A Perfect Spring Morning
Close your eyes and imagine the perfect spring morning. What is taking place? Did you go get a coffee from your favorite coffee shop? Are you finally sleeping in after you have been busy for what feels like weeks? Did all of your favorite songs play as you hit every green light on the way to work? Or, maybe you are sitting on your porch, facing east, watching the big orange ball make an appearance on a new day. I can say that none of these are bad options. In fact, they all sound great to me and each one would be a wonderful start to my day. But, is it the perfect spring morning? No, not even close.
Subjective, yes, but that is not the point here. We all have our perfect scenarios and they vary. Nobody is mad about it. You may love sleeping in and getting coffee at 10:47a.m. Others love to get up, read a few pages of their book, and listen to the world wake up around them before they can start their day. I am not writing this to say that there is one perfect spring morning, and if you do not participate in that specific way then you are wrong. No, but what I am saying is that there is a spring morning that can top the rest of them. Whether you have experienced that or not, I hope those that have not, one day will. As it is one of the greatest pleasures on God’s great Earth.
Let us close our eyes again. It is calm, dark, quiet, and then boom, your alarm goes off. It is 4a.m. What the hell is this? Instantly aggravated, you roll over and think to yourself, why? Ten minutes later, you are just dozing off and your second alarm goes off. You know you need to get up. You stumble out of bed and make it to the bathroom. Wash your face, brush your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror, still half asleep, and think, why? As you are putting on your favorite pair of socks and picking out your lucky hat, the alarms you set to make sure you did not over sleep are blaring to the volume of a rock concert in the bedroom. Mad, but knowing you did this to yourself, you shut off the alarms, grab you wallet and keys and head for the door. Why? You get to your truck, pointed in the direction of the nearest Casey’s gas station for 8 miles. There is a breakfast pizza spinning in circles with your name on it. A medium coffee in one hand, pizza in the other. “Have a good day!” “You too.” You are on the way. Got it. Feeling better.
After you get through 7 of your favorite songs, you get to the spot of choice. Throw the truck in park and sit there for a second. Two sips to finish your coffee and you step out of the truck. While grabbing your vest and shotgun out of the back, a whip-poor-will sounds off right by you as to say good morning. This is where it starts. You gather all of your things and take off walking. Each footstep sounds earth shattering. Sound is your strongest sense at the moment. You can hear everything at an amplified level. The only light you have is from the gray light of the morning, well before the sun begins to think about peaking out. It is dark. Trying to dodge every stick and twig, going back and forth in your mind on how far you want to push in. You make a decision and get to a beautiful open timber spot on an old logging road between two ridges. You feel small as you stand there in the dark, imagining what the day brings. As you stand there in the eerie silence, the world begins to wake up around you. An armadillo interrupts the calmness with a reckless appearance. The light on the skyline to the east starts to mix a deep blue with a glowing orange. The birds slowly begin their morning calling. It seems they are announcing to everyone how beautiful of a morning it is fixing to be. A barred owl sounds off, the sound you have been waiting for. Nothing. He sounds off again and there it is. Roughly 200 yards away, a gobble explodes through the tops of the oak trees, shaking your boots and putting a smirk on your face. You are quickly reminded on why you set your alarm for 4a.m.
I am going to stop the story telling right there. The rest of the story is to be left up to the reader to interpret and imagine in their own way. As turkey hunters, ten of us will approach the situation in ten different ways. It is up to you to decide your next move. Defeat is the most likely outcome, we know that. But, what if? It might be the morning this gobbler wants to play right. You might yelp one time and there he is, full strut, in all his glory at 15 yards. Or, he might fly down, go silent, and at 1:01p.m. he will start gobbling his head off as you are forced to retreat in hopes to try again tomorrow. Losing hurts, but it does not hurt as much as not getting to participate in such an intensely calming past time. Die hard turkey hunters will lose for thirty days in a row if it means that they get to chase a wild turkey for 30 days in a row. They do not have to win, but as long as there is a chance that they do win, that is all they need to be motivated to set that 4a.m. alarm.
