Nebraska 2013

October 12 - October 18, 2013

Rob, Seth, Darrin, Scott and I headed back out to NW Nebraska for a week of chasing mule deer, whitetails, and turkeys. We arrived late Saturday afternoon and headed out scouting. A lot of the burn areas from last year have started to rebound, which meant more areas to hunt for us this year.

Seth and I had a close encounter the first morning out with two shooter mule deer in the canyons, but high winds and their ability to scale canyon walls that we have to walk around saved them this time around. We ended up seeing 20-25 mule deer that morning in the canyons, compared to zero last year the entire week. We hunted some private ground that evening, but nobody killed.

Monday was a virtual washout with heavy rains overnight and all morning and afternoon, so we took in some local sight seeing and museum tours. That evening we headed back to the private ground and sat through several hours of rain, sleet, and wind...no deer were killed.

Tuesday morning found Seth and I back in the canyons chasing mule deer. We had several deer work through, but no shooters this time around. That evening we all hit up private ground again. Seth killed a doe and nubber on Dexter's place and I was covered up with deer at the Columbia ladies; both mulies and whitetails. I had several whitetails work inside 2' of the blind before one finally angled out front and offered a good shot. My arrow entered on the last rib and exited the off shoulder. There would be no holding it for this little guy, he took a dirt nap 80yrds into his death run. I had several more close encounters that evening, but my blind should have been facing straight west, instead of north mule deer would have been shanked.

Wednesday we had high winds to deal with...so Seth and I headed back into the canyons. We had 4 bucks and several does below us in a bowl. One of them was a tank and decided to start a fight with one of the younger bucks. We had a front row seat to a 4-5 minute brawl. All the deer ended up skirting around us and working back up into the bedding areas on private ground. Seth and I headed back to the Columbia ladies that evening and readjusted the blind based on the previous evenings travel routes. Unfortunately the farmer who leases the hay field decided it was a good night to stack round bales on the south end of the field. He finished about 10 minutes before legal shooting light ended and deer started to pour out, they were just too far away.

Thursday we encountered high winds, rain, and eventually rain. We tried spot & stalking a nasty draw, but the high winds and snow made it virtually impossible to see. That evening we all hunted private ground again. I had 18 whitetails feed into my field, but they stayed about 70yrds out until shooting time was up. On the way to pick up Seth that night I saw eyes in the ditch as a rounded a corner. To my surprise it was a herd of 16 elk with a huge 7x7 bull leading the way. It was a cool way to close out our trip. We still had a great week despite the weather and I look forward to going back in the future.