sodakadventure.com Blog

It’s still a little warm to be getting after them heavy here in SoDak, as I write this its already 49 degrees and sunny but when I woke up this morning it was a Clear 23 degrees with just a slight breeze out of the North East. I took a chance and went out for a couple quick stands. Played my FoxPro, sound “CoyoteFox” at about the 6min mark I heard barking way off in the distance. About 2min later I heard it much closer then across the way on a side hill there was a patch of white. This coyote was a large male, he was really ticked off, the hair on his back is still standing up, probably forever. I slowly turned on the camera aimed it at the sky and slowly pulled up the gun. I would have tried to get him in closer but I thought if I let him go any further he would wind me. Not much of a tape but at least you can hear the sound and see the action. One of my favorite things in the world to do. Still can’t get over how much fun it is.

1107_NPHAYote

Enjoy the video!!!!

The New Year’s Contest was such a hit last year to benefit Aaron Terveen, we thought we would keep the tradition alive. Over the next few days we will be getting information out about a huge event over the Holiday Season that will benefit the DHS Rodeo Club. The dates are set for December 28th & 29th. Along with the Video Varmint Calling Contest or 2012 Dupree Dog Days, there will also be a Silent Auction both nights as well as a Branding Crew Slave Auction on Saturday. Get your help lined up early this year and plan to attend. The Contest Link will be updated to the right of your screen shortly and information will also be available on FACEBOOK. Check back often to see the wonderful items donated for the Silent Auction as well as the Outside Sponsors.

Well New Year’s Eve will never be the same. Many people have been reading about the Terveen Benefit Hunt that was being planned for New Year’s Eve, and let me tell you, the people of the Dupree Community as well as the Weather, blew me away. It all started on Friday night the 30th with a $5 supper and the beginning of the Silent Auction, people kept coming, and they all had stuff for the Silent Auction. I would guess over 200 people in all showed up the first night.

The hunters checked in and there were 15 teams with 3 hunters on each team. This was a video hunt and the plan was for the hunters to hunt all day Saturday and bring in their videos for people to view on Saturday Night, then we would award the hunters as well as the winners of the Silent Auction items.

Results for the hunt went like this: Scroll Down \/

1st Place: Cody Eaton, Austin & Amanda Stambach, they were overall winners, had the Big Dog at just over 38 pounds, the 2nd Place Little Dog at just over 21 pounds. They took home $600 for their efforts.

2nd Place: Rocky Longbrake, Tony & Terry Russell, 2nd Place overall, 2nd Big Dog just over 31 pounds Total winnings $320

3rd Place: Courtney Good, Murdock Halligan and Mike Fillaus took 3rd place overall and $180

Little Dog: Jayde Starr, Shane Farlee & Cody Rahder won Little Dog with a coyote weighing 15 pounds $100

Clay Farlee stated that over $9500 was brought in by the silent auction and the two nights of suppers. The Coyote Hunt brought in $750 for the cause, many of the hunters gave all or some of their winnings back for a total of $1050. Putting the total proceeds by this event over $10,500. An amazing amount for a community this small.

Thank you to all that helped to make it a success, what an amazing world we live in.

Oh yeah here is my team’s video: TerveenBenefitHunt_GHF_Rough

Aaron Terveen was injured in a car accident last month and his Wife Mandi (Farlee) Terveen, and two sons need our help. For more info on the accident (Click Here).

Aaron is an avid coyote hunter and since he has local ties we thought what better way to help his family than with a coyote hunt. We are going to have our 2nd Video hunt of the year on December 31st. If possible we would like to collect all the videos on a computer so I can make a hunt video for him to watch while he goes through his rehab. Many of the details are still being ironed out as this is short notice.

If you can help in anyway please let us know on the event page we set up on facebook.

If you are not a hunter and would like to help out we will take silent auction items as well as prizes for the hunters.
The events will kick off on Friday December 30th @ 5:30 with a $5 meal provided by the Farlee Family, followed by a rules meeting at 7:00. The Hunters will hunt all day on Saturday and videos will be aired and another free will meal will be served starting @ 5:30 on Saturday Night.

