36 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017
Sight of a late-summer buck rub might
elicit a call between hunting partners that
could last an hour or more.
rut will chase does without
ever thinking of nearby
danger, and because of their
own patterns, I've seen
more than one deer catch
wind of me from a trail and
then turn in the opposite
direction and walk away
… only to return down the
same trail in 15 minutes
with a new outlook on life.
Because of this wide
display of unpredictable
behaviors, hunters are given
the ability to cross off
bucket list moments during
their hunting ventures.
Whether they've seen a
deer make a rub or a scrape,
or witnessed two bucks
fighting – these are stories
that a hunter can return
to camp with. While one
hunter will tell about the
buck that ran beneath his
stand after he accidentally
dropped his coffee mug,
the other hunter will play
topper, relaying the tale
about the doe "who kept
looking over its shoulder as
she neared. I just knew he
was coming behind her."
Sometimes the buck does
come behind her, but many
more times he doesn't.
Which is why we continue
to go. For there will always
