2013 Show Us Your Trophy

This was a year to remember. I spent all winter,spring and summer to prepare for an archery elk hunt in Montana. It was a great hunt with great encounters but a combination of being too selective and bad weather had me come home with memeories and no meat. It was all shortly forgotten I was able to fill both my West and East River archery deer in back to back Saturdays in October and my West river rifle on opening day.

It was a warm Saturday evening on November 2nd. I was sitting in a ground blind on the edge of a food plot overlooking the Missouri River near Platte. A couple does had come by earlier in the afternoon but I hadn't seen anything until just a couple minutes before shooting time ended. Suddenly, I had seen the silhouette of this deer coming over a ridge to my side. He was trotting in front of a doe and headed straight toward the food plot. 28 yards away he stopped and I let my arrow fly. 75 yards away he dropped. This deer was my first bow kill in my third year of hard bow hunting!

My boy Gavin showing off our "trophies" after a productive opening day hunting roosters.

Here is my 2013 archery deer. Shot on November 3rd, with my diamond justice at about 30 yards.

My fiance.

This deer was 6 1/2 years old. I've been able to identify him from his 2nd rack on. I have collected 2 years of sheds and hundreds of trail cam pics of him. I got lucky and got a shot off at 15 yards after watching him come from 400 yds. away. I was only in the stand for 15 min.

After being on the west coast of the country for the past 10 years with the military. I got the family to move back to South Dakota. This was the first pheasant hunt for my 4 year old son and I together. Just an awesome time spent bonding with the boy. The best trophy this dad could ask for!!

My 16 year old son is on crutches due to a broken ankle from a football game. He still managed to get a pheasant even while on crutches.

2013 west river rifle opener Buck. Gregory county. 9X8 Double split brow tines and split kickers off each G1. This is probably a once in a lifetime Buck.

I have been bow hunting for 3 years now, I'm at the greatful age of 25. Got up at 5am to be in my stand by a quarter after 6 on Nov. 9th. Seen one small buck across the river about a half hour after sunlight, and also seen 2 wood ducks swimming the river on the nice cool morning. I hit my rattling antlers off and on for about a half hour and I never seen anything right away. Once I leaned up against the tree of my tree stand to relax a little bit out of the corner of my eye I seen this buck looking straight up at me about 70 yards away and I knew he caught my movement. As he was downwind of me he proceeded on a trail for a little while and with my nose jammer he couldn't pick up my scent. He proceeded to head back into the trees as I rattled him back towards me again which he ended up about 50 yards away and wouldn't come any closer. He then turned away & ran back into the trees . As my heart was pounding & adrenaline going I knew I wanted to shoot this buck because he was a good mature buck & it would be the biggest buck I would harvest in my career so far. I knew I had to get my tree stand into a different tree to be able to get a good shot on this good mature buck. As I proceeded out of my tree stand & got to the ground this spike buck came by on this trail at 5yrds away and stopped where I sprayed some nose jammer on a weed. He smelled the weed for about 5 seconds then seen I was there, looked at me for awhile & ran off. I went & hung my tree stand where two deer trails went on either side of it, which one I believed he came on that morning. That night I got out in my stand at 2:30 in the afternoon & sunset was at 5:10. I hung out in my stand for about an hour looking at the trails, playing out every scenario shot that I thought could happen. Rattled my antlers together for about 30-40 seconds waiting 5 minutes in between. Had a yearling spike buck come by & about ten minutes later a fawn came by. Waiting to rattle again hoping for the big boy to come by it was getting close to sunset, started to rattle again but just a little more aggressive & 30 seconds longer then before. Looking around to see him coming, I spotted him across the river. He crossed the river sometime during the day. As he came down the steep river bank I lost track of him. I kept looking on the far river bank of what I could see of it to see where he went or if he was going to cross. As I was rattling my antlers knowing that he would be coming in front of me I kept my two good eyes out for him. Stopping now & again trying to imitate a good buck fight, I stopped rattling for about 5 minutes & he wasn't coming at all. So I just laid into a real good buck fight with my antlers for about 3 minutes is what it felt like, got my release on my D loop of my bow getting ready. I heard a crunch of a leaf from in front of me & there he was! Now that he was coming in I was ready for which trail he was going to pick, as he proceeded on the one closest to me I was trying to keep calm & bow hunt on! He was about ten yards from the bottom of my tree and as I was getting ready to draw back my bow when he wasn't looking I hit one of my antlers. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked straight up at me, I closed my eyes & said to myself please don't leave about 5 times really fast. I opened my eyes to a squint & seen him start to move & said Thank You Lord! As he turn his head I drew back my bow and got locked on him. As I released my arrow hearing the smack of the arrow to the deer was a precious sound to my ears. As he ran hard for about hundred yards & ran into some thickets I couldn't see him anymore. I stayed in my tree stand till dark, went home & called up a buddy to come help me on the blood trail. As my buddy, g/f & I tracked the blood he ran farther then what I thought after I last seen him. Wondering if he was going to be dead or if we were even going to find him in the belly high canary grass. We finally came across him & boy was I excited! Discovering he had knotches in his ears I knew exactly which buck he was. I had pictures of this buck all summer in my food plot a mile away from where I killed him. That summer I gave him the name of Knotchy. I have to credit God the most for creating this wonderful animal for me to harvest, the joy of the sport bow hunting & the nature of the outdoors he created for guys like me. Found myself praying the whole time during that night/afternoon hunt & the Good Lord works in great ways! So is the real trophy harvesting a buck of a life time or knowing the Great and Powerful God.

