My experiance on the standing rock

dirtytough

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Here are my thoughts and opinion on the SR deer hunt. I only had a few days out there with my wife so keep that in mind. I'll type up a short story first then give my opinion on the actual quality of the hunt and animals.

I got to a spot I wanted to scout at daylight Friday. My wife Katrina was meeting me later after our boy got out of school. I hiked into the area and started seeing does right away. After 20-30 does I finally saw a little fork horn muley. I hiked over a ridge and almost immediately spotted a decent muley buck. I got the spotter out on it and while getting it setup 6 more muley bucks walked out of some trees about 400 yards from the other buck. After looking them over I was kinda surprised I didn't see a better buck. I backed out and hiked back over the little ridge and hiked down it a ways. I saw 4 whitetail bucks with one being really nice. I hiked about .5 a mile down the ridge and checked on the muley bucks. They were still there feeding out of the wind. I walked and glassed all the way to the end of the ridge. On the way back I stayed on what I was starting to call the whitetail side since I was seeing mostly whitetails on one side and muleys on the other. About midway back I spooked a few whitetail does which ended up spooking 3 nice whitetail bucks. I didn't see much after that besides does and small bucks the rest of the hike.

I was pretty excited for Katrina. I hadn't seen any big big bucks but one of the muleys was an old buck that was heavy with a roman nose, and 3 of the whitetails were pretty nice. The whitetails were hanging in thicker stuff so I figured we would go after the muley bucks first thing.

Saturday morning Katrina, Kohl, (our 9 year old boy) and I started hiking in a little before daylight. We got up to the ridge and started glassing. I spotted a big group of deer about 1.5 miles out on a flat. Got the spotter on them and they were all does besides a little fork. We hiked up the ridge this time to look for the herd I had seen the day before. I spotted a nice whitetail walking right at 600 yards. It was 2 finger ridges over from us so we hurried to drop into the first ravine and get up the next finger ridge for a shot. It disappeared into some thicker stuff before we got up on the close finger ridge. We hiked around the draw glassing into it but never could spot it. We kept hiking and glassing up the ridge. I spotted a group of 4 muley bucks about 2 miles away. They all looked smaller then a couple of the bigger bucks I had seen the day before. I figured we might be able to find some that size closer to the truck then where they were so we didn't go after them. We hiked back down the ridge glassing as we went.

When we got to the far end of the ridge I finally spotted one of the bucks from the day before. It was the second biggest muley I had seen on Friday. It was about a mile away and we had half an hour of daylight left. Katrina said she wanted to go after it so we hot footed it off the ridge. We ducked out of sight behind a little finger ridge. We lost the terrain advantage at about 700 yards. When we popped out into the open I looked for it and it wasn't in sight anymore. We hoofed it over there. It had ended up dropping into a small creek bed and we came upon it at about 30 yards. It spooked of course. It stopped at 200 yards for a few seconds but Katrina was slow getting the gun on it and it trotted away. I walked over to where it had went over a little rise and saw it was headed in the direction of where we had seen the 4 smaller bucks earlier in the day. We finally got back to the truck and Katrina said we had done a little over 12 miles.

Sunday I decided we would hike into the area I had seen the 4 bucks the day before. It was windy and rainy Sunday morning. We kept glassing and hiking and were only seeing does. I spotted 7 does about 800 yards away. While looking at them I see a couple does about 400 yards away bedded in some tree's. I couldn't see into there very well because there was a little ridge in between us so we worked our way to the little ridge so we could see into the trees better. Right as I got to where we could see over deer started going everywhere. The 7 does that had been 800 yards away had ran towards the other deer and spooked them. I spot 2 bucks at 218 yards and get Katrina set up for a shot. She shot while it was quartering away and hit it back. It rolled into a small ravine where we couldn't see it anymore. We wait a few minutes and work our way over there. When we got close to the edge of the ravine there were a lot of leaves on the ground that were super crunchy that we couldn't avoid. As soon as we could peak over I see it get up and start running off. There was to much brush in the way for her to shoot so we drop off the ridge and walk the trail it took off on. I found its tracks but couldn't find a drop of blood. When we came around the corner where I last saw it it was nowhere to be seen. We hiked back up on the ridge so we could get a vantage point so I can hopefully glass it up since it wasn't bleeding much at all.

As soon as we got on top I spot it bedded about 150 yards away. Katrina got a good rest prone and shot it in its bed. We hike down to it and of course take pics etc. I boned it out and loaded it into my pack. A little over 4 miles back to the truck and she had her first deer in the cooler.

