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South Dakota Deer Trip

TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
I went on my now every other year South Dakota hunting trip on veterans day for a couple days of scouting and four days of hunting. There were 7 of us total from Utah. We ended up taking 24 deer, one Antelope and a turkey. I'm going to try and keep the most tasteful pictures up since alot of people probably don't want to see the killing field. The first pic is my 15 inch 9 point whitetail. The second is my buddy Dwayne with a 17 inch 9 point whitetail, and then there is Eric with his 16 inch wide 7 point mule deer. All together I think we got 9 bucks all of which were 15 inches or better and only the one mule deer.

We have about 30,000 acres of private land combined with walk-in and state land to hunt on up there and some amazing deer have been pulled out of the area in past years. Last year I got a nice 9 point mule deer. Hopefully next time out I can get me another nice mule deer.
 

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TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
4554x4 said:
How many deer can you get with a permit there?
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We put in for the draw for an any deer tag for $245 which includes your license, any buck and two any antlerless. Once the draw is over you can buy leftover tags for whitetail, still $245 and again one any whitetail and two antlerless whitetail. We had people out there with three buck tags and 9 doe tags.

In all the trip cost me about $800 bucks with gas and the cheap hotel we stay at. The hotel has been owned by the same family for over 100 years and normally charge 32 bucks a night but cut that in half when you stay for over a week and I split that three ways and it ended up costing me $6 a night.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
4554x4 said:
Awesome hunt! I bet that it was a long cold drive there without doors!
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Nah the Bronco is a Dead POS Fo*d which will hopefully never be driven again. I drove my '03 Sierra 1500 up there towing a trailer and a quad and my truck did better than the '06 F150 with a quad in the bed that was leading the way, I kept passing him on all the hills, silly Fo*d. This trip re-affirmed my dislike for Fo*d products.
 
Houndoc

Houndoc

Registered User
Location
Grantsville
TJDukit said:
We put in for the draw for an any deer tag for $245 which includes your license, any buck and two any antlerless. Once the draw is over you can buy leftover tags for whitetail, still $245 and again one any whitetail and two antlerless whitetail. We had people out there with three buck tags and 9 doe tags.

In all the trip cost me about $800 bucks with gas and the cheap hotel we stay at. The hotel has been owned by the same family for over 100 years and normally charge 32 bucks a night but cut that in half when you stay for over a week and I split that three ways and it ended up costing me $6 a night.
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May have to look into that! Is the area hard to learn to hunt or is it pretty easy to find deer on your own? Did you pay to access the private land or have connections?
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
Houndoc said:
May have to look into that! Is the area hard to learn to hunt or is it pretty easy to find deer on your own? Did you pay to access the private land or have connections?
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The area was actually really easy to learn. I'ts mostly open prairie with thick trees in the river bottoms. There is a section of about 8000 acres that is private land that we hunt through a hook up, but the rest of it is either state land, walk in land or we just talked to the ranchers that week got permission to hunt.

Last year was really rough hunting. We got there right after the nasty storm that came through up north and had extremely cold temperatures and lots of iced over snow so the deer were not moving. This year we did alot of sitting and waiting and then spot and stalk.

My whitetail I shot, I actually stalked him twice in the same day and right back to the same spot when I got a good shot on the second stalk. I jumped him at about 20 yards and he stopped and stood broadside at 40 yards when I took my shot. The two does I shot were together and both were running away from me at about 70 yards away when I got them. It seems to me that the easiest way is to sit and wait but you usually see the deer at over 300 yards so you have to get aggressive after you spot them. I did take a doe last year at about 320 yards but it's always nice to get closer.

So compared to hunting in Utah I would say that South Dakota is easy. The hiking is easy, the spotting is easy, and the terrain allows you to dissapear and move quick if needed. I'm pretty sure that I could walk the creek bottom where I shot my buck and there could be people spotting the area that would never see me.

Another great thing about the area is, it's not over crowded. We saw some road hunters out there but nobody that would put in the leg work needed to get a good buck.

I won't give away my favorite spot but I will say that we hunt in Meade county.
 
Houndoc

Houndoc

Registered User
Location
Grantsville
Great information, something I'll have to look into!

BTW, glad to see someone who has not forgotten the art of stalking instead of simply firing off long-range shots! Kodos in that regard!
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
Houndoc said:
Great information, something I'll have to look into!

BTW, glad to see someone who has not forgotten the art of stalking instead of simply firing off long-range shots! Kodos in that regard!
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Thanks. I do practice long range shots just in case but I don't like to take a shot over 300 yards. It's also more gratifying when you walk 8 miles in a few hours to get a good clean shot. And those two running shots, I would not have even considered if they were over 100 yards away. I had actually passed on a few shots on both the does earlier in the day as well as a shot on the same buck. The does I had to pass on at first because they had jumped a fence on to private property, but I got them 30 minutes later a mile away. The buck, I jumped him at about 30 yards but the only shot I had was him running cresting a hill at about 50 yards so I let him go, thankfully to see him only two hours later at 307 yards. Decided not to take that shot and sneak up on him, he gave me a good shot and plenty of time that time. I almost couldn't find him though. He left no blood trail and ran 600 yards with no lungs. I think we found him 30 minutes after dark about 10 seconds before I was going to quit and come back in the morning.

It's crazy to me to see people miss shots too. I heard some of my friends taking lots of shots and not taking lots of Deer. I went there with twenty bullets and came back with 17, I guess my dad just taught me how to shoot really well, and to make sure I had a good shot. I brought my shooting sticks but never had the time to use them.
 
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