A New Tradition??

We don't get in on many waterfowl hunts, and most of them are usually field goose hunts, so when we had the opportunity to get in a pit and shoot ducks over decoys in a flooded cornfield, we jumped at it.  We were invited by Brandon and his dad, Brad through a connection from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.  The Tribe had been working on their setup for a couple years, and when the pit came open Thanksgiving morning we hopped in.

We had a blast, and got plenty of shooting, without freezing our butts off.  That was part of the problem that it was too nice, but we managed to shoot 27 total ducks in a couple hours.  Mostly greenheads, with a few redheads, and green-winged teal mixed in.

Brandon made quick work of his share of the birds, along with his wife's and dad's.  The jerky didn't last long when he brought it to the lodge, and I'm thinking he can work his magic on mine and Cordie's also.  I've been contemplating what to do with them, but the jerky was pretty good, so hopefully I can convince him to make another batch.

Heck of a year for the whitetail deer

The boys at the Snake Den had a great year for deer.  Brandon, Cordie, John Wayne, and myself all did well filling our tags for the 2011 West River deer season.  We had been seeing a lot of good deer around, but an EHD die-off had us a little worried that some of them weren't going to make it to the season.  Our worries were put to rest and there are still plenty of good bucks around for next years crop.

Brandon scored first on opening morning, within an hour of legal shooting time.  With a little "insider trading"  he managed to secure an unknown hot-spot and made good use of it.  A well planned stalk on a bedded deer, and one well-placed shot at 80 yards, bagged him a nice, heavy 4x4.

Cordie filled his tag just a couple days later after watching several deer since the opening day.  His heavy, symmetrical 5x5 will be a nice addition to the lodge walls.  Cordie said there were bigger deer in the area, but he couldn't pass the opportunity up that this buck presented.  We'll look forward to seeing the ones he left out there next year, hopefully.

I filled my tag on Sunday of the second weekend.  After nearly giving up on the buck because I didn't get to a spot in time to cut him off, the buck headed right back to me after a brief encounter with another buck.  He obviously had something else on his mind since he made a fatal error of standing in an opening only 100 yards away.  He's no monster, and he won't win any beauty contests, but he's a mature buck with a big body.

John Wayne filled his tag last while hunting out west with his dad before Thanksgiving.  Both of them killed deer in the same draw within an hour of one another.  John's deer is very unique and his heavy-horned head will make a great addition to the lodge decor.

All the bucks were one-shot kills ranging from 80 to 380 yards, and all coming from land owned or leased by the Snake Den, with the exception of John's.  It was a great deer season, and we look forward to putting a little more meat in the freezer when we fill some leftover anterless tags.  There's plenty of deer left, so barring any unforeseen disasters, 2012 should have great potential.