(dramatic music)
- [Announcer] From CarecoTV, one of the longest-running
outdoor programs on television today.
Exploring the country and the coast
in search of adventure.
(turkeys gobbling)
From the mountains of the great northwest,
to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean,
this is Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin.
(energetic music)
This week we welcome Yamaha's Steve Nessl
to our deer camp for whitetail hunts
with his Smith and Wesson Performance Center
.44 Magnum Stealth Hunter,
and the Thompson/Center T/C Venture Rifle.
But first, we're heading to Cotulla, Texas
for the annual International Hunter Education
Association's Heritage Hunt.
(country rock music)
- We have three lucky students
and two lucky Hunter Education instructors
that submitted an entry card from the Hunter's Handbook
into a national drawing, and they were selected
to go on this fabulous dream hunt
down here on the Hickson property in south Texas.
The first thing that we do when the kids
and the instructors come to the camp
is sight in their firearms.
We want to make sure that they're comfortable
with the firearms that they'll use for the hunt,
and also of course, when you're sighting in
you're making sure that your shots are good.
And to make a good shot when it comes time to taking it
is one of the tenets taught in the Hunter Education class.
- The most important thing we can do as hunters
is be ethical and make the cleanest kill possible
when we try to harvest our animal.
So having that rifle sighted in properly,
and getting the shooter and the hunter
most comfortable with that rifle is best.
Because our ultimate goal is to make a clean,
ethical kill on that animal.
(country music)
- I'm in Cotulla, Texas,
and I'm here to shoot some whitetail deer,
and whatever else they want me to shoot, I guess.
I heard about this hunt
by doing it in the Hunter Education Program.
And in one of the books they handed out
there was a little piece of paper that said
something about winning a trip of a lifetime,
and I figured I mind as well do it.
There's nothing to lose, so my luck, I got it.
- I honestly didn't even know he did this,
and he did it online, and out of 700,000 kids
he was one of the three that got picked.
I don't think anything can top it.
I mean before when we were flying here,
he said this is already the best.
And he says, I just know it's gonna be the best ever.
This is the best time, the best airport,
the best people, and you know,
he talks about it every night.
(expectant music)
(gun fires)
(mumbling)
Unbelievable that he did it with one shot.
I honestly couldn't see it out of the deer stand
so I just sat in the corner you know,
and I'm like, oh, thinking is he gonna do this?
Is he gonna do this?
And all of a sudden, there went the shot,
and I honestly didn't know he was that good.
(laughing)
I just wanted to give him a big hug,
and I knew I couldn't 'cause it's a mom thing.
And when he found that deer and says,
it's here, I found it, it was the best feeling
that he got to find his deer in the dark,
and he did it all himself.
My dad was a huge hunter.
Before Trenton even got into hunting,
my dad had passed away and gave him orange,
and we got one of my dad's guns, and we hunted dad's land.
He's you know, enjoyed time with his grandpa,
and now I believe my dad's up in heaven
watching his grandson.
- I'd like to thank Cabela's, ITA,
all the people here now.
Just everybody.
- [Announcer] For more information
about the International Hunter Education Association,
and the Heritage Hunt, please visit IHEA-USA.org.
Coming up, Steve Nessl from Yamaha
gets the chance to hunt during the rut
in varieties of settings.
Stay tuned.
- [Announcer] Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin,
is brought to you by Garmin VIRB.
Life, camera, action.
Cabela's, it's in your nature.
Yamaha ATV.
Real world tough.
And by Thompson/Center.
America's Master Gunmaker.
(energetic music)
Welcome back to Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin.
Yamaha's Steve Nessl arrives at deer camp
in the afternoon for a four-day whitetail hunt,
and he quickly starts it off with a Smith and Wesson
Performance Center .44 Magnum Stealth Hunter.
- Alright, we all got ears?
I shot at the range first.
I reconfirmed one, how much I love to shoot it.
And two, that I'm actually pretty good with it.
I don't want to come off as bragging,
but for me, it's an easy gun to shoot,
and if you have you know, just a couple things dialed,
and you're not scared of it, which there's no reason to be,
(laughs) I like this gun a lot.
