Limb Chicken
Active Member
Great buck Chad!
simplesimon
New Member
CONGRATS, SUPERTEC!!!!
katy
Ballagh
O.k., sorry for the delays, here are the details of the weekend.
I would first like to stress that this is not a game farm that we are on. It is a 2000 head, 30,000 acre cattle ranch in NW South Dakota. No fences, no gates, all wild game. Self guided.
On saturday, we hunted the south part of the ranch in the morning. Mainlu glassing and taking video. This is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. There are so many different types of terrain, great big buttes, canyons, draws, terraces, hay fields, lakes, etc..
The ranch is 30,000 acres. You cannot see from one end to the other. We spotted several shooter bucks. I attempted to spot and stalk them, with no sucess. They are very alert, they spotted us from over a mile away. We tried stalking several deer but had no luck. The rut is in full swing out there right now. Here are a few pics from the field:
So with no luck on sat morning, we headed back to eat lunch. After lunch I helped out with a few chores around the ranch. I decided to set out my dbl bull in a area where I had seen a good number of deer, and one of the shooters. On my way out there, I saw him out there already. He was chasing every doe in sight. I dropped my stuff and hung around the fence line. I watched him for about 45 minutes, just chasing does, taking a rest in the field, and rubbing his head against a electric pole in the field. This was pretty neat to see. There was one doe in particular that he was intrested in. He was chasing her around and came right at me. They took a hard left and jumped the same fence line that I was on. She keep on running and jumped back over the fence into the field, with him on her heels. This went on three different times. After watching this I decided that I needed to get a little closer. Luck nay have it, they came to the fence line again. Doing the same routine, they hung around this time. I slowly pulled my range finder out of my pocket, then they both turned and stared right at me. I thought oh great, busted. But no, they turned their heads and keep walking around. I ranged them at 60 yards, and they turned and stared again. I thought to myself there is no way they are going to hang around. They started to walk back twoard the fenceline, so I started to draw back. Again they stared right at me for about a minute. She walked off, and he followed. As soon as he turned his head, I let her fly. 45 yards broadside. The arrow hit a bit foward, not sure if he stopped for a second, or the wind caught it, or if it was just my nerves. He jumped and ran off, damn near tripping over the fence he jumped.
I waited 45 minutes, which seemed like forever, and went in search. I found the arrow on the ground, it snapped off the first 5 inches, and the rest was covered in blood. I felt a little better about the shot then, but it did not deliver as I saw him standing in the field at a distance. We tried to stalk him, but just ended up pushing him further away. We decided to go look again in the morning. We got back out there with the 4 wheelers and saw him still limping around. We rode up within 1/2 mile of him and proceded to stalk him. We had several encounters with him in a hour period. Finally we circled around and caught up to him. I popped up over a draw and saw him standing looking right at us. He was at 90 yards. He let us walk within 45 yards til he started walking away from us. This was the only shot he presented me. I would not normally and ethically take a rear facing shot, but I wanted to end the stalk, and put him down as he was definetly hurting. So at 45 yards again I shot and buried my arrow inside him. He took 10 steps over a draw and bedded down. He went quick. I wish I could have ended this the night before, but things dont always work out that way. Needless to say, I am still very excited about the outcome. He is a beautiful 5x5 semetrical mule deer. We guessed his age at about 4 1/2. I am taking him to the taxidermist tonight. I hope to have him back by the classic.
This was one of the best times that I have ever had. If anyone would like to go hunt this ranch please PM me and let me know. The food is top notch, rooms are very nice, the company is excellant. I now have a new family out west. I cant wait to get back out there next fall. Thanks for sharing my experience. I wish you all great luck on a ethical harvest.
I would first like to stress that this is not a game farm that we are on. It is a 2000 head, 30,000 acre cattle ranch in NW South Dakota. No fences, no gates, all wild game. Self guided.
On saturday, we hunted the south part of the ranch in the morning. Mainlu glassing and taking video. This is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. There are so many different types of terrain, great big buttes, canyons, draws, terraces, hay fields, lakes, etc..
The ranch is 30,000 acres. You cannot see from one end to the other. We spotted several shooter bucks. I attempted to spot and stalk them, with no sucess. They are very alert, they spotted us from over a mile away. We tried stalking several deer but had no luck. The rut is in full swing out there right now. Here are a few pics from the field:
So with no luck on sat morning, we headed back to eat lunch. After lunch I helped out with a few chores around the ranch. I decided to set out my dbl bull in a area where I had seen a good number of deer, and one of the shooters. On my way out there, I saw him out there already. He was chasing every doe in sight. I dropped my stuff and hung around the fence line. I watched him for about 45 minutes, just chasing does, taking a rest in the field, and rubbing his head against a electric pole in the field. This was pretty neat to see. There was one doe in particular that he was intrested in. He was chasing her around and came right at me. They took a hard left and jumped the same fence line that I was on. She keep on running and jumped back over the fence into the field, with him on her heels. This went on three different times. After watching this I decided that I needed to get a little closer. Luck nay have it, they came to the fence line again. Doing the same routine, they hung around this time. I slowly pulled my range finder out of my pocket, then they both turned and stared right at me. I thought oh great, busted. But no, they turned their heads and keep walking around. I ranged them at 60 yards, and they turned and stared again. I thought to myself there is no way they are going to hang around. They started to walk back twoard the fenceline, so I started to draw back. Again they stared right at me for about a minute. She walked off, and he followed. As soon as he turned his head, I let her fly. 45 yards broadside. The arrow hit a bit foward, not sure if he stopped for a second, or the wind caught it, or if it was just my nerves. He jumped and ran off, damn near tripping over the fence he jumped.
I waited 45 minutes, which seemed like forever, and went in search. I found the arrow on the ground, it snapped off the first 5 inches, and the rest was covered in blood. I felt a little better about the shot then, but it did not deliver as I saw him standing in the field at a distance. We tried to stalk him, but just ended up pushing him further away. We decided to go look again in the morning. We got back out there with the 4 wheelers and saw him still limping around. We rode up within 1/2 mile of him and proceded to stalk him. We had several encounters with him in a hour period. Finally we circled around and caught up to him. I popped up over a draw and saw him standing looking right at us. He was at 90 yards. He let us walk within 45 yards til he started walking away from us. This was the only shot he presented me. I would not normally and ethically take a rear facing shot, but I wanted to end the stalk, and put him down as he was definetly hurting. So at 45 yards again I shot and buried my arrow inside him. He took 10 steps over a draw and bedded down. He went quick. I wish I could have ended this the night before, but things dont always work out that way. Needless to say, I am still very excited about the outcome. He is a beautiful 5x5 semetrical mule deer. We guessed his age at about 4 1/2. I am taking him to the taxidermist tonight. I hope to have him back by the classic.
This was one of the best times that I have ever had. If anyone would like to go hunt this ranch please PM me and let me know. The food is top notch, rooms are very nice, the company is excellant. I now have a new family out west. I cant wait to get back out there next fall. Thanks for sharing my experience. I wish you all great luck on a ethical harvest.
IAdroptine
PMA Member
Way to heng in there Chad. Congrats.
alaskanwhtail
New Member
Looks as if you got your self a taxidermist bill now. The question now is will the better half let you get new accessorys for that flamer bow. Congrats on a damn nice buck. You can only have a better time next year sounds like a great hunt. Thanks for sharing and the story was ttt.