The sit was very warm, the sun was radiating down, and I could feel the sweat starting to run down my back. An open pasture was to my left, trails mowed strategically along a tree line were to my right, and just beyond, the river, quietly making beautiful swooshing sounds, was about to offer up what I had been waiting for. Three does appeared out of the tree line and began an agonizingly slow walk up the trail towards me. I stood and tried to steady my breathing and pounding heart.
You read that right, buck fever over some does. It was something I had not experienced in years, even with giant bucks. However, the weapon I was wielding, a spear, had brought me back to the joy and basics of hunting and had my heart racing like a thoroughbred. I had only wanted to spear a black bear with High North Outfitters in Canada, and while Kevin Mattice, the owner, had agreed to it, he also suggested I get another animal under my belt first. Fortunately for me, my home state of Nebraska is the one state in the lower 48 where the spear is recognized as a legal weapon for deer.
My heart was in my throat, but hefting the now comfortable and familiar weight of the spear over my shoulder helped calm me. Everything felt right. With hunter instincts on full alert, I watched their every movement and paid particular attention to their eyes for seconds that turned into minutes. My arm ached, and then I threw. The release was exhilarating! The spear hit exactly where I aimed. Unfortunately, the doe saw it coming and simply stepped to the side of it. When the spear stuck in the ground right behind her shoulder, it wobbled back and forth to the extent that it actually slapped her in the side. I missed, but I had cleared the demons telling me I could not hit a deer. I knew this was going to happen now. I came home elated and told my husband, Adam, that it was the most perfect miss I will ever make. I also learned that unlike an arrow flying, a spear did not spook the deer. They hung around long enough for me to try and reach my second spear under my feet. Another lesson I learned. The second spear must be somewhere easy to grab, yet out of the way and unsheathed. I got busted trying to reach it. If I blinked, moved too fast, or breathed too loud, it was enough to blow them. I had three little whitetails flagging in the wind as they scurried away, flipping me the bird.
The next evening, I was given another opportunity with the exact same scenario of three does. This night, however, I not only stuck one spear in the ground, I stuck two in the ground right where I threw and right into the space the deer no longer occupied. Learning experience number 10,098. This time, I discovered I was proficient enough that I could throw one spear, keep the deer around, pick up the second spear, and throw again. This may sound easy, but trust me, it is not.
The most important thing I learned took a little longer for me to realize. Why on earth were they moving when I was not making any sound while throwing? Ding, ding, ding! It finally hit me. Even though they were not looking at me, I could see their eyes, and if I could see their eyes, then they could see my movement and subsequently “jump” the spear. The rest of the hunt was spent sitting spearless up a tree while the deer frolicked and played as they came from being bedded down and headed to the fields. Not wanting to get busted again, I was stuck. I sat in the tree and pouted for the last hour and read texts from Adam, poking fun at my predicament. He was fully aware that these little pokes are like gasoline on a fire when I’m on a mission, and I was basically explosive at this point.
A couple more hunts resulted in either no deer or no shot, until it finally happened! I got on the stand early and settled in for the wait, but that night, there was no wait. Within 15 minutes, I could see a deer coming from the east out of the corner of my eye. I let it make its way to my stand, and then behind the first came another. I let the first deer cross the fence directly below my stand and let the other one get behind a tree before I stood up. I readied the spear and shifted my eyes to see the rear deer had thankfully put her head down under a branch. Shifting my gaze back, the lead deer had turned broadside and at the same time turned its head completely away. No eyes! I did not think, and my heart did not pound. I simply reacted by letting the spear fly and then watched it hit perfectly. I knew immediately it sank in. Penetration had been another weighty concern, and it had been laid to rest. As the deer jumped and ran off, I could see that the spear had gone clear through the chest and stuck out on both sides. A few yards and seconds later, it quietly went down. My emotions were rolling. I had speared my first deer!
While I had no intentions of ever becoming an actual spear hunter, in that moment and the few seconds it took for the deer to expire, I was hooked. I had thought myself a fairly good hunter before, but hunting with the spear had stepped up everything I thought I knew to a whole other beautiful and challenging level. I am so thankful and blessed to live in a state that recognizes such an amazing weapon, and while I have days I wish we could bait here, I’m actually thankful we can’t because it makes it that much more challenging. I also got my bear with a spear in the spring in Alaska.
If you are looking for a unique “opportunity” hunt and want to test and push your skills as a hunter, I highly recommend spear hunting Nebraska.
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