- [Male] That's awesome. (laughs)
(gun fires)
- Little low and right.
(gun fires)
This is a fun gun to shoot.
I don't even worry about the kick at all.
I just try and get my grip right.
Go out this afternoon and have a good time.
(energetic music)
(expectant music)
Right there, walkin' to the left.
Can you see her?
I can't get the gun on her.
There it is.
(gun fires)
Put it in the front left shoulder.
She's down right over here.
This thing's awesome.
(laughing)
Oh my goodness.
Alright, shot her about 25 yards that way.
Saw her start to plow up right there
in those bushes in front of us makin' a raucous,
and I think she's right over here.
Oh, there she is.
And I plowed her front left shoulder, just like I thought.
This thing right here is a whole lot of fun,
and it is very, very efficient.
I think we did pretty good tonight.
Take her back.
I don't know if we need her for camp meat this week.
If we do, more than happy to donate.
But if not, I'm definitely more than happy
to take her home, too.
She won't go to waste.
We got little bit of a herd management in the books tonight.
Pretty good poke for me with a handgun, first time out.
I was on the board.
I was you know, one hunt in, couple hours in camp,
and I already had a doe on the ground,
hangin' meat in the cooler.
You know, really excited about the momentum I had going,
and it was time to transition (mumbling).
I had eight hunts, four full days.
So let's make a plan about going after a buck.
- [Announcer] Up next, Steve changes things up a little bit.
He puts down his handgun and grabs a Thompson/Center
T/C Venture Rifle for the next whitetail hunt.
- [Announcer] Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin,
is brought to you by Smith and Wesson Performance Center.
Performance when it matters most.
Walker's Game Ear.
Protected, or lose it.
And by Conquest Scents.
Hunting and dog training scents.
(country music)
Welcome back to Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin.
Well, we're at deer camp in Brackettville, Texas
with our guest Steve Nessl from Yamaha.
Now after we took a doe with a Performance/Center
Stealth Hunter, today he decided to hunt
with a Thompson/Center T/C Venture Rifle,
and headed out to the stand called Sinkhole,
looking for mature whitetail bucks.
- I haven't sat there before.
I've heard a lot about it.
You know, it's game-rich, lot of different types
of animals comin' in.
We've got walking orders that pigs are fair game,
and that's you know, a whole nother component
to my hunt this time was pigs need to go.
And we're just out there lookin',
and right away, there's pigs.
(ambient music)
(gun fires)
Was on the board.
You know, after the first night hunt with a doe,
very next morning I'm on the board with a pig.
It turns out that wouldn't be the only pig
I took that morning.
(ambient music)
(gun fires)
(country music)
So it was a good sit.
It was a lot of fun, great spot.
I mean, you're up there looking and it's gorgeous.
It's a really nice looking spot.
A lot of animals coming through.
We did have a shooter deer come through.
A shooter buck.
This one came in, and I could tell right away
he was a young deer, and he was a big deer,
but he wasn't one that we were gonna take.
I mean this was just somethin' about you know,
the aging process that I've learned,
or am still learning over time,
that I knew I had to respect.
We watched this deer walk around
for probably two and a half, three hours,
and in my mind, posing half the time.
Little frustration maybe, but at the same time
knowing the right thing to do is exactly what we were doing,
which was waitin' to find an older deer,
gettin' rid of some pigs in the meantime,
and then we're just gonna have to find a place
to go that afternoon to continue our search.
(engine roaring)
So the evening hunt on my first full day.
You know, my first full day
of looking for an older buck deer,
we go to a place called Why Here Ridge.
And I haven't been to this spot before,
and the reason we went there was because of the sun.
It was the afternoon hunt, and the sun was gonna be setting,
but there were no clouds and we wanted a spot
where we weren't gonna get blasted.
It was pretty warm.
Gorgeous spot, and shaded.
And so you're tucked in, you're camouflaged,
you're comfortable, nice tripods.
I had a good rest for the gun.
You know, everything was setup,
and then all heck broke loose.
