In Pursuit of Whitetails and Muleys.
A brightening halo in the eastern sky portended the sun- rise. Lungs heaving, I had just crested a bony ridge in an amalgam of coulees, contorted gouges in a flowing landscape dotted with dark junipers. Our position was beneath an obelisk of slowly eroding sandstone and flaky, bone colored soil. Joe, my hunting companion, attached a spotting scope to a tripod. Leon and Tommy, our guides, turned their binoculars toward the rising sun in search of deer.
In the heart of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, I had known my native guides for less than two hours, but it had already been a heart-warming experience. Their arrival at the Lakota Prairie Ranch Resort, a non-descript but decently clean motel burdened by a moniker too opulent for its dwellings, occurred at what seemed the middle of the night. A spare tire had been sitting in the rear seat of Leon’s work truck, my perch for the day. Joe jogged into his room for a towel to throw over the tire’s greasy outline on the vinyl. A young, wiry Lakota lad slumped in the seat opposite me, a hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head, an apparently empty but impotent energy drink cradled in his listless fingers. There are no “good mornings” or introductions, save a “How’s it going?” from Joe. Leon popped the pickup into reverse. We backed across the gravel parking lot then headed down the highway.
A half-hour into the drive I was reflecting on Native America, on Indian reservations where visiting Anglos with cultural blinders can be put-off by a seeming lack of social decorum, but where humor and hospitality are seldom in short supply. For over a decade, I’ve interacted with Tommy and Leon’s counterparts on the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations in Montana as a photographer. While waiting for an opportune moment to break the slightly uneasy silence, Leon beat me to the punch.
Esta historia es de la edición November - December 2016 de Successful Hunter.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November - December 2016 de Successful Hunter.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Black Bear On Sheep Mountain
Into a Dark Canyon
TELEGRAPH CREEK
The all-American pump gun (in this case, a 16-gauge Winchester Model 12) is one of the most versatile hunting arms ever made.
Boys & Muleys
Early Season Muzzleloader Fun
GOING PUBLIC
Bowhunter’s First Deer is a Dandy
Redemption at Windy Ridge
Stalking Sheep and Grizzly Bears
FIND YOUR BULL
Hunting Elk in Unfamiliar Territory
Cornhusker Mule Deer
Late Season Buck with a Muzzleloader
Archery Adventures
Dedication Leads to Wide Success
White Lake Blues
According to the map, there is an actual lake near the town of White Lake, South Dakota.
Too Many Elk
Second Opportunity Bull