Bucks Within Re
It’s a familiar ritual. Rise sev-
eral hours before dark, conduct one last equipment check, and
then point my truck westward. Unlike previous years, though,
my truck didn’t contain anyone else. Due to the arrival of a
child and a sudden onset of meningitis, my hunting party had
turned into a solo adventure, which unraveled the months of
planning that had originated in the spring.
As the miles ticked ever higher on my truck ’s odometer, I
couldn’t help but ponder the circumstances of having to head
out alone, but also the appeal of a simple one-man camp and
the chance to choose any river crossing I wanted for the white-
tails I planned to hunt.
Afer 10 hours behind the wheel, I pulled into camp and set
forth to create a Spartan home for the next few days. Once ac-
complished, I loaded up my pack with a spotting scope, camera,
and cushion. Te two-track — long washed out and no longer
maintained — led me along a route I’d walked countless times.
Coming from Minnesota, it’s hard to describe the frst inhala-
tion of Badlands air and the hint of sage and juniper it carries.
But sufce it to say, it’s a sense-memory of which I never tire.
Far below my perch, I caught sight of the Little Missouri
River, and realized that my frst hurdle would be fguring outa way to cross it. I had followed
the river current stages daily
online prior to my departure,
and had talked myself into
a false reality that the water
would be high, but not a deter-
rent to deer or hunters.
I was wrong. To make mat-
ters worse, I immediately no-
ticed fresh limbs lying at the
bottom of a cottonwood tree,
and then I caught the glint of
sunlight. Te stand was in the
very same tree in which I had
arrowed a 150-class 10-pointer the previous year. In fve years
I had never seen anyone bowhunting this riverbottom, but the
previous year I had run into a local taxidermist on his four-
wheeler who had spotted my stand. He later saw my buck in
our camp and quickly put two and two together. I couldn’t
help but wonder if the stand belonged to him.
Knowing the river levels might keep the deer from crossing
as readily as they had in the past, I started to glass both sidesPUBLIC LAND CAN BE FICKLE IN
ITS DEER OFFERINGS, SO YOU
BEST TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET.
44 >BOWHUNTER APRIL/MAY 2015EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
The birth of a child and a case of
meningitis sidelined my hunting
partners and left me hunting solo.