Last Minute Success

This year I learned that every bow hunter will have a year where it seems that nothing goes the way they want it too. Well this year was my turn. I went the first part of the season without any shots at all, then I had a few shots and either lost the deer or missed the deer entirely. I practiced with my heavy clothes on, I practiced out of treestands, and I would shoot 3 times every week but nothing I did would change my luck! As you can imagine I was frustrated by late season, but I kept practicing and doing anything to give me an edge.

On the last Saturday of the January antlerless season, my mentor, Neil, and I went down to a spot that we were confident about, but the stand was already taken down. So instead I went 70 yards down the 2-track road to a 12 foot tall ladder stand with no brush around it to break up my outline. It was about 5:00 in the afternoon and I hadn’t seen a single thing yet. I look back over my left shoulder and down in the valley behind me there is a big doe coming up out of the bottom. I stand up and grab my bow but I think that there is no way that this big ole doe will get anywhere close to me. She comes up to the road and looks like she is going to go north (to where the other stand was) but instead she walked down the road that is 12 yards in front of me. Now she’s coming straight down the road right to me and I’ve never been so nervous! She stops at 15 yards and looks right up at me but doesn’t pay any attention to me and keeps on going. She walks right in front of me like nothing is wrong. Once she passed the tree branch in front of me I shift my weight to try to get a better shot and the stand creaks and there is no wind to cover the noise. But she doesn’t look my way so I draw my bow back and stopped her with my mouth. She stopped 13 yards away, quartering away so I hold my pin 2 inches behind the shoulder crease and let the string go. The arrow entered right where I wanted it to and came out right in the middle of the shoulder and the blood-coated arrow stuck in the ground on the other side. The monster doe bounded 40 yards away and looked back at the point of impact like nothing had even happened. She was mine! I finally tagged a big doe on the last weekend of the season!

Hoytboy with Mentor Neil and the first doe of his season.

I still had 1 more tag so Neil and I went to a different spot on Monday since I didn’t have school. We hadn’t seen anything till the last 5 minutes of legal shooting light when a few does came off the hay field. The first one was 35 yards away and got downwind of me, but didn’t know where I was. She went back and circled back north where she had come from. Then a few bucks came from the north on a trail that led 11 yards from my tree but they were not legal to shoot. Then a few does came off the hay field and walked right in front of me. I draw back, shoot and the doe bounded off to Neil and stands right in front of him. He shoots at her but barely missed. We got down a few minutes later and looked at the arrow that was coated in blood and started tracking. We found her bedded down about 120 yards away, but she wasn’t dead yet, I took another shoot that put her down quickly and cleanly.

Right when I was about to give up for the year, I end up tagging 2 deer on the last weekend of the season! Now I’m gearing up and practicing for turkey season. See y’all out there!

Hoytboy with his second doe of the season.

Real Pheasant Hunters

I don’t think you should be able to call yourself a true pheasant hunter until you are carefully taking possession of a long-tailed, pointy-spurred, January ringneck from your trusty four-legged spaniel.  This rooster was not the result of an accidental encounter in an easy-to-walk, short-grassed field that a group of hunters happens to be in discussing football and cussing black labs.  That type of bird was baked alongside some potatoes weeks ago.  This end-of-the-season rooster is the culmination of something even more meaningful – something special enough to be called late-season pheasant hunting.

This type of pheasant hunting takes a dedicated individual that is willing to walk some of the season’s gnarliest cover in search of one of the most elusive critters to wear feathers.  But to these men and women in orange, the chance to be close to a colorful, cackling bird as it takes to the air is worth the pains of the pursuit.

Knowing these educated roosters will be employing their best survival tactics, late-season hunters will be doing the same, and strategy is employed prior to the first field of the day.  It begins in the selection of the hunting party.  Four is pretty much the maximum; two is ideal for many situations.  Usually chosen are hunting buddies that share the same vision.  Absent are the boisterous and those that cannot close a truck door quietly.

