NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/625084
22 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 he was a little kid," Rex said, "he wasn't more than 3 or 5 years old. His sister Camille would sit with him as well." It was with this attention that Frosty, now 30 years old, continued to learn about deer hunting, a passion that he inherited and passed on to his own family. "My three older kids, ages 7, 4, and 2," said Frosty, "and they all have their own bows. We go out once a week and play. We shoot stumps, balls, anything to make it fun." Frosty's desire, like his father's when Frosty was a boy, is to keep his kids involved. This has led to his daughter turkey hunting last spring and duck hunting this fall. "I don't know if it's second nature, but I always remember going with my dad doing something," Frosty said. "I just think it's easy to take them." Easy until, as Frosty began to reminisce, he is forced to referee a WWE-style wrestling match between a laughing grandpa and grandson in a turkey blind. But that's what has always been the biggest bond for this family through the years, all the more strengthened by Rex's decision in 1990 to protect his family's outdoor heritage. That was the first year Rex bought land of his own. "I never had land growing up," said Rex, "and I was saying then that my generation was going to be the last one that didn't pay to hunt, and I think it's coming true now. If you didn't own a place to hunt, then you weren't going to have a place. So through the years I didn't buy a new truck, and I didn't buy a new house, I bought land. And I've bought here and there for many years." Here and there has totaled to about 200 acres – cedar thickets, forests and fields – that doesn't earn a single dollar of income, as Rex has never been interested in making money from this property. "The land is pure habitat," he said, "this year we planted beans, wheat, alfalfa, milo and other food plots. But we have a tractor, a Gator UTV, and that's about all we need." By having their own land, the family's deer passion can be nurtured all year instead of just during the hunting seasons. Land management is a lot of work, Rex admitted, but he and Frosty bring along the kids as much as they can, even when there's tractor work to be done, and it definitely becomes a family affair when it comes to trail cameras. It starts with setting up and then periodically checking the cameras. Currently there are nine on the property. "It starts Rex and his family's passion is deer hunting, and they learn as much as they can about the behavior of whitetails throughout the year, including their use of deer decoys (above) and trail camera photos (below). The trail cameras on his property often garner the most attention throughout the year, as his wife Jodi usually babysits these and reports back to the Adams hunters.