2013 Black Hills Combo

[DonBo]

Monday, Oct. 21

Cold, 35. On and off showers all night, some pretty heavy. Windy.

Sat same ground blinds in the riverbottom. Slow morning. Saw a few does across the river. A flock of 6 toms well upstream from me, then another flock of 12-15 hens and young ones fly across the river.

Walking out of the bottoms this morning, I came upon this roost tree that had tom scat piled up undernieth it. I'll file this info for later in the week if there's still tags to fill.

For those that don't know, tom droppings are long and "J" shaped, like these, whereas hens are more rounded piles, like Hershey Kisses.

Gary only saw one small flock, though there was 50-60 in one of the fields alongside the road as we drove back to camp. He headed back to Sturgis with his truck.

Pretty much a wasted afternoon, rained all day. I pulled my blind on the porky field and fixed up the brush blind I made the first day, then took a nice long nap, showered, read my book.....Gary came back late afternoon. They found the problem and should be able to fix it in short order tomorrow. We headed into town to do some laundry and have a nice dinner.

The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow.

[sticknstring]

You can almost bank on that tom roosting on that limb again! I think he'll be coming home in the cooler!

[Thunderchicken]

This is cool DonBo.. I hunt out west SD as I have family out there. Love the story and can't wait for the ending. Not that I want everyone on her to know your hunting spot but what county you in??

[DonBo]

Not that I want everyone on her to know your hunting spot but what county you in??

Never made a secret of that. Lawrence County, near Sturgis.

[Thunderchicken]

Nice we are in Pennington County just east of the hills..

[hugonian1]

Great read.

Looking forward to "tomorrow".

[DonBo]

Tuesday, Oct 22

Rain quit overnight. 40, still windy.

Same blinds. Gary saw just a few birds this morning, nothing close. I saw the same flock of 12-15 as yesterday, again across the river. Then one nice buck following a doe 100 yards upsteam from me, just about where my blind was a couple days ago.

Early afternoon. Gary (he is going back to Sturgis to hopefully get his truck fixed for good) dropped me at the far south end of riverbottom property, about 1/2 mile south of where I've been hunting. This area has seldom seen cattle over the years, so has some very thick underbrush. A classic bedding area. It's kind of a hike, but I carried my blind and chair, lunch and everything else needed to spend the day.

Saw plenty of deer.

9 or 10 does/fawns, one forkie, then a narrow but tall and heavy 8pt coming right at me. Unfortunatly he turned at about 25 yds and headed into some thick stuff behind a downed tree. I did catch glimpses of him through the brush for quite a while, but he never did come back into the open. I then glanced out the front window, and OMG, look at that one! Big buck about 100 yards in some thick brush. Tall, wide, heavy 10pt. Maybe 150? I tried grunting, but just as the other night, he showed zero interest.

Kind of defating to see two nice bucks with no opportunity, but still a very prommising night in one of my favorite spots.

The truck is fixed quickly and Gary is back in time to kill a young hen that is limping badly on a broken leg. Not the bird he wanted to put his second tag on, but the right thing to do. What a sportsman.

Got up to 45 today with a few peaks of sun late. The wind even died down some. A pretty nice evening.

[sticknstring]

Sounds like a few nice bucks around! 150" is huge for the hills. Might have to postpone next year's trip another week to catch some of the early rutting activity!

[Walleyehooker]

That's a pretty sweet loaner vehicle. I had one of those back in the 70s.

[DonBo]

Sounds like a few nice bucks around! 150" is huge for the hills.

You're right. The average size of the bucks seen this fall is far bigger than we've ever seen in the past. There has always been some nice bucks on this property though. Of the 3 "booner" deer I've ever seen, two were here. This year there was plenty of moisture during the spring and early summer when the antlers are growing, that leads to better nutrition. Also there are some nice ag fields around and plenty of lightly hunted private property.

[DonBo]

Wednesday, Oct 23

NW wind picked up overnight. Temp at 50 and dropping. Still overcast, but no rain.

Sat same far south blind. Steady parade of deer this morning, 11 or 12, but not one horn in the bunch.

Gary never saw a bird this morning.

Special treat for lunch today. My now famous marinaded wild turkey. Good as ever!

Same blind this evening. Wind finally died down towards dusk. Since it was so quiet, I decided to try my grunt call. Finally the noise will carry. Almost immediately I hear brush cracking and see a shadow coming through the downed brush. Heart beat quickens, breath catches in my throat, knees start banging together, shaky hands. You all know what I mean. What happened next will be burned into my brain forever. A COW! An F'n cow.

I was so shocked, I couldn't even get a decent picture of the dang thing.

One lone doe was all I saw for wildlife tonight. One doe and a dang cow. What a letdown.

Gary was in his blind near the far north end of the property. He heard an ATV scream towards him, then saw the guy driving pull up his shotgun and let out 5 or 6 shots. Birds were flying in all directions. He hit the deck yelling "STOP", as pellets flew all around him. He walked up to this guy on the neighboring property to see he had a kid of about 6 with him. He had picked up 2 dead turkeys and was getting ready to drive away. Gary asked if that was any way to teach the kid how to hunt, and BTW, are you going to tag those birds. Apparently not. Neither of us had a very good night.

