Black Hills Combo 2011

[DonBo]

For those of you who don't know, I've been hunting the northern edge of the Black Hills near Sturgis for over 30 years. We hunt turkeys, gun and bow, archery hunt deer (mostly whitetails) and fish big trout. My friend Gary has traveled with me on this venture for 25 or so of those years. We hunt an 800 acre private ranch (no charge) that consists of the high pine studded hills this area is known for, along with over a mile of river bottom territory. There are a few hay fields including the "big" field which is over 1/2 mile long. It seems every deer in the world uses this big field. I've sat over this field at sunset and seen upwards of 300 deer. The pine covered ridge tops and large cottonwood and oak trees along the river make for perfect roost trees for the abundant turkey flocks. One roost near our camp has held well over 100 birds at times. The river that runs behind camp has a good population of large trout upriver to spawn this time of year. It is some of the most beautiful and game rich land I have ever seen. To say this is the best week of the year for me would be an understatement.

It will take a while for me to share this hunt with you, so sit back and enjoy, and please don't pester me too much if it takes a while between posts. Thanks for following along!

[sticknstring]

Still no update?

I always look forward to hearing about this hunt Don - subcribed for more!

[DonBo]

Friday, Oct. 14

The trip starts early morning. First stop is in Worthington where our very own Steve Foss has a photography display at the local college. Steve is a great photographer and we enjoyed very much looking at some of his work.

We got into camp late afternoon and by the time we got all set up, it was only about 1 hour before sunset. Gary set out to scout for turkeys as that is his great love. He hasn't even bought a deer tag for the last couple years. I headed behind camp with just my bow and sat behind a deadfall to watch for deer. I saw 5 deer tonight, I believe every one was a buck. Had one at 23 yards that was nice enough to shoot on the very first night, but being on the ground with scant little cover is tough. By the time I got to full draw he was way out of sight. Still, a promising first night.

Neither of us saw or heard a turkey tonight. The rancher said this was the worst hatch he's seen in the 40+ years he's been here. They had a long cold winter with lots of snow and a very cold wet spring. The result is very few birds in the area. Any of you who want to spring hunt out here may want to talk to a local biologist before making the trip.

Was a nice evening, probably 55 degrees, clear with a light N wind.

Our comfortable camp consists of a 10' pop-up trailer with generator:

Complete with full bath:

And a huge shower with a view:

[mrklean]

haha cant wait to see how the trip turns out Don

[DonBo]

Sat., Oct. 15

With no stand set up, I headed out to try to get us a turkey for the grill. For the last several years this has been a tradition for me, first morning pick on a little turkey and get the meat in a marinade for a couple days. I know some of you have tasted my marinaded turkey breast and believe me, it's great.

I did actually see 4 birds this morning, but they were on the other side of the river. Sadly, that would be the last turkeys I'd see for a couple days.

On the bright side, it's a beautiful morning. Clear, calm, 36 degrees.

The afternoon was spent setting a ground blind and a tree stand just off the edge of the big field. Then I took a short nap and fished for a bit while waiting for the shower water to heat. I had a nice 18+" trout on and missed acouple others before realizing there was only one hook on my Panther Martin spinner.

Sat my treestand this evening and had a great show. Saw probably 2 dozen deer but the only horns seen were a couple spikes and forks. I need to move this tree father in as most of the deer were behind me, not one smelled me though.

Gary lost a 20+" fish this afternoon, then headed way up into the hills in search of birds. Nothing.

[DonBo]

Now I need to hear some opinions from you guys. I saw LOTS of spikes and small forks this week. Some actually appeared to be this years fawns with 1" or 2" polished antlers, while others are TINY button bucks. Some with the same size horns appeared to have the body size of a yearling. I think there are SO many does here that the available bucks can't possibly breed them all during a normal rut period. My belief is that the does start getting bred in Oct., and many of this years fawns don't get bred till late into the winter, Jan. maybe Feb.

