Nebraska Whitetail Deer Hunt 2011

     Between guiding late hunts in Colorado and Arizona, I was able to sneak away to Nebraska for three days for the opening weekend of rifle season.  I went with Brody Henderson of Eagle, CO.  We rolled in late the night prior to the opener.  Having no time to scout, we studied our maps and picked out a likely looking area about a mile and a half from the nearest road.  We hiked in an hour before daylight, found good vantages, and waited.  Soon after daylight, the deer started moving, and we were seeing lots of deer.  Unfortunately, we also were seeing lots of hunters.   It was a real pumpkin patch!  Looking 360 degrees, I could see 14 hunters, some as close as 250 yards.  By 8:30 am we decided it was time for a different scene.  We knew we could find a spot with less pressure than that.
     We studied maps again at the truck and decided to try plan B and scout some good looking stuff from the road on the way over.  We arrived around noon and headed up the nearest ridge to get a look and feel for the new area.  No sooner did we top out, we spooked a nice buck and doe that were bedded at the top of a burned draw.  We reminded ourselves to slow down.  We hadn't seen another hunter yet, and the place had plenty of fresh sign.  Five more minutes of still hunting led us to peek into another burned out bowl.  I still can't say if we bumped these deer or if they were just up feeding in the middle of the day, but the bowl was holding five does and three bucks.  They caught our movement and a couple white flags went up, luckily the whole group wasn't in on it and that bought us enough time to survey the deer.
The group started to crest the rim of the bowl and I was worried that I might be denied a shot because the deer would be skylighted.  I picked the closest buck and, as I was getting my gun up, the buck did a 180 and thought he would just slip out the backside.  That brought him off the skyline.  I took a knee, aimed and fired.  The buck stood motionless, trying to disappear.  It was a clean miss.  The buck just stood there, I believe this was his survival tactic.  Unfortunately for him, it allowed me enough time to cycle the bolt, lean into the closest deadfall snag and steady my rifle.  The second shot connected and he crumpled.  Brody and I looked at each other in awe, not believing we had just waltzed into 8 deer that had not yet been pressured.  He immediately took off to try and see where the rest of the group was going.
     Once Brody cleared the rim, I took off to see what I had.  As I  neared, the buck stood on his front legs.  The shot had dropped him, but not killed him.  I put one in his neck to finish the kill.  I was packing my 300 WSM with 180gr. Accubonds that day.  Some might say that's overkill for a Whitetail, but in this case it made the difference.  At a distance of about 150 yards, my first shot was a miss, the second shot, once I steadied, was a hit but nowhere close to the vitals.  The spine shot that had dropped the buck, was closer to his rear quarter than his shoulder.  I'm guessing an easy 18" from my point of aim.  Had I been packing a lighter caliber, the hunt might not have ended that quickly.  Although not dead, the .300 WSM had anchored him.
     I'm usually not one for rushed shots.  I'd love to always lay over my pack and touch one off prone, but sometimes you just don't have the time.  This was certainly a "flash" hunt.  We were only hunting three days, opening morning had been a pumpkin convention, and we had just bumped a buck.  I was feeling the pressure to shoot.  I shoot a fair amount of rounds through my CZ American .22LR and know my offhand capabilities.  150 yards off the knee is certainly stretching it for me.  In retrospect, I should have shown the animal a little more respect and found a better rest for that distance.  Maybe I should have crept along a little slower so as not to be detected in the first place.  I put some lead in the air that day and ended up killing a dandy buck.  A little luck is always appreciated, but I'm reminded that the more I practice, the more I shoot, the more I hunt, the less luck will be needed.  Had that buck slipped out somehow, I still would have learned a lesson in still hunting and the buck might have been around the next day to chase again.

AS HE LAY

Dragging this buck out, I stripped down to my KUIU 250 wt. merino and never got over heated.

Outerwear:  Stormy Kromer cap, KUIU Guide Jacket, Sitka 90% pants, Lowa Ranger boots.
Baselayers and midlayers, including socks:  all merino wool from quality manufacturers including Smartwool, KUIU, and Icebreaker.

At 18 1/2" inside, he's my widest whitetail to date.  He grosses roughly 138".

I think the B&W photo shows how both the KUIU Vias camo and the Sitka Optifade break up my outline in this open, burned country.