Secrets of the Sandhills
A Nebraska Sandhills Novel
Deer Camp 2022
Hunting the Sandhills
We finished our twenty-fourth rifle season at Deer Meadows Outfitters Sunday evening hunkered down next to a frozen lake, squinting into the setting sun at a muley buck and his doe just over the neighbor's fence. It seemed to be a fitting end to nine days of tough hunting. This year's drought sent deer on migrations to find greener pastures elsewhere, leaving only the faithful residents to pick from. I snapped photos throughout the season to bring you a recap of our hunts. Hope you enjoy!
A couple days of freezing fog coated the hills with ice prior to opening morning.
My hunter, Jeff, and I sidestepped this sleepy old muley that we dubbed "The Black and White Buck".
We also stumbled across this old fixer-upper.
Jeff departed to his home in Texas deerless, but satisfied that we gave it our best. My next two hunters, Steve and Brent, arrived from Maryland Wednesday evening.
They got their first taste of the Sandhills on a chilly, snowy morning that eventually broke into patches of blue sky, revealing the Air Force refuelers overhead.
Late in the afternoon we glassed this old muley hanging with a young fork-horn. We put the stock on and dropped him with a single, precise 290 yard shot.
Two days later, we found ourselves glassing for herds from one of the tallest hills in Grant County.
Steve discovered this pretty buck a couple ranges over and we put the sneak on him. Success!
With my two hunters tagged out, Cousin Gene and his hunter, Ken, loaded into my truck and we went on a last day desperation hunt. Gene's boot couldn't stand his walking speed and flopped apart so we taped it together for the final hours. The whitetail-racked muley that we found just across the fence didn't jump to our side, so we returned home that night empty handed.
We found this old Kinkaider foundation, reminding us of the European's efforts to tame these hills.
Monday morning we loaded our gear and headed back to our normal lives: General Gene to Ft. Kearny, Capt. Rich to his home in Aspen, and Gene's old ford, "The Deer Magnet" to its resting place behind the shop where it awaits its next big adventure at Deer Meadows.
