It was my 3rd trip to Americas top Corn and Big Buck proucing state, Iowa. After 2 unsuccessful trips loaded with big buck encounters, my girlfriend and camera-girl Arika Sanders headed to Iowa to ransack Kisky farms and try to lay a meat missile into one of their giants grown with love! I had also been hunting a few farms that were for sale with Gabe Adair, from Whitetail Properties, and was skipping around on farms, depending on the prevailing winds. I had gotten some cool trail cam video on my Bushnell trail scout of a big one I was hunting on a piece of Gabe's and had a few encounters with him, but the wind never got right to hunt the farm again.

Our first evening back, November 24, was spent in a blind on a cut corn field at the Kisky's. There was little action and the sun went down with only a few young deer entering the field. The next morning we headed for a tree high on a heavily timbered ridge 500 yards above a corn filed. I hunted this stand in late October and had an exciting morning, rattling in 5 different bucks including a 6 year old brute with a broken front shoulder that had been broken since he was a 2 year old. I was going to shoot him but there were too many twigs in the way and he winded us at the last moment.

We made our way to the stands 45 minutes before shooting light and would be set up in two separate trees. I climbed up Arika's tree and got the camera equipment set, then climbed down, sent her up and got in my own perch. As the sun rose, the woods were quiet and no deer seemed to be moving. Much different than my first sit on the ridge. After an hour and a half I decided to try a doe bleat on my Flextone Buck Collector call. Within seconds I saw a deer fleeing the scene. I didn't realize but Arika was filming a mature 8pt behind her and I though she was just getting scenic’s and pan shots. As we talked over the situation I looked down the draw and saw a brute headed right to our stands! At first she couldn't see the buck but I told her to keep watching cause he was closing fast. Finally she spotted him and zoomed in. The buck was headed straight from the base of her stand and was about to go under it. I could see she was going to get bound up so I stopped the buck and sent a G5 Tekkan on a Beman Bone Collector arrow through his boiler room. The buck jumped and ran 20 yards and stopped, looking straight at the camera. Arika slowly pushed back to the buck as he began to sway, looking like he was about to fall. In the meantime, I grabbed another arrow and got hooked up. The buck was quartering severely left, I put my 20 yd pin in front of his hip and the Tekkan ripped completely through him and came out his right shoulder. He went 40 yards and tipped over!!! He is a 4 year old buck, one Don had trail cam photos of this year and encounters with the year before.

It was a real treat to spend time hunting at the Kisky's. Don has been someone I have envied as a deer hunter for 20 years! It was very special to share the recovery with He and Kandi and these are memories I won't ever forget. Thanks to Don and Kandi for letting me kill one of the many monsters that roam their farms and thanks to their son Kaleb for showing me up as the biggest moron in camp!!! Thanks Kaleb!!! Check this show out on Season 2 it will be action packed!!! Bone Killed one too, but he will have to tell you about it, cause my fingers are tired!!!!!!!!

 From Vatoville we traveled North To Visit my good friends at Concho Valley Outfitters. Scott Halls owns the operation and it's loaded with great bucks and great numbers of deer. Scott feeds his herd literally tons of high protein feed and his deer are in the best of shape! It didn’t take long and we were laying out big bucks on the Texas turf! Pitts killed a great 135 inch 8, T-Bone smoked a huge bodied 10 that scored 142 and I killed a great 11 point that scored 145! Just minutes after shooting my buck at 22 yards with the new Bone Collector arrow, tipped with a G5 meat missile, my Girlfriend Arika, was able to kill a huge 6 pt that was around 7 years old. It was a great week and the time flew by, now all we can do is wait to head to the Lone Star state next year, I always look forward to that!!!! 

Concho Valley Outfitters

From October 13 to the 20 T-bone and myself traveled to San Angelo TX to hunt at Vatoville, we hosted Joel Harris from G5 as well as the G5 hunter winner Randy Dyer and his wife Sheila. My girlfriend Arika Sanders and Greg Thompson were behind the cameras and Michael "Channel Cat" Pitts tagged along to take in the Texas deer management fiesta! Everyone had a good time and we whacked 28 deer in 3 days!

