I am super excited to write this one. Nebraska is my favorite state. The geography of the state is so versatile, having any type of terrain you could want. In 2020, I visited Nebraska for the first time on a mule deer trip. I loved it. It was so much fun to be able explore the area and figure out how mule deer survive. That year, it was Tyson, Jack, and myself. We hauled a camper out there and hunted for a few days. Tyson was able to kill a cool 3x3 mule deer and Jack was able to let a couple arrows fly. We had a lot of fun, and knew I would be going back.
Come the fall of 2021 and I knew we were going to go back to Nebraska. This time it was Curtis (my brother), Cole, and Tyson. The plan going into it was I was going to go with Tyson in the middle of October to film him, but I had the opportunity to go to Maine and film a moose hunt and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Tyson killed a good 4x4 on that trip. Figures, being there was no camera.We had pushed our trip back a couple weeks. We loaded up and headed out early in the morning. Our first hurdle happened about two hours into the trip. Randomly, the trailer came off the hitch, sparks went flying, I hit the brakes and the trailer slammed into the back of the truck and actually got up underneath the bumper. We had to jack up the rear end of the truck and pull the trailer out from underneith and we were back on our way. The drive takes all day, and even longer while pulling a trailer. We get to our motel and unpack, excited for the hunt. We went out that evening to scout in an area we knew there would be deer from prior experience. We found them, but unfortunately couldn’t get permission. We had a solid plan in mind for the next few days.
While deciding on meals, we knew it would be cold and we knew we didn’t want to spend too much money on fast food. We brought some leftovers and would heat them up in the motel. Was it good? it was fine, but it was fun. Eating in a motel makes you feel a little more “wild” than fast food. The first morning was cold and windy, but we got into deer fast. There was weather moving in, and we knew we wouldn’t have long that day to be in the field. Once the weather moved in we had to get off the dirt roads. Dirt roads in the west turn into mud very quickly, and that can get you in trouble quickly. We were able to drive around and do some scouting. Finding some deer, but nothing we were able to hunt. The next day it was wet, the roads were still muddy and we took the truck down roads that I wasn’t sure we would make it through. Mud got everywhere. We didn’t make it out of the truck very often that day, and when we did, we didn’t have much action. I often think back in these trips and wish I would have hunted harder, and this is one of those trips. On day two, Cole decided to get a doe tag and I gave Tyson a camera and they went out to chase some does while Curtis and I went to a different area to continue the chase for a mule deer buck. None of this footage made the film, not much happened on the dome hunts. The final day, we got into some deer towards the end of the day. We found a group of deer and there were a few bucks in the group. Curtis and I were in a pretty good position to make a move. While moving, Curtis bumped a coyote, which made the coyote run in the direction of the deer. The deer move off a bit, not terrified, just bumped. It got too dark before we were going to be able to close in on the deer.
This trip will always be one that I remember. We had so much fun and I didn’t want to head back home, but we had too. As I write this, I have plans to be in Nebraska a few times this year. I can’t wait to back out there and chase deer. I’ll be sure to keep updates on the YouTube page!
