North Dakota

 a pic of the terrain we were hunting

 The porcupine that watched me pass by three times hauling Dustin's deer out of the bottom of the Butte's

 Dustin with his first muley a solid 4x4

 getting ready to feel out of shape hauling a head, cape and 2 hindquarters up the butte to the truck

 Rancher's shed behind the house and the round bales the deer were feeding on last year each afternoon

 pile of crap house we stayed in, but it kept us warm and did the trick just fine.

preparing to hike out into the frigid wilderness and try to stalk  a muley buck ( I look like I know what I'm doing, but really I have no clue, what I am suppossed to be doing).

Stormy style celebration!!

Dustin and I have been hunting together since we were probably five years old trying to exterminate every pigeon and sparrow from the entire farm, we were always fairly successful and this hunt was no different of course Dustin is the one bagging the trophies and I was ok with that. We had a ton of fun chasing these awesome beasts all across the badlands of North Dakota and I blew stalk after stalk and Dustin had some close calls before he finally connected on this buck, it was a solid team effort as I glassed him from about 800 yards away and got Dustins attention and we put the plan together where I would spook him out of his bed and hopefully he would head up the ridge where Dustin would be waiting. It was a huge releif to me when he got this buck because his knee's were really hurting him with all the hiking we were doing and I knew my body would be able to handle this stuff for a long time I hope and him being a dairy farmer limits his time as well; as busy as we both are its always nice how hunting can help keep a friendship strong and the funnest parts of the hunt probably were not the hunting, but the nights at the cabin shooting the breeze, striking up new friendships, playing some cards and joking around. The other guys in camp were great to hang out with as well Deano's friend Cunningham had the experience and taught us the ropes and Brandon Storm was a rookie this year with Dustin and I; Stormy is a hunter I have always admired for how he bags trophy's year after year off of knocking on doors to gain access and sitting all day for weeks on end during the rut even if he isn't seeing much, plain and simple he is successful because he outworks all the other hunters I knew it would be beneficial to learn from him as he was a big part of the reason I decided all day sits in my treestands and having more patience are neccessary for me to be able kill trophy deer; main thing he taught Dustin and I is you always have to have a victory beer in your pack for the rare occassion that you kill something and need to sit and have a beer and savor the moment, he said it might sit in your pack for two years, but no beer will taste better than that one, Dustin and I each put a beer in our packs and the next morning we got lucky! I was not suprised when he was the first one out the door in the morning and the last one to give up at night. Ironically Stormy and I were the only two hunters that never drew our bows, but we are all the more determined and excited to go back and I believe there is a big muley buck in our near futures. Dustin and I left a day early, so he could get back to help on the farm and also, I wanted to see Jesse and Bryce wrestle at the first tournament of their senior seasons, it turned out to be well worth it as Jesse came away a champion and Bryce was third that was great to watch; family is always more important than any hunt and that is exactly why Deano missed out on the hunt he planned, because he was being a good husband and taking care of his wife after she had surgery, we missed him in camp a lot and were really hoping he would make it, but more importanly hoping everything went great for his wife and him. The whitetail numbers were decimated from a disease they all got over the summer and they were not feeding on the ranchers round bales all around the house like last year, but we were not really there for them anyway, there is just something beautiful about a steel gray giant muley buck that we all wanted so bad. The house was a little rough with holes in the ceiling about the right size for raccoons to crawl through and a toilet that never really wanted to flush along with beds and couches that seemed to be cloth on top of bricks...LOL, but hey thats the North Dakota experience. I am already fired up to get another crack at the muley's next year.

Save the Best for last!

"The Big Eight" on a Snow Day

Summer pics of the "Big Eight"

Moments after he expired in the brush pile I first encountered him in.

Dream hunting weather!

Jesse thinking: "dang this should be mine"

Him as a 3 1/2, in 2010

shed matches up perfect!

 The Buck Jesse had right in front of his stand while we were registering my deer. Deano's buddy shot this one opening day of gun season.

 Jesse walking back in noticing some big fresh tracks!

 Another summer pic of my buck

 Scrape action where Deano was sitting.

The buck Deano was hunting on the next ridge when I shot mine.

