# South Dakota here we come!



## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Leaving Michigan in about 48 hours to head to western South Dakota for a muley/whitetail DIY bow hunt. I and 2 of my good buddies are getting packed and ready, making lists and getting last minute items as usual. None of us have set foot in SD so we are really looking forward to the challenge. A real serious learning curve is going to take place as we are tree stand sitters normally, but spot and stalk seems to be the way to go out there, of course we will take a few stands as safety blankets but i really dont plan on using them and do plan on blowing a few stalks. 
This is our first (out west) hunt, weve hunted Ohio numerous times but thats not much different than Michigan. Plan to make our first elk hunt in the 2019 season so we are using this trip to kind of ease into the west. Plus id love to get my hands on a muley. We are all slowly gearing towards backpack hunting in the backcounty but this year we are driving out with the truck camper and living out of that, possibly making a spike camp a night of two if necessary. Not too much land in SD without roads getting you close enough for hiking in for the day. 
A few setbacks have happened this week in preparation for the trip. I came down with a terrible cough hoping time would heal but I said mercy and went to the Dr. yesterday for a hail marry to save my butt for this trip. He claimed possible pneumonia, scared the hell out of me, and was supposed to call me after reviewing chest x-rays but im still awaiting a call. He did promise the prescribed cocktail would have me back to running laps by Wednesday. Also I wouldn’t be able to sleep on prednisone (so here I am typing at 1:30 am) Setback number 2, I got a new HHA tetra site a while ago and have been practicing out to 90 and loving it compared to my old 5 pin. I installed my yardage tape this evening and wouldn’t you know its not meshing. Im on at 20,40,60. A foot high at 80,90. I also blew a 30 yard shot. Haven’t lost an arrow this year and have been shooting paper plate groups at 90 with the set up tape. Called my bow shop they said theyve never heard of this problem before but also haven’t sold any tetras except for the one I ordered from them. They sell a lot of other HHAs. Guess ill be phoning HHA first thing in the AM but i have a feeling ill have to make my own custom yardage tape with a spare tape. 
So otherwise we are scratching at the doors ready to go, 2 more days of work then load the truck and hit the road to the unknown. Our first thoughts of where to start is around Belle Fourche, (hunting all public land) but figured we would make a final decision while on the road trip with lots of time to scour maps. Advise welcome, haha. Updates to come!


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## can'tstop (Mar 6, 2012)

Good luck. Sounds like a fun time.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Trunkslammer said:


> Leaving Michigan in about 48 hours to head to western South Dakota for a muley/whitetail DIY bow hunt. I and 2 of my good buddies are getting packed and ready, making lists and getting last minute items as usual. None of us have set foot in SD so we are really looking forward to the challenge. A real serious learning curve is going to take place as we are tree stand sitters normally, but spot and stalk seems to be the way to go out there, of course we will take a few stands as safety blankets but i really dont plan on using them and do plan on blowing a few stalks.
> This is our first (out west) hunt, weve hunted Ohio numerous times but thats not much different than Michigan. Plan to make our first elk hunt in the 2019 season so we are using this trip to kind of ease into the west. Plus id love to get my hands on a muley. We are all slowly gearing towards backpack hunting in the backcounty but this year we are driving out with the truck camper and living out of that, possibly making a spike camp a night of two if necessary. Not too much land in SD without roads getting you close enough for hiking in for the day.
> A few setbacks have happened this week in preparation for the trip. I came down with a terrible cough hoping time would heal but I said mercy and went to the Dr. yesterday for a hail marry to save my butt for this trip. He claimed possible pneumonia, scared the hell out of me, and was supposed to call me after reviewing chest x-rays but im still awaiting a call. He did promise the prescribed cocktail would have me back to running laps by Wednesday. Also I wouldn’t be able to sleep on prednisone (so here I am typing at 1:30 am) Setback number 2, I got a new HHA tetra site a while ago and have been practicing out to 90 and loving it compared to my old 5 pin. I installed my yardage tape this evening and wouldn’t you know its not meshing. Im on at 20,40,60. A foot high at 80,90. I also blew a 30 yard shot. Haven’t lost an arrow this year and have been shooting paper plate groups at 90 with the set up tape. Called my bow shop they said theyve never heard of this problem before but also haven’t sold any tetras except for the one I ordered from them. They sell a lot of other HHAs. Guess ill be phoning HHA first thing in the AM but i have a feeling ill have to make my own custom yardage tape with a spare tape.
> So otherwise we are scratching at the doors ready to go, 2 more days of work then load the truck and hit the road to the unknown. Our first thoughts of where to start is around Belle Fourche, (hunting all public land) but figured we would make a final decision while on the road trip with lots of time to scour maps. Advise welcome, haha. Updates to come!


