Ani-Logics Outdoors

I hunted our lease in Nebraska this weekend and shot an old warrior we know as “Bowser.”  Here is how the stars aligned and I was able to catch this mature buck on his feet in daylight.

The hunt started with high anticipation as 8 inches of snow fell on our hunting land in Nebraska on Friday. There is something about fresh snow that gets my blood pumping as a hunter. It’s obviously easier to track deer in the snow, but I also like seeing fresh sign and deer trails that you are absolutely certain were made within the last 12 hours. The snow that fell was powdery, so the trails were easy to see but the downside was that deer could walk through the woods almost completely silent.

In the morning I sat along a small brassica plot tucked next to a cedar thicket. The rifle season was happening so I was hopeful that neighboring pressure from gun hunters would push more deer onto our bow-only lease. I saw 4 does, 3 fawns and 2 small bucks that morning. One of the bucks was chasing a doe and grunting, so that was nice to see.

In the evening, I decided to hunt along the edge of a corn field. The stand was positioned on a ridgetop on the east side of the field with a deep ditch behind it. We had a SSW wind which was ideal for that stand. Most of the deer come in from the north or west end of the field. The first deer of the night were a doe and fawn that came right into the standing corn that we left 30 yards from the tree stand. I had a doe tag but the mature doe stayed about 6 rows in from the edge of the corn and did not present an ethical shot.

A group of ten long beards made their way into the field and I watched them scratch away the snow to reach the waste grain. They were making a lot of noise putting at every squirrel and woodpecker they saw in the woods and I was beginning to think they were going to suppress deer action on that end of the field. They stayed in one spot long enough that when they finally moved off, they had left 5 ft diameter snowless patches in the field.

As the sun went down, the deer started pouring out of the woods into the field. The temperature was 20 degrees and the wind chill was 10, so with the cold air and fresh snow the deer were focused on getting energy in preparation for a rough winter. The majority of deer were does and fawns, and then right as light was starting to fade, I noticed a button buck look toward the woods to the north like he had seen something concerning.

I look over to see this high-racked main frame 8 step out and start walking toward my stand. I immediately recognized this buck from trail cam pictures. We called him Bowser because he had a huge body and a bunch of sticker points. He made a beeline for the snowless areas left by the turkeys.

I thought to myself, I have never been so thankful to have a flock of turkeys scratch out a spot within bow range of my stand! He began to eat and I started looking at the other deer in the field to see if I could get away with the movement needed to draw my bow. Everything checked out, except he was slightly quartering toward me.

My mind was racing because every second that goes by you feel anticipation building and you never know when something is going to spook one of the many deer in the field and you lose your chance at a mature buck in an instant. I started to contemplate, should I try and sneak my arrow tight to that front leg? I realized all the horror stories I’ve heard and experienced about shoulder shot bucks. Just then something made noise in the woods where he came from and he turned his body to look at. This offered me a perfect quartering away shot. I aimed for his off shoulder and put my 30 yard pin low on his vitals. My calculations all lined up and I let the arrow fly. I watched him duck right into the arrow which buried itself into his lungs. He ran away down the hill and into the woods.

I instantly started shaking uncontrollably. I know I was a bit cold but I think my mind was calm enough to let the arrow fly and then as soon as I relaxed from the relief of making a good shot my body said, “OK let’s go ahead and shake now.”

I grabbed my phone and immediately text my wife who was back at home in Minnesota. She knows how much effort I have put into hunting and she was glad to hear my persistence was rewarded.

I knew I had made a great shot, but unless I see a deer fall I still like to give them plenty of time to expire. I sent a few texts out to close friends and then snuck back to the truck to get flashlights and rally the recover crew. I think some of the fondest hunting memories I have were made tracking deer and I wanted my friends to join me.

The four of us set out on the trail and immediately found bright pink blood on the snow. It was one of those trails that you didn’t even have to kneel down to follow. We followed it right into a thick patch of cedars about 75 yards from the field edge and my friend Brad said the words every hunter loves to hear “THERE HE IS!”

We celebrated the recovery and then the work started. Luckily the snow makes it easier to drag a heavy deer!

It was completely dark by the time we recovered him so we waited until the next morning to take pics. He doesn’t have the highest scoring rack, he may not even break 130” but he’s old and that is what I really like about this buck. He weighed 180 lbs field dressed and had a 28” neck. I donated the cape to a friend and am getting him European mounted because I feel that will really highlight the stickers at his bases. Throughout the year I had been feeding the herd with our Supplement 365 out of gravity feeders and placing our Ani-Block™ mineral every 100 acres.

He had a 17″ inside spread.

Here is a pic of him from mid-November. His rack appears smaller in this pic because his body is so large.

Here he is back in October.

Here is a pic from him last year. His rack didn’t change much from last year, which tells me he is at least 5.5 years old this year.

Here is another pic of him from last year.