This is a hard earned buck and one I'm proud of. I shot this buck on 11-15-08, the rifle opener in Nebraska, at 4:30PM. The day was filled with many sightings of young bucks in bow range and a few does. I called, rattled and grunted in two bucks this day- this deer being the last of the two.

Here is the story.

My Friend David and I had just finished up a lunch and a few deer drives- no sightings. We wondered where all the deer were. The rut has been on in this area for 2 weeks now, so we figured the bigger bucks were already locked down in thickets with does. This is probably true based upon the young buck sign I had seen that morning. The 1 1/2 year olds were walking aimlessly through the woods love sick and coming to any calls this poor old hunter could make.

After taking extra precautions getting to my stand to not scare any deer I would be hunting, I strategically put out scent wicks so the wind would cross the deer's path before the deer got to mine. No sooner had I been in the stand I heard in the distance a horn honking. This honking went on and on…………beep, beep, beep, b-b-beep, beeeeeeeeep- you get the idea. I looked over my shoulder to see a farmer riding through his CRP field at 15 mph honking his horn in the most annoying way. If you've seen "Dumb and Dumber", it was more annoying than that! My first thought was, David is injured and needs help. I entertained the idea of getting down and chasing down the truck to find out what the matter was, but realized the truck was headed my way. After hearing a few cattle calls, that took me back to my youth when my neighbor would call his cattle to feed, and putting the honks of the truck together, I realized David wasn't injured---It's a Nebraska Deer Drive! I had to just laugh at the situation. I mean it has been a long hard season, my boy has me stressed out about getting him a deer to the point he is making excuses for me and recently said "Dad, you don't have to kill a deer………..you can kill an elk."- Like that is taking any pressure off! I laughed at the situation, after all, I had taken such meticulous steps to wash my carbon scent free clothes, spray down my boots with scent away spray, approach the stand from a round -a-bout way not to spook any deer and strategically hang my scent wicks- only to find the farmer driving through the bedroom of the deer and his buddy walking through their living room cow calling. I had to laugh from crying.

Of course no deer rose to the occasion and after the farmer drove up to me and yelled "Can ya hear me?" did he then mosey on along. An hour later, the deer had settled down and the hunt was back on.

After seeing a deer in the distance, I rattled and brought a small broken 7 point to within bow range. That was exciting! Boy was he fired up. He reminded me of the scene at school when a fight breaks out and people start yelling and running to the commotion. I passed, although thinking "this would get the monkey off my back." Thirty minutes later, I caught a quick glimpse of a monster rack and big deer 75 yards away slipping through some cedars. I grunted and he stopped. I could only see his flanks and rear end. The "Kiss of death" (my 30-06) laid on his hips, "Should I shoot and break him down? I know this is the deer I came here for. Do I put the cross hairs just inside the cedar he's touching and squeeze the trigger for a lung shot? " All these thoughts were shattered when he took that last step which put him fully behind the cedar and out of my life forever. All this happened in a matter of 7 seconds. I began grunting louder and calling with a doe estrous call in hopes of bringing him back for a quick look. Nothing. After a few minutes I rattled lightly………..then aggressively out of desperation. This was a big buck. All of a sudden I looked to my left and I saw a wide racked, what looks like 8 point. He was coming straight in quickly and began making a scrape just 50 yards away and rubbing his antlers in a cedar tree. Through the scope I counted, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 point. Good enough for me and my boy will be proud." BANG. The deer falls right in his scrape and begins rolling and kicking towards me. He tries to get up and the finishing shot is administered.

I have a lot of respect for these animals and am sure thankful for the hunt and freedom I have.

This is a beautiful cape and large bodied deer. I caped him out and am putting it on another set of antlers I have. I'm sure pleased with him and Carter is ecstatic.

Thanks to my wife and her support. Love you Hannah.

"Gettin Close" with Tiffany Lakosky

Don't Hate Me Cuz You Aint Me!

