Nebraska bound

[shawn]

The time has finally arrived for my Nebraska deer hunting trip. I will be hunting just outside the township of Linwood. Thanks to a lot of you at Trad Gang, I am confident in my equipment and shooting abilities. Wingnut came through for me by getting me a new DVD so that I could build the bow blank I had purchased from him back in December. Mike, that bow is waiting for me to arrive in Linwood. Eric Krewson for designing the great tillering gizmo. I figured the cherry gizmo I won at the St. Judes auction carries a lot of mojo due to the deer showing up while he was making it. Ted Fry took a lot of time out of his busy schedule to make certain that I had the proper arrows for my new bow. My broadheads are scary sharp because of a combination of watching the Trad Gang DVD and the reading the how to section posted by bowhunterinchili. I hope I got that name correct. With a little luck, I will be posting my first trad kill prior to leaving Nebraska next week Sunday. If that does not happen, that will be fine too. It is not about the outcome of the trip. It is about the journey. So far, it has been a great journey. I will try to send daily updates starting Monday. Until then, have a safe and enjoyable hunt.

Shawn  

[steadman]

Good luck!! We hope to see some pics, kill or not.

[shawn]

Saturday - Arrived in Linwood and immediately set out to set-up my stand. When I arrived, I found that there were beans where there were once corn crops. I go to my tree and find that there is a large greenhouse sitting right where the deer usually cross onto the property I hunt. I set up my stand hoping to see if I can learn the patterns of the deer. 30 minutes after getting settled into my stand, I hear voices coming from behind me. 2 children and an adult are walking around with a shotgun. It turns out to be the property owners daughter and grandchildren. We ended up chatting for about 30 minutes. With them walking around, I did not expect to see much deer activity. I broke out the grunt call. A doe from the next property came running towards me. She would not cross the fence. 2 other does came out and started feeding next door. I heard some grunting and all of the sudden the does run off. A nice buck appears with his head to the ground chasing the does. I saw a handful of does and one other small buck. I could not get any of them to come play with me.

I took Sunday off from hunting so that I could visit a good friend in Tarkio, MO.

Monday - Got a late start. Did not see any deer all morning. I found a new pond on the property. I went ahead and moved my stand to that location. I sat there this evening. The wind was blowing pretty hard. Around 5:30, the deer started to move. I had a yearling walking around me for about 15 minutes. I decided to not take the shot because I would like my first trad kill to be something a little more mature. Shortly after the yearling left, I grunted on the call. 2 deer came in. A mature doe and a button buck. The button buck came right in, but the doe looked right at me and decided she needed to go elsewhere. I ended up being stranded in the tree stand until well after dark. When I stopped hearing deer moving around, I climbed down from my stand. What a great evening.

More to come Tuesday.

Shawn

[kennym]

     Good luck!!

[shawn]

Tuesday morning - The weather got cold last night. It was in the teens when I got up this morning. Unfortunately, I did not see anything moving all morning. That kind of surprised me. I figured the deer would be moving. I will be heading out again shortly.

Shawn

[Talondale]

This story would be better with pics!  :D

[JBiorn]

Go git'em Shawn!

[shawn]

Tuesday Night - I went back to my stand by the new pond. 2 does came out around 5pm. They were staying on the other side of the tree line. I could not get a clear shot. One of the does knew something was not right. She kept stomping her hoof. They hung around for about 30 minutes before leaving me for the night.

Wednesday - The wind was blowing today. It was definitely the coldest day I have experienced this year. To make matters worse, I did not see anything all day. Because of all of the wind, I decided to hunt the corn fields. I thought I might find a bedded deer or two. So much for that thought.

Wednesday - I moved my stand back to where it was located on Saturday.

 
This is the new greenhouse on the neighboring property.

 
Nebraska sunrise.

 
One of the 2 button bucks that would not come over to my side of the fence and play.

I also say a spike and several does this morning. Things quieted down by 8:30am. I went back out to the stand again this evening. Again, all of the deer stayed on the other property. There was a nice buck chasing the does.

It seems like I have spent most of this week trying to pattern the deer. The crop rotation has really changed how the deer move on this property.

I have one more day left to hunt. I am going to try to ambush the deer before they go to bed down. I can not chase them into their beds because they are bedding in the cedars. No way to hunt in that stuff with a selfbow. No matter the outcome, it has been a great hunt. It sure beats work.

Shawn

[JBiorn]

Wishing you big Medicine Shawn. Look forward to hearing the whole story over a cup.


 Jeff

[vermonster13]

Good luck!

[Gil]

Good luck!
Gil

[shawn]

Friday - I saw one doe this morning, but no shot was available. I did see my first bobcat on my way out for lunch. That was pretty cool.

I decided to hunt in a ground blind I put together on the north side of the pond. This is just north of where I passed up on the yearling doe earlier this week. The blind is north of where that stand was located. I arrived at hte blind arounf 3:50. At 4:25, I heard someone sighting in their rifle. I figured this might spook the deer. Five minutes later, I hear a deer coming towards me from the east. All of the sudden I see antlers. He looks to be a 4X4. I partially draw my bow. A couple steps prior to entering my kill zone, I come to full draw. I release the arrow, and the buck lurches from the impact. Unfortunately, my shot is not very good. The shot is just forward of the shoulder. The deer does a 180 and the arrow falls out. He runs about 20 yards and stops to see what just happened. He then heads north into the cedars. It was not too long after that that I heard a crash to the northeast of me. After about 30 minutes, I went back to the homestead and called my father and the land owner. They joined me about 30 minutes later to help locate the deer. It did not take us very long to find the bloodtrail. The buck has hopped the fence and went to the property to the north of us. It was getting dark, so we grabbed our flashlights. The bright red blood was fairly easy to track, until we found the last sign of blood about 50 yards onto the neighboring property. After searching for a couple of hours, we decided to call it a night. I hope to get back out there after the rifle hunters take their midmorning break. The odd thing about this bloodtrail is that the last sign of blood was the most blood we found during tracking. I may go out and get some hydrogen peroxide to help us spot the blood. I will keep you posted.

Shawn