The title is enough to get your interest, but this entry deals with another frustrating year for my brother and his efforts to get a buck deer hunting.  I scouted with our host last Thursday morning.  My brother was to arrive that night and hunt Friday morning. Thursday morning we saw a total of 6 bucks in the area we wanted to hunt.  Things were looking pretty good.  I included the picture of  a spike buck in one of my previous posts.

Friday morning rolled around, and we crossed a tributary of the Platte River in the dark with our waders on.  I wouldn't call this scary, but it was certainly unsettling to be wading thru chest high water flowing at a pretty good clip.  We got settled into  the deer stand at 6 am and were feeling pretty confident on the island. 

7:25am..   Four does pass within 40 yards of our stand.  No males but we were feeling pretty good about seeing this many deer so early.

8:25 am..Five more does, different ones pass along the same route. This is great!  We're seeing lots of deer, still no bucks, but it's mating season and we have nine does on our island.

9:25am...  No deer

10:25am..No deer.

11:25 am..No deer.

12:25am..No deer.

We decide to return to the mainland and re-group.  I had to leave for work, but my brother returned to another stand in a different area. He text messaged on Friday with 4 more does spotted.  Still no bucks.  That's a total of 13 does in one day.

Saturday we return first thing to the island with loads of optimism.  This day would be different.  No deer the entire day.

We needed help and something to change in the weather.  It's too warm and too clear at night.  We wake up Sunday morning to clouds and sprinkles....perfect.  The deer will stay in the pines longer and not bed til late morning, this is what we need.  I didn't see any deer, nor did our host.  My brother was going to shoot a doe if one came his way, but when your luck is bad and you're looking at 21 years without a buck, things just seem to go south.   He climbed out of his stand at 10am and as he was collecting his gear when 5 does suddenly appeared out of the woods. His gun was leaning up against the tree, totally out of position.  He tried to reach for his rifle....Busted!  The deer bolt into the woods and so did his hopes of deer jerky and summer sausage.  One buck was harvested in our area for the entire week.  They say that deer hunting is more than just harvesting a deer.  It's the camaraderie, friendship, and time spent with those you care about.  Just this once, I was hoping it might be about getting that first buck.

Maybe next year,

Jim