Carter and Dad's 3-D Shoot, Saturday 12, 2008

Top Left: Carter on 4X4 Muley
Top Right: Carter with Cobra

Carter and I headed out to a 3D Tournament shoot in Fremont Nebraska along the Platte River. It was beautiful weather, with a temperature high of 84F. This not only added to our temp comfort level, but also kept the pesky state bird away, Aedes albopictus (aka- Mosquito). As my foot touched the first stake and I peered down the trail to a bull elk 37yds away, it was 9:15AM. I softy heard “Dad there’s a deer right there. I’m gonna shoot that deer right there.” As I peaked over my shoulder, I learned Carter had spotted the real thing. A mere 20 yards away stood a few month old fawn- which by the way was huge. Needless to say, we had a blast as we trekked for hours through the rolling hills and winding creeks of NE shooting 40 3-D targets and seeing many real deer and turkeys along the way. The course was made up of several deer, rams, and elk. We had to keep our eyes affixed ahead as there were many dangerous animals we had to pick off before they got to us, Tyrannosaurus rex, an over sized poisonous frog, spitting cobra and lots of bears to mention a few. It was one of the best father-son outings I’ve had and one that will not be easily forgotten.

2008 Spring Nebraska Turkey

Top Right: This is one of my many 2008 spring turkey set-ups. The blind is tucked in with some dead limbs and 2-3 hen decoys out front at 20 yds.

Right: Anyone who knows me, knows I put my heart and soul into the outdoors. "Work hard and play hard" is a religion to me outside the house. Here I'm pictured on my "pretty" bike that I used to bike in 3 miles to get the edge on hunters and birds. This bike was almost the death of me.

Nebraska hunting has proven to break many of my bad luck streaks. In addition to a good archery deer season in 2007, which came off the heels of a year with many misses and a good lost buck when the blood trail ran dry in 2006, I finally accomplished one of my dreams, a downed turkey-and I did it with a bow! With many opportunities for turkey and it seems like they are everywhere, everytime I went into the woods I was encapsulated with shock gobbles off the roost. And I don't mean one or two, not even several, but one morning there had to be close to 100 gobbles or more. Turkeys are everywhere here! There are Easterners, Merriams, and hybrids of the two. I greeted Saturday morning of the spring opener from a ground blind with three hen decoys out front at twenty yards. My buddy and I had located a few gobblers and set up along a logging road. Thirty minutes after daylight a big tom, ~10 inch beard, showed up and put on a show at 30 yards. When he broke strut, I slung one at him. After the Rage went clean through and stuck into a tree, the turkey acted as if he wasn't even hit and slowly walked off. After not finding him, I quickly learned you don't let turkeys bleed out like deer, but rather tear out of the blind after them. I shot one other 9 inch Tom that escaped me as well before laying the smack down on this good Merriam........................My curse is broken!

Mississippi 2007 8 point buck

I ended my 2007 season with this Mississippi 8 point. I never get tired of deer hunting and the peace and excitement it brings me. There aren't many things sweeter than capitalizing on a good deer on the homefront. And these deer aren't easy to harvest. I took this buck at the edge of a cutover and rye grass food plot at 8:30AM in the MS rut. After watching him for a minute or so and trying to get a good rest, I let the "Kiss of Death" speak its peace. The buck bolted and ran back into the cutover where he piled up not 25 yds away. I was very excited to have taken this deer and thank my brother, dad, brother-in-law and niece for helping with the recovery. It's always a family affair. When we returned my boy Carter could barely wait........ I think he is coming along just perfect!

"Creek Channel" Nebraska 8 point, 2007

On Thursday, October 20th, I was hit with some disappointing news. A new piece of private property was off limits and I was back at square one - Public Hunting. I would be hunting only on Saturday and would be able to do an hour of scouting Friday night to hang a stand, get out of the woods and get in on Saturday morning. I found myself at work on Friday viewing arial maps and topos in hopes of finding a honey-hole on public land. What I found was perfect- a creek channel seperating the public land. It was more-or-less an island. Friday after work I took my blow up raft, paddled across, hiked in and found some good sign. I hung a stand and got out as soon as possible.

