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It was a great day for hunting, temps in the low 30s 15mph wind out of the North. Most teams talked about seeing coyotes and just not being able to get them to commit. Our team saw 14 coyotes and only got 2 in rifle range, so we know what the others were experiencing. Seems like they were in love and to busy playing with each other to worry about us hunters. However the Video Format seemed to be a success and we gave some cash to a good cause. The food was great both nights and every hunter walked away with a prize of some kind. When I recieve some pictures I will post them as well. Here are the results:

1. Cody Eaton, Austin Stambach, Amanda Stambach –5 points/2 dogs on video = 66.12 #
2. Cody Birkeland, Brady Birkeland, Voyle Stambach-3.5 points/1 dog on video and 1 not on video =74.12#
3. Jeff Rheborg, Tate Fischer, Darren Fischer- 3.5 points/1 dog on video and 1 dog not on video = 55.12# they were also the little dog winner – 24.4# dog
4. Jared Schofield, Aaron Doolittle – 2.5 points/ 1 dog on video =34.4#
5. Tim Rosencranz, Ed Henschel – 2 points / 2 dogs off video = 59#
6. Pat Donovan, John Donovan – 1 point / no video = 42# Also big dog winner
7. Slade Farlee, Rocky Longbrake – 1 point / no video = 34.8#
8. Jake Harris, CJ Menzel, Jeff Henderson – 1 point/ no video = 31.6#
9. Aaron Terveen, Clay Farlee, Robert McIntosh
10. Brian Starr, Jayde Starr, Skeeter Smith
11. Jess Dennis, Ted Maupin, Cooper Knight
12. Roger Sukup, Evan Anderson, Matt Niesen
13. Troy Swensen, Craig Jost, Bob Stalley
14. Mark Stevens, Courtney Good, Mike Fillaus
15. Murdock Halligan, Bill Bushong, Gereth Bushong
16. Oren Lesmeister, Casey Joens
17. Tommy Dale Vines, Jess Brewer, Vinnie Elsinger

Just want to thank all the hunters again for participating in the fundraiser for Pioneer Hall! Maybe next year we can gather at Pioneer Hall for the hunt! Thanks to everyone for following the rules and keeping it honest. It sure makes it easier to find help to put the next contest on when there is not disputes on the number of coyotes killed OR how they were killed! I want to thank everyone that helped and everyone that donated to the silent auction and door prizes!

Went out to practice our coyote calling for Dupree Dog Days, We had to call in pretty close cover because of the wind, got a couple seen 4, the experts are right you can’t call coyotes in the wind, if you don’t try. Chief shot them both, one across the ice on the Cheyenne, nobody wanted to retrieve him as we were not sure about the Ice. Chief was the lightest but he wouldn’t do it. The 2nd one busted us after we snuck into his bedding area turned the call on, he started running, and Cheif made an awsome shot, didn’t even have time to get the camera out. However we did get a video of Chief making his best Les Johnson immitation. View the Video here: Les than a Johnson

Dupree Dog Days
February 4th & 5th
Dupree Dog Days is a 1 day Predator Calling Contest,

Check in is Friday February 4th, you will Hunt all day February, 5th. You will hunt in teams; at least one team member must be present at rules meeting and Calcutta. Entry Fees are $75 per team, with a 50% payback. Optional Big Dog – Little Dog is $15 with %100 payback
There will be a cash supper starting at 5:30 on Friday Evening, Rules Meeting begins @ 7:30 with Calcutta to follow. 50% of Calcutta along with supper proceeds all benefit the Dupree Pioneer Hall.

Dupree Dog Days Video Hunt
Official Rules and Regulations
• Teams will consist of teams up to 3 people and they must hunt together at all times
• All State hunting regulations must be obeyed on Private, State or Federal Land
• All Tribal hunting regulations must be obeyed on Tribal Land
• All team must have permission to hunt from land operators
• Any game violations will result in immediate disqualification
• A licensed adult above the age of 18 must accompany any hunter under the age of 18
• All animals must be harvested on the day of contest during legal shooting hours ½ hour before sunrise and ½ hour after sunset
• Giving, Exchanging, and-or Accepting animals from hunters not on the 3 man team will result in immediate forfeiture of entry fees
• No Trapped, Snared, Frozen Coyotes will be accepted
• Any coyotes killed with a Shot-Gun will be disqualified
• NO SNOWMOBILES, NO ATVs or AIRCRAFT of any kind
• Running down animals with any motorized vehicle is prohibited
• Each team will be given 7 Mouth Tags; all animals must be tagged as soon as they are taken, & the time of the kill must be written on the tag.
• Number of Points will determine winner of Overall contest,
• Point system: 1 point per animal called and killed, 2.5 points per animal called and killed on videotape
• In case of ties on points the team with most video kills wins, if still tied we will go to total weight
• Weight will determine BIG DOG – LITTLE DOG winners, in case of a tie the dog on video will win, if still tied we will go to time of check in. Team that checked in earliest will break tie.
• Weigh in time is 7:00 Mountain Time, Saturday Night; any team that checks in Animals after this time will be disqualified.
• Judges will be on hand to handle weigh in; Judges will enforce all rules and regulations;
• All teams must be equipped with a picture phone, video camera, or digital camera.
• ALL JUDGES DECISIONS ARE FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note: These rules are to promote fair chase hunting, if it’s caught on tape there is no fair chase in question, if it is not caught on tape you will still earn points for your kill. There will be extra points awarded for videotaped coyotes.