The Story on a deer I dubbed "The Big Eight" played out like something from a whitetail magazine, too perfect to be true: I have been extremely fortunate to make great friends throughout my life and when I took a temporary job out of college removing piers and boatlifts, I wound up making a friend that might be crazier about hunting than myself, The owner of the company (Deano) I quickly found out was a hunting fanatic, needless to say we got a long pretty well, but I was still shocked when he offered to take me to his parents farm to hunt the big whitetails they had running around. Deano's hopsitality caught me off gaurd considering I have lived my life in a hunting area where its generally an "every man for himself mentality" and I have witnessed grown men:  complaining, making excuses,  actually shedding tears and lying to landowners to try and eliminate the competition on properties these deer live on, rather than share the joy and pass on the tradition with others while pursuing them, its turning into a dog eat dog and rich mans sport. All of this drama can really suck the fun right out of the sport, so it was very refreshing to find someone that still cared about other hunters besides themselves. Deano's only stipulations: don't shoot a buck smaller than one you have already killed and no doe's; if you can follow these rules you won't be asked to pull your stands and leave, but he told me he had many friends who could not help themselves, but shoot whatever deer came in range. I knew if anyone was determined to be disciplined enough to pass on deer and retain rights to such trophy property it was me. 

I caught a glimse of "The Big Eight" in 2010, when I guesstimated him as a 3 1/2 year old 135 class deer that I could not pass on, he was so symmetrical and his G2 length was outstanding; I watched him cruising a ridge staying tight to brush piles from 40 yards away, I vowed to hang a stand on that ridge for the following season. That spring I went shed hunting through that valley and on that ridge in the exact spot I watched him walk five months earlier I found his shed, 11" G2's, 9" G3's roughly 60" of horn on his right side, I showed Deano the shed and he pulled up a trail cam pic of him cruising that same area on October 27th midday. I don't think I deserve much credit for being able to figure out this deer's home turf and decide on a stand location, all these clue's "The. Big Eight" was leaving me, I probably should have retired from the sport if I would not have hung a stand on that ridge for the fall hunt. I got the stand up and brushed in during the month of June and told my cousins I was going to kill that buck there. August 26th he showed up on the camera's showing off the growth, I figured it was game on come rut. The first weekend in November we went down to hunt I fell into bad, rookie habits and second guessed myself and sat different stands both days; second guessing myself and making up my mind on a whim that a different stand site will be better than what my gut is telling me has been my problem since I was 12, my brother always preached to me then "pick your stand and go to it and stay put, dont always feel some other spot would be better". I don't want to give him credit for teaching me too many things growing up besides how to take a punch, but he was right at times... ha ha. I got what I deserved that first weekend with no big buck sightings, that week I started thinking to myself "hey bozo get in the stand you picked and set for a specific reason and your gut instincts are telling you is the honey hole and quit making stupid choices." I vowed I would be on that ridge all day the next time we went to hunt. It rained and snowed hard for two days with high winds, Jesse actually tryed hunting in that weather and caught a glimpse of him on the evening of the 9th, sending me a text saying he managed to keep brush in the way of his vitals and out of range, I told Jesse no worries hopefully he beds in the woods with a doe and tomorrow when the weather breaks one of us will get  a crack at him. The next morning was cold and light snow absolutely a hunters dream, I got to my stand on that ridge, dressed like a polar bear and ready to sit it out as long as needed, if it was a battle of wills between the Big Eight and myself I was ready, it didn't take long though and a doe came feeding along the hill right to me and low and behold Mr. Eight Pointer was tagging along. The doe took her sweet time feeding on shrubs as she slowly walked to my stand with her boyfriend in tow dead downwind, he seemed to sense something was not right or as I am finding out these mature whitetails are such intelligent creatures they just rarely let their gaurd down for a second; he would move from brush pile to brush pile staying 20 yards behind the doe focused on her, when she would move he would walk to the next thick brush pile and stand in the middle of it offering no shot! The doe was oblivious to me and walked up to my tree finally and bedded close enough to be spit on! At this point my nerves about had it, I had been holding my bow up ready to draw worrying about spooking either deer and wondering if my worthy adversary was ever going to come into the open, my arms shook and I needed to calm down and focus since he was at 30  yards buried in the branches like a cottontail rabbit and contemplating his next move, he finally decided he was in love and broke free of the brush and hit my opening at 25 yards and made the mistake of glancing down the hill giving me ample time to draw and send an arrow on the way, he fittingly died in the exact brush pile I first encountered him in, it was quick and efficient, but for me never easy to watch; Such a magnifecent animal in my eyes: displaying his intelligence time and time again he just found out what most men do...women are gauranteed trouble! It was celebration and elation turned  slightly bittersweet, I really cannot explain it. I called Jesse and left him a voicemail saying I got the Big Eight he is on the ground, and then called Deano who was a ridge over sitting a hot scrape to thank him, he was happy and congratulating me one minute to saying "you lucky SOB!" the next.. ha ha! Jesse called me back after getting my voicemail and told me he would be down in a half hour to help with the drag, I told him he may want to sit longer, but this was too great to not share together. He came down around 8:30 am we took some pic's, registered the deer, ate lunch and celebrated a little and got back in the stands around 1pm only to find Jesse's stand had big tracks right in front of it, we later checked the card on the camera and saw a 145 class ten (see photo's above) walked within 15 yards of where Jesse was sitting that morning at 11:20 am. At this point Jesse was probably sick of me and I was worried he might loosen the ratchet on my stand, I will be double checking that now before I climb in.

