Something To Be Thankfull

A trip to the woods this time of year starts with layers. Bundling up is not just about being comfortable it’s about staying alive. The wind blowing 10- 20 mph and raw temps dipping into the single digits, hypothermia can set in in less than 10 minutes. With your focus on the deer and hunting it’s not likely that you would even notice.

My best fried and I took one evening and sat over the patio patch. The setup could not have been better, the wind in our faces, a haystack to stand behind and steady off of and the end of the coldest week yet this year. When it’s this cold the deer were bound to move it was just a matter of time.

I was all out of tags but he had just one doe tag left. I was simply showing him where to sit for maximum opportunity. A phew does scatter in the field, way out of range and stat to feed. Their was no hop of any kind of stalk and daylight was drifting away when the rut helped us out. A beautiful main frame 5point jumped the fence and chased the does all the way across the field to about 170 yds from us and they all stop and get a bite to eat and my fried drops the hammer on the lead doe. Since their was so much snow on the haystack, when he shot I lost sight of the deer due to the cloud of snow hovering around us. Just after the shot this huge KerWaaaap! Comes back to us. This noise is characteristic of a solid bone crushing shot. Then my hopes was confirmed when the snow cleared, he had broke both front shoulders and she had traveled only 30 yds. 3 feet above me, slowwitted against the frosty sky I see the look of pure joy. No hoopin’ and hallerin’ no jumping around but pure joy!

We get out to where the deer had been standing and we see 35 deer on the edge of the field that had come in in the time that it took us to get off the haystack. We get to the scene of the crime and what a scene it is! A perfect red mist cone on the snow on the far side of the tracks where the deer was standing, chunks of jelly lung on the path to the doe, and the icing on the cake, a grape fruit sized hole where the shoulder socket was supposed to be! From the hunt to the kill to seeing him so happy their truly was a lot to be thankful for that Thanks giving night.

Good luck and good hunting.

Opening Weekend of Prairie Deer, AKA “Christmas”

Opening morning on the river is like a battle field, deer running all over, shots going off left and right, you can see orange in every direction. Your first plan should be not to get shot; it sounds simple but I know people who have got shot, and I’ll tell you that nothing will ruin a hunting trip faster than a bullet wound.  

And if you want to see lots of good deer the thing to do is to set in a spot where the deer feel comfortable and safe. The smart deer will run there as soon as the shooting starts, but the experienced deer will already be there, so be alert and never stop moving your eyes. Opening morning I shot a little buck with my .44mag at 15 paces, he came in and felt safe he never even looked for me; he looked from where he came from to see if he was being fallowed. When I gutted him I found fresh corn in his gullet, the nearest corn is over 8 miles away. The deer travel and anyone has a shot on any deer. Sitting still and keeping your eyes up and moving are the tickets to opening weekend.

I have noticed some pre rut activity, aggressive sparing, bucks running with their head down and their nose up, bucks chasing does in circles. A buck running with three does in a heard instead of the bucks traveling together. Any of this can be signs that the rut is near or is happening. This is when you pull out the can and bleat, and my favorite the roar; All this and more next week.

Good luck and good hunting 

How to Prepare Your Riffle for the Big Weekend

Is cleaner really better? When it comes to the inside of your riffle boar, the answer is almost. Almost clean is the best way to go into hunting season. This is the procedure by witch you will have the best accuracy and reliability come opening weekend.

First go out and sight in just like you would before hunting season. I sight in or, “Zero”, my rifle to 200yds. I prefer to sight in at 100yds and 1.5 inches high, this allows my bullet to drop in to my cross hairs at 200yds. Then go test it at 200 yards.

After sighting in I go home and clean my riffle just like everyone. But the secret to this whole prosses is I go out and re fowl my barrel. Fowling a barrel is simply shooting the riffle once or twice to clear the whole riffle of cleaning chemicals and not too much that you have to go clean again. Fowling is important because the chemicals used to clean a riffle are still present even if you run 100 dry patches you can never get it all out. These chemicals take up a certan amount of volume wich can cause the riffle to over pressure in some cases. These chemicals also attract dust and dirt witch can also do nasty stuff to your riffle, such as send brass back through the bolt and into your eye. 

This is no joke, my grandpa was on an elk hunt, and in South Dakota we know how rare that is, and his riffle over pressured and put a ton of brass in his eye. He was hospitalized for a week and he still killed the bull. This ritual of refowling  will keep you from such miss haps in the upcoming moment of truth. It’s the big weekend get time to leve the deer to themselves and wate for opening weekend.  I will glady post any pictures of your hunting season thus far and any future success.

Good luck and good hunting.

How to Prepare Your Riffle for the Big Weekend

Is cleaner really better? When it comes to the inside of your riffle boar, the answer is almost. Almost clean is the best way to go into hunting season. This is the procedure by witch you will have the best accuracy and reliability come opening weekend.