45 today, overcast. At least the wind has died down. Interesting side note: Saw my first scrapes today, weeks behind schedule. The weird weather out here has seemingly slowed everything down, heck the trees are still green. Weird.

[deerminator]

Great report though. I'm still waiting for the year, though, that Gary does his own post and gives us the real story behind the story. lol.

[DonBo]

Great report though. I'm still waiting for the year, though, that Gary does his own post and gives us the real story behind the story. lol.

Ha, Gary can't even figure out a cell phone, let alone post something on the interwebs. You could say he's technologically challenged.

[Cheetah]

Story about the neighbor doesn't surprise me. I've heard crazier true stories of hunters in SoDak.

[DonBo]

Thursday, Oct 24

Cold, 35, calm.

Today is my last day to deer hunt. We leave tomorrow morning. There will be time to fill a turkey tag or two early tomorrow if necessary.

Same blind. This was the only thing I saw this morning, oh and cows. Everywhere.

I really thought the cow I saw last night was a single that got lost in the storm and was wondering over broken fences from who-knows-where, but there was a whole herd in here today. Time to go.

So bored I even snapped some photos in the blind.

Gary had 50-60 birds right on top of him this morning, including a few toms, but couldn't ever get a clear shot with so many so close together. That's the way it goes sometimes.

The sun came out today. 55. Nice, calm.

(sorry, I'm a big Beatles fan and just couldn't help myself )

I headed back behind camp where I sat the first night. The wind switched to the south today, so had to build a new blind on the other side of the draw, but that was no big deal. This is the area I'm set up in:

Another great view of Bear Butte on my walk in:

Only saw 3 deer tonight. One young doe came by me at less than 20 yards, but with all the nice bucks seen this week, along with 2 animals already in the freezer, I decided to pass. There will be no fresh tenders on the grill this week.

I'm sure the full moon didn't help any, but deer numbers seem to be down this year. Probably down to where they should be as opposed to way too many that we're used to seeing. I'm sure the EHD last year along with the wet cold spring this year didn't help either.

Gary was back in the bottoms and filled his last two tags on a young tom and a big hen. Sorry, he had them cleaned before I could get photos. He stayed untill dark to scout the roost area where I found all the tom droppings the other day. He said there were birds in there, but couldn't tell what they were. Looks like I'm going to get one good morning of turkey hunting in before the long drive back east.

[DonBo]

It always amazes me on this hunt how quickly it goes. Early on it seems like I have all the time in the world, now it's over. Last morning....

Friday, Oct. 25

Cold, 30. Frost. Dead calm. Bright half moon.

First truely clear night we've had this week. The stars last night were bright and beautiful. A bright moon this morning makes sneaking into a roost area a real challenge. Have to go early, have to be very quiet.

Gary has pinpointed at least a couple birds for me. I'm assuming there's more and they are probably spread out over a pretty large area. In the past, they've gone to the south after flydown, that means I have to get in and around the back side of them for a fair chance. I have my gun and a small folding chair.

I go past the area Gary marked, then cut into the woods and beyond where I think most birds are probably roosted. There are three openings in the woods that all seem likely spots for landings. Can't believe how bright the moon is. I set up against the trunks of three trees between these openings and wait. The first sounds come early, well before good light. There seems to be a bunch of them. I'm about in the middle of them, though they are all just to the east of me. This is what I love about fall turkey hunting, setting up right under big flocks and listening to them greet a new day. I can see three or four as it gets lighter. They are unaware of me. Perfect.

It's still pretty dark when the first ones hit the ground. They landed south of me, out of range, but walk back towards the middle of the flock. I have clear shots, but wait to see if there are any toms in the group. More and more come out of the trees, most right in front of me. The noise is amazing. There's at least 30 birds now on the ground. Can't see a beard in the bunch. They begin to move single file through an opening about 20 yards away. I can see a few bigger birds back in line. When one of those stops in my opening, my hunt is over. Turns out to be a big hen. Turkey tags all punched, time to go home.

These Merriams are beautiful birds. Sure, I wish I would have gotten a couple nice toms this week, but the bucks were too nice to take a break from. A trying week in many ways, but still my favorite week of the year, thanks for following along.

One last look at the warming sun on the ride out from camp:

[bmc]

I really look forward to this story every year Don!

Thanks for taking the time to post it!

You guys sure have a sweet deal out there!

Brian

[pumper317]

Awesome story Donbo! Thanks for taking us along!

[sticknstring]

Congrats on the birds! I'll have to get a fall tag one of these years and give it a shot. Those dang deer keep getting in the way.

[Scoot]

...but with all the nice bucks seen this week, along with 2 animals already in the freezer, I decided to pass. There will be no fresh tenders on the grill this week.

Dang! With all the good bucks around I'd hoped you'd get a crack at one of the good ones!

[bigbucks]

Very cool as always, nice job.

[mrklean]

Great read Don always enjoy this trip

[Scoot]

Great job, Don! Thanks much for taking the time to share this story with us.

[sportfish]

Thanks for the good read ! My brother and me got skunked on opening weekend west of Custer . We had fun saw lots of deer but not much for horns . I wish I had more time to run out thee an give it a nothr try

[paceman]

Great recap! Thanks for taking us with you!