South Dakota Sojourn

[Harold Pickens]

Sometimes the hardest part about a hunting trip is just making the commitment to go. I'm still kicking myself for not making the second trip back up to the UP in December. We knew that it could be iffy weather in SoDak, and a conversation with Dean Weber confirmed that. But, after perusing weather and snow depth charts, we found that the area we were going to had not been hit as hard as Dean's locale in Sioux Falls, or just south of us in Mitchell--Mitchell got another foot of snow our second day there, while we got nothing 30 miles from there. Still alot of snow in our area and heavy drifting, at times the snowplows had left snowbanks higher than the roof of my truck. we often broke thru up to our crotch in snow. No sense hunting grass lands, the grass was either under snow, or had been emergency hayed in the fall. Shelterbelts and cattail sloughs were the objects of our attention, but finding a place to even pull off the road was tough. The WPA and GPA parking areas were often plowed shut , and alot of secondary roads were impassable. I managed to get the Ford stuck the first evening trying to park in a GPA lot, luckily, I was able to flag down a big Dodge dualie, and I always carry a tow strap, so he pulled us out. We had to slog 3/4 mile back in, but the birds were there. Trouble is, they could hear you coming thru the crusty snow and literally a hundred birds got up out of range. But they are always a few tail end charlies, and I managed a big cock bird with a Sterly 16 and Boss non tox shot. Had a wonderful retrieve by Doodle. Terry manged another with his lab.
The weather was quite cold, but winds had moderated, making it fairly comfortable.
The second day found us in a big WPA, the lake was of course frozen, but the birds were in the cattails big time. I too k 2 over Doodle, and suddenly she was gone. She is not a big runner, doesnt chase deer, but only weighs 35 lbs and is always skinny as a rail. She is a great retrieving setter--maybe the best I've ever had. I had a locater beeper on her, but couldnt hear anything when I hit the button. She recalls very well to the beeper and to the silent vibration mode. I was panicked, almost in tears, walking around and calling until well after dark.I got back to the truck around 8pm--gets dark by 5. I left her crate and food. There was one house in that area, and a young couple answered the door. I asked them to keep a lookout for her around their barns. I later found that they went out looking for her that night--wonderful people.
I barely slept that night, and we were headed back well before daylight. Her crate and food were untouched and it was 3 degrees. We walked back down into where I last heard/saw her and saw a set of fresh tracks paralelling my boot prints from the night before. Suddenly Terry hollored, "I see her" and ther she was at the edge of the cattails. She was afraid and ran from us but slowly seemed to recognize me. I had brought her mother Fancy with me, and turned her loose, and she went right up to her. Cold, starving, but OK, I could care less about the rest of the trip. Got her back to the truck, warmed and fed her .
Since we were there, we waited until 10:00 am--starting time in SD. Terry went on to kill 3 birds in a row, while I never got a shot all day--and couldnt care less.
The rest of the trip was good, both of us shooting birds every day, but the conditions were so tough on both man and beast, that we called it after 5 days. We drove the 1150 miles straight thru yesterday--and we will be back up next January!
( I will post pictures from my Phone)