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An Old "Venison Tour" Story(long and pic heavy)

Spysar

Well-Known Member
This was written in 2008


I'm back!! And still kinda tired, but I wanted to post a few pics. I'll write a story and post more pics after I get settled back in. I'm still trying to figure out who got what, and where, lol.
I killed two of my bucks on public land, and one on our leased ranch. All do it yourself stuff. I used my zodiak to access some sweet public land. (although I felt a little crazy at times, risking my life on rough water)
Our three man team bagged seven bucks. Four on public, three on private.
Here's a few pics, and I have a lot more, and some good stories.
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Deer #1 Public land Nebraska
I arrived in SD at the hunting cabin Oct 24. I was studying some public land over the summer, via internet ariels, that was only accessible by private land or water. I was anxious to try my blow up zodiac, which fits in a large duffel bag when inflated, and the 2hp lightweight outboard.
Sat morning I blew up the boat, loaded enough stuff to set a tree stand, and took off. It was windy, and there were some whitecaps, but I was foolishly going anyway. I wasn't even sure how far it would be. You can't land a boat in most places because of the cliffs, but I knew about a landing spot. Turned out it was a 1.8 mile boat ride, and I was soaked!! But I made a scouting walk, and got my stand up and made the boat ride back. I figured out how stupid I was and decided to keep an eye on the wind and weather reports from now on.
The winds reached 50 mph the next day, so I went and hung stands on other public land that I could walk to. That week it got hot. 70 - 75 degrees for a week.
I hunted that stand with the boat a couple of times. It really proved tricky boating at night. There was floating wood and stumps, even in the bigger part of the lake. I saw deer just about every time I sat. I decided I needed another stand back there. So I put another in. Now I had two back there.
My friend Dom arrived in deer camp a couple days later. He brought a zodiac too, with an electric motor. He set a couple of stands up, as had my other friend, Norm.Conditions looked good for boating and I asked Dom if he wanted to go sit my 2 stands. The weather said the wind would come up in the afternoon so we made a plan to sit till noon, when we would meet and evaluate the conditions.
Morning came and we headed for the place we launch the boats from. Dom had no idea how far this was on a tiny boat. I was wondering how his little electric was even gonna make it. We got loaded and took off in the dark. It didn't take long to figure out that my boat was twice as fast as his. It took me a half hour to get there, so it would take him an hour. So I decide to tie the two boats together and tow him. It was a little awkward, but it was working, problem was, it was getting light on the east horizon. With the two boats tied together, it was blowing me off coarse. Then BAM! My prop hit a stump and broke a key!! Luckily I had a spare in my pocket, and with Doms help we were on our way. We just about got there, and my tow rope broke, but we were close enough to our spots, and we had to part ways anyway. I headed to my landing, and he headed to his.
I was a little late, but I made it to my stand. Now keep in mind that I had already been hunting for over a week. And the weather had been warm. It was tough to see a good buck then. I'll admit I was a little blood thirsty by then, and so was Dom. Plus I was there to hunt. On my terms. Nobody telling me where to go, or what to shoot. So when that basket rack crunched the leaves, and appeared below me, my heart started to pound. He was taking his time. Sniffing and rubbing. So I tried my can. The third time his head whipped up and I had his attention. He turned and headed my way on a steady walk. I was ready to use one of my tags and he was coming. A fifteen yard shot and he was mine. I gave my thanks, and headed down to the buck. It was 8:30, and I was meeting Dom at noon. I gutted and dragged the deer, took down the stand, and loaded the boat. What a great feeling.
Little did I know, but Dom had shot one at 8:30 also, and was doing the same thing I was doing. We met at noon and shared an experience in the woods, and then putted slowly back in our boats, cherishing the moment.
Here's some pics of my stand, the cliffs along the water, the landings we were able to come to shore on, and the deer and boats.
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Buck #2 Public land South Dakota
My second deer was taken out of a spot I found last year. It produced two fine bucks for us then. It was in a public "game production area" as they are called out there. There are a few things that make this spot great. Accessibility is tough. You either have to scrape all the skin off your body going through thick ceders and deep ravines or you can boat the Missouri River to the spot. I'm willing to do either, lol. The river currents are downright scary on a blow up boat and a 2hp motor (1980's model) But as we all know hoss bucks are worth it. It's also connected to a huge ranch with tons of crops nearby. It's also a funnel, and one of the few places where the deer can reach the water through a dry creek bed. SWEET! And it's surrounded by hundreds of acres of marsh, cattails, and tall golden grass.
