SD deer hunt w/ overkill on pics

[mtmiller]

I promise there will be some harvest pics, but I thought I would share some of the events leading to the critters.

Left Montana two weeks ago today. Weather was supposed to be crap in SD, but MT looked good. Got to Broadus late that evening and saw lots of trucks stacked up. I bought some coffee and found out the road was closed 100 miles down the road (Belle Fourche) and since the road was still in good shape, I continued on. Made it about 30 miles and hit the blizzard, Axl and I spent the night in the pick-up along the highway.

Got up early the next morning and made it as far as Spearfish to find the interstate state closed only 20 miles from my destination. He is a shot of the snow in Spearfish.

Spent about 10 hours in Spearfish before I finally found some back roads to Sturgis. Wow, now I see what the big deal is.

Here is what Main Street looks like in early-August.

Here was what it looked like when I got to town.

 

[mtmiller]

Opening morning found us not hunting.

Axl has a little gov't worker in him. Someone had to supervise.

Alright, sorry. I will move on to some hunting pics.

 

[noharleyyet]

Nice camera work as always miller...especially the sturgis comparisons.

....where's axl's hardhat?

 

[mtmiller]

We found some nice bucks, but many looked pretty young with lots of potential for next season.

This is LB (Little Brother). He is similiar to one killed last year, and we hope he is bigger and better next year. Saw him several days.

Don't think it didn't cross my mind.

 

[mtmiller]

I saw this 5x4 a couple times. After a week he was looking very tempting, but I held off. Hopefully there will be rewards next year.

Here is another we are hoping makes it to next season and that dropper is added to. He also had a sticker off a G-2.

This is not a very good angle, but this guy was strong on drivers side, but busted up on the passenger. Hopefully he is a dandy next year as well.

 

[MNHunter]

miller, do you hunt private or public in SD. Is this a west river hunt or a BH hunt?

 

[mtmiller]

I screwed up on this guy. We had him at 420 yards and probably could have gotten in closer, but I decided to pass that evening. The next day my BIL hunted with us, so I hunted the other side of the river. The buck came through again the next morning and my BIL missed, but my buddy backed him up and killed this nice buck. I would have been very happy with this guy.

One of the reasons I passed on the buck was due to hearing about a bigger one in the area. Unfortunately that buck passed my buddy instead of me two days later. Very nice buck.

Pictures back home the next morning.

 

[mtmiller]

I spent the next couple days seeing the same bucks and thought more and more about shooting 5x4. Traveling home one night we saw a decent mule deer for this area and he was finally on some land I could hunt a couple days later.

We snuck over the bank and found him bedded at 99 yards.

He was with some does and a smaller buck still packing velvet.

 

[noharleyyet]

Quality bucks all...thanks for the pics.

 

[mtmiller]

Now that my West River buck was down, I went to the Black Hills to find a buck. Spent one day in some of my old haunts, but too much know up high.

Yesterday I tried a new area with less snow. I parked the pick-up and packed in a couple miles.

I found this buck at 690 yards and tried to put the sneak on him. Finally after dodging does and a smaller buck, I found this guy in his bed at just over 70 yards. He is just a basket buck, but he had the cool factor so after about 10 seconds I decided he would due. Bang-flop.

Pretty cool that the mains almost touched.

Nice split G-2 for a little more character.

The good thing about shooting little bucks...one load.

Still have a doe tag for the prairie, so I might put one in the freezer tomorrow. Here is a shot of a dandy sunset just minutes after passing on the 5x4 for the last time.

Thanks for putting up with the pics and best of luck to those still hunting.

 

[Oak]

Those are a couple of nice bucks. That whitetail of yours has some serious "cool". As someone who has never killed a whitetail, some of those bucks you passed would have been in trouble with me.

Great photos as always. Thanks for sharing.

 

[T Bone]

Great pics Craig!

Real nicey muley there.

Glad to see you got to take part in the snow festivities.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Awesome post miller. congrats on some very nice animals.

 

[AZ402]

That is a great write up! Quality bucks and great pics, well done Miller....

 

[mdcrossbow]

Got to love your desire to hunt, great pic's and stories. Thanks.

Congratulations on great hunts.

 

[MNHunter]

Nice bucks miller

 

[JoseCuervo]

Your buddy did well......

Thanks for the pictures and the write up. Your whitetail is pretty cool. Not an everyday buck by any means....

 

[Bambistew]

Great bucks all the way around. Thanks for sharing. Looks like the snow melted off pretty fast?

 

[elk_hunter]

Wow! That's a great set of stories and pics to go with! Congrats on those hunts and awesome bucks!

 

[Dinkshooter]

Good stuff.

Headed to Spearfish, then over the MT border tomorrow. Hope that snow is gone.