As the weather warms and spring approaches, I wish you all a safe and successful season in the spring turkey woods! Send us pictures and tell us stories! What an amazing opportunity we have with such a valuable resource. Never take it for granted, one day you will be upset you did.
A 200” Missouri Whitetail.
The last time I wrote on this page was October 11th. A lot has changed for me since then. Starting with my passion and love for the whitetail deer and hunting them has gone through the roof. Now I understand how people can be so obsessed with this sport. It was the chance to join in, and film, the hunt for a 200+ inch deer that drove me to make whitetails my personality. After having the opportunity to be in the presence of such a beast of a deer, I will forever be chasing that feeling. There is nothing like it.
I knew going into the season that I was going to be filming Cole a lot. He has access to a nice farm that holds some great deer for the Missouri Ozarks. The season started on the hunt for this special 9 pointer that had been around for a few years. This deer was never seen in the daylight, and eventually disappeared around mid to late October. This was a bummer. Later, one of the neighbors ends up getting him on the morning of the second day of rifle season. We had not seen him in a while, so this was no surprise to us. But, two days before youth season, October 26th, a deer we called Droppy showed himself on game camera. This made up for the disappearance of the 9 pointer. Droppy showed up on the farm in 2022, showing off a 170”-ish rack. A giant buck. He was never seen in person, and game cameras helped us know that he survived rifle season. Then he was still showing himself after all of the deer seasons were closed, so we knew he survived. Cole and his family put in a lot of work over the summer to plant food plots and do what they can to provide the deer with everything they need to help survival. Come closer to season, Cole asked if I thought Droppy would show back up, I said no. But, after just over a month of hunting the 9 pointer (previously mentioned) Droppy showed himself. I was shocked that he was around, and not to mention that he was a giant this year.
This changed everything. I was in Maryland on a work trip when Cole called me to tell me the news. I was dying to get back to Missouri as there was a major cold front coming through and I thought this was the best chance to kill him. Also, once I got back, I was on vacation for a week. The timing was perfect. The week came and went, no visual sightings of the deer but game cameras let us know he was around. The weekend after that was shaping up to be good weather. But, it was also the opener of rifle season, and some of Cole’s family were going to be down at the farm hunting. We hunted the Thursday before, no luck. Friday came and we had a good idea on his location from game cameras. As we were driving in to the farm, we decided to access our area from a different spot. As we are rounding the corner to our parking spot, there he is. Standing in the middle of the road. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, it was like seeing a ghost. He casually walked onto Cole’s farm, and we turned around to change access points. We couldn’t believe it. If anyone else would’ve seen him, who knows what would have happened. We turned around, but we still wanted to set up in the same tree as we planned. This would put us in a great transition spot from where we knew he was. We get set up in the dark. The morning was very crisp, the air was chilly and it felt like a big deer morning. As light is just beginning to break, Cole spots a deer in the small food plot to the west of us about 100 yards. He throws up the binos and says “It’s him”.
In that moment, I freaked out on the inside and my heart started racing. Once I got a look at him myself, it did not seem real. Why were we here, in a tree, 100 yards away from the biggest deer we may ever hunt? Once I realized I wasn’t dreaming, or seeing a ghost, I went into my “don’t mess this up” mode. I had a good hide, and I was going to be able to film the deer all the way in if he came our way. He was just feeding, we agreed that grunting at him would be a good idea. Cole grunted, he threw his head up, and turned our direction. Now, if I wasn’t already feeling like I was about to have a heart attack, I was sure that I was going to die up in that tree. I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, and told myself you can not mess this up. The feeling was insane. I film for a living, I have spent many hours behind a camera. This was just another day, the only difference is that this moment will only happen once in my life. Is it recording? No pressure. Droppy crosses the creek, and I knew we were in the game from there. He does everything as perfect as you could imagine. Just like we drew it up, it was incredible. He’s closing in, gets to 30 yards and Cole draws. The deer hears this, looks around and then right up at us. The shot goes off. Right over the top of him.
