It's been a hectic week, and I have been slow on getting a report up, so here goes.
Monday afternoon we got back from another trip to SD and the Rosebud Reservation, hunting with Cliff Bryan of Bryan Guiding. If I had one word to describe out hunt, it would have to be WET! it had been raining for a couple days solid prior to our arrival, and there was standing water all the way across SD on the way our there. We headed out knowing travel would interesting, and that the plague had hit the highest population towns last summer. Cliff had confidence we would still get some shooting if we could manage to beat the weather.
Tutz, Forcefed, Brandon, and myself headed out last Thursday night, and hunted Friday-Sunday. Friday was almost a complete washout, we only got about an hour of rain free shooting, and another hour of dodging the rain showers, before the rain got bad enough we were done for the day. We were on a smallish town, that was providing shots from 50-600yds. Lots of dogs present, but the rain really did us no favors in shooting.
Saturday, we woke up to 30+mph winds and driving rain. It looked like hurricane video's when we woke up in the morning. A quick call with Cliff and a look at the radar showed we would at least get some opportunities later in the day. About 11am it was still raining, but tapering, and we headed out to try and get into our first spot of the day. About halfway there, we had to scuttle the first spot, as 2-3" of mud was present on the main gravel roads, and we knew pasture driving would be even more difficult, if not impossible. Cliff was forced to scuttle the first spot, and come up with a new plan. Travel conditions being what they were, we were forced to stick close to the roads, and shoot on some towns that were pretty accessible.
We setup on the first spot on Saturday, only about 50yds from a main paved road on the res. Shooting was good, with about 3 hours of consistent shooting in the 30-550yd ranges. We did have a tribal Warden show up, and chat with us, which was an all positive experience (he didn't even check our licenses) Because of the layout of the town, relative to where we could get setup and stay dry, most of our shots were from 250-550yds. After about 3 hours, we had shot up the town enough that we were going to need to move, and try a different area.
We ended up back at the same town we had started on the day before. Lots of quality shooting, with Tutz having the long shot of the day at 702yds out of the trusty 243AI. Four of us watched the glancing hit, the dog was able to make it down the hole, so we can't call it a true confirmed kill, but there was no doubt to any of us that she had a solid hit. We shot on that town right up until sundown, with the shooting remaining constant until the last hour of sunlight.
Sunday morning, we met up with Cliff, and there was no doubt he was frustrated with the weather, and our trouble setting up on good numbers. We made a team decision to throw caution to the wind, and head into some sloppy territory to get the big numbers Rosebud is known for. And we were not to be dissapointed
As we worked up a wheat field edge into our spot, we were forced to dodge some good ruts, and standing water/gumbo mix. i had to kick into four wheel and let the mud sling a bit, but we made it in without too much hassle (other than some white knuckles). We came into a secluded town, well off any main roads. the town overlooked an ancient company town in a valley. We had a beautiful setup on top of a ridge shooting down into the valley. A really beautiful setting for the blast session that was about to follow! Forcefed and Brando setup, intent on making some spectacular explosions on dogs in the 100-200yd range. Tutz and i aimed west and had ample opportunities from 200-350yds. There were pups EVERYWHERE! One mound had ten pups on it, and they didn't seem to mind us picking off their brethren one at a time. That spot had consistent shooting for about 4-5 hours, before the dogs got smart and started laying low. Thru the spotter we could see an active town to the south, with some high shooting positions. We gambled and elected to make the trek and give it a run, rather than sit it out and wait for the dogs to settle in. Biggest mistake of the trip, but it was our decision to make.
Cliff took the lead as we went into the next pasture, headed to this huge town. We had about 8 miles of pasture travel in front of us to get there, and we vastly under-estimated the amount of water in there 4wd, the traction control off, and a health dose of the skinny pedal was needed, and it was 8 miles of mud slinging, white knuckle, driving creativity The low spots were low and wet, the flat spots were wet, pretty much EVERYTHING was wet. I definitely had to rely on my Jeep driving experience, and use the skinny pedal, more than i would have liked. Cliff offered to change plans and try elsewhere, but we saw the HUGE town, and we were not to be stopped. By the time we made it in, i think the truck had to weigh an extra 1000lbs with the huge amounts of mud caked all over the undercarriage up to the hood itself
We quickly realized the town that looked so robust, was a shadow of it's former self. Plague really ran rampant last year across the reservation, and this huge town had obviously been hit hard. There was still shooting, it was just slower, so it made the inevitable misses painful. That afternoon, Lisa had some Indian frybread taco's delivered to us in the field (a can't miss treat). As the sun got hot the rattlers decided they like the high ground we were perched upon too, and we did have two run in's with them. Remember to keep your eyes open folks. I have two rattler pelts drying now, and they will make come really nice owb holsters for our snake guns next year
I will get some pics up of the beautiful scenery next week when i have some time.
Cliff is still putting people on some great opportunities for high volume shooting. Because of the plague hitting some of the towns, the numbers are lower this spring than last year. But, when the numbers get low the dogs go into high gear on breeding, and it's not uncommon for them to have three litters in a season. Bryan Guiding still has some openings in late July, and lots of openings in August. in fact we are currently looking at making another August trip, to capitalize on the late litters that should come around.
As I said last year, Cliff Bryan has a bright future in hosting dog hunters. Get acquainted with him while you can, i have a feeling he will be a hard booking in the next couple of years
Lisa Bryan
Email: lisa.bryan2000@yahoo.com
Cell: 605-641-3027