It was a fun Nov. 5th morning in the stand when I got this guy. I had small bucks chasing a hot doe literally in circles around my tree stand. I heard a grunt and this 138 inch buck stepped out from behind a tree at 21 yards. The buck was quartered away when I shot with the 2 blade rage chisel dead. He didn't go far and the quick recovery made me a happy bow hunter.

My son Austin was diagnosed in March with a cancerous brain tumor it was affecting his eye sight. He went through 6 rounds of chemo a round every 3 weeks 3 of the rounds were 3 days in the hospital with chemo everyday and the other 3 rounds were 6 days in the hospital and 5 of those days were chemo. In August he started radiation he had to do 30 days of chemo so Monday thru Friday he had to go to Sioux Falls for treatment. When he got all done with treatments we got the news he beat cancer and the tumor is gone. We had a wonderful family where we live get him this hunting trip so he had something to look forward to while getting his treatments. Austin never complained on what he had to all go through he always whatever it takes for me to feel better. Austin is 14 year old boy that loves to hunt and fish and this trip really made him feel good.

Meriwether "Lewis" and I's first father daughter dance.

Here's a picture of my first buck I shot. It's a nice 4x4.

It was quiet evening, the last week of October with pre rut kikn in. I could hear a deer moving through the tree line and into the standing corn field near my stand right at sunset. With having no trail cam pics nor personally seen any quality bucks yet I figured the deer to be a smaller buck or a doe as it was just out of sight. I started to get my bow and gear ready to get out of the stand so I wouldn't spook of the deer. As I was taking my first step down I heard the deer approaching through the corn so I stepped back onto the stand. Once I got a visual of the deer I quickly and quietly retrieved my bow and was able to get an arrow knocked as the deer exited the corn. At 12 yards broadside I was able to take my shot. The deer ran off and crashed in the corn not 50 yards.

This buck has been on the "hit list" all fall... We've got many trail camera pictures of him but could never catch up to him during achery season.. As luck would have it he poped out of some cedar trees with a doe late opening morning of rifle season. We got both of them. It was a great day spent with family and friends and that's what it's all about!

A half albino pheasant I got on November 16th near Tolstoy South Dakota.

This is Jared's first year hunting with his first buck tag. Pretty impressive 300 yard shot on the run and dropped him. Great lessons ...great time and best if all his buck is bigger than Dad's!

Shot this buck on October 20th with my bow. Have several trail camera pictures of this buck from the summer months and on my first sit of the year I was fortunate enough to have him walk by at 15 yards. Made a good shot which made for a short blood trail.

8 point buck taken out of trip county by Winner,SD. It was the biggest in my group and I'm pregnant! Best hunting trip ever!

Hunting buddies for life....father and son bonding :) this is my brother and his 10 year old son, my nephew :)

This buck is the largest I have shot. I shot it with my Winchester model 88 chambered in .308 that was gifted to me by late uncle. I filled my tag the evening of the first day hunting day county .

Opening day of the season and by far the coldest day of the year so far. I hadn't seen hardly any deer at all all day long. a doe here and there but no bucks. Then about 20 min before sunset as im watching a doe that's about 200 yards in the distance i notice some deer in a field. as the deer were moving around the fading light was just in the right position to see the sunlight reflect off of the horns of a buck. Thinking that the deer were on a public spot i drove around to try to get a shot with the fading light. Well turned out they were on the wrong side of the road for it to be on public but the act of me driving down the road caused the deer to head back in the direction that i just came from. Quickly getting back to the field i was in originally, i arrived just in time to see the deer jump the fence into the field about 350 yards away. i got down to a knee and lined the crosshairs up on the biggest deer in the group to account for the wind and distance and squeezed the trigger. the heard of deer all scatter and jump the fence to run away. As this buck jumped the fence he fell and staggered back up to try to keep running. went about 40 yards and tried to jump a second fence but ran straight into it and fell down a second time. He got back up and and ran about another 30 yards before finally falling again. he didnt get back up that time. Biggest buck i've taken so far. 105gr Hornady A-Max .243 at 350 yards. He didn't stand a chance. Double lung shot had him on the ground dead in under 30 seconds.