What I am seeing is fawns that are born anywhere between May and Aug or early Sept. That means that some of the early fawns may have a larger body size and polished antlers, while the later fawns are tiny button bucks.

Same with the yearlings. Many have tiny spikes, similar to the early fawns, while others are full blown yearlings with big spikes or forks.

It was often hard to tell if the smaller bucks seen were with does or maybe their sister from last year.

Thoughts?

[Scoot]

Excellent! Can't wait to read/see how this goes! Thanks for sharing, Don!

[Sifty]

After our talks in the boat I was waiting to see how things went.

Keep up the good work.

Sifty

[slimngrizzly]

Can't wait to see/hear how it panned out for ya!

I would most certainly agree about the late bred does. More common than people think really. This is often the case where people think a buck is a 2 1/2, when actually its a nice 1 1/2 and the rest of the small bodied bucks around are late born 1 1/2 year olds. The bodies on the late born fawns are very underdevoloped and affect the antler growth into the following year resulting in small bodied deer with spikes, forks... instead of big 1 1/2 yr olds with small 6,8, or even bigger antlers.

Sounds like they need to thin the herd out there!

[DonBo]

Sun., Oct 16

Another nice morning. 35-40 degrees, 10 mph west wind. Sat same stand as last night. Kinda slow, ONLY 10 or 12 deer seen, no horns, just two does, each with twins near me. Did see a big doe with a broken right rear leg hobbling around. Glad she didn't come close because I would have had to burn my tag on her. Gawd I hate to see that kind of thing in the wild.

Most of these deer were behind me again so I pulled the stand after my sit to move it deeper into the woods. It ended up along a fenceline about half way through the woods.

Did some more scouting and fishing again this afternoon, still have yet to actually catch one, even though I've had countless hits and lost more than a few that did get hooks in them. Showering was a treat this afternoon with a 20+ mph wind blowin' on my bare a$$.

Got up to 60 today but the howling winds made it seem much colder, though they did die down nicely at sunset. Sat in my ground blind tonight. Saw 12 or 14 deer, 1 spike, 1 big fork or 6pt, lots of does and fawns. Most crossed on a trail about 60 yards up the field road from my hiding spot.

This may be the first day I've ever spent out here without seeing or at least hearing a turkey. Gary was in the same boat, zero turkey action today.

[DonBo]

Monday, Oct 17

Rained a little overnight. So dry out here lately that every drop is appreciated. Jumped a bunch of deer walking into my new treestand along the fenceline. Never jumped a single one yesterday. That seemed a bit odd to me. Maybe the bright moon had something to do with that as it was obscured by clouds today. Nice morning, 40-45, light winds.

Only saw three deer this morning, not surprising with all of them I jumped walking in. A doe and tiny button buck with spots still visable made three seperate appearances along with another button buck that was nearly as big as the doe.

Moved my Double Bull to a new river crossing area looking for the bucks. This spot is right on the edge of a thick bedding area. I know I bumped a few deer while setting up, but there's not much can be done about that when the deer are everywhere.

Sat this same blind tonight. Just a doe and fawn and a small fork made their way past the blind, never showing any interest. Did see a few way off on both sides of me.

About sunset I heard Gary shoot - three times! Now I've hunted with Gary a long time. He's not a great shot with the shotgun. I've seen him miss 6 shots at big toms and run right into Spearfish for a new shotgun, only to miss three more the next morning. So when I heard three shots, first off I KNEW it was him, second, I guessed he MAYBE got one. He fooled me. He got two. One nice sized hen and a grill bird! Half his tags are full. I again never saw or heard a bird today.

[sticknstring]

Good thing Gary got some camp meat. Since you couldn't land a fish, I bet you were starving!

Forget your camera?

