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Nebraska Mule Deer

themedic

Junior Member
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OHIO
Day 4. Started the day off in the dry pond where I jumped a nice buck on day 2. I walked the same "path" I walked before and again a nice buck was bedded in the cane grass. Damn near the same spot...this time I saw the buck first. I knelt down and glassed him...he had no idea I was there.....I guessed the yardage (first time in my bowhunting career I wished I had a range finder) and drew back, aimed and squeezed off a shot. My arrow sailed and landed just under his bedded feet. At the sound of my arrow hitting the ground.....that buck came unglued and was out his bed in no time. Thats when I realized how big this buck was. This buck was everything you want in a mule deer. Big tall tines, deep forks, wide and BIG. He ran across the dry pond just like the buck did on day 2. This time however, my buddy Zach was waiting........Zach smoked him at 30 yards as the buck stopped and looked back at me. We spent the rest of the day getting this buck out of the area, butchered and celebrating. I'm guessing this buck will tip the 170 mark. Zachs birthday is tomorrow.

We got one day left and a tag still in my pocket. High hopes for the last day....cooler temps forecasted and you bet your ass I'm going to hunt hard.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
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Awesome posts man. Love reading the stories. Good luck today and knock a big one down.
 

Curran

Senior Member
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Central Ohio
Now that's how you celebrate a Birthday!! You know, I also have to say that was very thoughtful of you to jump that buck out of his bed with a well placed low shot in order to send him right past your buddy Zach. I'd say he owes ya one!
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Dang. I am with Curran. Your buddy should be thanking you all the way home. Darn shame you couldn't seal the deal on this trip. Have a safe trip home.
 

teej89

Senior Member
2,288
48
NE PA
Nice buck! And great team work catching him at his escape route. Are you on public land out there? If you don't mind me asking.
 

themedic

Junior Member
755
0
OHIO
For simplicity I just took this straight from my blog......
Introduction


I would like to start this blog by apologizing for not doing live day-by-day updates like I had hoped while in Nebraska. The cabin where I stayed had Internet but it was dial-up and it was very slow causing me much aggravation. It did not help matters that my Verizon phone had no service almost the entire trip. I was able however to do some updates on several of the forums I frequent and the Trophypursuit.com Facebook page. I hope some of you were able to follow along via those sites.

I’ll sum up the entire trip by saying the sting of a miss hurts but Nebraska 2013 was a huge success and I hope to return next year! Yeah, more on that later.



Here We Go

The hunt started with a 22-hour drive from central Ohio. We arrived at our destination, a few miles north of Crawford, Nebraska around 4 am opening morning. The last couple hours before legal shooting light were spent taking a quick scent free shower at a primitive campsite and grabbing a couple hours of sleep in the truck. You would have thought after a long drive and limited sleep we would have taken it easy on day 1 but we were so eager and excited to hunt, we got right to it!


Opening morning was cool with a wet, misty rain. Not conditions I was expecting for the desert like region of Nebraska. We started in the pre-dawn light trying to hike to a high point in the pine forest, but not being able to see and not having been to this area for two years, I was unable to find the way and soon backed out in fear of bumping deer and doing more harm then good. After returning to the truck, Zach and I went for a quick ride in the truck to gain our bearings and see how many other hunters were in the area. On that quick drive we saw a bachelor group of four big muley bucks. They did not like the big diesel pickup truck rolling through their staging area and soon bounded away in the near bye canyon.


The rest of day one and most of the days after that sighting were spent searching for those four big muleys. If I had to guess, on average, we walked 10 “drunk” miles everyday. Through canyons, sand hills and prairie flats. If I have learned anything from hunting mule deer in the last three years, it is that good boots are a must. Many guys will tell you the key to harvesting mule deer are good binoculars and they are important, but I think walking will help you find more deer that glassing.
The other key aspect to finding mule deer is knowing what mule deer terrain looks like. This means being able to identify preferred bedding areas, food sources and finding water. Using lots of boot leather and knowing theses key elements helped us find several shooter mule deer in only five days of hunting.




The Big Miss

On day two of our hunt, we walked a unit I had never hunted. This unit was primarily a prairie flat with a small creek. The winding creek created the occasional sand hill erosion bank where mule deer like to bed. In one spot however, there was a dried pond full of cattails (not your typical mule deer bedding area). On one end of the pond their was a high wall and on he other, a pond damn. I walked the high wall and jumped a nice mule deer buck in the cattails and watched him run across the dry pond and over the damn. Thus on day four, we returned to that unit and attempted the same stalk. This time however, Zach was to guard the escape route.
As I neared the area where I had jumped a buck on day two, I spotted a doe and mule deer fawn feeding on a willow tree. They soon spotted my silhouette on the high wall and bounced out of the pond towards Zach. Zach watched the mule deer does exit the area and moved into a better position. I then stalked farther up the high wall and spotted a nice buck bedded in the cattails. Not having a range finder, I guessed the yardage, drew my bow, settled the pin and let the arrow fly. I still have no idea how I missed that buck. I watched the big buck in my binoculars bounce away and stop on the pond damn. I was praying Zach was in position! Upon reaching the pond damn the big buck looked back to see what had spooked him from his bed. That’s when Zach smoked his first mule deer at 30 yards!




The moments after watching Zach’s arrow zip though that big muley buck was very bittersweet. Here I had just missed what would have been my biggest buck ever but Zach smoked him. I was happy for him but very disappointed at the same time. The sting of a miss hurts and It will take a awhile for the feeling to go away. But walking away from Nebraska with a 50% success rate and killing a 180 inch mule deer on public land, on a do it yourself hunt is a pretty amazing feat if you ask me. Congrats Zach and thanks for starting off my season with a lot of fun and some success. The year of “Deep Forks” has started!

In Closing


I don’t want anyone to walk away from this blog thinking that Nebraska is the premier destination for mule deer. It’s almost the exact opposite. The mule deer in this region are pretty scarce and only thrive in a few public land locations. Matter of fact, mule deer does are off limits to help increase the population. Zach and I walked several miles a day just to see 5-10 deer. Of these few deer, only a couple were bucks. But the opportunity does exist and at a very reasonable cost. If you have never done a hunt like this, I highly recommend it. I hope to return next year or possibly hunt a more established mule deer area. All though we did not get the harvest shot on video, Zach and I compiled some neat footage from our hunt and hope compile a montage of video footage to share with you later this week. Stay tuned!






Thanks for reading
-Corey
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
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Ohio
Great summary of your hunt. Scenery looks amazing. Not what I envision in Nebraska. I envision mostly corn. Congrats again to your buddy Zach on his success. You deserve congrats as well. His success is also your success given the tag team effort.
 

teej89

Senior Member
2,288
48
NE PA
Man sounds like an awesome time! I have a a CO archery elk hunt(that actually just came up a couple days ago) in mid september and a SD archery muley hunt next fall in mid october I can't wait! Haning in trees chasing whitetails is great and all but the spot and stalk hunting out west... addicting lol
 

themedic

Junior Member
755
0
OHIO
Man sounds like an awesome time! I have a a CO archery elk hunt(that actually just came up a couple days ago) in mid september and a SD archery muley hunt next fall in mid october I can't wait! Haning in trees chasing whitetails is great and all but the spot and stalk hunting out west... addicting lol

Where ya going in South Dakota? I shot one near Hot Springs last year
 

teej89

Senior Member
2,288
48
NE PA
Where ya going in South Dakota? I shot one near Hot Springs last year

Just north of hot springs, we'll be 100 miles north on Chadron NE. That's the extent of the location that I know. My old man is spearheading the trip, my role is the driving lol
 
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