Entry fees for the contest will be $130 per team, teams may have up to 3 people.
For complete rules (Click Here)

Thanks for taking the time to read this and keep praying for Aaron, Mandi and the boys.

OK it’s happened twice now, no picture for a reason. Those of you who read this know that we had a benefit coyote contest about a week ago. If you follow us on Facebook, you have seen some of the videos that were taken in this contest. I have a FoxPro Prairie Blaster, this is the first year that I’ve used it, as I got it late last spring. We used it exstensively for this contest, and if you watched our video we had pretty good luck. On one stand, we had it running and had 2 coyotes interested, all of the sudden it wouldn’t play sounds, of course we had it about 40 yards away from us and we couldn’t get up to work on it because the coyotes were looking for us. Frustrated, I pulled my OLD FAITHFUL “Dan Thompson Wheems” to my lips and blew a short series, the coyotes perked up and headed for us about 800 yds out. There were 2 of them and one was holding back while one was really wanting to come. The dumb one kept stopping to coax in the smart one. Finally at about 330yds the dumb one (who wasn’t so dumb) realized the decoy on the Prairie Blaster was in a different spot than where the sound was coming from. He held up for what seemed like forever and I finally took the shot at that distance missing just barely over his back, the shot was caught on film so people can hack on me for months to come. The electric call worked the rest of the day and we ended up getting 2 kills on video and seeing about 7 dogs in all.

This brings me to yesterday, I’ve got a deer tag and I’m entered in a big buck contest, I have to go to Amarillo next weekend so this is really my last weekend to hunt. There is a snowstorm that is starting to rage as I write this, so I wanted to take advantage of Friday. After being on a few knobs and glassing, I wasn’t seeing much deer movement, so I decided to call a coyote, go figure. I set up the Prairie Blaster and found a spot a few feet away. I had left the shotgun in the pickup as the Prairie Blaster is quite heavy, it and a rifle are about all one can handle, in South Dakota, you need a rifle for the wide open spaces. After I get set up, the dang call wouldn’t work, I could run the Decoy but it wouldn’t make sounds. I layed in the grass and fiddled with it for at least 20min. Finally giving up I sat down and decided to blow on my “Les Johnson Ruffy Dog” 2nd short series I had a dog at 80 yds, he appeared right behind a hawk that came to check me out. This dog came a running and I had no decoy to grab his attention. I got him in my scope at about 60yds, he was coming down a hill straight at me, I woofed, he wouldn’t stop. I woofed again and he stopped but just as I squeezed one off he started loaping towards me again, needless to say my bullet hit the ground right behind his rump. He swiched directions and was gone, I only got one other shot at him as he was going over a close hill.

In both these recent cases I was saved by my mouth call, the only problem seems to be with my shooting. As hunters we always want the newest and best equipment. The Decoy on top of the Prairie Blaster in my short trials, is a great way to set up coyotes, they focus on the decoy and the decoy is where the sound is, giving time for you to relax and take aim without being spotted. With mouth calls you are the sound system the prey is looking for you have to keep your movements down, and I find that I don’t relax and I try to shoot without moving, therefore not being as steady. I feel you should be prepared to hunt with both especially in cold temps when electronics and batteries seem to want to quit working. Practice with your mouth calls as often as you can, and always carry a few when you are out in the field. I’ve proved over the last week that they still work, no matter how much technology you have.

As for my Prairie Blaster, after last weekend I’m sold on it’s effectiveness, we called large wide open spaces, and called in coyotes from a long ways off. I called FoxPro yesterday morning and they think the memory card came loose, it has a 5 year warranty and they asked me to send it back. They said they would work on it and make it as good as new, I’m going to have to wait for it for about 2 weeks, and with the first snow on the ground I’m not staying out of the field. Good Thing I got my friends Les Johnson and Dan Thompson to back me up. Time to practice with the mouth calls.