One of my goals this year was to showcase the “behind the scenes” aspect of the outdoors. Luckily, the first weekend of the New Year I have a prime opportunity to do just this. My goal here is to showcase what happens behind all the smiling harvest pictures we see on social media or hear about at the local bait shop.
Dad and I were hunting up by Niobrara, Nebraska for late-rifle season. We had three doe tags to fill and were hoping for at least 2/3 getting filled, if not all three. Saturday morning we were thinking we could pick a nice doe up hunting a couple draws along a field, but quickly learned this was not the correct choice. Luckily, we were able to learn quite a bit by watching about six deer in one field and about a dozen in another. On our way leaving the property we saw the same six deer exactly where we expected. We were very confident in our plan.
We were going to park my pick up next to where we had left Dad’s Expedition hooked up to a trailer with an ATV (in case we had a tough recovery) on top of a big hill and set up about 100-150 yards from where we’d seen the six deer and identified a low spot in the fence separating the access road from the field and the shelterbelt. There was a trail that closely resembled a deer interstate and we knew at least two nice does were in the shelterbelt waiting to come out. If all else failed we had identified another area deer were filtering into a field on the other side of the hill where we were parked.
Now this is where Mother Nature decided to have her voice heard. It was warm-50 degrees warm. This area had also received considerable snow the weeks prior to our hunting. When we left Saturday mid-morning it was about 33-34 degrees. When we returned later in the afternoon it was in the high 40s up to 50 and the road that was previously frozen and solid had thawed and also had more snow melting onto it. We skated across the low area, but because it was so flat I was able to keep my momentum built up.
I’ve attached as many pictures as I could to help tell the story. A picture is worth a thousand words of course! It is important to note these pictures were taken Sunday morning-after the road had refroze.
This road was interesting to say the least. We made it through and were ready to hunt. If it is any indication how wet it was just look at how much our footprints sank in. It is also worth noting right at the end of the fenceline was where a tree branch had fallen and was pushing the top wire down with it’s weight. This is the deer interstate I referred to.
Unfortunately waiting for me was a very steep, long hill. I had assumed this would have dried out, unfortunately this was not the case.
We opened the gate and I tried to build up as much steam as I could. Now keep in mind I have an F150 with Hankook ATMs. They aren’t mud tires, but they’re the next best thing. I had four wheel drive engaged and my “off road mode” told me the truck was at an 8 degree incline and slanted at 6 degrees. Yikes. The moral of the story is I wasn’t attacking this obstacle with a vehicle ill-equipped for the job. I just had a very worthy adversary.
I got about half way up and then I wasn’t going up anymore. In fact as soon as I got off the throttle and applied the brake we actually slid backward. I attempted three times, each time trying to stay on the grass to get as much traction as possible, but the side hill kept throwing me back into the slickest mud.
As you can see there was one particular area I was not getting past. Luckily there was an even steeper portion-so even if I did I wasn’t going to go another 10-15ft. I didn’t want to tear up any property or equipment, plus I could literally hear the deer laughing from the treeline (okay maybe not but the point is there) I went back down the hill and got myself turned around and parked at the gate.
Unfortunately, this is exactly where we expected deer to come out. Deciding this was no longer our best bet to hunt, we walked up the hill (yes it was as steep as my pick up said) and up to where we had Dad’s Expedition. We caught our breath and sat their thinking about what to do. We looked at the road as it continued and it wasn’t getting better. The cornfield was also heavily saturated and soft.
We decide it was in our best interest to pull out of the field. If we were able to get a shot off, there was no guarantee even with the four wheeler we were going to be able to make a successful recovery. In the effort to make this recovery we also didn’t want to do any major damage. The soil of the road just needs one good rain fall to erode back to where it belongs (there were some fairly good ruts in November that were completely gone thanks to the last rain/snowfall), but digging a hole in the road or field would be a different story.
Just as we make the decision we should bail out and also secure we could get my pick up out of there (there was no guarantee I was getting up the other hill on the way out by now either) of course six deer came out on the other side of the hill right where we expected them. On our way out we also spooked two deer from a spot in the field by where my pick up was we would have been able to get a shot off as well.
This was certainly a tough pill to swallow knowing we had done our job and put ourselves in a position to have success, just to have, what at face value was a gorgeous day to be outside, derail our entire plan. On our way out water from melting snow was literally running down the ruts I had created on my way in and starting to pool in low spots.
Sunday morning we were able to get the Expedition and trailer out with no problems as the road had refroze overnight and was going to remain solid for at least a couple hours in the morning. Once we had our equipment safe we saw a few deer and attempted to spot and stalk up on them, but they had slid into the shelterbelt by the time we were able to get into shooting range. Knowing nothing good was going to come out of trying to hunt in the evening we ended up leaving early.
The most important lesson I am trying to get at here is we can never control Mother Nature and her creatures. We had a plan that proved it was going to be successful in getting us shot opportunities. We did nothing wrong just an element out of our power, anyone’s power, created a literal roadblock.
I can also think of multiple times out fishing the words “there’s no reason they shouldn’t be here” were muttered in my boat. Other times I feel like Tommy Callahan playing with my dinghy yelling “need a little wind here” while being heckled by some boys on the dock. (If you’ve never seen Tommy Boy please do-Chris Farley was a funny guy.) We might have a great plan but just need some wind to get the walleyes going or the fish just might not be there for some reason or another.
Whether you’re hunting or fishing no one can control Mother Nature. Sometimes we do everything “wrong” and still have success. Sometimes we do everything “right” and it completely backfires. Whenever you have a tough day in the field or on the lake don’t beat yourself up. Learn from mistakes and accept what we cannot control. The best of plans can fail, but not harvesting an animal or catching a fish doesn’t mean we failed. It is always a great time competing against Mother Nature and her creatures, in situations like this you just need to tip your cap and be proud you put yourself in a position to succeed. We learn from experience and move on. In this situation we’ve learned this property is a no-go when heavy rains or snow melt is the cards we’re dealt.
The other moral to this story is behind every smiling harvest picture we see on social media there is a story. You don’t see pictures of the trips everything goes wrong. My goal here is to show there is more to a story than the picture we see. Never judge yourself or feel like a failure because “everyone else” in your news feed shot a Boone and Crockett buck or caught a 30 inch walleye. The picture is just one part of the story.
My hope is I was able to showcase the “behind the scenes” experiences we have in the outdoors and prove there is way more to a hunting or fishing story than just the success.
Good fishing,
Nick
