As much as I like to brag about our South Dakota hunting opportunities, I’ll have to admit that our pronghorn antelope hunting is nowhere near #1 Wyoming, and also trails Montana, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Still, the opportunity to archery hunt antelope is there every year, and SD rifle hunters could hunt every year if they were willing to doe hunt when they didn’t draw a buck tag. For Harding County, arguably SD’s best pronghorn county, partner Mike Hall and I recently drew second choice doe tags when we failed on our first choice buck tags.

Since the late sixties, I have witnessed some almost unbelievable experiences while antelope hunting on our SD prairies. Some of these are related in my story, “Pronghorns I have Known,” found in my first book, A Dakota Rod and Nimrod. These tales include verbally communicating with a pair of bucks I had flagged into archery range. A column this past year related a personal experience where I walked a small herd into a fence corner where they cowered and bleated like distressed rabbits.

I had an even more unbelievable experience in Corson County with my late partner, Don Kaberna. We had seen a small herd on the opposite side of a big valley. When I flagged them with my T-shirt, they became interested and began to move toward us. I suggested to Don that we lie flat and motionless on our bellies as I wanted to see how close they would come. Twenty minutes passed. As I lay with my head on its side, I could see the legs of an antelope approach my body. I was wearing a red stocking hat. A pronghorn eventually knocked that hat from my head with its nose! We hurriedly sat up and shouldered our rifles, but the stampeding herd contained only does, fawns, and yearling bucks.

So how did last week’s antelope hunt go? The last thing Betsy said to me as I went out the door was, “Don’t come home with an antelope.” She got her wish. Other than being flat-out wild, the antelope were already “bunched up,” and getting within 400 yards of a herd was difficult. Some of the bucks were alone, but Mike and I had doe tags. It’s the first time in my life I haven’t filled my antelope tag, and I’m having a wee bit of a hard time accepting the fact that I can’t walk like I once did. In the future I will sit all day by a stock dam and get one when they come to drink.

However, we had a marvelous time. Our host ranchers live in what appears to be a veritable oasis among the rolling hills of sagebrush. The trees were painted with fall shades of reds, yellows, and greens, and just being there was special. The wildlife? We had to honk at turkey gobblers to get them off of a driveway sprinkled with sharptail grouse. Bunches of whitetail deer watched us as we moved about the yard. At first light on Tuesday morning, a very nice whitetail buck watched me as I journeyed from the bunkhouse to the two-hole privy.

Speaking of the outdoor privy, I think I could label two outdoor experiences as laws of nature. The first is this: No matter how few ducks you’ve seen on a hunt, ducks will always come to your decoys as you pick them up. Law #2: No matter what lengths you’ve exercised to empty your bladder before hitting the sleeping bag, you will be making a trip to the outdoor facility when there is no indoor plumbing.

Harding County has a “must see” destination. From Hwy 85, Access the JB Road roughly ten miles south of Buffalo and take it east to Hwy 79 south of Reva. You will eventually climb your way through the breath-taking Slim Buttes. Near the base of the buttes, you will encounter a few thousand open range buffalo. You might want to be in an SUV or pickup, and don’t go when it’s muddy.

Whether your interest in firearms relates to hunting, target shooting, or personal protection, it is important to know where our presidential candidates stand on the Second Amendment or gun control. President Trump is very pro-gun. Joe Biden is equally clear as you can see on his website joebiden.com/ gunsafety.

Because Biden knows that the majority of Americans are not willing to give up their guns, his primary target will be the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This became law in 2005, and it protects America’s gunmakers from being sued for the illegal use of their products in the hands of criminals. Our firearm-related companies are relatively small, and the cost of defending themselves against lawsuits would bankrupt the largest of them. The choice is yours.

See you next week.