Here’s another update from the road. I just wrapped an adrenaline week of bowhunting whitetails in central South Dakota’s grain country. Instead of hunting big blocks of timber I opted to hunt standing sunflowers and believe me, it was truly flower power!
My good friend Cody Warne operates Warne Ranches for pheasant and whitetail hunts. His country is open, but the wetlands, food plots and the occasional reservoir create enough cover for the plentiful game. One reservoir had a ring of cottonwoods around it and standing sunflowers surrounded it. The whitetails loved it.
I set up two different stands to cover varying movement and different winds, but almost every deer that entered the field passed right past the reservoir. To create more interest within bow range I set up my Flambeau Boss Buck and relied heavily on my Hunter’s Specialties deer calls.
A few nights ago rain and snow was pelting me in the face as I watched seven does and fawns feed below. Suddenly they scattered like flies on a carcass being visited by a coyote. The reason was obvious: a buck ran onto the scene.
Instead of hoping for luck I grunted at the buck several times. He heard the message and charged my way. At 20 yards he spotted the decoy standing in the nearby sunflowers and kept his eyes on it as he side passed. I tried to stop him with another grunt, but he was too busy sizing up the decoy and he kept walking. My shot window was about lost so I pulled slightly ahead and let go of the string on my Mathews Z7. My Rage two-blade blew through the buck and he rolled in a ball 44 yards from the stand.
I was supercharged with adrenaline and it was a good thing because it took the extra energy to drag the buck out of the unharvested field.
I have to also thank my good friend Lonnie Garland who filmed the entire event, plus helped me drag the farmland brute out of the field. I’m still on the road so I’ll update you when I get another Internet link.
There are enough spit seeds here for the World Series teams and the entire stadium crowd.