2011, It's the challenge that makes it GREAT!

[DHaffner]

I thought I would post some pics/video/stories from this year. Since I'm traveling to the in law's for Christmas, which is hundreds of miles from anywhere I can hunt. I thought this would be a great time to start a recap, here is a preview

(Click on the picture to watch the video.)





P.S. My video camera reverts to to 2010 every time the batter goes dead. So the date/time tag is always wrong.

 

[Big luke1981]

Very nice pics and video, Congrats!!

 

[DHaffner]

Ok, sorry I got a little distracted...

Here's the video.


http://youtu.be/hums3Fu1g1M

 

[DHaffner]

My 2011 hunting season was severely impacted by fishing. A good friend and I decided to compete in a Walleye tournament series in South Dakota and we ended up getting second for team of the year.

This qualified us for the AIM Championship tournament Sept 15-17th, right in the middle of our early goose season as well as conflicting with planned Wyoming Antelope hunts. This event was like a SuperBowl for fishing with many Hall of Fame pro fisherman competing So after getting out on a couple of goose hunts we headed to Lake Oahe for a week of pre-fishing.

While pre-fishing we found ALOT of walleyes and a couple of nice ones, unfortunately there were two problems with our top areas. One was very spot specific and only 1 or 2 boats could fit on the spot. We were launching after 30 pro's with faster boats so we knew we would never make it to spot #1 before it was full. Spot number two was much bigger and had a lot more fish unfortunately it was 85 miles from the launch point, so we needed favorable weather (low wind) to get there. There were fish everywhere we tried but only the two spots were consistently producing the size and numbers that could make us competitive. When 3 weather forecasters predicted a 15-20 mph wind the run was on. We tied everything down on my boat that could possibly come loose because even a 15 mph wind can make some decent waves when it comes out of the wrong direction on Oahe, and we needed to make time to get there with enough time to fish. We removed any unnecessary weight to reduce fuel consumption and squeeze as much speed as possible out of my 620.

The first morning of the tournament was like a kick in the guts. Temps plummeted from 80's while pre-fishing to 30 at launch time. It was spitting rain and the wind was already blowing 15+, not a good sign. We had already committed and we drafted most of the way with various pro's trying to get from Akaska to Pierre. Then we hit Little Bend, where the wind was coming right down the pike and we were looking at 5-6 footers. It was rough, but we were far enough down the run that we didn't know if we could make it back without filling up with gas on the other side of the gauntlet. We took some water but ducked and weaved our way through it and made it to the promised land of Peoria! It took about an hour longer than we budgeted so we were in turbo mode. Marcus and I fished for 1 hour and produced and 18.5 pound basket as the wind continued to build. We were fishing in 3-4 footers and ran the bilge nonstop. The moment we had our limit we decided to get out of there early because it was anyone's guess how long it was going to make it back in that squall.

We stopped for gas at Spring Creek and sure enough our streak of luck continued, they were down to one functional pump and that one wasn't working very well. I thought I was going to be sick as I watched the better part of a precious hour tick away as we waiting in line for our turn. Finally after filling it was time to get home, and fast, we were running out of time. Everything went fine until we got back to Little Bend. The waves were crashing from every direction and I felt like I was in a scene from the perfect storm. The first time through we were with 2 other boats and could draft off each other. This time we were alone and the waves had built so big when my 20ft ranger would go down in the trough you could see nothing but water and sky. We started taking water and getting heavy. I don't know when the bilge went out but things were getting worse with each wave until we went down into a trough of the biggest wave I've ever seen on Oahe, and we ate it. Water went over my head and I felt like I was getting washed overboard on deadliest catch. I thought we were headed to the bottom. All I could think about was please let us get into a bay, how are we going to get to civilization before hypothermia sets in.

 

[DHaffner]

After limping in to a bay and finally finding calm water we started bailing. At the start I was standing in water that was knee deep. We wasted another 40 minutes bailing out the boat and getting the bilge pump started again. We took a deep breath and steeled our resolve to make it home. Knowing that it was probably too late to make it back and we just needed to be alive at the end of the day we limped home close to shore avoiding any of the bad areas because who knew when the bilge would quit again. When we got back to the dock it was a bittersweet moment. we were in one piece but had missed to cut off for weigh in. It doesn't matter how big your basket is if you don't get to the dock in time it counts as zero. Other casualties on the day were 2 pros knocking out their windshields (including Hall of Fame angler Gary Parsons) as well as one almost sinking his boat by punching a hole in it on the dock. With the damage to my boat and no hope after being penalized to a zero on day one we opted to head home to start repairs and gear up for my upcoming antelope hunt.

