Clean air, no traffic, and big, cornfed Nebraska whitetail deer on public land. That’s what my friend and fellow Badlands OPS member, Tim Endsley was offering when he sent me a text in September inviting me to hunt. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of planning a hunt this late in the season, but I felt the pull of hunting big whitetails in Nebraska. Other hunters joining us in camp were Aaron Ritter, USN Retired, owner of LIMB-itless Outdoors, and Nace Remfry, photographer and filmmaker with a passion for the outdoors. In over three decades of hunting whitetail deer, I had never hunted with anyone other than my family. This would be a first for me, along with filming our hunts for a video to share later. I don’t normally film my hunts, but agreed to for this special project. No matter what, we all knew we were going to have fun hunting in Nebraska.
Character Introductions
Tim Endsley and I have been friends for nearly a decade. I was first introduced by my friend Eddy Erautt, owner of Piranha Custom Bowstrings, and later on I joined Tim on the Badlands Operative Pro Staff and we’ve been friends ever since. I continue to pick his brain on hunting turkey and whitetail in the midwest and southeast United States. He’s one to tell it like it is and I always appreciate that in a person.
If you look at Aaron’s IG page (limb_itless_outdoors), you might notice that he is missing his right leg, but don’t let that fool you. While he loves to hunt, Aaron and his wife run all the time and prior to driving to Nebraska from Virginia Beach, they ran a 10K. For fun!Who does that? Well, Aaron does and that gives you a glimpse into his character as someone who doesn’t give up and pursues difficult challenges. Oh, did I mention he also loves to hunt?
Usually, I can decide if I will get along with someone in the first 5-10 minutes of meeting them. Nace is a not only a young, talented filmmaker (nace_remfry), but he can hang with the older guys in camp. He could take a ribbing and give it right back. Right away you could see he was eager to hit the woods, video the hunt, and enjoy what Nebraska has to offer. Nace and I would get along just fine.
Travel Delays
After four flight delays and a longer than average drive to camp, I arrived at 1:00 AM. Tim was still awake and we talked for a bit before he tried to get some shuteye. I had to organize my gear, assemble things and get ready for the morning hunt. I didn’t get to bed until after 2:00 AM and my alarm went off right at 5:00 AM. First to get up, as is usual with me in camp, I got the coffee going and grabbed a shower. I stepped foot in the shower and immediately snapped the cold water knob off with my right knee. That would be the start of my hilarious misfortune for the week.
November 2: First Day of the Hunt
Aaron was up shortly after I was and we exchanged hugs like we were long lost brothers. He and I went over the game plan for the morning; he would drop me off at a local spot and would get back to finish some work. After we reviewed maps and a pick up time, he drove me out and dropped me at the trailhead. Temps were in the mid-30s and fog had rolled in overnight. The air was very cool and smelled of promise! He bid me good luck and said he’d be back in a few hours to pick me up for breakfast.
I made my way along the edge of the forest edge and a hedgerow looking for sign. This was going to be a bit of a hunt/scouting mission as I wanted to get a lay of the land and cover as much ground as I could. I scouted, marked up my OnXmaps with crossings and rubs, then decided to head deeper into the woods. I still hunted up along a series of trails and found little to no buck sign.
As I emerged from the thick pines, I stopped to break out my thermos of coffee. Now, there’s a bit of humor with drinking coffee while hunting. My dad and brother always joke that when we get a cup of coffee in hand, the deer appear out of nowhere. It turns out that works in Nebraska, too! When I screwed the cup back on, just before 8:00 AM, I looked down the edge of the woods and spotted three doe around 100 yards out, walking toward me. I did not have a doe tag, so I slipped back into the pines, got my phone out and waited. Single file, the doe walked in front of me at only 15 yards. Completely oblivious to my presence, they took their time and I was able to capture the short video above. After making sure no buck was trailing them, I slowly packed up and walked away to meet up with Aaron at the trailhead.
Exhaustion Sets In
Back at camp, Tim offered me a treestand to set up for the evening hunt, as Aaron, who is a strong tree saddle hunter, planned to head deep into a cluster of trees that looked like heaven for a buck. He had a nearly mile walk of hills and uneven terrain, so we go out there early. Instead of hunting the same side of the land where Aaron would be, I chose a section of the woods that looked good to scout. In my experience, this would be a great place to look for rubs, trails and set up for the evening. Not only did I find rubs and scrapes, I found the perfect tree to put the stand in. I would have a view of the cut corn and the hardwoods. That’s when the flight delays and exhaustion hit me. I couldn’t get the ladder set or the treestand up because I was beat and sweating quite a bit. I decided to set the stand the following day and to hunt from the ground for the evening, along the edge of the field, near where I found the rubs.
The Evening Hunt
Standing next to a hickory tree, I set my camera, bow and cleared the leaves to be as quiet as possible. I was quiet, but two squirrels in a tree next to me were not. Popping open hickory nut shells, jumping around, it was less than quiet, but they kept me entertained as nothing else was happening. Just before 4:00 PM, Tim and I received a text from Aaron that he had just missed the biggest buck of his life. A flurry of texts went around and we started looking everywhere for deer. It was now getting exciting!
As dusk settled in, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Peering into the woodline revealed a doe glaring right through me. She was soon joined by two others and after winning the staring contest with them, they turned to head back into the dense brush. I looked at the spot where they were for just a bit too long. I heard a slight “pop” behind me and figured the squirrels were eating again. As I turned, a little too quickly I might add, I locked onto a large buck at 10 yards, broadside. Now, I have never seen a deer get scared quite like this buck, but he turned and jumped as if he were doing the steeplechase! As he launched into the air, I counted a quick five, heavy tines on his right side as he vanished. What an incredible buck! The entire walk back to the truck had me smiling due to the confidence I felt in knowing I chose the right spot to hunt.
Back in camp, we reviewed the days events and shared our stories with furvor. Aaron shared his big buck encounter and all of us were smiling. Over dinner, we made our plan for the next day and how we really should get to bed early. Little did we know that day #2 would be full of more exciting stories!
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