Katrina’s first buck by dirtytough,
 


Twitch

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Hey that’s a decent first buck. Good story too. Good job
 

dirtytough

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Sorry for the long post. Ok now my thoughts on the actual hunt. I have hunted multiple states and I try to hunt different states every year. This is not a hunt I would pick over hunts in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, etc if I only had a week or so to hunt and couldn't scout first. I feel like there is way better quality mule deer in all those states. From the ground we covered I feel like we should have seen more then just the one mature muley I saw on Friday. Which had crap genetics but was at least heavy. Genetics wise most of the muleys didn't have brow tines and we never saw a 4x4. The nice whitetails I saw had decent mass and tine length. But short brow tines around 1"-2" or so.

If I lived close and had lots of time I think it would be a good tag to have. I like the fact that you can shoot a whitetail or muley and that it has a long season. The tag is on the high end when it comes to out of state tag prices. I feel like the whitetail quality is better then the muley quality. But a guy could probably do as well or better in some other Midwest states if he was strictly targeting whitetails.

There seemed to be a coyote problem. I saw no less then 8 a day. I've never seen as many as on the SR unless I'm actually calling. But to just glass them up it was ridiculous. Access wasn't horrible but wasn't great either. There is a decent amount of deeded land that you can't use the tag on. I was constantly checking in a few areas because there were random pieces here and there. I thought it was easier hunting a second choice antelope unit in Wyoming this year that had access issues then it was hunting the SR.

Better be in decent shape. I am sure there are places you don't have to walk very far on the SR but we hiked about 1.5 miles before we would really get into the deer. I drove around Friday night and Sunday night and didn't see much from the roads.

If you are thinking about hunting the SR and only have a week or so I would look elsewhere. If you have a few weeks or live close enough to hunt it every weekend then you can probably do ok if you are in shape and aren't picky on whether you shoot a muley or whitetail.

Again these are my observations and thoughts. Good luck to everyone that is still hunting this year.

Regards, Branden
 


dean nelson

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Good story. Yeah the ND side takes awhile to figure out where the best pockets are thus why i used to bypass it for the grand till pressure got to high down there. As for big mules maybe it's a fluke but I have never seen a shooter till around mid month for some reason and then all of a sudden rut kicks in and bam they start showing up....will other then last year. Definitely true on the WT although I've never seen one above the 160's but do see a fair few in the 140 to 150 range and you just never know where the hell you might bump one out cuz it seems like those whitetails and mule deer are so mixed up over there. You see much for other people out and about.
 

8andcounting

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Sorry for the long post. Ok now my thoughts on the actual hunt. I have hunted multiple states and I try to hunt different states every year. This is not a hunt I would pick over hunts in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, etc if I only had a week or so to hunt and couldn't scout first. I feel like there is way better quality mule deer in all those states. From the ground we covered I feel like we should have seen more then just the one mature muley I saw on Friday. Which had crap genetics but was at least heavy. Genetics wise most of the muleys didn't have brow tines and we never saw a 4x4. The nice whitetails I saw had decent mass and tine length. But short brow tines around 1"-2" or so.

If I lived close and had lots of time I think it would be a good tag to have. I like the fact that you can shoot a whitetail or muley and that it has a long season. The tag is on the high end when it comes to out of state tag prices. I feel like the whitetail quality is better then the muley quality. But a guy could probably do as well or better in some other Midwest states if he was strictly targeting whitetails.

There seemed to be a coyote problem. I saw no less then 8 a day. I've never seen as many as on the SR unless I'm actually calling. But to just glass them up it was ridiculous. Access wasn't horrible but wasn't great either. There is a decent amount of deeded land that you can't use the tag on. I was constantly checking in a few areas because there were random pieces here and there. I thought it was easier hunting a second choice antelope unit in Wyoming this year that had access issues then it was hunting the SR.

Better be in decent shape. I am sure there are places you don't have to walk very far on the SR but we hiked about 1.5 miles before we would really get into the deer. I drove around Friday night and Sunday night and didn't see much from the roads.

If you are thinking about hunting the SR and only have a week or so I would look elsewhere. If you have a few weeks or live close enough to hunt it every weekend then you can probably do ok if you are in shape and aren't picky on whether you shoot a muley or whitetail.

Again these are my observations and thoughts. Good luck to everyone that is still hunting this year.