I had set up my stand, earlier in the hot days of last week, in the same tree as last year after checking out the sign. It looked AWESOME! There were big trails, big rubs, and big scrapes. Oh yeah, I found a spot where two bucks had a great battle. The area was all tore up, and I found a good sized tine that had been shattered on both ends!It looked every bit as good as it did last year.
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I had killed a buck the day before, but I was ready to do it again. So I headed to the spot, me and Dom rode together cause he was hunting a cattail spot about a mile away. Once in the stand, I started seeing deer right away. The wind was changing out of the north finally, and it was starting to get colder. Deer were finally turning on. I saw nine bucks that day and several does. And some chasing activity. I saw three bucks in a row move down the same creek bed. Each one stopped in the exact same spot as the one before him to work each scrape and use the licking branches. It was about an hour before dark when I looked up the creek bed and saw rack. I picked up my bino's even though I knew I would shoot this buck if I had the chance. He worked down the same scrape line, but then he took a trail that would not lead past my stand. Well dang, the can worked for me yesterday, so I gave it a try. On the third or forth tip of the can, he looked my way. He turned 90 degrees and was marching slowly towards me! He was 35 yards and I drew cause it was fairly open where he was coming. 30..25..can't get a shot, his rack is in the way!!..20...15...10....eight yards under me and he paused, and I released! Right where I wanted it! I knew I had him. I gave more thanks, and just sat there, soaking in what had just happened. Another buck came through and worked the scrape line. Wow. Since the deer did not go down in sight, I decided to get out of the woods, and share the recovery with Dom. It's always fun when your buds are there.
We met up and I told him what happened. Now he was gonna come with me in my boat, then put a buck in there, and go back. Plus it was dark by then. I knew we'd make it there, but we would have to battle a heavy current, with a big load, at night. I guess bucks make us stupid, and we decided to go for it. The buck had been double lunged and had gone only about 70 yards. I was pumped! A super nice ten point! Nice brows and spread.
I admired the buck, took pics, and me and Dom drug him to the boat.
We got in the water, and were floating fine, but dang!, that current was strong. The motor was going full bore, but we were barely moving! I literally could have crawled quicker! But we did it, and made it safely back to my truck.
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Here's what the spot looks like, I took these pics last year there.
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Deer #3 Nebraska Leased Ranch
We saved the best for last. Thousands of acres of private ranch! Yeah we have to pay for the privledge, but to me it's worth it. The rancher is awesome, and he really cares about the game. He lets only a couple of people hunt there, plus us. And he has so much land that there's no way it's pressured. He also has a no hunting santuary that's about a thousand acres!!
Because I was there the year before, I knew where I wanted to hang a few stands, without even scouting. The first day I put four stands, and two cuddebacks in. They were all awesome set ups. There was one in particular that I really wanted to be at, and the wind was perfect for it.
The next morning I prepared for an all day sit. This is my favorite way to hunt the prerut, when all the bucks are cruising. I had sandwiches, fruit, and granola bars, and gatorade. And a bottle to pee in. I slipped in quietly before light. It would be one of the most remarkable days I had ever spent on stand. I saw 17 different bucks throughout the day!!! And the weird thing was, I only saw four does. There were bucks cruising all day long! I saw at least one per hour, at all hours of the day. All it took was a north wind to cool things down and the bucks were ready. I really didn't want to tag out on the first day. But I had to, LOL. I had less than 10 seconds to decide, and I'm extremely pleased with the choice! I made a perfect double lung shot. I gave more thanks for being so fortunate. I imediatly climbed down and went over to my buck, which I knew would be down, even though I didn't see it. I had heard him crash. In the next two days, both my friends tagged out also on 5x5's. What a super venison tour it was!
Here are some views from my treestand, and more buck pics.
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What kind of broadheads r yall using? The blood on the side of those deer in the pics looks like u dumped a jar of sphagetti sauce on them. Haha. Not implying u did just wondering what u use to to do that kind of damage.
 
What kind of broadheads r yall using? The blood on the side of those deer in the pics looks like u dumped a jar of sphagetti sauce on them. Haha. Not implying u did just wondering what u use to to do that kind of damage.

I use all kinds of NAP broadheads. Fixed and mechanical. The key is really tuning your bow so your arrow is flying straight out of the bow, and being able to hit your spot.
 
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