Like anything traumatic, it takes a minute to set in. You start to realize that the opportunity that was just presented will never happen again. That is the beauty in hunting. And that is why emotions will rise and fall in as fast as a second. My instinct was working overtime and I start filming Cole after the shot. It was emotional. We sat in the tree for several minutes. We finally get down and go find the arrow that only confirmed what we already knew. Now what? All of the time and effort that has gone into this deer felt like it was gone. It was a complete restart. I didn’t know if I had it in me to do this all over again. We hunted that evening with little to no confidence left in us. We were only out there because the deer was alive. Rifle season opened on Saturday morning. Still bummed, we sat in a spot that we thought would be good if deer were running around. Same for that evening, no luck. Sunday we had the farm to ourselves in the morning. The morning was slow, and it was warming up to 63 degrees through out the day. We were drained. Tired, sore, mentally exhausted, thinking of what could have been. We decided to go sit in a double man tree stand Sunday evening. With little to no expectations, we took the bare minimum in hopes of maybe seeing a deer. At 3:35ish, I could hear a deer to my right. It was taking its sweet time and we didn’t expect it to be anything more than a spike. It finally gets to wear we were going to be able to see it at any time, Cole sees the deer first. “It’s him”. I thought there is no way. He was behind a bunch of thick cover for me and I couldn’t get an eye on him. Finally I can see him. We have to watch him for a little bit before either one of us can move. He finally gets behind a cedar and I raise my camera and Cole raises his rifle. The deer is right below us. Cole has to stand up to shoot, and I’m holding the camera up by my head to film at such a downward angle. After what feels like forever, he finally steps out enough for a good shot, for both of us, and the gun goes off.
I can not explain the feeling that went through me at that moment. The deer ran directly below us and we watched him fall. We had just done what I thought to be the impossible at that point in time. A second chance? At an even closer range? At 3:44 in the afternoon on a sixty degree day? That’s not supposed to happen. Someone was looking out for us. We were pointed in the direction and given the strength to stay out there. We got down and walked up to the deer. This was the final moment of amazement in the whole story. Getting to see this beast up close was un-believable. I had never seen anything like it. The relief was heavy. We did it, and I could not believe it. Up until this moment, I was in a rough place mentally and physically, this deer was draining me. I knew the reward would be worth the commitment. It was far beyond worth it. I knew this story was special, and for me, capturing it all on film was a huge milestone for me as a filmmaker.
This deer forever changed how I look at hunting whitetails. It used to just be something we did because it was fun and we grew up doing it. We would go out ad hope to see something. But once you start to hunt deer based off behavior, and patterns, and history, and what he might do next, all of this makes it a challenge. You are putting yourself in their game, and they have a huge advantage. Each deer is unique, they all behave differently, and figuring that out is more fun than the final moments in taking the shot. Once you beat a deer at his own game, it becomes addicting. Putting yourself in position to get inside of bow range of a mature whitetail, and he not know you are there, is a satisfying feeling. A feeling that I believe comes from deep within us as human beings. Our history as a species can be thanked to archery and hunting with a bow, many, many years ago. We obviously have modern advantages, but that instinct to hunt and provide is within all of us, whether we have opened that box or not.
I know I have said Thank You many times to everyone who supported us before and after the hunt for this deer. Without the motivation from everyone, it would have been hard to not give up at times. As for the future, we may never top this, Cole or I. I do know that I will always be chasing that feeling for the rest of my hunting career. I can not wait to see where this sport takes us. The hunting community is under attack, but is becoming a stronger family each day. We can not forget why we do this, and the real reason why we love this great American past time.
Mobile Hunting.
Today is October 11th. We are almost a month into archery season here in Missouri and it has been a blast. We have had some good weather so far and the deer hunting has been pretty good. We are all very excited for the pre-rut stage to get here and spend some hours in the stand. This piece of writing is about mobile hunting. This is something I have taken more seriously this year than before. Last season I was able to dabble in the mobile hunting game a bit, but not like I have this year. Mobile hunting has become a trend the past couple years. I have learned that it is a very fun and successful method of hunting. But, it’s not for everyone.