Saturday morning I was perched between two pieces of water with timber in front of me and behind. I was surrounded by scrapes I found the night before and a small 4x4 ft water hole. It was a beautiful clear brisk October morning. At 7:00 AM I had a nice mature doe come 10 yards from me but no bucks were in pursuit. She came from in front and wandered behind me. I hoped she would get picked up and bring a buck by or perhaps a buck would come later following her trail. At 7:50 I heard a stick pop from behind and slightly turned to see this brute walking parallel to me. He was not in a hurry. Not brousing, but just casually walking. I was surprised to see a buck and even more to see a good racked buck. I then picked up movement on the same trail the doe had traveled down. It was her! And she had brought him! She was casually brousing. It was then that I realized he was tending her. He was 20 yards away, not behind her, more like beside her. He was watching her every move and only walking when she walked. The doe read the script and walked on the 10 yard trail beside me. He stopped to drink in the large water puddle. He must have been seeking all night because he drank for atleast 2 minutes. He stopped to dabble in a scrape at 25 yards. Now was my chance. I had to be careful for my draw, as the doe was right below me. At full draw, the deer was on the West of me, the sun rising on the East gave perfect light through my peep sight, the buck just gazed at his new girlfriend. As the arrow released, I could see it in almost slow motion disappear behind the bucks shoulder. SMACK! It's difficult to express the feelings I felt seeing a perfect (lucky) double lung shot. The muzzy was hungry and it was feeding time. The buck jumped and ran back where he came. I immediately called my brother and left him a message of excitement. I said a prayer for recovery and of thanks. After a long 45 minute wait, I got down and picked up the blood trail. This was one even my brother could follow:) I found the buck less than a hundred yards away in some tall switch grass. I was so excited to have recovered this deer. It had been a long time coming from a difficult last year. What a beautiful animal. You gotta love bow hunting.

"Diablo" my Iowa 8 point, 2007

This buck's name Diablo is fitting because of his physcial features and story. The picture doesn't do him justice but his brow tines are 7 inches long and half way up, turn out at a 70 degree angle. He has a broken G3 from fighting and big shoulders. I harvested this buck on November 2nd 2007 at 3:50 p.m. I had just finished hanging my stand on the edge of a fresh cut CRP field and in a pinch point between two tracks of large timber. No sooner had I hung up my cell phone with one of my hunting buddies Mike, this buck came running out of the timber and onto the edge of the field 150 yards away. This struck me as odd due to the time and the way the buck was looking over his shoulder and into the woods. I knew with the naked eye, if presented I would take this deer. Not being concerned of where he was coming, he was facing my direction and looked to have no desire to go back from where he came. When he slanted back into the timber angling south towards me, I knew I would have a shot. With the wind in my face I picked the buck up in the timber heading my way with a pep in his step. He would run a bit and stop to look over his shoulder, then run a bit more and stop to look. I figured the deer was spooked from another hunter, seeing that I was on public land, and thought I may have a difficult time stopping the deer. Without any time for more thoughts, the deer was in my shooting lane a mere 16 yards away. At full draw, I bleated and bleated and bleated before the buck stopped. Slap! The picture shows the double lung smoke job. The buck jumped and ran down the levee he was traveling. Not hearing him crash, I sat down and said in disbelief "it's over, my hunting season is over." I knew I would be putting my last tag on my first Iowa buck. The buck ran 60 yards before tipping over.
The story isn't over yet................As I knelt down and admired such a beautiful animal, I ran my hand across his large swollen rut crazed neck. When I brought my hand up it was covered in blood. Upon a closer look, I noticed the buck had a hole in his neck. My first thought was, while comparing the broken fighting tine, this buck got stabbed by another bucks tine during a fight. A closer look revealed the hair was cut.....a broadhead. When I walked back to my stand I wasn't surprised to find another hunter looking intently on the ground for blood on the edge of the field where I first saw the buck. As I appproached he asked "did you see that $#%$ deer?" I said I did and that "I shot that deer. Come on, I'll show him to you." The other part of the story was that this deer was chasing a doe and was circling this hunters stand, "the buck had his nose right on her" the hunter said. When he shot, his arrow was deflected by a branch and hit the buck in the neck. The arrow broke off and the broadhead stayed lodged in the bucks neck. This was one tough buck. Like I said, Diablo is a fitting name.