2020, The Best Year Ever

For most of the world, 2020 has been anything but the best no matter how you look at it.  But, for an archery deer hunter looking to travel to Northern Nebraska, it might well be the best year in history.  That’s right, I said in history, here’s why:

As far as I know, I was the lone ranger starting an archery only Whitetail deer hunting outfit in Northern Nebraska back in 1991.  Back then the only ones that had quality deer were those who put the time, money, effort and patience into making it so.  Certainly the years that followed have been the best archery hunting opportunities ever to exist in my part of Nebraska.  That said, like any area there is a difference between the best years and the worst years. 

As an outfitter you work hard to minimize the differences, and we have.  But weather is that one wildcard that you cannot control.  I’ve always said that the difference in antler growth between a really wet year and a terribly dry year is about 10%.  Given this estimate, that 150 inch buck you were hoping to hunt may have turned into a 135 through the grueling spring/summer drought.  That said, some bucks will hole up in a spot where they still have everything they need.  In one of our driest years ever one of our bowhunters took a 175” buck that was as healthy and fat as ever.  By no means do I think he would have been a 200” buck if the year had been better.  He just had a nice, low stress place to live during the antler growing season, and plenty of food and mineral, which we helped with!

There is another factor though that is not often considered:  How many dry or wet years have there been in the area in a row?  The reason why I say this year may be the best ever is because we have not had so many incredible wet years in a row since QDMA came to our area.  Our last dry year was 2012.  It was a terrible drought across the middle of the state but it did also affect us up north, especially later in the summer and early fall.  Any deer born the year after that would be 8 now.  That’s probably 95% of our doe population and 100% of our buck population.  This means that these deer have not just had one great year followed by a bad one, then by an average one.  These deer have lived a life of luxury and gluttony for their entire lives!  They don’t know even what an average rain year is like.  They’ve never seen one!

Of course these weather trends are cyclical and they will pass.  I recently purchased an irrigated farm next to our farm in preparation for the drier years that will come again.  Having been in this for the long term, I did this to add acres, different crop hunting opportunities especially for early and late seasons, but also to be able to control a large amount of cropland to keep our deer fed during critical times without having to hope for a rain that doesn’t come.

With the best mix of food plots, alfalfa, corn and soybeans we’ve ever had plus 8 years of plenty, I’m convinced that this fall will be the best deer hunting we have ever guided in our nearly 30 years of outfitting.  If you are bowhunter looking to go on a bowhunting trip this fall, northern Nebraska is definitely an area you should consider.  If you want to hunt with us, season opens September 1.  Vertical or crossbow is legal and we do have a few spots left from September 1 to November 7.  We kill big deer every year, but years like this are what we live for-when the sky is the limit.

Prairie King Ranch, LLC
James Brion
406.369.0160
jamesbrion@icloud.com