I just finished reading an article about 2020 being one of the best ever years for South Dakota

Game, Fish, & Parks outdoor activities. The Corona Virus actually encouraged people to get outside to enjoy themselves. This was certainly true for me as I spent more days in the field deer hunting than I ever have in the past. It wasn’t about my East River or West River hunts where I only spent a total of four days to get my deer. It was all about my twenty dollar Unit LM1-13 muzzleloader whitetail doe tag.

Relative to this spike in SDGF&P activities, the virus was undoubtedly transmitted in a few of these camping/ fishing/hunting activities. Even from me, Gov. Noem received some criticism about her “open for business” attitude. However, our kids are in school, school activities are alive and well, our restaurants are open, and business in general is moving forward. I won’t make light the loss of a single life, but for South Dakota, the assets have out-weighed the liabilities.

The month of December found me making numerous trips to the river bottom south of Wagner with my muzzleloader doe tag. Because of the unseasonal warm weather, the deer weren’t coming out in the daylight hours to feed as they didn’t need the calories necessary for cold weather. This made the hunts challenging to say the least.

In late November, river bottom resident Chuck Zacharias guided me to a very nice East River buck in one of his favorite locations, and I wanted to return the favor by taking him to one of mine. He had an archery tag, and I my muzzleloader doe tag. We chose New Year’s Eve, a windless bluebird day in the low 20’s for our hunt. After securing permission, we headed to an abandoned farm house on Gregory County’s Ponca Creek. The old house is sandwiched against the timber-lined Ponca Creek on the west and a rolling hills corn field on the east.

As we approached the old house in Chuck’s 4WD pickup, we talked about where we might park in order to spook as few deer as possible. We chose a spot about a hundred yards northeast of the house on the edge of the corn. Our discussion revealed how little both of us knew about deer as twenty-five deer paraded just in front of the truck on their way to the corn at sundown. I should have stayed in the truck. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Coon and opossum tracks littered the snow within the house, but we didn’t encounter any of the furry residents. The floor’s crunching snow and fallen plaster made moving about the old house quietly somewhat difficult as I attempted to go from chair to chair in front of the south, east, and north facing windows. The youthful Chuck was much quieter.

We arrived at the house around one, and deer activity was more or less continuous though they were out of range. I can’t say I screwed up, but I can say my timing couldn’t have been worse. After sitting quietly for over an hour at the south window, I got up to check activity outside the east window. The few deer in the cornfield were well out of range. There’s an open doorway right next to the south window, and when I again got up to return to my south window post, I could see a beautiful buck and doe just outside the door. They saw me immediately and fled.

While he would deny it, I believe that Chuck could have arrowed that high and wide buck. But his primary interest was helping me and not himself. Between Chuck and landowner Bob, I’m rich when it comes to friends.

On the way out of the Ponca Creek bottom shortly after sundown, we observed good numbers of deer including some very fine bucks. I had packed some goodies, and as we headed back to Wagner while sipping Cokes, we munched some crackers, deer salami, and Dimock cheese as we discussed possible ice fishing if things ever freeze up this winter. Life was good, and we had no regrets about the day’s activity. We were already thinking about next year.

I see in my recent Dakota Territory Gun Collectors Association newsletter that the Mitchell Gun Show scheduled for March 13-14, 2021 has been cancelled presumably because of the virus. I’ll sorely miss that event.

We headed to Mitchell yesterday as I wanted to get myself a .22 rifle as I had traded mine away. I eventually found what I sought at Palace City Pawn and Gun on North Sanborn. What a selection! It was the same Mossberg .22 I had as a kid. I’m 13 yrs. old all over again!

See you next week.