Bryan Morgan and Louis Nottingham are cousins who have been hunting and fishing together for as long as they can remember. Along with Bryan’s sons Drew and Alex, they all make quite the hunting team.
The whole thing started on opening day, when the team first spotted the buck they had been patterning together.
“We had seen the deer Saturday. When we saw the buck in that area, we knew we wouldn't be able to get a shot.”
They all expected to see this mature buck and recognized his patterns well. In the days before, they had even found a shed indicating that they had properly predicted where this buck lived most of its life. Mature bucks after the rut will spend a lot of time in one area. When patterning for a large buck, it is important that hunters make key observations like bedding areas, rubs, travel corridors, and in this case large sheds.
“We were all scattered about and had him positioned,” Bryan said. The waiting paid off again when the buck rose from its hiding area and ran from one thicket to the next. The group could see up the draw and watched as the buck went to the other side of the brush and bedded down.
This movement and strategic positioning allowed Louis to get his shot at the deer.
As the group went to look at the impressive harvest, they made a second exciting discovery. At Bryan’s foot was the missing side of last season’s shed. They now had two sets of complete antlers from the same mature buck.
As it worked out, the sheds had been 100 yards apart, and the deer was found between the two.
“This is the third hunt in 35 years of hunting that we put a plan together and everything goes to plan. Something always changes, but everything unfolded and everyone was in position,” Bryan said
“What’s really made this whole thing, is that it had been a family ordeal. It's more of the fellowship than anything. As you start to raise a family, hunting locally can become difficult, you have responsibilities, and it’s easy to talk yourself out of the stand. To have the opportunity to enjoy wildlife, in general, is a blessing.”
Bryan, his sons, and Louis are already making preparations for their next season of hunting together. Mentoring and learning from one another has made their commitment one they’ll share for years to come.