Joel was able to take a great 9 point and an old cull buck, T and myself each shot old pig headed cull bucks. It was a great getaway and always good to meet up with the Anderson's who are the greatest hosts! Thanks to Steve and Michele for their friendship and also to Billy Bob "Bunk" Galbreath for his hard work and dedication to blood trails!

Concho Valley Outfitters

T-Bone and I headed to one of my favorite stompin' grounds, 7J outfitters in Wyoming to hunt Muleys and Antelope with Jeff and Deb Smith. I worked as a guide at 7J for almost 15 years and know the areas and its potential very well. I would be guided by Micheal Aberle, the youngest son of Jeff and Deb, I have literally seen this kid grow up and filmed him kill his first turkey and deer and now the little turd would be showing me how to do it! We got right to work and started looking for a good buck that Michael had seen scouting in the weeks leading up to our hunt. Wind, rain and a little snow got in the way for a few days, but we kept our chins up and connected on a great 25 inch buck on the second to the last day. My camera jock Franklin Ford from Georgia was put through the ringer on his first western trip and he did a great job capturing the action and laughing at my stupid jokes! Thanks Franklin, I had a blast and you can run with me anytime! On the last day I connected on a massive goat at over 250 yards, after embarrassing myself on 2 misses at 160!! 

  Bone had a great hunt as well and smoked a brute muley with heavy horns and stickers, and a great speed goat! He was running with Cameraman Dan Johnson from the great state of Wyoming, one of my old buddies from just down the road. Dan and I have known each other for almost 20 years and he is a great guy! 

 Jeff and Deb run Trophy hunts for Mule Deer, Whitetails, Elk, Antelope, and Have the best Merriam’s Turkey hunting in the West. Go to their website and check out the pictures!!!! Thanks to all my friends at 7J for the years of good times and all of the hospitality and great food!!! Its nice to spend time with people that you consider family!!

Nick Tells about his Trip to Utah

Nick continues his Tri p in Utah, Making his mark

Nick gets ready to hit the Road

The first week in December the crew was at Hadley Creek Outfitters in Illinois for muzzleloader hunt. We got our stuff settled and relaxed around Stacy Ward’s amazing trophy room. The next morning we headed to our stands, I would be hunting on a bean field where I had seen a big buck a couple of times while bow hunting. Just after daylight I saw the buck but he was out of range, he fed for over an hour and then left the field. That evening we went back to the same location and deer started filtering into the field around 300pm. I glassed in the timber and spotted a good buck bedded, all I could see was the deer’s horns and he looked to be a 140’s class 9 point.

He disappeared and a few does began to come out into the field near where he had been bedded. Then I saw another buck, this one was a little bigger, long G 2’s and 3’s and good mass, but a little narrow. I decided to take a shot, had a good solid rest and missed him by an inch. I was crying around, feeling sorry for myself when the buck that I had seen bedded popped out right beside my blind. My cameraman Tyler Viars “Squeedunk” got on him and told me to take the shot. I did, he’s dead and he’s a beauty.

Thanks to Stacy Ward and the gang at Hadley Creek Outfitters for an amazing experience and tune into the show to see the full story!!!!!!!

On the 13th of September I flew from Fairbanks AL to some town in Texas, met up with my cameraman Stephen Boulware and drove two hours into New Mexico where we met up with my good friend Cory Knowlton of Global Hunting Resources. We would be hunting speed goats with Beaver Head Outfitters and Cowboy Chuck Martin would be our guide. New Mexico’s antelope season is a two-day event and Beaver Head’s leases hold lots of animals. The biggest surprise was when I arrived at camp Corey had flown in my girl friend, Arika Sanders, to ride along and witness the event.

