Long story...pics are at the bottom 
Yesterday morning was day 5 of a my hunt in South Dakota. I was hunting with a buddy that moved out there after college and lives in a rural area in Northern South Dakota. We were hunting a lot of shelter belts and were seeing a lot of deer. When I arrived out there I couldn't believe there were deer out there...I mean where are the trees?? After 5 days of hunting and passing 20 bucks... my initial first impression was changing and changing fast.
It was a calm...cool (20 degrees) morning yesterday. I was going into a new spot. My buddy John told me "you'll like this spot" its an L shaped shelter belt with a really cool old Abandon farmstead in the middle. He said " I shot my buck in there last year and he was chasing a doe". He said its about a half mile walk in, but the stand is easy to find and you will see deer. John gave me directions to the spot and I was off. I walked in under a full moon and could almost make out everything around me. No lights needed on this walk in. I walked through a cut winter wheat field, than between two big sloughs and then I saw the trees in the distance. I was able to get to the stand and had a great wind for the set. I could hear deer in the woods minutes after setting up, but nothing was close enough to make out. At about 10 min before light I had a little 6 point come by under the stand and I thought buck #21 to come by within shooting range in 5 days...today feels good! At shooting light I started ranging different trails and taking in my surroundings, since I had never sat in this stand before. I didn't want to call or attract any deer to me until I had better understanding of how far trails were and had an idea of what was around me. 15 minutes after shooting light I was feeling pretty comfortable about my surroundings and thought I would do a short call sequence since I could hear deer moving in the trees during the early morning light. I tipped the can over a couple times and then paused and followed up with a couple tending grunts. Not 30 seconds later I heard foot steps in the leaves...I thought "Oh YA...Here we go" I grabbed my bow and quietly shuffled on my stand and got ready. All of a sudden the foot steps sped up and a a doe came through under my stand high stepping and doing a frolic type of trot...I knew it was on when I saw how she was acting I quickly looked up into the sky and said to ..."please let him be BIG"..."please let him be Big"...haha
And just as I hoped there was a second deer following this doe. He was heading towards my tree and I drew back when he was 30 or so yds out. When he got to my opening at 15 yds I murped at him and he stopped on a dime. He was quartering very slightly towards me so I thought...I better put it in the pocket. THWACK!!
He took off and ran 30 yds in a couple large leaps and stopped on the back side of a cedar tree on the edge of the shelter belt from me. I could see his legs through the tree...he stopped...what's he doing...I thought. He then reared up on his back legs like a horse and flipped backwards onto his back...It was over...in less than 10 seconds.
I couldn't believe it...It came together...I looked up to the sky and praised God for his creation and for giving me an opportunity to even see a buck like this yet take such a great deer. I know he doesn't score great, but my goal as always is to harvest a mature buck and I couldn't be happier with this one
Here is how I found him.
My buddy and I took a quick pic with my phone. The shelter belt and stand are behind me
Lastly, a few harvest pics we took with my camera
Nothing like the feeling of heading home with a good buck on the back of your vehicle
Here are a few other pics from the trip
Few bucks that cruised by
Some cool old Abandon Farmsteads(Cedar below is shredded and their are 5 scrapes under it)
Yesterday morning was day 5 of a my hunt in South Dakota. I was hunting with a buddy that moved out there after college and lives in a rural area in Northern South Dakota. We were hunting a lot of shelter belts and were seeing a lot of deer. When I arrived out there I couldn't believe there were deer out there...I mean where are the trees?? After 5 days of hunting and passing 20 bucks... my initial first impression was changing and changing fast.
It was a calm...cool (20 degrees) morning yesterday. I was going into a new spot. My buddy John told me "you'll like this spot" its an L shaped shelter belt with a really cool old Abandon farmstead in the middle. He said " I shot my buck in there last year and he was chasing a doe". He said its about a half mile walk in, but the stand is easy to find and you will see deer. John gave me directions to the spot and I was off. I walked in under a full moon and could almost make out everything around me. No lights needed on this walk in. I walked through a cut winter wheat field, than between two big sloughs and then I saw the trees in the distance. I was able to get to the stand and had a great wind for the set. I could hear deer in the woods minutes after setting up, but nothing was close enough to make out. At about 10 min before light I had a little 6 point come by under the stand and I thought buck #21 to come by within shooting range in 5 days...today feels good! At shooting light I started ranging different trails and taking in my surroundings, since I had never sat in this stand before. I didn't want to call or attract any deer to me until I had better understanding of how far trails were and had an idea of what was around me. 15 minutes after shooting light I was feeling pretty comfortable about my surroundings and thought I would do a short call sequence since I could hear deer moving in the trees during the early morning light. I tipped the can over a couple times and then paused and followed up with a couple tending grunts. Not 30 seconds later I heard foot steps in the leaves...I thought "Oh YA...Here we go" I grabbed my bow and quietly shuffled on my stand and got ready. All of a sudden the foot steps sped up and a a doe came through under my stand high stepping and doing a frolic type of trot...I knew it was on when I saw how she was acting I quickly looked up into the sky and said to ..."please let him be BIG"..."please let him be Big"...haha
And just as I hoped there was a second deer following this doe. He was heading towards my tree and I drew back when he was 30 or so yds out. When he got to my opening at 15 yds I murped at him and he stopped on a dime. He was quartering very slightly towards me so I thought...I better put it in the pocket. THWACK!!
He took off and ran 30 yds in a couple large leaps and stopped on the back side of a cedar tree on the edge of the shelter belt from me. I could see his legs through the tree...he stopped...what's he doing...I thought. He then reared up on his back legs like a horse and flipped backwards onto his back...It was over...in less than 10 seconds.
I couldn't believe it...It came together...I looked up to the sky and praised God for his creation and for giving me an opportunity to even see a buck like this yet take such a great deer. I know he doesn't score great, but my goal as always is to harvest a mature buck and I couldn't be happier with this one
Here is how I found him.
My buddy and I took a quick pic with my phone. The shelter belt and stand are behind me
Lastly, a few harvest pics we took with my camera
Nothing like the feeling of heading home with a good buck on the back of your vehicle
Here are a few other pics from the trip
Few bucks that cruised by
Some cool old Abandon Farmsteads(Cedar below is shredded and their are 5 scrapes under it)