The buck now has 12" G2's, 10" G3's not signigicantly longer than last year, but his main beam length, mass and spread (19") were significantly better than last year. This deer is going to be a pedestal mount on a fence post from my Grandpa's farm, with a laser engraved picture of Jesse and I posing with him. The scenery that morning in the snow just added to the great memories. North Dakota Mulies next. Special thanks to the Tydrich family, truly giving not taking type people.

Jesse Ziegler's first buck with a bow

Well all the hard work with carrying two 5 gallon buckets full of water up a steep hill the last 4 months to keep my 60 gallon cattle tank full near our stand site finally paid off in a huge way. I was doing all that work with the thought that it would get Jesse some awesome action and his first bowkill buck, after hearing the excitement in his voice as he told me about his best deer hunting night ever I would carry four times as much water up that hill all over again. He sat the stand tonight after our camera had been showing lots of deer activity and within 2 minutes he sent me a text that a nice 8pt had already passed through, not twenty minutes later he passed on a younger buck and then another 20 minutes go by and he texts me that he shot this buck that we had on camera exactly 72 hours earlier, he was pretty darn happy to say the least and he put another great shot on this deer with his bow; the kid is a crackshot with his bow, really sucks with a gun in his hand at deer, but really, really good with a bow for some reason, I have to admit since I was with him filming when he shot his first deer with a bow and he double lung smoked it (see picture above). I wanted a hunting buddy with a passion for all hunting that rivals mine and I maybe have found it, he seems like he can keep up and probably even show me up soon enough (little bastard). Best part is, it's not even November yet and we each have another buck tag in our pockets!!

South Dakota Pheasant Hunt

This was my third year heading back to NW South Dakota to hunt on the 2500 acre ranch of some friends I was able to make in my first trip out there and it just keeps getting better. I asked my younger cousins Carl and Jesse if they cared to join me for a wild pheasant hunt and I could tell they were pretty stoked about the trip, my only concern was that after three hard winters out there the bird numbers would really be down, I did my homework and spoke with the Rancher and the game warden in that area and they both assured me the population held pretty steady, I told the guys nothing was a guarantee, but lets go give it a try. The 12 hour drive is a little rough, but knowing wild roosters are waiting certainly helps, the first morning we arrived we were greeted with roosters and partridge walking along the ditches all over not 20 minutes into the hunt Honey flushed her first rooster and Jesse quickly dispatched of it, Honey really only retrieves down birds to me for some reason she will run right by other people to always bring me the bird, so as she is dropping it at my feet, Dustin is calling Jesse to talk about my buck that they just found back in Wisconsin, Jesse found out the hard way wild birds don’t tolerate much and he watched about 40 birds flush up in front of him while he tried dropping his cell phone and picking up his shotgun, it didn’t take us too long after that mishap to limit out on roosters with some partridge and quail mixed in as well, I was most ecstatic to see my yellow lab actually stopping and “pointing” birds that’s quite unheard of for flushing breeds and at 8 years old to pick up that trick must mean you cannot teach old dogs new tricks, they will just learn them on their own; she really amazed us for the 2 days we were out there watching her body language helped us prepare for flushing birds and watching her scent trail running roosters for a hundred yards or better was bittersweet for me, I raised her from a pup she is my pride and joy and her hunting seasons are coming to an end in the next few years I keep wondering if I will even have the drive to hunt ducks or pheasants anymore when my hunting companion can’t join me she was the first hunting dog I ever raised and I bet if I have twenty more none of them measure up to her she is that special, the best part is she was a $250 puppy from some random old man that lives near a pheasant club in Waupun, some people trying to end up with a rare pointing lab have them flown in from England and spend $2,000 on a puppy or buy from the best bloodlines I took a chance and bought from a cheap purebred litter with no field champion pedigrees  and went against my uncle’s advice to NOT buy the cutest dog in the litter, her red fox shade caught my attention and her boldness when she came running up to me right away in front of all her littermates, I should have known right there she was destined for good things. I was just happy to be able to pass on the good memories and love for a flushing rooster with my little cousins they enjoyed shooting the birds and watching Honey work and I enjoyed sitting back and watching it all take place, besides it didn’t take me long to realize they were much quicker to the trigger on a flushing rooster than their old cousin was after about the fifth rooster that Honey flushed in front of me that Jesse blasted out of the sky as I was easing the safety off on my gun I gave up, I sat back with the camera and took some pictures at the end of the last day and as luck would have it Carl came running out of the grass looking a little shocked only to tell me he saw a skunk and Honey wasn’t as scared as him…Great! Skunkey, smelley dog to ride home with. All in all we limited on roosters both days combined with some partridge and grouse and even blasted a few prairie dogs and a rattle snake the last day, I could not be more thankful for Todd and Anna my friends in Bison, SD for their hospitality, I have said it once and I will say it again: nicest people in the world live out there.