[Archerysniper]

I have seen many does getting bred during the later part of Blkpowder season and once during late Dec while bow hunting, so I have to agree with you. Also my domesticated whitetail fawn I got this year was a late fawn and only weighs around 30 pounds right now she would be one of the late bred does and have late fawns.

[Powerstroke]

I love your story Don. I can't wait to hear more.

[Andrew Erickson]

awesome!

[deerminator]

Good luck DonBo and great stories. I enjoyed reading last year's post on this too. I get a kick out of hearing about Gary too. It's kind of like Penn and Teller, he's not able to defend himself. lol.

[DonBo]

I get a kick out of hearing about Gary too. It's kind of like Penn and Teller, he's not able to defend himself. lol.

On Gary's behalf, he's left eye dominanat and shoots right handed. When he gets excited, and he GETS excited, he often forgets to close his left eye. Nothing good can come from that.

[DonBo]

Tuesday, Oct. 18

Slept in. Geez, I needed that!

Headed out with the rod and a couple new spinners with all hooks intact. Caught a fat 11 incher right away, then later a beautiful 21-22 inch hook jawed male. One of the probably 5 or 6 biggest trout of my life. Awesome! A good start to the day.

After breakfast I headed out to set up a new stand at far south end of the big field. This is the spot I saw the monster B&C contender last year. I also set up another ground blind at the river crossing where I got busted by one big buck as I drew on another-at 10 yards. Dang, that will haunt me for years to come.

While going back and forth between these two sets, OMG, there's a bunch of turkeys! They were feeding on acorns in the field road. I grabbed my gun and snuck into the woods, up to the field and down to about where I thought they were, snuck over a rise and they the were. Seven birds of all sizes. They were only about 30 yards away but in some brush. Usually I'd just pick the one closest or the most open and not care much about what it was, but now with so few around I wanted to be a bit pickey. Not being able to clearly choose a big one I passed and watched them walk away. A hard decision believe me. Sometimes this "ethics" thing gets in the way of having a good time.

Back to the river again. Caught 3 more in short order including one fat 18 or 19 incher. Nice fish.

(Sorry, no pictures of me with fish, but here's an average one Gary brought to hand)

Sat my same fenceline stand tonight. 20+ mph winds again. Saw 20 deer, 8 or 9 of which were in range, but just one buck, a spike. Where have all the bucks gone?

Gary spent most of the day up in the hills across the road. He saw a bunch of deer up there including a couple nice bucks, but scant little turkey sign.

[Scoot]

Great stuff, Don- thanks for sharing!

[DonBo]

Wednesday, Oct 19

Frosty, calm, clear, perfect!

Saw about a dozen deer this morning from my fenceline stand. Only buck? One small spike.

The highlight of the morning was watching a family group, doe, two fawns and a yearling doe, play "tag". First had the doe come tearing out of the woods at mach speed. Naturally I grabbed my bow as I was hoping she was being chased by a buck. Then the two fawns came running from a different direction, then the yearling came from another. They seemed to be taking turns chasing each other around the bottoms, mostly right in front of me. Mom finally just stood out of the way with her ears back as if to say "enough, keep me out of it". It reminded me of our cats when one goes on a spunk and tears around the house. Couldn't help but chuckle while watching their antics. God I love this sport!

Later today the wind is supposed to switch so I can hunt some of my other spots.

God no, bad news from home. We need to leave tomorrow. A new plan for the shortened week was needed.

Gary and I were going up into the hills in search of turkeys. I would work my way back to camp and get ready for my evening hunt, ready to take the first doe that presented a good shot. Gary would stay up in the hills and try to fill his last two tags. I told him if he got a nice tom he'd have to bring it out whole for pictures. Not an easy undertaking considering the terrain and distance he'd be from the truck. I saw very little turkey sign on my way back, but the views were awesome:

The "mountain" in the very background of the bottom photo is "Bear Butte", an extinct volcano out in the prairie. Supposedly all the Native Americans from miles around met here each fall to trade and dance and do whatever it was they did when all the tribes got together. The last time they met was when they headed off to do in General Custer. Just a bit of local lore for you all.