The first morning we woke up, headed out and got on a group right off the bat with a goofy horned buck, but just couldn’t get a shot at him. So we continued looking and we spotted a buck that I wanted to put my tag on, Stephen, Corey and I put the sneak on and with one shot from my TC Icon had a nice 14.5” buck down. Now it was Cory’s turn. We looked over several groups of antelope, none with a buck big enough, but we finally spotted a lone buck and put a sneak on him. Corey made a perfect 150 yard shot and also had himself a good 14” goat.

Thanks to Chuck and the guys at Beaver Head Outfitters for a great hunt for more information on great hunts around the globe contact Global Hunting Resources @ globalhuntingresources.com.

On the 27th of August I met up with my buddy - Donnie Vincent - in Fairbanks for a fifteen-day bear and moose hunt. I would be hunting black bear and Donnie would be hunting Grizzly and Moose. Donnie had drawn a special permit on the Koyukuk Wildlife Refuge; possibly one of the best moose hunts in North America.

Our trip started with a 70-mile boat ride up the Koyukuk River, transferred our gear onto a smaller jet boat and we continued up a small tributary to bear camp. We hunted there for 6 days, experienced a few sittings, caught many world class arctic grayling on dry flies but because of unseasonably warm weather and a bad blueberry crop we were unsuccessful filling Donnie’s grizzly tag and my black bear tag. So, we loaded the jet boat and headed back down two and half hours to the Koyukuk, reloaded the gear in our original prop boat and headed up river another two hours to Virgal Umphenour’s main moose camp on the banks of the Koyukuk. There we would camp overnight, get new supplies, and head out the following morning for a spike camp – 30 additional miles up river.

We decided to hunt our way up the river to spike camp. Along the way we stopped and one of our guide’s - Shawn Huffman - secret hunting holes. We hiked for several miles and then found two cows at the back of the meadow, so we closed the distance and couldn’t see any bulls so we went beyond them and Shawn raked a tree, a bull immediately answered and headed our way. As he came closer he was grunting like crazy, we could see his horn tips swaying through the willows, coming closer and closer to our position. He was pushing 70 inches wide, but he had narrow palms, and only a few long brow twines. So, Shawn instructed Donnie to pass this one.

We set up our spike camp and hunted hard for several more days to no avail. In the meantime, I shot some beavers with my Hoyt Katera and we set up some black bear baits with the carcasses. On the fifth day we had an encounter with a huge Boone and Crocket bull, that was coming right to us, but a smaller bull came out of the willows and got his attention –we ran out of daylight before we could get a shot off. This bull was a true monster.

On the final morning of the hunt, I awoke at 5am and heard something rummaging through our camp, just a few yards outside of the tent. I grabbed producer Marc Womack’s 45, unzipped the tent opening to see a 150lb. black bear staring right at me – 5 yards. I cocked the hammer on the pistol, aimed and fired at the bear’s chest and he died 12 yards from our tent. An hour or so after daylight we started investing around the camp and discovered that the bear had ripped out both windows of our tent, where myself and Donnie had been sleeping. We were unable to hear what was going on, we had earplugs in our ears because Marc snores like a bear in heat.

It was ironic that I had spent several days baiting bears with no shows, and then on the last day I fill my tag in the middle of camp just in my underwear! What luck!!! In the words of Michael Waddell, I would rather be lucky then good any day. So, true.

That evening we went back to the main moose camp, we spent the night and headed to town to catch our airplane. Donnie stayed behind to hunt for 4 more days without us, to see if he could fill his moose tag. As luck would have it - the very first morning after we leave, Donnie and Shawn found a small herd of cows and see horn tips sticking out of the grass. They snuck into about 50 yards, the bull stood up and Donnie hammered him with his TC muzzleloader dropping the bull within 50 yards. The best part - Shawn captured the whole hunt on video! Donnie’s bull was a little over 60 inches wide, truly, an awesome ending to an amazing trip in one of the world’s last true wildernesses.

Make sure you catch this hunt on an upcoming episode of Michael Waddell’s Bone Collector only on the Outdoor Channel.