I have been loving the mobile hunting game. I have been able to hunt a ton of different areas and many trees that I would’ve never been able to get into with a normal hang-on or climber. It really has boosted my confidence in going into a new area and feeling like I am putting myself in the best situations be in the game. Cruzr saddles is what I have been using this year. Specifically the Cruzr Archon. It is a two panel saddle that has endless adjustments to give you comfort for long sits. The way they have designed their ropes and the positioning on the saddle is as good as it gets I believe. Cruzr also makes a new saddle hunting backpack, and oh man… That thing is amazing. The structure of it is perfect for all your accessories and platform and sticks. The pocket locations are perfect. So far I haven’t found anything that I would change on the pack. The comfort level is top notch. It has a frame style back support that makes those long walks to the spot a breeze on your back. Cruzr is also coming out with some climbing sticks soon. All of their products so far are top notch and I would recommend them to anyone who is seriously considering the mobile hunting game.
Mobile hunting can be tough. It often includes long hikes, weird trees, and lots of upper body strength. Every time you go out you have to hang a “stand” per say. You get into a groove, and once you find your method then it gets a lot easier and faster. I have learned that the smaller the tree the better (to an extent) and you do not have to hunt that high. These are opposite ideas of the classic treestand hunting approach. Being able to go into any location and set up in almost any tree is what I love the most about the saddle. I have everything I need in my Cruzr pack to have a successful hunt. I am very excited to continue using and learning new methods and techniques for the remainder of the season. Hopefully I can soon connect with a deer using the saddle. Stay safe out there and shoot straight!
Why. -From a plane.
Today is September 15th, the opening day of Missouri archery season and I am beginning to write this on a private jet back home from a trip to Washington D.C., which is something that I neither deserve nor thought would ever happen. Life is crazy. Anyway, as I sit here I had the the thought of my connection to the outdoors pop into my mind and the difference between someone like myself and others. This is something that I believe varies to every individual and this is a good thing. Diversity kills boredom.
There are millions of people who will be entering the woods or fields this year in pursuit of big game, small game, waterfowl, upland birds, trappers, the list can be endless. Each and every one of those people are doing it for a different reason. There are similar reasons, but I believe no reason is the same between any two people. There are meat hunters, trophy hunters, hobbyist, die hards, purists, rednecks, rich, poor, black, white, the point here is that the outdoors is full and welcoming of everybody on this planet. All for different reasons. The obvious reasons being it is a fun and exciting pursuit. The adrenaline rush you get when that big buck walks into range, or the excitement of that group of mallards backpedaling over the decoys is a feeling that can not be imitated in anyway or anywhere else on earth. This is the main reason we do it.
There is another reason, and it gets covered up by the previous reason in most people. That connection you get to the animal, the area, the style, or even the history, is why we all keep going back. You will never meet a true, genuine, outdoorsman who cares about nothing else but killing that animal. The sad reality is that there are people who do just that. They are strictly only there to kill the animal for that short but wild rush. It is easy to spot these people in a crowd, although, they will put on a good front to fool the rest. These people suck.
True outdoorsman will put the animal and the adventure before the kill. Without the animal being there, and without that adventure of pursuing that animal, you have no hunt. There are many, many, people in the outdoor world who are like this. Good people. People that actually want more animals on the earth, healthier animals, cleaner landscape, beautiful habitat. These people do not do it just for the kill. Many hate to see a hunt end. When it is over, it is over. What is the fun in that?
All of this is attributed to the bigger and unseen mental connection humans have with nature. Some will never understand, some do not care, and some will sadly never get to experience it first hand. Unlike a big set of antlers, or a shiny leg band that can be held and shown off, the true reason we do it can not be held, but you can feel it. It can be shown through effort and told through stories. Always learning, always helping, always conserving. These people care, and it is obvious in many ways.
As I finish up putting these short thoughts into writing, I ask that you, the two(?) people that read this, to think about why you do it. I bet the real reason is not exactly what first comes to mind. Think about it.
I pray you all have a happy and safe hunting season this year. Please share all the stories and photos with me!
