Trayball20
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
- Messages
- 81
My brother, nephew, son and I made our way to Nebraska for what now has come an annual hunting trip. We arrived at my grandma's house late Friday night after the 7 hour drive east made a quick plan for opening morning and went to bed.
Saturday Morning
Our plan was to hunt a farm that we have had great success in the past and hopes were high as the sun began to rise. The neighbor, most years, sits on the corner of our property and his waiting for deer to cross. Which is great for us, because he walks with wind at his back and usually pushes deer from his place onto ours before the sun comes up which is exactly what happened Saturday morning. We look up and here comes a great whitetail across a winter wheat field. We make a quick half circle to get to where we can shoot from and the buck stops in a small tree patch. My nephew makes a great 275 shot and we have our first buck of the trip just an hour into season. We head back to town to get him checked in and taken care of.
Saturday Evening
We head to a new farm for the evening hunt that has two great draws that both hold deer usually. Our plan was to sit on the north draw until almost dark giving us about 45 minutes to walk and hunt the south draw with the wind out of the south it seemed to be a great plan. After sitting and only seeing a coyote it was getting dark and it was time to head to the next draw. My brother would drive to another farm and scout for the next day as we would have a north wind and my nephew, Collyer, and I would hunt the other draw. On our way my nephew looks to our left and there is a doe and buck just 10 yards on the other side of the fence. They started running and I knew they were going to the south draw, so we made our way around to look into the draw. Right away I see two does that are 300 yards away, so we get set up watching them hoping the buck shows himself. After about 3 or 4 minutes I look to my right and there is the buck's antlers sticking up above a brush pile. I get Collyer set up on him and right away he takes off with the another doe. He never stops and runs out of the draw and makes a half circle and goes into the north draw, but there isn't enough time to hunt in in the other draw tonight. I was upset with myself for not seeing the buck quicker. On the way back to the truck I get a call from my brother he just saw a truck shoot a spike buck then drove into the field and picked up the deer. He was able to get there and call the game warden before they left the field. Long story short the warden took the deer and the hunter was ticketed for shooting from the road.
Collyer laughing at my nephew taking a nap waiting for deer to come.
Sunday Morning
Our plan changed with the poachers driving into the field and all the commotion we thought there wouldn't be any deer out that next morning and with the wind coming from the north the farm, we hunted the night before was out. That left the farm my nephew killed his buck on. As we are driving up to the farm a 165" mule runs out and stands there for a few seconds, but it is 5 minutes before shooting light. So we watch him cross the road into another farm and walk away. We hunt our farm and don't see any other deer.
Walking back to the truck after our morning hunt.
Instead of heading back to the house we decide to go check a farm that had a fire come through last year we wanted to see how it looked this year. As we pull up we see that the trees have burned, however the brush and grasses looked great. So, we decide to go hunt a draw on the back side of the property. Since it is 10:00 we decide that my brother and nephew will walk the draw and try to push deer to Collyer and I. We get set up and right away a small buck comes out. We didn't have time to get a shoot before he ducks back into the draw. About 2 or 3 minutes later my brother comes into the field waving us over. Collyer and I quickly make our way over my brother tells me he almost stepped on a big deer, but the deer never got up. We make our way over and sure enough there is a good buck laying in the thick weed patch all you can see is his white antlers. We get Collyer set up and begin the wait for him to stand up. After about 10 minutes it looks like he is getting up, but he does something I have never seen a deer do. Without standing the deer army crawls downhill and deeper into the weed patch. He never stood up and now all we can see is the very top of his antlers every once in a while when the wind blow just right to part some of weeds. At 11:30 my brother says that he and my nephew are going to walk back to the truck and get our packs so we have some food and water, because this is looking like it is going to be an all day sit waiting on this buck. He gets back and all of us have some water and eat some snacks. There isn't much room where Collyer is set up so my brother goes back a few yards and is watching the bedded buck by a couple burned trees. It has been almost 2 1/2 hours since we set up on the buck. When all of sudden my brother says he is up and is on the opposite side of the small draw. Collyer and I must have taken our eye off the buck at the same time. My brother tells us later that the buck stood up, stretched, and walked over the bank in the matter of seconds. Collyer turns and is able to shoot the buck at 254 yards he was angling away some, so the bullet went in about mid body and came out the opposite shoulder, man the kid can shoot. The buck turns one circle and falls over. It took us about 10 minutes to mat down the weeds and grass so we could take pictures.
Proud dad with Collyer
Packing his first head and cape.
Helping him up the hill so he didn't fall over backwards.
We had great luck this year with both boys taking whitetail in the 140s. Can't wait until next year!