This is a picture of a 6 day hunt with my brother and father on opening weekend of west river South Dakota. Ended up harvesting a 3x3 and a 3x4 Muley.

I hit this doe from roughly 300 yards away right behind the ear. Was a super proud moment considering it was the first time I took my husband along hunting !

West river deer

Shot this guy east river sd with a rifle. Fourth morning into the season. It was a tuff recovery, finally found him the next day around noon. The shot was just a hair behind the lungs which made it a very minimal blood trail. Couldn't of found him without the help of my big brother!

7X7 buck shot on Thanksgiving Day in Gregory County just north of Bonesteel.

This buck is a 5x6 Shot in Yankton county. It's an old buck, with very tall horns. I was sitting hunting in a stand, and I watched a kid mess around on a four wheeler in a field and he scared up this buck and it ran right at me!

I am 19 years old and I shot this 8x8 buck on Sunday, November 24th. I had never seen this deer before, and he isn't very old. I about shot a big 5x5 but couldn't see his body and he disappeared behind a tree. Not long after, this big guy stepped out and without thinking, I pulled up my new .243 WSSM, grunted at him, and shot him. When I walked up to him, there was no ground shrinkage! He just got bigger and bigger. He had split tines and it was an amazing hunt.

My first archery deer ever! 4x4 with 13 inch G2's. shot from 26 yards on 11/4/13.

For a couple of years my roommates dad has been wanting me to go hunting with him out to the black hills. Last year we didn't get tags but this year we did. We went with him and 5 of his other friends. I didn't see anything on the first drive and the second one I had seen a couple of does. On our third drive I had not even taken 25 steps and seen a buck coming and I got him onto first shot. We all raged out and I had gotten the biggest buck and really enjoyed myself

Had a great weekend hunting by Harrold sd.

Just about missed this nice deer. It was right at dusk on Thanksgiving night and I'll I could see on him was one side of his horns. So just figured he wasn't worth shooting. My husband decided we better take another look and this is what he actually looked like!! Not to bad for a girl!!

2013 East river deer shot opening weekend

2013 East river deer shot opening morning with one shot at 85 yds.

Just a few we found in this 2013 season in Hyde county!

4x5 whitetail buck from brule county

This is my 1st time going deer hunting, and this is my 1st deer! Had a great time hunting with my son-n-law, granddaughter and grandson. My granddaughter has been hunting for 2 years now, she is 13. She got one last year and this year, so she said it was my turn.

On a Tuesday, I skipped school to go hunting with my dad. We got up early, did everything right, but just couldn't find anything. We were heading back to the house when we popped over a hill and seen a 5x5 mule deer.He took off, but didn't go too far. We waited about 25 minutes for them to calm down and then we stalked up on him. Somehow, one of the does he was with seen us and they took off again. This ended up happening about three times. Everytime I should get a steady rest and was about to pull the trigger, the same doe would see or smell us. By the third time this happened, I was starting to get really frustrated, and tired too. I got a steady rest, once again, but this time I actually got him. The feeling was undescribable since we had spent the whole day putting a stalk on him. This hunt was not only one of the highlights of my year because it was father/daughter bonding time, but because it lifted our spirits after the devestating blizzard that claimed half of our herd of cattle and 13 horses.

2013 West River Deer, Family has been hunting out west for over 20 years.

my son and i went out to grandpas where i shot my trophy then took my 11 years old son out to shoot his first deer. with grandpa being a retired hunting and fishing guide. Jacob made me and his grandfather very proud with a 200 yd shot.

This picture doesn't do him any justice, but there is only so much room for pictures. He is an 11x7. My father and I had been watching him this fall. I have been hunting with my father all of my life and he has taught me a lot about hunting. On the last day of East river rifle my father and I walked 2 miles to get a chance at him and no luck. At 4PM my husband and I were hunting in one area and my father, sister and 6 year old daughter were hunting in another. As luck would have it he showed up after I had decided I was now hunting for a doe. It was a great afternoon with my family all around me. This buck means more than just his great look, he is about the love of hunting and the family that gets to enjoy hunting together.

First deer that I shot! It was a lung shot about 120 yards.