Nebraska Archery Opener 2023
Hunting early season is always something that I probably hit way too hard every year. It’s always hot, deer are on patterns but very weather dependent, and my expectations and beyond what is realistic for that time of the year. This year I wanted to hit Nebraska on the opener, September 1st. My original plan was to go alone, but the way things worked out, my buddy Clay Hudson was able to join me and run a camera for the trip. I was very grateful for this as I never get to have myself filmed on hunts. My main target was whitetails in farm country. But we managed to find ourself in every type of terrain that Nebraska has to offer.
To start off the trip, I went to KC on the 30th for a Zach Bryan concert. Clay came up to KC on the 30th as well and I picked him up on the morning of the 31st and we headed west. We started in the central part of the state. In sandhill country but also a good mix of pines. We scouted that night and came to the conclusion that this wasn’t what we wanted to spend our time on this time of the year. We headed south. We found a spot to camp at around midnight and planned to go into a hill country spot in the morning to glass. We slept in the bed of the truck, the first night sucked for me. I slept horribly and actually got cold around 3 am. So I was excited for morning time to come.
Opening morning, and we didn’t have much of a plan. There was a truck at the first spot we tried to go into. We went to the other side and ended up seeing that guy in the middle of the property. We went another direction and glassed until 10. Only seeing a doe and a fawn. The middle of the day was very hot, we drove around a little bit to look at other properties. We found a bean field to hunt that evening. To waste time we went back to our camp site and had some lunch. We went into the bean field around 3, this way we could scout a little bit as we went in. We ended up getting set around 5:30 and instantly started seeing deer. Clay wasn’t even settled yet and I saw a doe and fawn 37 yards away. They had to have just stood up. Most of the evening was spent with deer below us and this made time go by quick. But, no bucks.
To sum up the next couple days, it was hot, deer weren’t active in daylight, and we were getting exhausted quick each day. The one thing I am proud of is we didn’t quit. We worked hard the 3 days we were in there. The intel I gained was super helpful for when I return and for future references. I do plan to return later in the year to hunt some better weather. And I also just love that area, you can find any type of terrain you want to hunt as well. As I finish writing this, Missouri deer season opens up this week and we are looking at some awesome weather to start out with. Hopefully our home state season is full of highs and lots of learning.
2023 Pre-Season Plans and Preparation
I always look forward to season every year. Normally starting in September for us, as that is when dove season comes in. This year it feels like August has flown by, and I’m not complaining. August always brings super hot and humid weather, and that really makes us all wish for the cooler fall temps. When it is 100 degrees, you dream about cool evenings in the field, earlier sunsets, and spending time with buddies who share the same passion.
I have a few trips planned this season. I’ll be in Nebraska at the beginning of September for archery opener. I’m looking forward to this. I don’t have high anticipation to fill a tag, but I hope to find areas that are holding deer. I want to go back a couple times during October and November. Hopefully I can spend a lot of time in Nebraska. The next trip (I’m hoping...) will be in Colorado with Tyson on a rifle mule deer hunt. Looking forward to that one, but it is at the end of October so that is a toss up as of right now.
Missouri will be different for me this year. I’m going to try and spend a lot of time in high production areas of the state. Put myself in the game more. I’m doing some affiliate work with Cruzr saddles this year, so I will be doing a lot of mobile hunting in search of a good deer. Praying for good weather. I’ll also be doing my normal waterfowl hunting in the later season, but I am fully focused on deer for now.
I’m going into this season in the best shape of my life which I am looking forward to. I know I will be able to do more and go further when I want to or need to. It is so worth it. I started back in May, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only physically but mentally as well. My drive when it comes to scouting has been great, and I’m sure that will transfer into the hunting aspect once season opens. I would recommend it to anyone.
This year I hav a spare camera. The goal for that is to be able to hand it off to people to go create content that I am not able to do myself. Like, Tyson will be going to Colorado for Elk hunt at the beginning of September, so. Will send that camera with him and hopefully he can document their trip for the page. This should help increase content that will be on the YouTube page for you all to follow.
