South Dakota



I recently returned from my first hunting trip to South Dakota. Rick Stillman and myself were invited out to share the hunting grounds of Jim Dahlberg and Lon Sharp in the Black Hills. Rick was after mulies and I wanted to sample the small game available. Rick found plenty of deer in the low country but I found edible small game to be noticeably absent (unless one was extremely hungry and willing to eat pine squirrels and coyotes, both of which were very abundant). Rick, being the more intelligent member of this bowhunting duo, stayed with the deer in the low country while I hunted the high scenic ground for small edible critters. Lon assured me that somewhere up in those pretty hills there was surely at least one undernourished misguided deer so I spent the last day of hunt trying to find him. Actually found a couple of fork horns and after a long stalk proceeded to slightly undershoot on a sharp downhill 30 yard shot. Rick had several stalks in the coulees coming off the alfalfa fields but failed to get a shot. Overall it was a great week, both the hunting and sharing a camp with two great guys and experienced hunting archers.




View from above camp









I would have gotten better photos of these 3 jakes I got within 15 yards of but was too busy rummaging around in my possibles bag looking for regulations to see if turkeys were considered small game. Nope! If our eastern birds acted this way they would be extinct.