My brother and I headed to Wyoming to scout our unit and found a very nice buck to hunt, but not a lot else to get excited about.



When the Sun rose on opening day, we were in the pasture where the big one had been hanging out, but were a little worried because it had been two days since we were able to find him. Long story short he ended up getting shot in a bordering unit a couple of miles away and we shot average representative animals. It was a rough September and I was ready for some time in the tree stand.

My brother's antelope

 

[mtmiller]

Great season Haffner....thanks for sharing.

 

[DHaffner]

Great season Haffner....thanks for sharing.

Thanks, I actually put this in the Deer forum because sooner or later there will actually be some deer in the thread! I can't wait to see some more of those awesome hybrid pictures.

 

[Brandenbowhunter]

Very nice! WTG

 

[DHaffner]

Once everything settled down at home I was able to get out and sit in the tree stand for the last couple weekends of Oct. I was especially excited to hunt a ranch where we found this guy.

Unfortunately we were only able to hunt him until opening day of rifle season, and he stayed nocturnal until we had to pull our stands/cams and move on. I did have some neat experiences with flat tops and smaller bucks walking under my stand, but nothing worth putting my tag on when I knew there was a chance for Mr. Big.

There were also a few nice Bucks that I was able to chase east river, but the early harvest and me spending a lot of my limited time chasing Mr. Big west river meant that these guys pretty much had a free pass until rifle season.

The last day we were allowed to bow hunt Mr. Big we pulled our stands and pulled my boat up to the river to do a little fishing and try to find a spot and stalk opportunity. I should have known better than pulling a boat around the state when I'm supposed to be deer hunting because while getting it ready the next morning I jumped off the boat into a tire rut and badly sprained my ankle. The doctor did x-rays and said I didn't break any bones but he was confident I at least partially tore some ligaments due to the pop I heard when I landed. He handed me an air cast and told me to stay on my crutches and off my ankle for a couple of weeks. My wife laughed and said no deer hunting for you! I smiled and was in my truck headed west 2 days later.

 

[DHaffner]

I spent 2 days scouting, looking for a big mule deer that I had been hearing about. I found some nice White tails but no shooter Mulies, however I was saving my ankle for opening day so I was mostly scouting from the road. I was optimistic I would find the buck I was after and set out with high hopes opening morning of West River Rifle. A mile or two in my ankle was holding up nicely and I was able to watch a solid white tail bed down. Unfortunately he bedded in an abandoned (but public) road bed that was directly down wind of me. I didn't want to risk bumping him and I was still looking for the big Mule deer I kept hearing about so I backed out to check on a different corner of the ranch. 5 hours and too many miles later I had made a big loop to try and get a better look at the white tail with the wind in my favor. I got above him and spent about an hour slowly trying to pick him up in his bed. After covering about 90% of the road bed he had ducked into I was starting to wonder if someone had pushed him out with a truck or he simply decided to relocate when I spotted a coyote at 500 yds. I watched the coyote working an alfalfa field for lunch for awhile and decided I would try one last attempt to locate the buck before moving on to a different drainage for the evening hunt. I whistled for about a minute trying to get him to raise his head. No luck on the deer but the coyote liked what he heard and headed my way like I had rung a dinner bell. I decided there was no way the buck was still there and this would be a good time to score some brownie points with the sheep rancher who's land I was on. When the coyote stopped and sat down at 70 yds that was the end of him. Unfortunately the shot was enough to bust the bedded buck out of his hide and I got to watch a shooter white tail run over to the neighbors. :MAD I should have known better to shoot a coyote before I had my buck on the ground.

That night I watched some flat tops feed through my drainage but there was no bone to be found.

The next morning I spotted the biggest mule deer I've seen on the ranch in 2 years. He was tall with good backs and weak fronts. I thought about taking him but decided it was too early in the hunt to fill my tag on this buck, and he could really use another year or two. I spent the rest of the morning trying to find the ghost Mule Deer. At lunch I stopped at a neighbors to see how they had been doing. I saw the Whitetail I busted out the day before hanging from the meat pole.He was a heavy 150+ and I felt sick to my stomach. My ankle was really starting to bother me so I was headed back to the Ranch house to ice it before the evening hunt when they mentioned that they had more hunters coming and were planning on hunting the pasture 150 yds from the washout my Mule deer was bedded in. While Icing I decided I better not let another chance slip through my fingers so I went back to have a second look at the Mule deer before things got crowded. When I popped over the crest of the hill he was bedded within 30 feet of where I left him. I thought about all the time I'd spent away from my family the last couple of months and how my ankle was not happy with all this activity and filled my tag.

