Rog's Rod & Nimrod

Mule deer have become an increasingly coveted trophy, and drawing an “any deer” tag in order to hunt them has steadily become more difficult. As I know a couple of guys who hunted mule deer this past fall, I thought I would take a look at their hunts.

I wasn’t aware of Unit 27L until Wagner’s Brent Gabel brought it to my attention. Brent is a very good hunter, and his enthusiasm for the Unit 27L West River Deer tag he had drawn in Fall River County was enough to make me promise myself that I would follow up on his hunt. Only ten resident and one nonresident “any deer” tags were issued for 27L. Brent definitely had a trophy mule deer buck in mind.

It took five preference points for Brent to draw 27L, a sixteen square mile “walk-in” area our SD Game, Fish, and Parks Department calls “The Hill Ranch Game Production Area.” The extremely rugged piece of land is located on the south side of Angostura Reservoir.

If there was a downside to Brent’s good fortune in drawing the tag, it was that the area had already been heavily hunted by archery hunters, and in spite of the fact that the rut was full swing, the many groups of does were primarily accompanied by small fork-horn bucks.

On his fourth day of hard hunting, Brent dropped the best buck he had seen on his hunt, a main-frame four by four with brow tines and kickers that made it a six by six. Although the spread wasn’t impressive, the mass was good for a Hills area deer. Brent’s buck was in the company of five does.

It took Parkston’s Bryan Maas eight preference points to draw his Black Hills “any deer” tag. Bryan hunted the Boles Canyon area near the Wyoming line. He also hunted the Red Bird Canyon area. Bryan saw many whitetails closer to Hill City and Custer, but very few mule deer. While the whitetails appeared to be in full rut, rutting activity was minimal with the mule deer.

Bryan nailed his muley five-pointer on his second day of hunting with a 150 yard shot. His scope? A vintage Weaver K-4 he purchased back in 1974 at the old downtown Leader Hardware. Bryan’s buck had a 25” spread……quite nice for a Hills buck.

I once hunted the Black Hills back in the days of “over the counter” tags, and I perceived the Hills experience as a poor man’s mountain hunt.

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I’m not much into the climate change or global warming thing, but I’ll admit that I no longer see the heavy snows of the late sixties or the brutally cold winters of the past. I can go along with an effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but I think our leading climate activists like Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, and Bill de Blasio are nothing but hypocrites for preaching global warming while doing their traveling in private jets.

Unfortunately, the climate topic has become politically correct to the point that academic journals have become fearful of publishing findings contrary to wide spread opinion. Science requires evidence, and the above mentioned activists don’t want to recognize the lack of it.

I mention this topic because the quality of our ice has varied in recent years because of warm spells. Rotten ice is dangerous. When you go ice fishing, think about fishing where others are present. Hang some picks around your neck where they are accessible, and have some rope with an attached flotation device handy. Wear a flotation jacket.

Recommendation wise, I’ve always liked Burke Lake and the lakes/ponds found in that area including The Eide Dam. Burke Lake will have other anglers, and for a small town, Burke ”rocks.”

My book, A Dakota Rod and Nimrod, did well this past year. I have a few copies on hand that can be had for $20 plus $6.75 postage. The book can also be ordered on the Internet from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble gave my book a five star rating. The Wagner area can get the book at Kocer’s Fallen Timbers on east Hwy 46.

See you next week.