Day by Day Recap of my Black Hills Combo Hunt.

[DonBo]

For those who don't recall, I've been doing this trip for about 30 years. Gary has been my partner for over 20. We bowhunt deer, hunt turkeys and fish trout. Best week of the year for me when you get to bring all the toys. Archery gear, shotguns and fishing rods. Nice. This area is actually a "prairie" unit. Turkey tags are unlimited. We have 4 tags each. The deer are whitetails. We see some big ones every year but for whatever reason we've never taken a really big buck here, maybe this will be the year.

Our property is an 800 acre private ranch near Sturgis. It is divided into two halfs. The river bottom area, over one mile of river bottom habitat including a huge hay field, the main food source of the entire area. (Did I mention the river is full of Brown Trout? Big trout.) And the hills. This area is comprised of the high ridges and pine trees the Black Hills are known for. Oak draws fill in the low spots between the ridges.

We've always camped and hunted the bottoms. The hills have deer, and some nice ones as it's more remote and much less pressured, but as anyone who's ever hunted hilly terain will tell you, the wind makes it darn near impossible to kill a deer here. The turkey hunting however has always been good, fewer birds maybe, but the bigger toms have always come from the hills.

A couple days before our arrival I got a call from the rancher. He said there's a problem. A bunch of bulls were accidentally released into the bottoms. Apparentely a couple of them are known to be testy. So....here we are camping up in the hills.

One perk of being up here are the awesome views of Bear Butte. Supposedly Native Americans from all over met here every year for their big swap meet, or pow wow I guess they called it in those days. The last time they met there was when they all headed out to do in Custer at his last stand. Pretty Cool.

[engfish]

Medicine for an addled mind! It's been awhile since I've been to that part of SD. Thanks for sharing your time in the Black Hills. Best of luck to you and Gary on your mid-fall adventure.

[mrklean]

do you pay to hunt that ranch or is it family friend? I am more then likely going out to buffalo sd this thanksgiving for a week pretty excited for that. Cant wait to hear the rest of the story don

[DonBo]

The night of our arrival, Friday, October 8th, we got here just in time to set up the camper before it started to rain.

Saturday October 9th. The rain quit early this morning. With no real plan, I grabbed my shotgun and headed out in search of a flock of turkeys. The last several years I've taken a small young of the year bird the first morning for dinner on the second day. I had no plans for changing that this year. I quickly found out that the rain washed out all sign. No droppings or tracks or scratchings, nothing. This was not to be an easy hunt.

It took a few hours of stillhunting and sitting and calling before finding my first flock of the week. I was a bit depressed for not seeing or hearing anything and was trudging back to camp, facemask and gloves in my pockets, gun slung over my shoulder when "holy cr@p, turkeys!" There was a bunch of 'em feeding in a draw. They were heading slightly away from me up towards a ridge. I slipped down behind the ridge, put on my mask and headed up where I thought they might top the rise. I beat them there and soon there were heads popping up all over. I waited till one worked himself away from the others and "WHAM". First turkey down. Birds were flying and running everywhere, probably 20 of them. Amazing watching that many birds that big take to the air like grouse. This is part of what fall hunting is all about for me.

I breasted out this bird and cut it into 6 or 8 smaller pieces, then put them into a zip loc with some Italian Dressing. Tomorrow we eat good!

I did see a few deer today including a couple nice bucks. Gary never saw a thing, not even a deer. I put up a couple tree stands but then the rain started again and we called it a day.

[Bran32]

Can't wait for the rest!!

[tunrevir]

Sounds like a great time Donbo! Keep the reports coming and congrats on the bird!

Tunrevir~

[Cheetah]

I was wondering when you were going to share your hunt with us Don.

[DonBo]

Sunday, October 10th. Nasty T-Storms last night. Rained HARD all night, nearly 4". With all these hills, it's ALL run-off. You can only imagine the torrents of water rushing down the low spots between ridges. Was really hoping to hunt down in the river bottoms today, but knew the river would be raging.

I did find a nice mixed flock of birds this morning. A couple big hens and their young ones along with a few jakes. A couple decent toms were also in the bunch. They however eluded me. I shadowded them for a couple hours, but was never given the opportunity for a shot. Rats.

Spent most of the day scouting the hills looking for deer sign, of which there was very little compared to years past. No acorns up here, a rarety. I sat the evening stand on the downwind side of a long ridge. Saw 6 does and fawns, the first two winded me. A flock of birds came running to my calls, but busted me as I tried to ready myself for a shot. Turkeys from a treestand do not come easy. In all the years I've hunted out here, I've shot only two birds from my deer stand.

