Deer #1 Public land Nebraska
I arrived in SD at the hunting cabin Oct 24. I was studying some public land over the summer, via internet ariels, that was only accessible by private land or water. I was anxious to try my blow up zodiac, which fits in a large duffel bag when inflated, and the 2hp lightweight outboard.
Sat morning I blew up the boat, loaded enough stuff to set a tree stand, and took off. It was windy, and there were some whitecaps, but I was foolishly going anyway. I wasn't even sure how far it would be. You can't land a boat in most places because of the cliffs, but I knew about a landing spot. Turned out it was a 1.8 mile boat ride, and I was soaked!! But I made a scouting walk, and got my stand up and made the boat ride back. I figured out how stupid I was and decided to keep an eye on the wind and weather reports from now on.
The winds reached 50 mph the next day, so I went and hung stands on other public land that I could walk to. That week it got hot. 70 - 75 degrees for a week.
I hunted that stand with the boat a couple of times. It really proved tricky boating at night. There was floating wood and stumps, even in the bigger part of the lake. I saw deer just about every time I sat. I decided I needed another stand back there. So I put another in. Now I had two back there.
My friend Dom arrived in deer camp a couple days later. He brought a zodiac too, with an electric motor. He set a couple of stands up, as had my other friend, Norm.Conditions looked good for boating and I asked Dom if he wanted to go sit my 2 stands. The weather said the wind would come up in the afternoon so we made a plan to sit till noon, when we would meet and evaluate the conditions.
Morning came and we headed for the place we launch the boats from. Dom had no idea how far this was on a tiny boat. I was wondering how his little electric was even gonna make it. We got loaded and took off in the dark. It didn't take long to figure out that my boat was twice as fast as his. It took me a half hour to get there, so it would take him an hour. So I decide to tie the two boats together and tow him. It was a little awkward, but it was working, problem was, it was getting light on the east horizon. With the two boats tied together, it was blowing me off coarse. Then BAM! My prop hit a stump and broke a key!! Luckily I had a spare in my pocket, and with Doms help we were on our way. We just about got there, and my tow rope broke, but we were close enough to our spots, and we had to part ways anyway. I headed to my landing, and he headed to his.
I was a little late, but I made it to my stand. Now keep in mind that I had already been hunting for over a week. And the weather had been warm. It was tough to see a good buck then. I'll admit I was a little blood thirsty by then, and so was Dom. Plus I was there to hunt. On my terms. Nobody telling me where to go, or what to shoot. So when that basket rack crunched the leaves, and appeared below me, my heart started to pound. He was taking his time. Sniffing and rubbing. So I tried my can. The third time his head whipped up and I had his attention. He turned and headed my way on a steady walk. I was ready to use one of my tags and he was coming. A fifteen yard shot and he was mine. I gave my thanks, and headed down to the buck. It was 8:30, and I was meeting Dom at noon. I gutted and dragged the deer, took down the stand, and loaded the boat. What a great feeling.
Little did I know, but Dom had shot one at 8:30 also, and was doing the same thing I was doing. We met at noon and shared an experience in the woods, and then putted slowly back in our boats, cherishing the moment.
Here's some pics of my stand, the cliffs along the water, the landings we were able to come to shore on, and the deer and boats.