Fall hunting is here!
We have spent the last few weeks preparing for all seasons but instead of hitting the duck sloughs this fall we loaded up our back packs and headed for the hills. Part of WD’s female pro-staff members Jodi and sister Laci both drew the coveted Elk tags for western South Dakota along with fellow staff member and one of my best friends Joel. So we spent most of the early season locating the big red deer. Opening morning we headed off to a burn area just shy of a 4 mile hike outside of Custer and we came across three bulls. Caught off guard they spotted us before we spotted them, with a little bit of bull fever her first round was a clean miss. After a quick adjustment she planted a Corbon 140 grain 7 mag round just behind the shoulder of her royal bull. Even though it was a solid hit the bull proceeded to move out of range. She jacked another shell in squeezed the trigger this time shooting high over the animal. Now the bull was breaking 300 yards, after a deap breath she composed herself connecting 2 more times, taking the pump station out. Even though the 2nd connected and was going to be fatal, second guessing is human nature. Being a true WD pro-staff member she followed our code making sure the wounded animal was down for the count holding true to her ethics of a clean fast kill.
Since were out in the field more than the average we’ve put together our own set of rules, next to safety this I feel is one of our most important. Although this may sound excessive we as a Wild Dakota team will not stop until the animal has been put to rest. I’m sure every one of us has been in a situation where a wound animal has gotten away. We know what that feeling is like, it’s heart breaking! So if the opportunity is there we take it!
All three bull hunts were filmed and will be featured in upcoming episodes of Wild Dakota. For more articles and stories go to the articles and archives section to read and view!
Way to go girl! Congratulations Jodi Very Nice Bull
From the producer
Jeffrey Boer