[snoozebutton]

Thanks for sharing Don and too bad about the shortened trip, hope it's nothing serious!!

[DonBo]

Sorry guys, was hoping to finish this story last night, but there was guttin' and draggin' and butchering to be done.

Wednesday evening, Oct. 19

Finally got the change in wind direction they'd been promising. Perfect for the tree at south end of the big field. This would be my last sit, we needed to pack up first thing in the morning. The first deer to show was a lone doe, just the thing to hang my tag on, however she got downwind of me and though she didn't spook, she didn't really want to go that way. As I watcher her, she kept looking past me. Sure enough a doe and fawn were approaching directly toward me. I thought they were coming right in, but then they came up short and were looking behind me. A quick check revealed two cows headed right down my trail. Just what I needed.

Eventually the cows passed and the doe approached a small shooting lane. I came to full draw but she was just beyond the spot and branches obscurred the shot. I let down. Moments later she got to another shooting lane, again, full draw. Tried to stop her with a mouth grunt but she must not have heard it and kept walking. Let down again. She's now straight downwind and walking into my final shooting lane. I draw again and this time she stops, 23 yards. The shot is perfect! She runs around my tree and heads back the direction she came from, only to drop well within sight. This is not the deer I dreamed of, but considering the circumstances I'm elated!

It's still an hour before dark, so I get her cleaned up and drug to a spot we can get the truck, and set about pulling all my blinds and stands. It's well after dark as I walk down the field road towards camp only to find Gary and the truck waiting for me. We both have good stories as he filled his remaining turkey tags tonight.

Two nice toms! Great fall birds. Remember me telling him he had to bring them out whole? Well he toted them both back along with his gun, vest, backpack, etc. What a job. I know where he shot them and I know where the truck was. You all better enjoy these photos cause I made him bring them out just to show them to you!

This is 40 lbs of birds plus all his other [PoorWordUsage]. Great job Gary! He was sitting in a roost area and 19 toms came in. The biggest and another one were the closest to him when they started fighting. When they wrapped their necks together he shot, killing both with one shot! Then of coarse they both rolled all the way to the bottom of the hill. That's 4 birds with four shots this week. That really helped his overall average.

It was a late night as we readied to leave in the morning. A good dinner was in order.

Marinaded wild turkey and fresh hangin' tenders. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

[Cheetah]

19 toms! Dang, I need to move to your area. Impressive that he got two with one shot as well!

[Scoot]

Great job Don! That grill looks dang good!!! Thanks much for sharing with us...

[DonBo]

Thursday morning, Oct 20

Got up early and got the deer into quarters and on ice for the trip home. Disposed of the carcass where the coyotes could clean it up in no time, packing the camper and...GOBBLES! Right behind camp. Close! Gary insisted I grab my gun and go after 'em. I didn't hesitate long. Couldn't find the birds where I thought they were, but then heard them across the river. Put on my rubber boots and went after them. Came upon a flock of jakes, but they spotted me and weren't very excited about sticking around. They seemed to have broken off from a bigger flock as I heard more on the other side of me. I was right between them. This was perfect!

Eventually some of the birds started coming back together, I had a couple go through an opening too fast for a shot, but then next one stopped and looked my way. 35 yards. BOOM!

By God, a bonus bird! Been a LONG time since I was skunked on turkeys out here. Hopefully it will be a long time before it happens again.

It turned out to ne a nice BEARDED hen!

This bird made the ride home, two days early, a little easier to swallow. I'd like to think we all put our families first, but Gary made the transition for MY family really easy. He had zero problems with going home so I could be with my loved ones.

All in all it was another great trip. Many tags filled, the company was good, the weather was as nice as any in recent memory. Wish there were more birds, and wish I'd seen more bucks, but there's always next year.

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