Here’s to many more memories and hunts to come, Cheers!

Childhood dream comes to fruition

I started hunting and specifically bow hunting in September of 1999, I remember my brother being a freshman in college and coming home on the weekends to take me to our neighbors land and I sat in the same stand every weekend hoping for that trophy buck with my bow I was lucky enough to kill a few nice 120 class bucks in the first  years of my hunting, but I always felt I needed that 140 class or better buck to solidify myself as a legitimate trophy archer and getting one with a gun won't suffice since any knucklhead can line up crosshairs and pull the trigger, 13 seasons later not much has changed really; I have a few more than just one stand-site to choose from now to say the least, but other than that not much has changed really I still focus on the little details of scent control and not burning stands out before the rut, trimming shooting lanes, putting in water holes in the summer so as not to disturb deer too close to season, knocking on doors and lending a hand to any landowner gracious enough to let my family and I hunt just hoping it would pay off in a big way. October 26^th at 7:30 in the morning it finally did! Jeff and I were going to hunt a little in the morning before he had to get off to work and I had to load up my car and take off for a South Dakota pheasant hunt with my little cousins and Honey. This buck decided to make things interesting to say the least, he steps out at about 33 yards facing directly away from me and dead downwind and by the time I saw him he had 6 feet to go to be in thick brush and gone for good, grunting was not turning him and I was at full draw and not about to take a “texas heart shot” at such a trophy animal, in desperation I tried a “snort weeze” that I had seen on hunting shows that peaked his interest just enough to get him to turn slightly and expose that shoulder I settled the thirty yard pin and let the arrow fly and heard the thud of an arrow hitting bone hard, he trotted 20 yards and slowly walked away, I watched for 5 minutes hoping he would fall and coming to the realization that I clearly didn’t make that spectacular of a shot I figured by how hurt he was he would be recovered, but to make an animal suffer slowly is always a bitter feeling. Dustin, Jesse, Jeff and I came back 4 hours later only to bump him out of his bed and find out he still wasn’t quite dead, that was a low feeling and I realized in the future I need to be more patient when tracking them and give them more time to expire in a marginal shot situation, but this buck may be lost due to my stupidity! The problem now was we were supposed to be leaving for a 12 hour drive to our pheasant hunting property. Dustin assured me he would track down my buck the next morning and Dennis said he would help I knew I had the two best trackers you could find on the job, but that was still hard to leave not knowing for sure if he would be recovered, I had other family members and good friends gracious enough to offer to help those guys track him down and by 9am the next morning Dustin sent a text saying they had found him. Gross scored as a 9pt 145 3/8” and netted unofficially 138 2/8ths I got a picture of a nice 9pt I passed on 2 years ago a hundred yards from where I shot this buck,while I don't believe mine is that deer since that buck would be much bigger by now it sure looks like they share the same genetics with the G4's on the left side.It was extremely gratifying to finally get a trophy buck with the bow, though I found out its more about the memories of the hunt and tracking with family and friends that means more than the inches of bone on the deer’s head; my business partner always reminds me “you get what you earn in life” and I have had a lot of close friends and family that have seen my dedication to this sport tell me if there is anyone out there that deserves a great buck its me I have paid my dues. I don’t know about all that, but I do hope they start coming a little more often than once every thirteen years now. This shoulder mount will be hanging up at my buddy Derek Lenz’ house once I get it back from the taxidermy, he told me he wants a couple nice bucks hanging in his house and I told him I am just the man for the job and would be honored to have my deer on display in his home even though he mostly just has beautiful women over all the time that probably don’t appreciate big bucks, oh well it will just give me another excuse to go visit him, for those of you that don’t know Derek’s story check out this link:   http://www.flowrestling.org/video/505598-Opportunities

I cannot say thanks enough to my family, friends and the amazing people that are out there fighting for this country; being able to enjoy the outdoors and share it with others, that’s a helluva “opportunity”!

Nick