November 2020 • Nebraskaland 43
the road. "It was always full of geese so we figured we'd better
start hunting them," Blaine said. The boys' grandparents
started accumulating goose decoys, a collection Blain said
they were fortunate to have been able to take over. "We kind
of got handed a lot of the stuff that you need to be successful
in it, and then just kind of ran with it I guess," he said.
"And now we're building 16-foot pits," said Kobe, who lives
in Imperial.
While the two spend most of their time hunting together,
they take their brothers and fathers along, too, when they want
to go, which isn't nearly as often as the boys want to hunt.
College will cut into the time they have to hunt together
in the years to come: Blaine headed west to Torrington,
Wyoming, and Kobe east to Lincoln. They were back home
Labor Day weekend trying to sneak within bow range of
mule deer in the pastureland around Wauneta and Imperial.
They will meet back there whenever they can. Blaine plans
on returning to the area after college, starting a welding
business and growing the outfitting business.
Their parents are all right with their son's chosen hobbies,
even though being gone so much can cause some tension at
home.
"It caused a little stress every once in a while," Kelly said.
"It was a good trade-off. He was outside and experiencing
all of that good stuff, and it was a lot better than the
alternatives.
"There's a lot worse things a kid could be doing," Chad
said. "The kids hunting and fishing is just a great thing."
N
Clevenger and Blaine and Chad Dorn leave the Frenchman Creek bottom with a gobbler in hand.
