ShedderKG
Active Member
Another season of South Dakota West River Rifle Season is in the books. We took off early Friday morning and hunted hard until noon the following monday. We saw tons of Whitetails last year around the 130 mark so had high hopes of some better deer this year but just didn't see them. There were a few guys the previous week that shot 2 whitetails that were both around the 150 mark.
The ranch we are able to hunt is in the 35 to 45,000 acre range. It's just absolutely amazing out there compared to the type of hunting I grew up with.
Was the second day and was walking the FAR east part of the property which has been known as "Whitetail Corner" and got to a good vantage point and could see a 2 year old buck chasing 2 does about 400 yards out there working their way right to me. I got comfy and just thought I would wait right there with the action I was seeing. It wasn't but 5 mins and right underneath where I got set up, deer started coming out of the woodwork. I was sitting right above a draw/cut bank and 3 deer turned into close to 20 deer and they were just chasing like crazy. It was awesome to watch. Things happened quickly with most of the deer being around that 120 range. Then I saw a deer that I knew was a little bit better than that. I got into position where no matter which way they went from underneath me, I would have a good look at him. He went straight away from me on the opposite side of the draw and gave me a 175 yard shot. He was the nicest deer in the bunch so I let the 300 Win Mag bark and he went 30-40 yards and fell over. Didn't quite make 140 but I don't care a bit...was a fun hunt and am very happy with him.
Buddy I went with had an any deer tag and was holding out for a good mulie. We didn't see the quality of mule deer this year either which was a little unexpected as well. Last morning last hour with just a few draws to check... we ran across the nicest mulie we seen all week. Buddy was still on the fence of shooting him and I told him if he didn't shoot him, I was going to grab the bow and get in position and he just couldn't take it and decided to take him. I wasn't the one who checked how wide he was but he told me he was pushing 28 wide. Good luck to the rest of you guys with tags!
The ranch we are able to hunt is in the 35 to 45,000 acre range. It's just absolutely amazing out there compared to the type of hunting I grew up with.
Was the second day and was walking the FAR east part of the property which has been known as "Whitetail Corner" and got to a good vantage point and could see a 2 year old buck chasing 2 does about 400 yards out there working their way right to me. I got comfy and just thought I would wait right there with the action I was seeing. It wasn't but 5 mins and right underneath where I got set up, deer started coming out of the woodwork. I was sitting right above a draw/cut bank and 3 deer turned into close to 20 deer and they were just chasing like crazy. It was awesome to watch. Things happened quickly with most of the deer being around that 120 range. Then I saw a deer that I knew was a little bit better than that. I got into position where no matter which way they went from underneath me, I would have a good look at him. He went straight away from me on the opposite side of the draw and gave me a 175 yard shot. He was the nicest deer in the bunch so I let the 300 Win Mag bark and he went 30-40 yards and fell over. Didn't quite make 140 but I don't care a bit...was a fun hunt and am very happy with him.
Buddy I went with had an any deer tag and was holding out for a good mulie. We didn't see the quality of mule deer this year either which was a little unexpected as well. Last morning last hour with just a few draws to check... we ran across the nicest mulie we seen all week. Buddy was still on the fence of shooting him and I told him if he didn't shoot him, I was going to grab the bow and get in position and he just couldn't take it and decided to take him. I wasn't the one who checked how wide he was but he told me he was pushing 28 wide. Good luck to the rest of you guys with tags!