Film #4: Colorado Rifle Elk, 2021
With the memories of an awesome September still in the back our minds, we were in the process of planning to head back out to Colorado for a rifle elk hunt. For this hunt my buddy Clay was the subject of the hunt. This would be his first time Elk hunting himself and the stories we had to tell from September had him, as well as Tyson and I, super excited to be out there with a rifle. We were hunting the second season if I remember correctly. This was in late October. Later October is a hard time to leave Missouri, as the whitetail rut is kicking into full swing back home. The high hopes of big bull elk had us forgetting about whitetail for the time being. We were ready.
I remember leaving on a weekday because we had to pick Clay up in Columbia and he had just finished a test before we were able to head out. We were packed full, except for Tyson. Tyson had forget his boots. Grateful that we found out before we were on the mountain, we stopped by a bass pro to get him a pair. We were headed to the same location as our September hunt, so another 15 hour drive was ahead of us. The drives can be some of the best parts about trips. So many conversations and ideas get passed around the truck cab when you have fifteen hours of windshield time. We made it go by fast. A little too fast about 20 minutes from the motel… at about two in the morning, Clay gets caught going a little too fast through the town just outside of where we were headed. A very nice lady was the officer conducting the stop. I’m sure veery caught off guard by the cameras, I just had to record this for memory purposes! Clay did receive a ticket. What a start to the hunt. We were able to make it to our motel for the night. The desk clerk was no where to be found when I walked in, I’m sure she was getting some sleep while waiting on the kids from Missouri to get there. We got to our room, unpacked, and went to bed.
The next morning was beautiful. We found a place to start our hiking and headed in. Snow on the ground, a chilling light breeze, sun shining, it was amazing. The hike in provided no elk sign. This wasn’t going to deter us yet. We get to a glassing spot to only find zero elk. We head back to the truck. We did a ton of driving on this trip. Looking and observing the other hunters to see what their tactics were. Many of them were mule deer hunters. We quickly came to the conclusion that there were no elk up on the mountain at the time. The recent snow, which had now melted, had pushed them lower. We tried to hunt lower, but with little knowledge about this style of hunting, we failed. The next couple days were spent searching and searching to come up with nothing. We decided to head back, the whitetail rut being our main persuasion. On the last evening we spent some time in the hot tub at the motel, this was great to top off the trip.
I’d love to try to hunt rifle season elk again. This time putting in more effort and putting ourselves in better positions and putting in more effort. Until then!
Film #3: Nebraska Mule Deer
I am super excited to write this one. Nebraska is my favorite state. The geography of the state is so versatile, having any type of terrain you could want. In 2020, I visited Nebraska for the first time on a mule deer trip. I loved it. It was so much fun to be able explore the area and figure out how mule deer survive. That year, it was Tyson, Jack, and myself. We hauled a camper out there and hunted for a few days. Tyson was able to kill a cool 3x3 mule deer and Jack was able to let a couple arrows fly. We had a lot of fun, and knew I would be going back.
Come the fall of 2021 and I knew we were going to go back to Nebraska. This time it was Curtis (my brother), Cole, and Tyson. The plan going into it was I was going to go with Tyson in the middle of October to film him, but I had the opportunity to go to Maine and film a moose hunt and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Tyson killed a good 4x4 on that trip. Figures, being there was no camera.We had pushed our trip back a couple weeks. We loaded up and headed out early in the morning. Our first hurdle happened about two hours into the trip. Randomly, the trailer came off the hitch, sparks went flying, I hit the brakes and the trailer slammed into the back of the truck and actually got up underneath the bumper. We had to jack up the rear end of the truck and pull the trailer out from underneith and we were back on our way. The drive takes all day, and even longer while pulling a trailer. We get to our motel and unpack, excited for the hunt. We went out that evening to scout in an area we knew there would be deer from prior experience. We found them, but unfortunately couldn’t get permission. We had a solid plan in mind for the next few days.
