SOUTHERN SWING

Brennen Nading - Oklahoma - January 11th, 2025

By: Brennen Nading (@nadingbr)

It's been a few years since I have hunted down in Oklahoma.  A while back, Mike and I scored permission on some private ground in the sooner state.  We got to experience some great hunts on that piece, but eventually lost it when the landowner decided to sell.  This past off-season, I made it a point to put in the leg work and try to lock in permission on a piece of land down there.  It was anything but easy, but persistence finally prevailed!  With permission granted on 80 acres, I was excited to get the opportunity to hunt the state again.  I made several trips over the past 6 months to check out the property, fill feeders, hang stands, etc.  My plan was to wait until the tail end of the season, and head down there to hunt once the Iowa season was closed.  The morning after Iowa closed, Ross and I headed south to hunt the last 5 days of the season.  With good daylight movement on the cameras, I was hopeful we would get an opportunity.  As luck would have it, the first time in would be an exciting hunt!  The buck we hoped to see showed himself well before dark and I was able to make a good shot on him.  He ran 100 yards and went down just out of sight of our tree.  When we walked up on him, he had tipped over in some thick brush.  We wanted to drag him out into the open to get a better look at him.  When Ross grabbed ahold of his rack, his antler popped off!  We drug him by his feet with one antler still attached.  When we got him out in the open we flipped him over and the second antler popped off!  Crazy lucky that we shot him when we did, he might not have had antlers the next day!