Regards, Branden

you went before the rut ...... what did you expect ..... worst possible time to go ..... 10 days from now it'll be great hunting
 

Stan's Dad

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you went before the rut ...... what did you expect ..... worst possible time to go ..... 10 days from now it'll be great hunting

i didn't read that like he was complaining. looks and sounded like they had a great time. usually I'm the dickhead of the thread but you got it this time
 

dirtytough

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you went before the rut ...... what did you expect ..... worst possible time to go ..... 10 days from now it'll be great hunting

My wife and I both switched jobs in September which really screwed up our vacation for this year.
I hunt whenever I have time. Which isn’t always during the rut. Also I could go out and see 30-40 muley bucks tomorrow in the grasslands if I hiked 10+ miles. Almost the same type of terrain I was in on the Rez. And 5-10 would be mature bucks. A lot would probably have shitty genetics but I would see 135”-150” 4x4’s also. Which are young but might have the genetics to get in the 180+ range. If I had time I’m sure I could hunt big bucks out there every year. But if a guy only has one week with zero time to scout where is he going to kill a bigger buck? Colorado or the Rez? I’d put my money on Colorado.

Andi I never said it wasn’t good hunting. I said in my opinion other places are better.

- - - Updated - - -

Nope not really. Once we started walking we were pretty much by ourselves.
 


gr8outdoors

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Don't worry bout what others say, all that matters is that u had a good time. And with ur family to enjoy it with!
 

Kurtr

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My wife and I both switched jobs in September which really screwed up our vacation for this year.
I hunt whenever I have time. Which isn’t always during the rut. Also I could go out and see 30-40 muley bucks tomorrow in the grasslands if I hiked 10+ miles. Almost the same type of terrain I was in on the Rez. And 5-10 would be mature bucks. A lot would probably have shitty genetics but I would see 135”-150” 4x4’s also. Which are young but might have the genetics to get in the 180+ range. If I had time I’m sure I could hunt big bucks out there every year. But if a guy only has one week with zero time to scout where is he going to kill a bigger buck? Colorado or the Rez? I’d put my money on Colorado.

Andi I never said it wasn’t good hunting. I said in my opinion other places are better.

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Nope not really. Once we started walking we were pretty much by ourselves.

Add that the scenery and adventure is ten times better in Colorado. I agree 100% with your take on it all.
 
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BrokenBackJack

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Dirtytough excellent story and congrats to your bride and both you and your son! Good to see one hoofing it and putting on the miles burning shoe leather searching for your game. The good old days when i had a healthy body we did the same when hunting. Put the miles on and didn't see many if anyone else . Too many road hunters but hey that keeps them away from where you are hunting.
Where are you located?
 

Mort

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Thanks for sharing your experience on SR. I hunt the unit that has sioux county but don't hunt sioux county for the fact that most of land is tribal and the reservation. I get a deer every year, I"m not big on horn hunting, the meat is more important then the bragging that I shot a XX size buck, sure its nice to shoot a big one. The adventure of going out, looking and searching is whats all about.
 


dirtytough

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Don't worry bout what others say, all that matters is that u had a good time. And with ur family to enjoy it with!

Yep I’m not. I was just trying to put it into perspective for the guys that are only going to be able to go out for a week from back east that there are hunts with just as many and better quality animals. If someone disagrees that’s fine with me. If we all agreed on everything then the world would be kinda boring.

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Thanks for sharing your experience on SR. I hunt the unit that has sioux county but don't hunt sioux county for the fact that most of land is tribal and the reservation. I get a deer every year, I"m not big on horn hunting, the meat is more important then the bragging that I shot a XX size buck, sure its nice to shoot a big one. The adventure of going out, looking and searching is whats all about.

I agree that the hunt is more important then antler size. But I also like hunting mature animals. They are a challenge because they are smarter and more wary then an immature buck. Plus a mature buck will have more meat on it. The tag is $500. Might as well cost average the price per pound as low as possible. And a mature buck doesn’t have to score 190”. It could be a heavy antlered 2 point for all I care. Saturday we had a forky that just stood there and looked at us 40-50 yards away. I asked Katrina if she wanted to shoot it and she declined. She said it seemed to easy. Now I’m not knocking anybody that would shoot it because I killed plenty of forks and even 1x2’s growing up. And some were even right next to the road haha.
I
Regards, Branden

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Where are you located?

We live in Dickinson.
 

FishSticks

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I thought this was going to be a quip about pipeline protesters and how much they suck...Instead it was a lovely story about a kid bagging their first deer. Great story, congrats.
 

Walleye_Chaser

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Great read! Thanks for sharing with us. You put the work in that's for sure, a lot more than most would. Congrats to youf wife!! :;:cheers
 

SupressYourself

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I thought this was going to be a quip about pipeline protesters and how much they suck...Instead it was a lovely story about a kid bagging their first deer. Great story, congrats.

I'm pretty sure that's his wife. Tell her some guys on the internet said she looks very young. Should make her day.;)
 


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