Even more important is the selection of canines, a must for proper bird hunting of any kind.  My suggestion is one per person, with a maximum of three that can work well in such a group.  The four-legged hunters must be driven to find birds on their own accord with little interference from the two-legged ones.  The kind that sniffs boot heels of the walking hunter, best be left to the couch.

Habitat is the mantra of the pheasant hunter and there are two habitats that January roosters favor.  The preferred is the habitat that no hunter chooses to seek them in.  It may be the spot where the nastiest grasses and/or brush lives or the spot that everyone overlooks – the place no one expects to see a rooster.  Either way, once the refuge from human intrusion is found the veteran roosters have little reason to leave.  If you find one of these spots and approach it wisely, the birds may be surprised by your appearance and provide opportunity not unlike earlier in the season.  But chances are you get just one good crack at them.

If a hunter-less habitat is not an option for the birds, you will find savvy roosters in the second kind of habitat, places with options.  The most common options for a January rooster include running and flushing far outside of shotgun range.  You know you have found one of these places when the birds are exiting the field as you are entering.  The best strategy here is to simply hunt differently.  These pheasants have been around hunters – and of all the predictable critters, we humans are the easiest to pattern.  So, come at the field from a different location, follow the dogs and not a straight-line sweep through the field, work from the lightest cover to the heaviest or from the outside edges to the middle and be sure to enter the field as quietly and quickly as possible.

Yes, the easy birds are for the most part gone, but so are many of the hunters, too; which leaves some of the most rewarding bird hunting to real the pheasant hunters.  If you’re reading this between sunrise and sunset, there’s a good chance I will be pretending to be one of them right now, too!

hershy

Calling Predators on Nebraska Outdoors Radio

Calling all predators.  This week Conservation Officer Stacey Lewton will be in-studio to talk about coyotes, foxes and bobcats and the skills needed to match wits with Nebraska’s most cunning predators.  The Nebraska Outdoors Radio Show runs every Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. (CST) on KFOR 1240 AM in Lincoln and online at www.kfor1240.com. Be a part of the conversation by calling 402-489-1240.

Hey Deer Hunters! Still Time To Help Feed The Hungry

Whitetails Unlimited has been leading a campaign for many years now to help hunters feed the hungry and it has been incredibly successful.  In talking with Alan Kuzma of the Lincoln Chapter www.whitetailsunlimited.com , they have continued their annual partnership with Schusters meats to help cover costs of processing deer.  This year, they still have around 14 openings left at Schusters where a hunter can drop off a deer, pay $35 (with Whitetails Unlimited covering the rest of the costs) to have their deer processed and given to those who could use a little help this winter. 

Hats off to our good friends at Whitetails Unlimited for such an outstanding program.   Many of us love the thrill of the hunt but reduce our harvest to what we can directly afford or consume and this program allows us to remove a few more deer and continue to make great use of the meat.  Hunters who wish to donate their harvested deer can simply drop it off at Schusters near 84th and Cornhusker.  Thanks to the great members of Whitetails Unlimited for posting the cash to keep this program going.  I just may buy one more antlerless tag yet this season and head to the woods with my trusty single action for one more hunt.  Now where did I put that orange hat……?

Get Em’ Out There

Jeff

Plenty of time left to harvest a doe for yourself or a family who could use the meat!

Talking Pheasants on Nebraska Outdoors Radio Show

Rooster!  This week is all about upland birds, and pheasants in particular.  NGPC Biologist Scott Taylor will be in-studio to discuss current populations, management challenges and programs of the NGPC aimed at increasing upland bird numbers.  If you are a pheasant enthusiast, you will want to be part of this conversation!  The Nebraska Outdoors Radio Show runs every Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. (CST) on KFOR 1240 AM in Lincoln or listen anywhere online at www.kfor1240.com. Be a part of the show by calling 402-489-1240.