Spring has Arrived on the Prairie

Date on this one would have been 2/28-3/6


When spring finally decided to give us an appearance, I began my yearly attempt at shed hunting. Each evening I would watch the deer behind the house, mawing down on the indispensable quantity of corn and soybeans. I would make routine of doing the same thing each morning with the coming of daylight, and again in the afternoon if light was still poor before work. I knew that I would eventually spot a glowing spot amongst the grass or corn. One late Sunday morning, I did just that; bone. It was not but 80 yards behind the house with the pedicle pointed right at my window. I made haste, and snapped a few photos of the easiest shed I have ever found.

I had been watching this six point buck along with a few other nice bucks, one of which dropped its head gear much earlier than this one. Later I would find out these deer were traveling up to 3 miles each night to feed on the corn pile. Some nights were so brutal, they would only be able to feed for a few minutes before having to make their way for cover.


At that point I knew I needed to get out and actually find a shed the old fashioned way; putting on the miles. I walked several properties over the course of the next couple of weeks and came up empty each time. I walked some public properties that I deer hunted last fall, found some deer, but still no bone. Unfortunately, and in all honesty, rather distressing, I received an email from our Game Fish & Parks Dept. reminding all outdoorsman that shed hunting is prohibited on public properties in the state of South Dakota....I was blown away. Not only do I think this is beyond absurd, when I moved here, I went through the book time and time again. I DO NOT like to miss anything. I am not a law breaker. Thankfully, I found nothing, but I may be sending a letter to our legislators about this one...


Anyhow,
I then moved on to private property that I had hunted so much the fall before, and the landowner had no qualms with my presence on the property. I took the pup out and we again searched for bone. I have shed hunted properties across the great state of Iowa that puts most other areas to shame, but this property was the most pounded I had seen in a long time, if ever. I gridded this property for 3 hours to no avail. I was beyond the point of frustration. There were antlers to be found, but the diversity and quantity of waterfowl around this property was proving a worthy distraction. I eventually gave up the search for bone and made my way to one of the dugout berms.

There is where I laid with the pup for two more hours, watching the snow geese by the thousands, the rafts of redhead scatter off of the water only to swing around and plop right back into place, the swinging mallards, pintails, gadwalls, widgeons, and even a few teal, and for obvious reasons, my favorite, the deceptively fast and large canvasbacks. Because we were hidden so well, a flock of 20 or so buzzed mere feet above our heads and blasted their way into middle of the shallow bay. It may be spring, but I would love to get back out duck hunting again. There is something surreal about jumping a couple hundred ducks when we got up to leave, while to snow geese above took little notice whatsoever.

These small back bays were the first to thaw, and so brought the onslaught of waterfowl from the south. Before long, these lakes will start opening up, and I can get back to chasing gators or the mythical walleye.




Stay Tuned