It has been so awesome to read all of the adventures on HT this fall where parents are taking their kids with them to the fields and mountains. You are all to be commended on helping pass on the hunting heritage and more importantly creating good bonds and memories for your children. Four years ago when my daughter started college in SD she talked about wanting to shoot a mule deer. We had no clue how or where to hunt them but decided to give it a whirl the following year. She is still a full time student in SD so she can draw resident tags. This has been a great thing for the state of SD as I'm 99% certain she will stay in SD after graduation so that she can enjoy the various hunting and fishing opportunities there.
Over the past 4 seasons she has been fortunate enough to get to know a wonderful family in western SD. Sometimes we hunt their ranch and sometimes we hunt the BLM lands. Her first mule deer came from BLM, the next 2 from private lands. This year the rancher had a lot of family there to hunt their ranches so we focused on the BLM land. On the second day we spotted 2 does going into a cedar thicket in a steep cut. 30 minutes later we could only find one of them bedded. After another hour of checking and glassing different areas we went back to them and moved in closer. At 175 yards we stepped from behind a cedar tree to glass them closer. I told Carlee to get the gun on the sticks and when those does come out practice getting them in the scope and the crosshairs on them. She thought I was nuts but did it anyway. 10 seconds later the deer came pouring out and climbing the opposite hillside. There was actually 5 deer in there. I glassed them all and the buck that was with them came out and stood perfectly broadside in a clearing. She had told me to not let her shoot one smaller than the 4x4 that she shot last year which was still a good deer. When I glassed this one I saw he was heavy horned and decent width and height so I just told her "the one that's standing broadside shoot it!" After what seemed like an eternity of me saying Shoot it, just shoot it! and her trying to get him in the scope, trying to zoom the scope in which wasn't necessary, and then struggling to push off the stiff safety, she finally sent a round 193 yards across the valley. She hit him perfectly behind the shoulder. He ran about 30 yards up the hill and rolled 20 yards back down. One of the first things she said, was "well it's a good thing he was a patient deer"
She had filled her fourth tag in 4 years.
Carlee is great with a knife and after a lot of admiration of the beautiful animal and a photo shoot we both began breaking him down. We are super fussy about meat quality and quantity so everything came out, neck and all. We made it in one trip but both agreed we weren't as physically fit for it as we had been in previous years. The best part of these trips is the quality time that we get to spend in the truck together driving across the state, the fish fry that we do with the ranch family each year, and the fun times of cooking hot dogs in the camper and giggling when the other person sits on a cactus! There's always so many memories, and I am so thankful and blessed to have them!
Over the past 4 seasons she has been fortunate enough to get to know a wonderful family in western SD. Sometimes we hunt their ranch and sometimes we hunt the BLM lands. Her first mule deer came from BLM, the next 2 from private lands. This year the rancher had a lot of family there to hunt their ranches so we focused on the BLM land. On the second day we spotted 2 does going into a cedar thicket in a steep cut. 30 minutes later we could only find one of them bedded. After another hour of checking and glassing different areas we went back to them and moved in closer. At 175 yards we stepped from behind a cedar tree to glass them closer. I told Carlee to get the gun on the sticks and when those does come out practice getting them in the scope and the crosshairs on them. She thought I was nuts but did it anyway. 10 seconds later the deer came pouring out and climbing the opposite hillside. There was actually 5 deer in there. I glassed them all and the buck that was with them came out and stood perfectly broadside in a clearing. She had told me to not let her shoot one smaller than the 4x4 that she shot last year which was still a good deer. When I glassed this one I saw he was heavy horned and decent width and height so I just told her "the one that's standing broadside shoot it!" After what seemed like an eternity of me saying Shoot it, just shoot it! and her trying to get him in the scope, trying to zoom the scope in which wasn't necessary, and then struggling to push off the stiff safety, she finally sent a round 193 yards across the valley. She hit him perfectly behind the shoulder. He ran about 30 yards up the hill and rolled 20 yards back down. One of the first things she said, was "well it's a good thing he was a patient deer"
She had filled her fourth tag in 4 years. Carlee is great with a knife and after a lot of admiration of the beautiful animal and a photo shoot we both began breaking him down. We are super fussy about meat quality and quantity so everything came out, neck and all. We made it in one trip but both agreed we weren't as physically fit for it as we had been in previous years. The best part of these trips is the quality time that we get to spend in the truck together driving across the state, the fish fry that we do with the ranch family each year, and the fun times of cooking hot dogs in the camper and giggling when the other person sits on a cactus! There's always so many memories, and I am so thankful and blessed to have them!
