elk

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 →

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 →