(expectant music)
First there was a spike that came in
that didn't care we were there.
I think he knew we were there
'cause he was there while we were gettin' set up.
You know, and then his buddy the forky came in,
and then some you know, it looked three and a half year old
eights came in, and there's some does and some fawns,
and some more small bucks millin' around.
And we watched them for a couple hours.
And then, boom.
In walks this seven that was you know,
we both had at, at least four and a half.
You know, and we were again, I'm not good at the aging.
I start looking for telltale signs.
Old-looking face, you know, suede back.
You know, pooch of a belly, and just a labored gait.
You know, deer looks like it's walking a little bit.
And then an eight came in that's just,
will haunt me for a while, this deer now.
He's just super, super wide.
He had good twos.
Super small brows, but good twos,
and then crab claws out front.
But he was so wide, and such an old deer.
I knew right away this deer was old just by glancin' at him.
And I'm like, wow he could be the one.
He definitely could be the one.
And just at last light, a heavy-horned eight,
and we never got really too good a look at him.
A heavy-horned eight, really thick-horned eight,
brown chocolate antlers comes in,
and the original eight and this new guy
proceed to have the biggest battle I've ever seen in person.
(dramatic music)
At that point, for whatever reason,
whether it was the threat of well,
one of them killing the other one, or antlers breaking off,
I started to regret not taking the eight earlier.
'Cause I had ample, half-hour,
45 minutes to get a good shot.
And well no, if I'd done it, we wouldn't have seen the fight
but now wait, they're ruttin',
and they're still ruttin' pretty hard.
This guy, he may get chased off.
He may find a doe, he may break.
What did I just do?
- [Announcer] Well Steve just made a pass
on a really nice deer, so the search continues.
Find out if he can find another mature buck, coming up next.
- [Announcer] Americana Outdoors, presented by Garmin
has been brought to you
by Stealth Cam Digital Scouting Cameras.
The game has changed.
Hercules Outdoor Industries,
and by TenPoint Crossbow Technologies.
Perfection lives here.
(energetic music)
- Jeff and I hunted exclusively via the Wolverine this hunt
for a couple reasons.
One is, it's just he and I,
so having a three-seated vehicle
like the Viking wasn't gonna be necessary,
and the Wolverine, you know, being a dedicated two-seater
was gonna work fine for our purposes.
Two, it was over on the (mumbling) we were running,
so we dropped in every day.
We threw our stuff in the back of the Wolverine,
and we took off, and it just amazes me
how quickly the Wolverine can get over
some of those ranch roads in comfort.
Not that speed is necessarily a key component to a hunt,
but just to be able to get from point A to point B
with you know, if it's cold,
and you can cut the time, why not?
It's super comfortable, it's super capable.
We got into some spots where we're goin'
to the whitetail bluff, or we're goin' to whitetail ridge,
where it's rocky and it's you know,
just in four-wheel drive, that thing is plush,
and it's capable, and it's fun.
And to bring the fun into the hunt, man that doesn't suck.
So super capable vehicle.
I mean you know, it doesn't have a tilting cargo bed
or a third seat like the Viking does,
but it fit mine and Jeff's needs just fine,
and overall just a great hunt, as usual.
(slow music)
- [Announcer] After an amazing encounter
with big, mature bucks yesterday,
Steve is hoping to find more bucks today
at a different location, at the whitetail ridgeline.
- We sat on the hill and got set up,
and there was a blind in there,
and we almost got walked over the top of
by a couple of deer.
It just wasn't a good hunt, to be honest with you.
I was a horrible hunter that morning.
We got busted, and some spike decided
that we were his business and he wasn't gonna let go,
and he looked at us for 20 minutes, and it was frustrating.
Alright, it became time to make a plan
for the next evening hunt, and I wanted to go back
to the place we were the night before.
I wanted to go back and find that eight
'cause now I wanted him.
Now he was my trophy.
And we went back to the same spot that night
that we went the night before, and nothin'.
Am I ever gonna see that deer again?
And all of a sudden the rut, which can play in your favor,
is playing against me.
