"BAD LAND BUCKS" Northeast Woods & Waters

North Dakota -- when was the last time you thought of hunting for record <a href="http://buckbooks.net/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">book bucks </a> within that state? That was the question I asked myself a couple of years ago, and was surprised at the answer I received.

While attending a sportsmen's show, I met a gentleman from North Dakota, and he clued me in on what we were missing by not hunting there. Billy Freytag, owner and operator of the Little Missouri River Bow hunting and Badlands Guide Service spent a few hours talking with me about what to expect on an average hunt while in North Dakota.

If you want duck and goose hunting then I suggest you call Billy as soon as possible. Ringnecks, grouse and sharp tails abound on Billy's leases as well as record book bucks, both <a href="http://www.deergear.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">whitetails</a> and mulies. I have never hunted mulies so they became the subject of my desire. I was not to be disappointed.

North Dakota offers a deer tag, good for either whitetail, or mulies and is bargain priced. The only drawback is that the year 2000 will find less nonresident tags available, approximately four hundred tags is all that will be sold. Do not hesitate as they will not last long.

Craig Worming ton, John Tanguy, and I booked our hunt for late October, hoping to catch the rut and increasing our chances for tagging some healthy mulie bucks.

In September Billy sent me a home video of the area we would be hunting. I couldn't believe the landscape. We would be hunting the Little Mo. river basin. This now dry river bed was once a huge river that carved a swath through the plains of ND, creating what is now called the badlands. The river bottoms are choked with sage brush and stunted cotton woods, while the top of the river bed is lined with mature cottonwoods that play away from the river and as the landscape rises, it turns into rolling hills and pockets of dense cedar. This diverse country provides perfect habitat for both species of deer, and fits well into the hunter's needs in his attempt to harvest one or the other.

Read more: <a href="http://huntattic.com/top-5-best-predator-call-reviews-money-electronic-predator-calls/">predator hunting</a> in 2016

Billy has his own special way of hunting big mule bucks, the way we easterners are used to, out of tree-stands. His theory is simple: do not interrupt a deer's daily routine and that deer will continue to travel, and feed later in the day than most. It's true and it works.

While we did see deer moving before daylight, we continued to see the same deer into the late morning. My stand became most active after 9:00 a.m. and continued until almost noon. These deer were feeding along the top of the river bed on sage and grasses. Slowly as the temperature rose they would slip into the thick river bottom to bed down for only a few hours; by early afternoon they were once again up and active. My first morning on stand produced 29 sightings, after 9:00.

The second morning was a repeat, until 10:00. The first big mule buck sauntered into the field. I was watching over from my comfortable ladder stand, a four by four. He was soon followed by a huge six by five, then a large four-by-four that was still in velvet. No doubt he suffered a severe accident during the rut.

Just when I though the parade was over, four more mature bucks entered the field. They fed, unaware that only 60 yards away, sat a predator waiting to strike. All I could do this day was to video this magnificent sight. John Tanguy had sightings of thirty to forty deer daily, all close but no open shots to the bucks -- isn't that always the way. Craig had seen few deer from his stand, so Billy opted to set him up in a ground blind. Billy dropped Craig off at one location. Before Craig took three steps toward the stand he saw a big four-by-four bedded within 20 yards of the blind. Go to plan two.

Billy new of a great crossing -- the only problem was that there were no trees to set a stand in, so we looked for a place where Craig could set on the ground. A strip of cedar trees barely ten feet wide was the only likely location. Craig checked it out and cleared a shooting lane for the next morning.

At first light Craig began to have some action, a huge buck was silhouetted against the morning sky only fifty yards away. He soon dropped from sight. As Craig sat there, he soon noticed movement from his right side, a buck was approaching. He began to ready himself for a close encounter, but what he wasn't ready for was the five or six other bucks following close behind the first.....what to do.

 The first deer passed a mere five yards in front of Craig. He waited, then the second and the third deer approached; this third deer was the one Craig made his mind up to shoot. Craig drew, the deer caught the movement and froze right behind one of the cedar tree limbs. It was a standoff. The buck decided it was time to leave in a hurry. As he began to run Craig released the string. A perfect shot resulted in a short one hundred yard dash.