These birds though hung around just above me till fly up. I heard them all go to roost. Plan for the morning: Get them birds!

[DonBo]

do you pay to hunt that ranch or...

[sticknstring]

Sounds like a wet start to the trip Don, hopefully it won't interrupt the trout fishing. Keep it coming...

[Powerstroke]

Sounds like a great trip so far. I can't wait to read the rest.

[mrklean]

sounds like rain has been a problem out there all year long

[frogtosser]

I was out there with the family over MEA and saw turkeys and deer everywhere, I would love to have a chance to hunt in that area, I told the wife one of these years she is gonna lose me for a week. I saw 2 muley does licking each other in Deadwood last Saturday on the edge of town and got out for some pics and got so close I could almost pet them, it was so cool. Keep the story coming.

[mrklean]

we stayed in Spearfish in august and we watched tons of turkeys right outside our hotel room and when we were in the pool the hills is an awesome areas thats for sure

[DonBo]

Monday, October 11th. Climbed the hill to where I thought I heard the turkeys go to roost last night. They were there, but they flew down on the neighboring property and were NOT coming back to my calls.

After breakfast we drove down to the bottoms. It has been hot since we got here, today was no exception, already 70+. The river, as we expected, was swollen. You could see how this pretty little 10-15 foot wide ribbon of water had been 100' wide. It was nearing normal, but we could not yet cross to the other side. (where all the deer action takes place)

We did however bring the fishing rods, and they were on! In just a short time we caught half a dozen or more from 12-18".

Here's one I brought to hand.

Gary fishing our favorite hole.

I set up my Double Bull for this evening's hunt in an area we've had good luck in the past. We spent pleny of energy brushing it in, so I felt I was ready to do some real deer hunting after having been without for days. (it seemed) Later as I sat in that blind the first deer to show was a very nice 9pt, right in my shooting lane. I drew on him at 15 yards, settled the pin behind his shoulder and.....let down. Right away my thought was "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" What I was thinking was, it's my first sit and it's nearly 80 degrees. I watched this deer in my binocs for half an hour and still couldn't believe I had passed him. He would have been the biggest buck I have ever shot-out here. Heavy and tall with long brow tines. Nice. Probably a borderline P&Y.

After a while a couple does came up to him and he followed them out, right back the same trail he came in on. I was going to shoot this time. I was already at full draw as he came to my opening, I baaa'd to stop him. No response. So I did it again, loud. No response. I had one more opening but the window was closed, I fumbled with it to get it to open and there he was, staring right at me. Game over. Oh well, an entertaining night none the less.

Gary was sitting in a roost area not far away. He had a dozen birds fly up around him but none close enough for a shot. I should mention, Gary LOVES to hunt turkeys. So much that he didn't even buy a deer tag for this week.

[wolfman-k]

Mucho jealousy & envy cookin here! Looks great for an early Fall get-away with all the trimmings. Thanks for sharing.

[Coach1310]

Great story... thanks for sharing....looking forward to the rest

[DonBo]

Tuesday, October 10th. Rained all night again, howling winds. Slept in till first light, then grabbed the gun and headed out for a walk. Nothing.

Back to the river. Did some more fishing. The bigger fish were active today trying to redo their spawning beds that were lost to the flood the other night. I caught 5 in a short time, three were in the 18-21" range.

Here's a crappy pic of a nice chunky one.

You can see how nice the water cleared up. We SAW big fish everywhere. Getting them to bite was another matter.

Turned out to be a beautiful day. Highs about 60-65 and sunny, though a bit breezy.

We were able to finally cross the river today so it's game on!

Northwest wind tonight was perfect to sit a stand way up on an open ridge above the big field. Had four does and fawns go right by me. 16 crossed over the ridge I was on. 1 small spike, 2 forks and a small 8pt were the only bucks. There were over 50 deer in the field early, by 5:30. After that I had too many deer around me to look out towards the field again.

Here's a view of the big field from my stand high on the ridge.

The wooded area to the left is the river bottom.

Gary was back in his roost area tonight and had a bunch of they fly up around him, but still no shot.

[Scoot]

This is great! Thanks Don. Keep it coming...

[DonBo]

Thanks Scoot, following in some big footsteps here.

Did I forget to mention the end of my first camp meat turkey?

Bacon wrapped, melt in your mouth Wild Turkey breast. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[mrklean]

now that looks good right there

[bigbucks]

I grabbed at my screen, but couldn't get one of those chunks, frustrating...

[sticknstring]

Food just tastes so much better when you're camping in the bush. That looks dee-licious! I want to hear about some crimson covered arrows.