The good news was my brother missed the opening weekend because he was in South Carolina for work and so we still had my east river rifle tag to fill along with his east and west river rifle tags.

 

[DHaffner]

After a couple weeks on our east river rifle opener I finally had my hunting partner and brother with me. We set up on a property that has been good to us in the past, but unfortunately the deer were moving everywhere but there. We watched at least a dozen deer run around, with one shooter, unfortunately they were on neighboring properties. After breaking for lunch and walking some sloughs on a different property we returned to the original farm. I dropped my brother off on a traditional travel corridor that overlooks a bedding area and I headed to the other side for the property. As I parked the truck and started towards a slough that sits adjacent to the travel corridor my heart sank. The buck that I was hoping would be there must have heard me park, because he was alertly watching my direction. You don't get to be a mature whitetail without having some mighty sharp instincts,I'm confident he didn't see me but he definitely knew something was up. He started heading out, directly down the travel corridor towards my brother. He must have picked up a second buck on the way because when he ran across an opening in front of my brother he had a younger buck with him. The second buck stopped to look over his shoulder and my brother's east river tag was filled.

The next morning I played hide and seek with 2 juvenile bucks, both of them walking within 15 yards of me. They will be nice in a few years, but not what I'm looking for. I was satisfied it was time to give our east river spots a rest and head back west to fill my brother's WR buck tag.

This was the easiest hunt of my life. We arrived on the ranch with an hour left before sunset so we headed out to an alfalfa field that had some nice creek bottoms running through it. We had been sitting on a bale pile for maybe 15 minutes when out pops a doe chased hard by a young 4x4. Having just shot a 4x4 the day before my brother let this one pass. 3 minutes later out popped a larger 5x5. He passed on this buck as well. I was thinking to myself, "Self, this might be a tougher hunt than you expected. He is being unusually picky." Just then the 5x5 looked confused and doubled back to try to pick the trail back up, stopped to test the wind showing nice symmetrical tines and my brother changed his mind in a hurry. BOOM

We slept in the following morning and left in time to make it to one of our east river hunting spots for the evening hunt. As we pulled in we spotted a half dozen does feeding in a neighbor's harvested field. With all the rutting activity west river I thought we better stop and watch the does to see where they were headed. Sure enough out popped two bucks about 5 minutes apart. Unfortunately I didn't have permission to hunt the feed area but we circled out downwind on our property to cover a travel corridor to see if we could intercept a buck while he was coming or going. While we were making our way to the fence line that separated our pasture from the field they were feeding in, I thought it was over when a doe stood up and snorted at us. She must not have seen us as much as our movement because she proceeded to trot right over to see what was going on. At ten yards she busted straight in the opposite direction of all the deer feeding the the field (WHEW!). Don't ask me how this is possible but maybe 3 minutes later out comes the bigger of the two bucks from checking on the feeding does to check on the bedded doe we just busted. As he jumped the fence onto our property I was fighting with my shooting sticks to get a good anchor for a 120 yard shot. I was dumbfounded as He followed her trail until he popped his head over the hill at maybe 20 yds and the stare down was on. All I could see were his enormous main beams arcing towards the sky. He had us pinned, the only opportunity I had was a neck shot, and the neck doesn't give a lot of leeway. I thought it was over when the 13 lined ground squirrels I had been shooting this summer ran through my head. I think i was on auto pilot as the safe clicked off. Center punched him and I'm hopeful I didn't ruin the cape, my taxidermist said he doesn't think it should be a problem... With that, after the best 3 day period I've ever had I said thank you lord for the RUT and our deer hunting was over for the year.

 

[DHaffner]

Finally after all the deer hunting was over, and in between fishing in this abnormally warm year we got out to do some duck hunting, here is the video of some pretty big tornadoes of mallards...
http://youtu.be/WAqwntXNWSU

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Just a few quackers in that video, LOL!!!

 

[DHaffner]

Yeah, It was pretty amazing! Hopefully some of those geese will get pushed out of eastern Montana and North Dakota so we can get a few of them as well!