While deciding on meals, we knew it would be cold and we knew we didn’t want to spend too much money on fast food. We brought some leftovers and would heat them up in the motel. Was it good? it was fine, but it was fun. Eating in a motel makes you feel a little more “wild” than fast food. The first morning was cold and windy, but we got into deer fast. There was weather moving in, and we knew we wouldn’t have long that day to be in the field. Once the weather moved in we had to get off the dirt roads. Dirt roads in the west turn into mud very quickly, and that can get you in trouble quickly. We were able to drive around and do some scouting. Finding some deer, but nothing we were able to hunt. The next day it was wet, the roads were still muddy and we took the truck down roads that I wasn’t sure we would make it through. Mud got everywhere. We didn’t make it out of the truck very often that day, and when we did, we didn’t have much action. I often think back in these trips and wish I would have hunted harder, and this is one of those trips. On day two, Cole decided to get a doe tag and I gave Tyson a camera and they went out to chase some does while Curtis and I went to a different area to continue the chase for a mule deer buck. None of this footage made the film, not much happened on the dome hunts. The final day, we got into some deer towards the end of the day. We found a group of deer and there were a few bucks in the group. Curtis and I were in a pretty good position to make a move. While moving, Curtis bumped a coyote, which made the coyote run in the direction of the deer. The deer move off a bit, not terrified, just bumped. It got too dark before we were going to be able to close in on the deer.
This trip will always be one that I remember. We had so much fun and I didn’t want to head back home, but we had too. As I write this, I have plans to be in Nebraska a few times this year. I can’t wait to back out there and chase deer. I’ll be sure to keep updates on the YouTube page!
Film #2: Colorado Archery Elk, 2021
September 1st came quick after our pronghorn hunt in South Dakota. This would be my first time in Colorado and I had huge expectations. Tyson had been going every year for a few season and he always had the best stories. Tyson had killed a cow elk and a young mule deer in years prior. I packed all of my “mountain gear” in preparation for anything. It is a 15 hour drive, so we headed out in the early morning on September 1st and headed west.
We arrived at our cabin later in the evening. Unpacked just to re-pack the extensive gear we thought we needed for day trips up the mountain. Anticipation was high. The reports we were hearing were good. The bulls were starting to rut and were very active. This had us very excited to get on the mountain. Opening morning came early. Our drive to our hunting spot was about 45 minutes up the mountain. We arrived and grabbed everything we thought we could need. Remember, this is my first time hunting the mountains of Colorado, and I was not prepared for the walk up Tyson was about to lead me on. I survived, with no camera gear broken which a huge upside. We get up to the spot Tyson wanted to start in. We immediately find sign, Tyson calls a bit, and we hear a bugle.
I instantly started to shake, and my breathing became uncontrollable. That bugle added some very un-needed adrenaline to my body. A first timer, who just got finished hiking straight up and now needed to hold a camera steady. Nothing was in my favor to perform at my best, but I was so pumped up and I loved it. The bull closes in. With every bugle I thought I was going to stop breathing right there on that mountain. Then, another bull bugles. This bull was an old bull, and he was above the bull that was closing distance. Once again, I can’t hardly focus on anything besides getting air in and out of my lungs and holding the camera steady. We finally see the closer bull. He comes right in to 30 yards. This bull was right on there line of being a legal bull, and being the first day and knowing there was a bigger bull just out of sight, this small bull got a pass. This all happened way faster than I thought it did. Maybe 45 seconds? The heard gains elevation and we follow. Tyson ends up getting close to the heard of cows but never could lay eyes on the bulls.
This opening morning encounter would turn out to be the highlight of the trip. The next few days consisted of hiking, tracking, glassing, anything we could try to get back on some elk. We had one more encounter that did’t make it in the film. We hike in, and on our way out we hear some cows. Tyson answered there calls with a bugle and boom, a bull bugles back. Now, this was a weird situation because these elk had to come from the direction of the mountain road, and to ud that would be a very unlikely scenario. These calls were way too real to be a hunter or even a group of professional callers. We closed in on them, making noise like a bull prepared for battle. We get to the edge of a small medow and find cover. The elk are just barely out of sight, still putting on one crazy audio display. The bull would answer, and close distance slowly. We were for sure we would be able to see them at any second, but we never did lay eyes on a single elk. The calling went quite, and we attempted to creep up but with no success. This was a punch in the gut and made us think about the “what ifs” way too hard.
