My 4-day Nebraska public-land adventure ended without a bloody arrow. Temperatures weren’t hot; they were torrid. My idea of a great rut hunt is a stiff north breeze biting at my nose — crinkling my toes from time to time to fight off the chill — bundled in layers and watching my breath turn white before my very eyes. This wasn’t the case. Morning temps were in the high 40s and low 50s, warming to the make-you-pour-sweat 80s during the middle of the day. And even though the public-land motorcycle bandit (those of you who follow this blog know who I’m referring to) was nabbed, the damage had been done.
My hunting partner and I finally found deer — not many but a few — pushed into the deepest darkest timber on the property. The timber bordered adjacent private land, and we found a few spots to hang our sets. On the first morning in, I managed to grunt in a dinky 2x3 I would have dropped the string on, but he held up in the timber. I only had a few shooting lanes in the dense pine thicket, and I couldn’t get the little scrapper to line up in any of them.
Things got interesting that evening. A mature doe and her fawn strolled through a small opening 20 yards from my stand just as the sun was setting. Minutes later, two titans squared off in the deep woods on the private side of the fence. It was an epic battle filled with deep, guttural grunts and snort wheezes. The second the pair broke apart, I rolled the dial on my Primos Revolver to the Mature Grunt position and let out a series of grunts. The response from what I assumed was the victor was immediate. Seconds after tucking the call back into my coat, I could hear tines clanking against cedar branches. Then, just like that, the buck was standing at the fence. Due to the backdrop and the fading light, I couldn’t make out the exact composition of his rack, but he was big. He simply wouldn’t jump the fence. I snort wheezed, and he stared. I snort wheezed again, and he stared. In desperation, I rotated the dial on my Revolver to the Doe Bleat position. He stared. Then, as quickly as he’d materialized, the buck vanished. That evening wrapped up my Nebraska public-land venture. I hate not punching a tag, but who knows I may be back ...
Until then, it’s on to Kansas for the final leg of this two-stop western whitetail tour.
NOTE: Anyone who has followed this blog over the last few years knows I don’t use it to plug a lot of products, but when I find one I really believe in I want those who read my words to know about it. I’ve found such a product in Primos’ Revolver. A compact grunt tube that is so much more, this do-it-all deer call with the simple rotation of a marked flo-green dial will produce six noticeably different deer vocalizations.
The call is super easy to use, and the two bucks that I called in during my Nebraska hunt responded to this call very well. I’m excited to give it a test run in Kansas. The vocalization list of the Revlover includes: EB – Estrus Bleat, DB – Doe Bleat, DG – Doe Grunt, YD – Young Grunt (Buck or Doe), MB – Buck Grunt and TB – Mature Buck Grunt. Give this call a go. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.
For questions or comments, drop Bauserman a line at jbauserman@grandviewmedia.com.
