed into the field probably only 100 yards from me and I was determined to check it out tomorrow.

Plenty of other entertainment tonight. These big fox squirrels are eveywhere. It seemed they were having a contest to see which one could hang from the smallest branch. I believe this was the winner.

Gary was back in his roost blind and finally pulled the the trigger on one tonight. Two in one day, not bad.

[bigbucks]

DonBo, you're killing me man... this waiting...

[DonBo]

Thursday, October 14th. 60 derees this morning. Another warm one. Sat the same stand as last night. Only one little buck came by. After stand I checked out the crossing where the big buck came into the field last night. I now have a new stand for tonight. Wind looks perfect, I'm excited.

Picked up Gary from his roost area blind. He saw some turkeys across the river but nothing close. As we were heading back to camp, a flock of turkeys was in a field we have permission to hunt. We again "surrounded" them, this time it was my turn. I walked into the woods where they headed and the whole flock just held there, hiding. One poked his head up out of the brush and I had my second bird, a young hen.

Gary stayed in the woods all day after that. Funny, he got busted by a flock that snuck right up on him and didn't see them till the lead bird almost stepped on his foot! Minutes later he turned to see another staring at him from only 10 feet away. No chance for a shot with so many so close. That's how it is in fall hunting.

I had to chase around town getting water, propane, gas, etc. When I returned to camp there was a big flock of turkeys right there. I took off after them to try to get ahead of them. They outsmarted me by backtracking down a ridge, across a field up and over a big ridge 3 or 4 times with me dogging them the whole way. There were some nice birds in this flock of 20 or so. I finally got even with them from other side of the ridge and snuck up to the top to see the bigger birds in the rear only 30 yards away. I shot the only one that was away from the others, a nice young jake, probably 10 or 12 lbs. Three birds for me, two for the day.

New stand this evening. Now it's Thursday, tomorrow is my last day to deer hunt as we leave early Saturday morning. Usually come Thursday I take the first good doe to come along but with all the nice bucks seen in the last few days I just couldn't do it. Had 18 deer inside shooting distance tonight. Not a buck in the bunch.

[bigbucks]

Nice timing, that's what I call service! Good job with the report.

[DonBo]

Friday, October 15th. I'd love to tell you how everything I learned this week came together on this last day and show pics of the big bruiser, but that's just not the case. As so often happens when we go afield with the stick and string in hand things just did not go as planned today. The wind switched and caused me to go away from my best stands with not much sighted and nothing in range. That's how it goes sometimes...

On the bright side, here's a view I had on the last evening of my hunt.

Nice huh?

I did however see a nice flock of turkeys leave the field at dark and have a pretty good idea where they roosted. We'll have one more shot at them in the morning.

Gary was on a couple flocks today but came away empty as well.

[DonBo]

Saturday, October 16th. Headed after the turkeys early. When setting up on a flock in the morning you can do two things, set up under them and hope they fly straight down, or set up in the closest field/large open area as they often fly up to 100 yards or more to these places. Was lucky and guessed exactly where they were. As it got lighter we could see several in the trees around us. They however chose to fly into the big field rather than straight down where we were. We did put a good sneak on them and were actually in range at one point but they were all in such a small group that any chance at a shot would have been foolish. Oh well.

It was a great week though, spent with a good friend. Never heard the phone ring once. Got to camp and hunt in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Witnessed nature right close up for 8 days. Had several opportunities at some nice deer and saw one of the biggest bucks of my life. As I get older I'm starting to enjoy the experience as much as, or more than the actual taking of game. (easy to say when going home empty handed huh? )

Thanks for following along on my favorite week of the year.

[DTro]

Awesome Journal Don! I sure am jealous, deer or not.

The old saying, "does it get any better than this?" must cross your mind from time to time.

[mrklean]

great end of the story don

[Scoot]

Great stuff, Don! Thanks very much for taking the time and effort to share with us. Sounds like a very fun trip.