[Monkster]

I think this is the first time my mouth has watered while looking at a FM forum!

[fishinfey8]

Great story! I can't wait for my trip to winner now!!! The hills are a special place, that's for sure. Gotta love the diversity of the landscape. So jealous!

[DonBo]

Wednesday, October 13th. 50 degrees up at camp this morning, frost down in the bottoms.

While fishing yesterday I found a well used trail crossing the river. It fanned out big time on each side, so I built a brush blind right near the water. Only saw two deer here this morning but they were both NICE bucks. An 8 and a 10 running together. The 8 was similar to the deer I passed on Monday, the 10 was much nicer.

The 10 was in the lead and crossed right on my trail. As he walked down into the river I got my bow in position and the 8 (still on the far side) saw me and jumped. The 10 either didn't hear him or thought he was just slipping down the river bank, I don't know, but he kept coming. At 10 yards there is a big full bush between us and I drew. The 8 blew and both were gone in a heartbeat. There I was at full draw wondering what just happened. Dang! (I may have said a few words a bit more harsh that that)

Gary was back in his roost blind and though he saw maybe 50 birds (50!) he still has no shot.

We fished a bit after stand (only caught one 14") when Gary spotted a flock of turkeys across the river. We "surrounded" them and Gary dropped his first bird of the week, the big lead hen.

Later in the day after putting up a new stand for the changing wind at the far south end of the big field I fished a bit more. Catching just one, a nice fat 17 incher.

In my new stand that evening I had 9 deer in range but not one horn in the bunch. I did see a big flock of turkeys in the field and 3 nice bucks running together. The first two were like the ones from this morning, the last was HIM! Even at 300 yards with my binocs I could clearly count all ten tall heavy points. His rack was way beyond his ears. This was the nicest buck I've seen in years and may have been pushing B&C. Man, was he nice. These deer crossed into the field probably only 100 yards from me and I was determined to check it out tomorrow.

Plenty of other entertainment tonight. These big fox squirrels are eveywhere. It seemed they were having a contest to see which one could hang from the smallest branch. I believe this was the winner.

Gary was back in his roost blind and finally pulled the the trigger on one tonight. Two in one day, not bad.

[bigbucks]

DonBo, you're killing me man... this waiting...

[DonBo]

Thursday, October 14th. 60 derees this morning. Another warm one. Sat the same stand as last night. Only one little buck came by. After stand I checked out the crossing where the big buck came into the field last night. I now have a new stand for tonight. Wind looks perfect, I'm excited.

Picked up Gary from his roost area blind. He saw some turkeys across the river but nothing close. As we were heading back to camp, a flock of turkeys was in a field we have permission to hunt. We again "surrounded" them, this time it was my turn. I walked into the woods where they headed and the whole flock just held there, hiding. One poked his head up out of the brush and I had my second bird, a young hen.

Gary stayed in the woods all day after that. Funny, he got busted by a flock that snuck right up on him and didn't see them till the lead bird almost stepped on his foot! Minutes later he turned to see another staring at him from only 10 feet away. No chance for a shot with so many so close. That's how it is in fall hunting.

I had to chase around town getting water, propane, gas, etc. When I returned to camp there was a big flock of turkeys right there. I took off after them to try to get ahead of them. They outsmarted me by backtracking down a ridge, across a field up and over a big ridge 3 or 4 times with me dogging them the whole way. There were some nice birds in this flock of 20 or so. I finally got even with them from other side of the ridge and snuck up to the top to see the bigger birds in the rear only 30 yards away. I shot the only one that was away from the others, a nice young jake, probably 10 or 12 lbs. Three birds for me, two for the day.

New stand this evening. Now it's Thursday, tomorrow is my last day to deer hunt as we leave early Saturday morning. Usually come Thursday I take the first good doe to come along but with all the nice bucks seen in the last few days I just couldn't do it. Had 18 deer inside shooting distance tonight. Not a buck in the bunch.

[bigbucks]

Nice timing, that's what I call service! Good job with the report.

[DonBo]

Friday, October 15th. I'd love to tell you how everything I learned this week came together on this last day and show pics of the big bruiser, but that's just not the case. As so often happens when we go afield with the stick and string in hand things just did not go as planned today. The wind switched and caused me to go away from my best stands with not much sighted and nothing in range. That's how it goes sometimes...

On the bright side, here's a view I had on the last evening of my hunt.

Nice huh?

I did however see a nice flock of turkeys leave the field at dark and have a pretty good idea where they roosted. We'll have one more shot at them in the morning.

Gary was on a couple flocks today but came away empty as well.