However I will do the best job I can. Let me start back a couple of years. Those of you who know me personally know that I love basketball and my oldest son (who is now 13) is somewhat of a basketball junkie and a darn good player if I say so myself. He didn’t get it from me, I was a terrible athlete. Ok back to the story. When my son got to 3rd grade I started coaching him on some teams and stayed at it for 3 years. When he got into 6th grade we moved him to another school that had a good program with a coach, at that point I retired. This year I have a 4th grader and the town was looking for a grade school basketball coach, my wife signed us up. I was a little excited to get back into it, she told me I could coach the older kids and she would take the younger ones. I started pulling out my old stuff whistles, dry erase boards and gym shoes. I was ready, until I got the schedule!!! In my part of South Dakota the deer season starts the first Saturday of November and ends the last Sunday of November. I’m a rancher so I don’t have to hunt on weekends, but my friends have regular jobs and the weekend is their time to get out. I don’t know about you but I enjoy hunting with my friends and so it has to be on a weekend. The schedule comes out and I have Tournaments the first 2 Saturdays of deer season. I called my buddies and told them my predicament. I really wanted to go hunting but I was obligated. To be prepared for the adventure I went out about twice a week and scouted I needed to find out where the big ones were for my friends and of course for myself. There just were not that many deer around. Usually by November I’m shooting does like they are prairie dogs, because they are everywhere. Not this year, the deer were hard to find. I guess that’s why they call it Hunting and not shooting. Finally the first free weekend rolled around and Dave pulled into the ranch on Thursday night. Chief just started a new job so he was not going to make it out until Friday evening. We went at it pretty hard on Friday Morning, just looking, watching, and glassing. Hoping someone would push a buck on our land, because there was nothing grand to be found. Did see a quite a few coyotes so we had to kill one on Friday, then Chief came and we went ahead and did some walking on Saturday early with no luck, but 2 more coyotes got whacked. Later that morning, we spotted a couple of Bucks in the pickup and decided to make a play. They got down in a creek bottom that was wide open and they kept a close eye on the truck, they didn’t mind if we kept a good distance but if it moved they would relocate. We parked on a hill about 800yds away and glassed, the 2 bucks ran into another group of deer that also held 2 bucks and a few does. They were keeping a close eye on the pickup and our movements. Dave really wanted a deer so he fell out of the pickup and crawled around to a wash. He put on a stalk while we played decoy. While those bucks rutted around and kept an eye on us, Dave was walking and crawling closer by the minute. We tried to video but it was too far and to windy so you will just have to take our word for it. Chief and I are watching a couple of bucks way to the right of Dave, he was getting closer and closer, but he was headed left. There was no way for us to signal him but we were sure he was going the wrong way. After what seemed like forever he finally got out of his belly crawl and set up his shooting sticks. We could not see what he was aiming at as the other 2 bucks were off to his right still and he was aiming left. I was keeping a close eye with my binos and finally smoke came out of the barrel. He jacked in another shell and didn’t budge. My first thought was he missed. The 2 bucks to the right jumped out of the bottom but didn’t really know what happened, we were sure he wasn’t shooting at them. Then suddenly Dave leaped up, threw his hands in the air and we knew he knocked one down. The next morning we called coyotes and Dave headed back to Milbank about noon, with his West River Muley. One more coyote died that weekend on the third set of a stand Chief got to knock her out with his new Howa, We gave up on deer hunting, hadn’t seen anything worth working for, and we would rather shoot coyotes anyway. It was a fun weekend, Dave doesn’t get over often enough and I love getting 4 coyotes in a weekend. It’s true, a guy can hunt his whole life for the Trophy of a Lifetime, but the best memories come from hunting trips that don’t go as planned.

I tell you what it was hot this weekend. Courtney got to the ranch right before Dark on Thursday evening, deciding to take my 2 year old Krece and go do some scouting we ran across a big buck that I hadn’t seen before. We decided to leave him until morning as we were not going to get much Hunting done with Krece and we had some catching up to do. The next day we went out looking for him on a pond he was close to, after about 2.5 hours of waiting in 80+ degree weather all we saw were 2 antelope and no Bruser, so we decided to hike back to the truck. On the way we saw him, just out of our hunting range, we decided to get closer anyway, we were hoping he would come back to our side of the fence but when evening came he wasn’t any closer. We tried to spot him from long distances and never got him on Video. We saw plenty of Bucks and Does, I made a 527yd shot on a doe and took her to the freezer, but we kept holding out for this Buck. With limited tags this year Courtney was getting ready to go home and I knew Monday was going to be a work day (Me not being Native American and all). So we got him in range and got a kill shot on film. I know that we are not quite ready for our own Hunting show but we enjoy it. We had a great time and can’t wait for next year. Here is the Video