Had to include this picture of Collyer trying to keep the sun out of his eyes while he was trying to watch a movie.
Saturday Morning
Our plan was to hunt a farm that we have had great success in the past and hopes were high as the sun began to rise. The neighbor, most years, sits on the corner of our property and his waiting for deer to cross. Which is great for us, because he walks with wind at his back and usually pushes deer from his place onto ours before the sun comes up which is exactly what happened Saturday morning. We look up and here comes a great whitetail across a winter wheat field. We make a quick half circle to get to where we can shoot from and the buck stops in a small tree patch. My nephew makes a great 275 shot and we have our first buck of the trip just an hour into season. We head back to town to get him checked in and taken care of.
Saturday Evening
We head to a new farm for the evening hunt that has two great draws that both hold deer usually. Our plan was to sit on the north draw until almost dark giving us about 45 minutes to walk and hunt the south draw with the wind out of the south it seemed to be a great plan. After sitting and only seeing a coyote it was getting dark and it was time to head to the next draw. My brother would drive to another farm and scout for the next day as we would have a north wind and my nephew, Collyer, and I would hunt the other draw. On our way my nephew looks to our left and there is a doe and buck just 10 yards on the other side of the fence. They started running and I knew they were going to the south draw, so we made our way around to look into the draw. Right away I see two does that are 300 yards away, so we get set up watching them hoping the buck shows himself. After about 3 or 4 minutes I look to my right and there is the buck's antlers sticking up above a brush pile. I get Collyer set up on him and right away he takes off with the another doe. He never stops and runs out of the draw and makes a half circle and goes into the north draw, but there isn't enough time to hunt in in the other draw tonight. I was upset with myself for not seeing the buck quicker. On the way back to the truck I get a call from my brother he just saw a truck shoot a spike buck then drove into the field and picked up the deer. He was able to get there and call the game warden before they left the field. Long story short the warden took the deer and the hunter was ticketed for shooting from the road.
Collyer laughing at my nephew taking a nap waiting for deer to come.
Sunday Morning
Our plan changed with the poachers driving into the field and all the commotion we thought there wouldn't be any deer out that next morning and with the wind coming from the north the farm, we hunted the night before was out. That left the farm my nephew killed his buck on. As we are driving up to the farm a 165" mule runs out and stands there for a few seconds, but it is 5 minutes before shooting light. So we watch him cross the road into another farm and walk away. We hunt our farm and don't see any other deer.
Walking back to the truck after our morning hunt.
Instead of heading back to the house we decide to go check a farm that had a fire come through last year we wanted to see how it looked this year. As we pull up we see that the trees have burned, however the brush and grasses looked great. So, we decide to go hunt a draw on the back side of the property. Since it is 10:00 we decide that my brother and nephew will walk the draw and try to push deer to Collyer and I. We get set up and right away a small buck comes out. We didn't have time to get a shoot before he ducks back into the draw. About 2 or 3 minutes later my brother comes into the field waving us over. Collyer and I quickly make our way over my brother tells me he almost stepped on a big deer, but the deer never got up. We make our way over and sure enough there is a good buck laying in the thick weed patch all you can see is his white antlers. We get Collyer set up and begin the wait for him to stand up. After about 10 minutes it looks like he is getting up, but he does something I have never seen a deer do. Without standing the deer army crawls downhill and deeper into the weed patch. He never stood up and now all we can see is the very top of his antlers every once in a while when the wind blow just right to part some of weeds. At 11:30 my brother says that he and my nephew are going to walk back to the truck and get our packs so we have some food and water, because this is looking like it is going to be an all day sit waiting on this buck. He gets back and all of us have some water and eat some snacks. There isn't much room where Collyer is set up so my brother goes back a few yards and is watching the bedded buck by a couple burned trees. It has been almost 2 1/2 hours since we set up on the buck. When all of sudden my brother says he is up and is on the opposite side of the small draw. Collyer and I must have taken our eye off the buck at the same time. My brother tells us later that the buck stood up, stretched, and walked over the bank in the matter of seconds. Collyer turns and is able to shoot the buck at 254 yards he was angling away some, so the bullet went in about mid body and came out the opposite shoulder, man the kid can shoot. The buck turns one circle and falls over. It took us about 10 minutes to mat down the weeds and grass so we could take pictures.
Proud dad with Collyer
Packing his first head and cape.
Helping him up the hill so he didn't fall over backwards.
We had great luck this year with both boys taking whitetail in the 140s. Can't wait until next year!
Had to include this picture of Collyer trying to keep the sun out of his eyes while he was trying to watch a movie.