They're not patterned.
You basically are guessing.
And what's your best guess?
For us, it was let's go to whitetail bluff.
So we got into the bluff in the morning,
and got set up, and immediately I look down off to our left
and there is a monster.
I actually thought it was an axis deer.
And then the deer gets off to our left, and we're blocked.
The spot we picked had a bush here on purpose.
We were trying to get tucked into a spot.
We hardly saw that deer,
and by the time it came shooting light,
camera light and shooting light, he was gone.
We knew he was a 10.
We knew he was big, he looked heavy,
but we couldn't tell how old he was.
You know, we didn't know if he was an older deer or not.
And then about the time we're gettin' ready to pack it in,
a legitimate monster walks in.
A just ridiculously stud toad of a deer walks in,
and I know pretty much right away
that he's probably not on the hit list.
If he's on a list that Wade's gonna say no,
don't shoot that deer.
I look at him, and he's too cool,
and I could tell by his body and my limited aging experience
that he's a young deer, and I never even reached for my gun.
We're hoping some day he was going to be a huge,
just freak of a deer, and a you know,
memorable experience for somebody.
If not me, then somebody else.
(peaceful music)
We were gonna go back to the whitetail bluff
because we'd moved down a little bit left.
We'd taken our bush to the left
that had blocked us the night before, taken it out of play.
We moved down, we feel better about the spot we're in
on the same bluff, and we're hopin' to see that 10.
We walked up to see our spot
and there's a bunch of white things.
Four-legged white fluffy things walkin' around
down in front of us.
(upbeat music)
I hate sheep.
It's about the noise they make, I think.
We were hunting sheep pasture,
so for me to say that is pretty hypocritical.
There's a lot of good deer down there
and the sheep live there too.
What in the world is going on?
Where can we go where there's no sheep?
I want an older deer,
and I don't want to have to deal with sheep,
and I'm becoming high-maintenance.
And all I want is an older deer.
Just it could be that seven, it could be that eight.
It could be any older deer at this point.
(sheep baaing)
(slow country music)
Last hunt for me.
End of season here in Texas.
All I want's an old deer.
We're gonna go back to the place we went the first night
when we saw the eight and the seven,
and that other heavy-horned deer that followed the eight
that we all know they were pretty much all shooters.
All we need is one of 'em to come in.
So we get in super early,
and this is the same place we hunted the first night,
and all those usual suspects.
I even texted Wade, usual suspects are here.
The spike, the fork horn, the you know,
three and a half year old eights that are you know,
they're decent deer but they're nothin' to write home about
and they may get bigger.
They might be really cool.
There's some does, there's some fawns,
and they're all cruisin' around,
and there's some sparring, and there's the regular deal.
Tick-tock, man it's gettin' late.
It's four o'clock and we've been in there for three hours.
You know, and they're not comin' in,
and it's 4:30, and it's five, and it's 5:30,
and it's gettin' dark, and I'm lookin' at Jeff,
and I'm like, oh man, man, man, man.
Then it gets dark.
That's it. We're done.
I mean, it's on me.
I could've taken the first shot the first night.
I think I told Jeff that night,
and Wade actually repeated to me when I got back to camp,
don't pass on something the first day
that you take on the last, and I did, I did.
And that's you know, you roll the dice.
You're rollin' the dice.
That's why we took educated guesses in camp.
You can't pattern the deer.
I mean, Wade went out maybe two nights when I was here
'cause he was workin', doing things,
and he scored on a ridiculously gorgeous,
it happened for him on a one evening hunt.
And for me, I had four full days
and the odds were not in my favor.
But this experience right here,
in no way will dampen my desire to come back.
It's always a good time.
And even though I didn't get a buck,
definitely another successful hunt.
(energetic music)
- [Announcer] to learn more about the complete line-up
of Yamaha ATV and side-by-sides,
or find a Yamaha dealer near you,
just go to YamahaMotorSports.com.
(suspenseful music)
And thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time
on Americana Outdoors.
Americana Outdoors is a CarecoTV Production.
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