I did this in 2016 also north of rapid city all public land. You will have a riot! My hunt got cut short after 2 days but I still managed to blow 3 stalks LOL. You will be amazed by how dumb and curious the whitetails are on that side of the state.
Key things when spot and stalk hunting like this, always bed the buck down in the morning that you are going after. You will want to go after deer on their feet first thing AM but it rarely goes well. Don’t let yourself get skylined, they can easily pick you out while walking ridges etc.
Can’t wait to hear about your trip!


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Thanks for the tips steely, i didnt know about trying to bed the bucks down making for increasing odds. Makes perfect sence. Should we try to a bit more agressive in the evenings?I cant wait to make some mistakes out there hahaa. Ive really enjoyed your Idaho thread sounds like it will be amazing.


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## lreigler (Dec 23, 2009)

This is a trip I’d love to try. Good luck.


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## LSoutdoors5 (Dec 5, 2013)

My brother and I will be doing this next year! Can't wait to hear how it goes, good luck!


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Trunkslammer said:


> Thanks for the tips steely, i didnt know about trying to bed the bucks down making for increasing odds. Makes perfect sence. Should we try to a bit more agressive in the evenings?I cant wait to make some mistakes out there hahaa. Ive really enjoyed your Idaho thread sounds like it will be amazing.


Well it allows you to play the wind and hopefully buy you some time. My typical mornings were glassing daylight-10:30, 10:30-3:00 stalking or locating bedded bucks, 3:00-sunset sit travel corridor. If you have whitetails in your area I would tree stand hunt them at night. What you will probably find that there are alot of animals in the area which makes it difficult to move around without bumping them. Thanks I am packed and fly to Boise tomorrow. I will post details on our adventure!


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## OnHoPr (Jul 21, 2013)

Yea, there are elk out there in the Black Hills NF. You must be looking at topo maps to see what terrain hard or slower rolling to try. Harder means less miles explored by foot. I have been to Custer State Park a couple of times. Don't know if you can hunt it. Though, I would take a couple poles fly/spin. There can be some decent trout fishing out there like the French Creek. A number of them can be similar to the East Branch Au Gres or upper reaches of the Au Sable. If it is warm they might stick to the pine timber. You may think about hunting upwind in the longer gullies or sides of gullies to help prevent swirling winds. Depending on how steep they are they can have different morning and evening thermals compared to what you are use to. Keep an occasional eye out for rattlers. Probably a lot of things without actually hunting elk there, but just good luck.


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## bowtech84 (Mar 4, 2016)

Good luck! We are headed to Wyoming for antelope opener 1st of the month and then heading to the South Dakota hills with archery tags. We plan on hunting the camp crook area. Hopefully you guys leave some for us lol!


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

steelyspeed said:


> Well it allows you to play the wind and hopefully buy you some time. My typical mornings were glassing daylight-10:30, 10:30-3:00 stalking or locating bedded bucks, 3:00-sunset sit travel corridor. If you have whitetails in your area I would tree stand hunt them at night. What you will probably find that there are alot of animals in the area which makes it difficult to move around without bumping them. Thanks I am packed and fly to Boise tomorrow. I will post details on our adventure!


Looks like from the 2017 harvest map that there are about double the amount of whitetails taken than muleys. Obviously i would like to atleast try to strive for a muley but if a decent whitetail presents a good shot I will not refrain from taking it. In a perfect world we all tag out then buy antelope tags. We are also trying to mix in some rifle varmint hunting during the afternoons if time allows. Either way we are gunna have one heck of a good time. Also just heard back from the Dr. and i do not have pneumonia, just a bad respiratory infection that is starting to clear up. Ready to kick some butt.


