elk

      Archery Elk Season 2012

      by Bob Speirs September 26, 2012

      Every bull elk is different. Some are cowards. Others are loud braggarts. The best are conservative family men. My hunter and I worked them all through the middle weekend of South Dakota’s archery elk season. It has been brutal this fall on the forest. Drought has combined with the destructive forces of the pine beetles [...]

      Read the full article →

      South Dakota Archery Merriams

      by Bob Speirs April 16, 2012

      Three cold hours in a hunting blind waiting for a gobbler to walk through a shooting lane would be discouraging. To be further challenged by the limitations associated with archery tackle and then finally losing your guide to the cold would have put most hunters in retreat, but not Nate Schneider. He told Maggie, his [...]

      Read the full article →

      Surprises

      by Bob Speirs December 9, 2011

      The greatest delight of hunting season is often found not in the harvest of a known quarry, but rather in the sudden and unexpected surprises served up when seasoned hunters have convinced themselves that they have seen it all. I saw the biggest buck of the year on the last day of the season. He [...]

      Read the full article →

      Baloney Sandwiches

      by Bob Speirs October 19, 2011

      I brought my horses home from the summer pasture this morning. It is only seven crooked miles from gate to gate. I’d talked Maggie, my daughter, into riding with me when we took them out, but I didn’t have any takers for the ride back. “Dad, it is sooooo boring. There’re no cows to move [...]

      Read the full article →

      Prairie Elk Opens

      by Bob Speirs September 16, 2011

      I saw my first prairie elk during the mid eighties. I was hunting for whitetail east of Sturgis and looked down into a hidden pocket of cover. Staring back at me was a five by five bull. I was shocked. Elk back then were mythical animals that only lived in the highest, most inaccessible portions [...]

      Read the full article →

      New Record Bull

      by admin March 17, 2011

      This story comes to us from Joe Barrett – new holder of the number 3 record bull in South Dakota! I checked the SDGF&P web site as soon as I heard the  2010 HB Elk drawing had taken place.  I was a bit surprised to find I had drawn with 14 years of points, because [...]

      Read the full article →

      Josh Stadler’s 330 Elk

      by OOBuck January 26, 2011

      This story comes to us from Josh Stadler – winner of the Elk Category at Mark’s Big Buck Contest. Preparation for my elk hunt actually began 2 years prior in 2008.  My boss had drawn a tag and I was hoping we could find one of the big bulls that called the Black Hills home.  [...]

      Read the full article →

      Lightning strikes thrice

      by Bob Speirs November 5, 2010

      Lightning strikes thrice The elk herd in the United States has rebounded nicely from its historic lows. Elk can now be seen in Eastern states where they had been gone from for over a hundred years. Total numbers across the country had climbed to over a million. Despite this numeric success, Elk are still among [...]

      Read the full article →

      Big Bull Down

      by Bob Speirs October 22, 2010

      Bob Johnson deserved this bull. When you guide as long as I have, you are fortunate to meet dozens of fantastic human beings and hear their stories. Guiding hunters is a career filled with a cast of characters who might have been your best friends in High School if you had only managed to grow [...]

      Read the full article →

      Arrows and Birds are Flying

      by Bob Speirs October 18, 2010

      I would rather hunt birds with my sons in the fall than call in another bugling bull or rattle in a big whitetail. The most appealing elements of the hunt are all there for me when I see my boys congratulating each other after a great shot or ribbing each other after a poor one. [...]

      Read the full article →