North Dakota Badlands are Real Good!

[Kevin Winkler]

This is Cool! Keep it coming Rafael.
I think something exciting is about to happen    

[Kenneth]

  Man this is some good reading!!  I wish studying for my finals was this exciting.

[smoke1953]

Rafael must have gotten distracted or he's waiting for his heart rate to come under control so I'll continue until he breaks in. I think it was Tuesday morning and from my glassing position I could see that the group of 12 does and 3 bucks one which was a 170 class mulie were in the field where I needed them to be to be able to work my way down to a plateau where I had positioned a Huntmore chair behind some pines approximatly 50 feet above a thicket along the creek that meandered through our valley.

[smoke1953]

By 9am this group had stopped there chasing in the field and worked their way into the thicket shown in the picture above. The big boy wondered around tearing up bushes which I could clearly hear and see from my elevated position 70 yds away. He checked out all the does however they didn't seem that interested and we had concluded that this was early in the mulie rut and the chase phase which is preferable. The big guy bedded down next to the creek and the younger 4 by 4 took over. I decided I would try the can call and both bucks turned immediatly.

[smoke1953]

I turned the can one more time and the younger but still nice 4x4 headed out of the thicket crossing a narrow field to the next bend of the creek below me. He emerged with a doe which I had no idea was there. Man, I do the calling and he gets the doe some things never change. They stood in the middle of the field probably 50 yds away and I was still 50 ft. above. I can called again, he turned, left the doe and headed for the creek directly below me.  I didn't hear anything for a few minutes then the sound of a deer coming across the creek. I looked straight below and he was standing in the creek with a 60 degree slope between him and me and a possible opportunity.

[smoke1953]

I concentrated on my particular routine to ready  for a shot but my heart was racing. As I turned to my left to look behind and below one more time he was climbing right up the spine of the 60 degree slope.  I had to quickly move back into the right body position and calm down, take a deep breath and make sure to maintain form with my Northern Mist Baraga in hand.

A minute went by............where was he. Another minute or so.........nothing. Later I would find he veered into another draw that would position him above where he likely may have seen me.

Great experience for this 57 yr. old rookie.

[smoke1953]

Rafael has come down with the flu so we may be delayed for a day or so with the rest of the story unless BowhuntenFool or Whip decide to continue.

[maineac]

Come on,  getting good.

[Yellow Dog]

What a great hunt. Thanks for taking us along  

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

At about 2pm on the north end of the lil wood lot came 5 muley does and right behind them came a 3x3 buck, they were about 60 yards away and i was hoping they would come closer. one of the does must have been coming into estrus cuz every time she moved the buck would trot over closer to her side, never letting her get to far away. there was one big doe that knew something was up and always kept looking up in my direction , i dont think she ever seen me, but she had sensed that i was there and after 20 mins she took the rest of her clan and headed back the way they came.

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

Well i second guessed myself, thinking that since every afternoon i kicked up deer in the brushy draw , that maybe they would all start coming out on the other side, so i quietly got out of my stand and walked over to where the mulies came down 30 mins before. i was really thinking of moving!  but something just pulled me back to my 4 foot perch where i knew i had perfect cover and the wind was in my favor. so i started glassing the fields and hills and all afternoon i was seeing different groups of deer coming from all over, Just hoping something would come close enough to give me a shot.

[pronghorn23]

Great stories, great pictures. The suspense is killing me!

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

Through out the afternoon sit, i would glass over my left shoulder towards the brushy draw and i would see a muley doe that was there since i hung my stand earlier, she would bed for 20 mins then feed, then bed, this happened all afternoon. Was this the same doe ? i have no idea, but every time i looked she was there. throught the sit i had seen 39 deer!  the last half hour of my last evening sit was upon me. i thought this was a great week and the memories will be with me forever and i was already thinking of a return trip. well i decided to keep watching that doe that has been there all afternoon with the binos that Whip let me use on the trip, i figured she might come down to the cut hay before the night was through.

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

As i turned to glass the doe, i seen she was still there, doing the same thing. Just then out of nowhere a deer walked into the lenses of the binos, Man i thought, thats a Big deer and it looks like a whitetail It's a BUCK!! but i couldn't see his rack that good ,but his body was big. i immediatley reached in my pocket and grabbed my can call and while looking through the Binos I turned it over!THE bUCK SNAPPED HIS HEAD UP AND LOOKED IN MY DIRECTION!! Holy smokes he is a nice buck i thought to myself.

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

Well the glassing game was over, he was 50 yards and coming! I lost sight of him for what seemeed like forever, but he was in No rush for anything not even the seductive call of a hot doe.I knew his path would lead him to the edge of the draw and the edge of the field. He finally materialized on the edge of the field, By now i was shaking so bad, knowing i might get a shot. he hesitated for a moment , but it wasnt because he thought anything was up. once more i tuned the can call over and he made the turn to the south on the edge of my lil wood lot heading to where i waited.

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

I can't describe the flood of emotions that i was feeling at that moment, i could barley hold my bow still without the arrow feeling like it was going to fall off. I had a 10 yard shot out in front of me with a small natural opening in the tangled bushes, if he came in perfect, two steps further or closer i would have to wait for him to pass the tangled mess and give me a Quartering away shot at mere yards, which still was perfect.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Raphael your killing me. Hope you feel better soon and know your bow is fully capable of the task!

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

He stopped about 12 yards from where i needed him to be, and put his head down to eat some hay.Just then i felt a warm breeze in my face, not the mid 30s breeze i felt all afternoon. my body stopped shaking and i heard a voice in my head saying " i have been here before, in times past, in different lands and different places,and my arrows have flown true" I focused back on the Majestic animal, and as that warm breeze blew in my face i was not shaking any more, he continued his walk ,i continued focusing on a spot.

[rastaman]

Awesome story and pictures guys!  

[GREATBROWNKNOCKEMDOWN]

The buck came in and stopped in that very small opening i had through the tangled brush' and stopped perfectly where i needed him to and as he stopped i seen his head go down to pick up some more hay.and all instincts took over , i dont even remember drawing back or anchoring or anything,i just remember looking at the spot i wanted my arrow to hit. Suddenly i snapped out of it seeing the arrow in his side and him running his last run. My body started shaking uncontrollably again, i was thankful that  i was only four feet off the ground. I exited my stand and ran across the field to where i last seen my buck, he crested a lil hill and was laying there next to the cow pasture fence, I slowly walked up to him and nuged him with my bow, making sure he had no life in him. Then i knealt down besides him and rubbed his hide and gave thanks to God for providing for me and i thanked the animal for also providing food for family and friends,and the memories of a great hunt. Then i felt that warmth again and knew what it was , My INDIAN SUMMER brought a little Warmth to the Bad Lands of North Dakota on that 30 degree afternoon.