November is one of my all time favorite months. The seasons are changing, the weather is getting cooler, the leaves get their amazing color and whitetail hunting is upon us. Every year since I was 14 I have had the opportunity to whitetail hunt one of my favorite ranches in Nebraska and November 2017 was no different.
Maggi and I once again loading up our gear and started the journey from California to Nebraska. We decided that we would make a stop in beautiful Moab Utah to check out Arch’s National Park. Arch’s had been on my list of places to see since I was a younger. I have family that had been there and told me stories about how amazing the place truly was. So 14 hours of driving later and we were there.
I never knew that I was a fan of rocks. But come to find out while we were in Arch’s we both were fans of rocks. The way the Arch’s are formed and the rock cliff sides were incredible! We only had a few hours until we needed to be back on the road but boy did we enjoy it! My personal favorite was the double arch. Pictures do not do it justice. From a distance it is cool looking but once you are standing in the middle of the arches you realize just how amazing they are. It is one of those moments where you realize just how small you are and how great your surrounding are.
After spending four hours which was not enough in the National Park it was time to continue the journey to the ranch. Getting to Uncle Brian’s is always exciting. I love getting to see everyone, the wildlife and just the amazingness that the ranch has to offer. First thing we did was set up the blind and I checked on the tree stand where I hunt. We were lucky enough to get to see multiple deer herds and just got excited for opening day. This year I came with a goal in Nebraska. I wanted to harvest a mature older but that would have a decent score.
Opening day was upon us and the tree stand was a bit chilly at a morning temp of 20 degrees but once the light started to shine the trees came to life. I think that is my favorite part about hunting out of a tree stand. You get to experience oh so much. I was blessed to watch yearlings play and run around. Does and bucks eating, moving and even chasing each other. There is nothing better than being able to witness these moments.
The first couple of days went by and I passed up a lot of bucks. A few that were definitely mature enough to harvest but weren’t exactly what I was looking for. On day 3 I decided to go sit up on the parked harvester after being in the tree stand for 4 hours. As soon as I was up on top of the harvester four deer ran out of the CRP and into the alfalfa field that bordered the other CRP field. Out of the four deer two were bucks and the one buck was exactly what I was looking for. My heart began to pound as I came up with my plan on how to make the move to get closer. At this point they were 1200 yards away and I knew I didn’t want to miss out on that buck. I climbed off the harvest and began the walk/crawl to get closer. I got to the end of the CRP which lead to the first alfalfa field. Now alfalfa doesn’t give you a very good covering and I kneeled down and went as quick as I could to the fence. Crawled under not one but two fences and was finally into the area where they were at. They still hadn’t noticed me but the two bucks and one of the does were now into the CRP field in front of me. My heart was beating so hard and when I ranged them I was only 400 yards away. On a normal day where my heart isn’t going a million miles an hour I would have taken that clean shot. But that day I couldn’t. I told myself to ease up and get closer. After some more crawling and walking in the grass I was 200 yards out and couldn’t talk myself into the shot. The one buck had bedded down and the buck I was after was standing broad side to me looking at the doe. A couple of seconds later he walked about 10 feet and I completely lost him I was starting to freak out a little. Next thing I know I hear a truck which ended up being my brother-in-law and niece. My brother took the shot on the other buck that had stood up and the buck I was after came running right out me. I didn’t have time to think he was running hard and I paced him for a second pulled the trigger and made a perfect shot. So many emotions went through my body. I had just harvested a mature older buck. It was an absolutely amazing hunt. Little did I know but my brother had been watching the entire journey from up on top of the cliff and Maggi was watching from a different hill. It was just one of those perfect moments where everything came together and I couldn’t be happy and blessed.
The next day Maggi finally found a buck that we thought was mature enough to harvest. She made a great shot and we both were going home with mature bucks. Hunting in Nebraska is the best. I look forward to it every year.
Once we were both tagged out I made the decision to run to Indiana to pick up a trailer to haul home. We ended up dropping the trailer off in Utah.
I was home for a whole 3 days when I decided to check the weather in the midwest and made the journey back to Indiana to work. I repacked my bags and told my family that I would be back in a few weeks. Little did I know that those next three weeks would bring some amazing memories…
Liz's Gypsy Journey 