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

bowtech84 said:


> Good luck! We are headed to Wyoming for antelope opener 1st of the month and then heading to the South Dakota hills with archery tags. We plan on hunting the camp crook area. Hopefully you guys leave some for us lol!


 Nice! Have you hunted that area before? We will be real close to that area atleast thats our game plan right now.


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## bowtech84 (Mar 4, 2016)

First time hunting deer in South Dakota for us, although we have spent a lot of time in the state. Pm sent


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Trunkslammer said:


> Looks like from the 2017 harvest map that there are about double the amount of whitetails taken than muleys. Obviously i would like to atleast try to strive for a muley but if a decent whitetail presents a good shot I will not refrain from taking it. In a perfect world we all tag out then buy antelope tags. We are also trying to mix in some rifle varmint hunting during the afternoons if time allows. Either way we are gunna have one heck of a good time. Also just heard back from the Dr. and i do not have pneumonia, just a bad respiratory infection that is starting to clear up. Ready to kick some butt.


Have fun! Savor the adventure.

If you find dust in the air ,or lots of pollen ,use a bandanna or similar in bad areas if you don't have a dust mask. Gotta be careful with them lungs a while.
Hardware stores have the paper dust masks , but the color is wrong. (!).


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## roo (Mar 30, 2011)

Good luck! I’ll be very near there around October 5 for a few days. First time to South Dakota as well. I’ve hunted elk but never mule deer.


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Well ive got everything atleast packed, well except for some new gear Joe will be showing up with tomorrow. He doubled an order and saved me some bucks with his military discount. Hes showing up to my house around 5 pm. To load up and help me load the camper on the truck, hitch rack on the front with cooler and tree stands, and bike rack on the back loaded with mountain bikes to save hiking time where possible. (possibly going to rent a small enclosed uhaul trailer)! Mike is arriving around 8 from Cadillac, through his gear in the truck and point it west. 
Health is rapidly improving on day 3 of meds, by Friday im hopefull to be almost 100%. The HHA problem is solved i think (bang head on wall). I ended up putting hash marks on a set up tape at all of my 10 yard increments ive been shooting great with. Then took that tape and ran it threw the yardage tapes until I found one that everything from 20 to 90 meshes with. All except 30 and 60 where im a dash low putting me a couple inches low on target. Much better than where i was and maybe im just to picky but nothing like haveing 100% confidence in your equipment. I shot all yardages 20 threw 90 tonight and felt pretty good about it. This was all after getting out of work and finishing tilling up a buddies food plot after we put new bearings and chain on the tiller after it all junked out Friday. Then took a few well needed hours to hang out with my 3 little girls and wifey. Somethings different leaving home with kids on the back of my mind. Hopefully in 15 years they will be coming with me on these hunts! Thanks for the tips guys they are well needed for this group of knuckle heads embarking on this hunt.


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Just got to the state line, still pounding maps!


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

A few failed stalks so far on 3 decent bucks. Today we were socked in with fog until about 3pm but still managed to see one real dandy, sadly he jumped over the ridge and was gone. Burned up some boot leather today and saw some beautiful country! We are struggling to have patience to stay behing the glass. We are gunna work on that tomorrow as our legs could use a break and we know for a fact we are bumping deer when moving.


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## hk_sl8 (Oct 24, 2011)

Hang in there and you’ll get it done! That sunset pic is awesome. Just set it as my office computer back drop as inspiration until me and a buddy go to CO in two weeks for elk.


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## bignuge (Mar 15, 2009)

Looks like a great time. Enjoy every stalk! I love it out there.


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## roo (Mar 30, 2011)

Well! I’m heading that way in a few days. Been dying for an update.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Also patiently waiting for an update


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## BigWoods (Jul 6, 2003)

Cool adventure Jake!!


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## scooter65 (Sep 23, 2008)




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## pigeon (Jan 25, 2009)

Must have got lost


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Sorry guys, been screaming busy since returning. I did not shoot anything but had a hell of a trip. I will try tonight to write up a follow up here.


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