First go out and sight in just like you would before hunting season. I sight in or, “Zero”, my rifle to 200yds. I prefer to sight in at 100yds and 1.5 inches high, this allows my bullet to drop in to my cross hairs at 200yds. Then go test it at 200 yards.

After sighting in I go home and clean my riffle just like everyone. But the secret to this whole prosses is I go out and re fowl my barrel. Fowling a barrel is simply shooting the riffle once or twice to clear the whole riffle of cleaning chemicals and not too much that you have to go clean again. Fowling is important because the chemicals used to clean a riffle are still present even if you run 100 dry patches you can never get it all out. These chemicals take up a certan amount of volume wich can cause the riffle to over pressure in some cases. These chemicals also attract dust and dirt witch can also do nasty stuff to your riffle, such as send brass back through the bolt and into your eye. 

This is no joke, my grandpa was on an elk hunt, and in South Dakota we know how rare that is, and his riffle over pressured and put a ton of brass in his eye. He was hospitalized for a week and he still killed the bull. This ritual of refowling  will keep you from such miss haps in the upcoming moment of truth. It’s the big weekend get time to leve the deer to themselves and wate for opening weekend.  I will glady post any pictures of your hunting season thus far and any future success.

Good luck and good hunting.

How to Prepare Your Riffle for the Big Weekend

Is cleaner really better? When it comes to the inside of your riffle boar, the answer is almost. Almost clean is the best way to go into hunting season. This is the procedure by witch you will have the best accuracy and reliability come opening weekend.

First go out and sight in just like you would before hunting season. I sight in or, “Zero”, my rifle to 200yds. I prefer to sight in at 100yds and 1.5 inches high, this allows my bullet to drop in to my cross hairs at 200yds. Then go test it at 200 yards.

After sighting in I go home and clean my riffle just like everyone. But the secret to this whole prosses is I go out and re fowl my barrel. Fowling a barrel is simply shooting the riffle once or twice to clear the whole riffle of cleaning chemicals and not too much that you have to go clean again. Fowling is important because the chemicals used to clean a riffle are still present even if you run 100 dry patches you can never get it all out. These chemicals take up a certan amount of volume wich can cause the riffle to over pressure in some cases. These chemicals also attract dust and dirt witch can also do nasty stuff to your riffle, such as send brass back through the bolt and into your eye. 

This is no joke, my grandpa was on an elk hunt, and in South Dakota we know how rare that is, and his riffle over pressured and put a ton of brass in his eye. He was hospitalized for a week and he still killed the bull. This ritual of refowling  will keep you from such miss haps in the upcoming moment of truth. It’s the big weekend get time to leve the deer to themselves and wate for opening weekend.  I will glady post any pictures of your hunting season thus far and any future success.

Good luck and good hunting.

How to Pattern Your Big Buck Withot Disturbing His Patterns

Imagine you are a mature buck... You stay up all nite feeding; you are the last one into the field and the first to leve. Your company is constantly changing from groups of bucks to a few does to no one. When these bucks go out on their own, just before the rut, they start to change their paterns almost on a weekly basis. This means that you need to be out researching reguarly. Your presance however can change his paterns defeating the perpose of being out their. Durring the day the bucks will be beaded, they dont care if you say go hunt ducks. I personally have never seen paterns change because of duck hunting, they feel safe and not threatened by you because you arent nessarly presureing them. This not only alowws you to be out there gatering information but this also lets them get used to seeing you and their by feel less startled by you when they actually should be!

This is a tatic used by my grandpa and my dad and now me to make a presance whiout to much presure. Plus  duck hunting on a river is prime! the twists and turns alow the tall grass to hide you untill you want to be seen. Also take your field glasses, I know I know, their just ducks; but if you can gain the uper hand and spot conflicting riples you will determin where you need to strike. I used this method this fall with doves to pattern deer for bow season, works like a charm, every time.

Good luck and good hnting.

Just Passing the Time

since I was not able to make it out to the field, I have no updates or stories for you this week. So I will pass on the story of my fathers hunt this weekend as it was told to me. Between prong horn rifle season and rifle deer season their isn't much to do so he go duck hunting to pass the time. Just east of town is Orman rec area and he stumbled onto a "honey hole". Honey hole: place of continous hunting and or fishing action. This island on the north end is litered with ducks of verios asortments from widgen to the beautiful wood duck and buffle head, and all day action. I fouund this place when I was trolling around fishing for wallie. Yesterday I probibly spent 7 hours and never a dull moment!

When I had my limet I pulled into my  inpromptto boat ramp and a covy of hunns jumped up and took off up the hill. How could I resist such an opertunity? I had my lab with and we fallowd this group of hunns around this hillside and got 4 flushes out of it. you have to love limeting out on two kinds of birds in one day. This next week I'll be out scouting a river bottom, and I'll show you how to get info on deer movements without making an impact on their movement.

Good luck and good hunting.