As the flames of the campfire rose in the darkness, so did hunter voices:
“Bowhunting is better because you get closer,” said one.
“I like rifles since it challenges my marksmanship,” said another.
“No, muzzleloading is best because I build and create one great shot.” 
Smoke from the embers might have shifted that evening, but personal opinions did not, and each man agreed to disagree before calling it a night. As sportsmen, we are blessed with an abundance of hunting choices, options and gear, so this debate might never be settled. However, the 2013 hunting season landed me with a unique chance to savor the best of all three.
“You lucky dog, you,” exclaimed my good friend Ken Byers when I told him about my tags for the upcoming season. “You drew an archery and a muzzleloader tag, plus you can buy a rifle tag over the counter.”
As an outdoor writer, I’m very fortunate to hunt in many situations and with a wide variety of sportsmen and women. People often ask about my favorite hunt or, more often, “Do you enjoy hunting more with a rifle or bow? How about blackpowder?” I usually make some meager attempt at humor, because I very much enjoy all three. I figured by the end of the 2013 season, with three tags, I could finally answer that question with some degree of intelligence.
Gear and gadgets have become such a part of the outdoor hunting regiment that it seems crazy to go hunting without them, and the answer to this “which is best” question might be rooted in gear selection.
Beginning In A Blizzard
Last year’s early October blizzard in South Dakota is one of the great Western tragedies. Two days of blowing, near-freezing rain soaked livestock, and two feet of snow followed. Winds in excess of 60 mph pushed cattle and horses into fence corners, where many of them froze or were trampled to death. Whitetail and mule deer fared relatively well by hiding in secluded and sheltered ravines to outlast the storm.
The group I hunted with in central South Dakota challenged the raging storm and even attempted to use it to our advantage. The howling storm forced deer into the heavy cover of creek and river bottoms, where they could be vulnerable to well-organized drives. Even monster bucks would have difficulty sneaking away.
We were on the frontal fringe of the blizzard and believed we could drive out of it and make several deer drives before conditions became severe, but as luck would have it, a live power line was lying across the highway. We were forced to make a detour that nearly proved disastrous. One of our two rigs got off a main track of a gravel road and became hopelessly buried. Luckily, 200 yards up the road, a road grader was idling waiting to plow one lane of the 18 inches of snow that covered the road. The operator came to our rescue and we limped back to camp, believing that our attempt was great fodder for the next Jackass movie.
Our camp was in the bottom of a creek bottom — just the kind of cover we planned to drive — so Seth McGinn and I grabbed our muzzleloaders and headed out. Ironically, we were barely 50 yards from camp when we began to jump deer. The storm had exactly the effect on deer that we anticipated.
Stalk And Stand
I saw a decent buck bound from cover, but I couldn’t get a shot in the blowing snow. As we moved along, the snow abated, but the wind still howled. We headed for high ground on a path that would intercept the deer we had jumped, and I had no sooner gotten to the lookout than the buck I’d seen earlier came sneaking along. The deer was a modest 8-point, yet I had both muzzleloader and archery tags for this hunt and doubted I could take two monster bucks. The range was about 75 yards and the deer hadn’t a clue I was here. Using a limber sapling to steady the rifle, I squeezed off the shot just as the buck stepped behind cover. In seconds he went down in a thicket just below us. [Read more]