Tysons brother, Zach, was able to arrow a young cow elk on the trip. This was his first elk. He was excited and we now had a little bit of ,meat to eat back at the cabin. Luckily, I didn’t have to pack any meat out. After this, the weather turned warm. The hunting slowed down and so did our hiking attempts. We stumbled upon a grouse on a mid day search for elk and Tyson was able to put an arrow in it. We ate it that evening. Tasted like chicken. We were tired, and the thought of getting home was in the back of our minds. We headed out the next day, knowing we would be back in a few weeks on a rifle hunt with my buddy Clay!
Film #1: South Dakota, 2021
August 20th, 2021 was the first day of travel for the fall. Tyson and I were headed to South Dakota to chase pronghorn with archery equipment. We were excited. The drive was roughly 13 hours, we left early in the morning so we would get there in the evening with enough time to unpack and familiarize ourselves with the area. In August it is still light outside well into the evening, so we had plenty of time to unpack and scout. Our motel was a cheap place, ran by an older couple I believe. A place that was frozen in time, unaware it was now 2021, and TV’s didn’t have to weigh 50 pounds and lights didn’t have to be a tungsten orange color in every room. The place was perfect for us. When you get out in certain areas of the west, people don’t see people as much. In tern, these people love to talk, and are normally some of the nicest people you can find. There wasn’t much for food or shopping, but everyone in this small town was so accommodating.
We headed out to scout that evening. Quickly finding good groups of pronghorn. That just added to the excitement. Our plan was to focus on water. Neither one of us had any experience hunting pronghorn, so we were going off of the research we did prior. We decided on water and committed to it. Opening morning we set up a blind on the edge of a watering hole that had lots of sign and a large group that was hanging out a few hundred yards away the night before. We get set up and settled in, we watched a few pronghorn work around us hundreds of yards off. We never had anything show any interest in even wanting to come get a drink.
Turns out, we were in a “cold front”. A cold front of 88 degrees instead of 98 degrees. This caused the water needs of the pronghorn to be thrown off of their very regular pattern. So we switched to spot and stalk. This was more fun, but a lot harder. We were putting ourselves in the game a lot more, but it was taking some effort. I don’t remember how many stalks we did on day 1 and 2, but it was a lot. We were gaining lots of knowledge on pronghorn. How well they see, the terrain they prefer, where they bed at certain times of the day, and how fast they can be when spooked. Day 3 was the first day where we had some “success”. We were able to get in range of a good. lone buck. We spotted this buck while watching a different group of bachelor bucks. He was by a fence, and it turns out you can use a fence to sneak pretty dang close to an animal. We had a decoy in front of us. He crossed the fence and without ever taking a glance in our direction, he went straight towards a pond. Behind the decoy, we walked straight at him, basically paralleling him towards the pond. It was a race. Two guys, one with a bow and one with camera gear, racing a lone buck. The buck won, but once he dropped down into the pond, we ran towards the bank. When I say that this buck drank for 8 seconds, I’m not lying. We were 5 seconds from being within super comfortable bow range of this buck. He put his head up above the bank and looked over at us, still behind the decoy. I turned the camera on, Tyson ranged the buck and drew back. The buck took a few more steps back and an arrow flew. It went high.
Bummed out, exhausted, tired, we did a loop and made our way back to the truck. The next few days were long. Tyson ended up missing a few more bucks that I did not get on camera. The trip came to an end when Tyson took off on a done deal stalk. I dropped him off so that I could move the truck out of the view of the bucks. I watched as he disappeared over a hill. These bucks were actually headed right for the water hole that we sat over the first morning. Ironic. It was 20 minutes r so and Tyson emerged back over the hill and I picked him up. It was obvious something went wrong. When he got within 60 yards of the bucks, he realized he lost his release somewhere along the stalk. With no other option, the bucks got a pass. This was the final stalk of the trip. We had to be back in town the next day and had no choice but to head back. We learned so much on that trip and had so much fun. The best part was, we knew that was just the beginning.
