2016 - Wright area produces a couple of nice bucks

November 15, 2016 • Voyageur Press

Nyberg shot a beautiful 12-point buck at 7 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7, after spotting the deer along an old logging trail. According to Nyberg, the buck poked its head out of the woods to check its scrapes, giving him a brief opportunity to take the shot.

“It was only the third deer that I saw all weekend,” Nyberg said. “I saw two does and then the buck that morning. It came out, and I had about 30 seconds to react, which is good, so I wasn’t too jittery.”

As the buck turned to head back into the woods, Nyberg took his shot.

“What a rush!” he exclaimed.

Hunting is a family tradition for the Nybergs, who own property and maintain a hunting shack near Cromwell. Nyberg also enjoys hunting closer to home near Wright.

His father, Don, and brother, Dean, have both harvested some impressive bucks over the years. Nyberg said his 12-pointer will certainly be going on the wall.

His children are still a little young to fully appreciate the excitement of hunting, however.

“My 2-year-old was a little skeptical,” Nyberg said. “When we were leaving, he said, ‘That deer there. He is just sleeping.’”

Nyberg plans to continue introducing his son to the outdoors.

“Tomorrow, I will just take him out on the stand to see if we can see anything,” he said.

Odegaard also enjoyed a successful hunt near Wright, harvesting an 8-point buck that weighed 170 pounds. The deer marked her third buck in five years of hunting.

“This was the biggest-bodied deer,” Odegaard said of the three bucks she has harvested. “The racks have all been about the same.”

Odegaard was hunting with her father, Chris, and brother, Grant. Her father also harvested a buck during the season, weighing in at 155 pounds.

Odegaard described her own hunt as relatively straightforward. On Saturday evening of opening weekend, the buck came out of the woods chasing a doe and stopped within 30 yards.

“The buck just came out of the woods chasing a doe and stopped at 30 yards,” she said. “I shot. He ran back in the woods, and I found him 40 yards away.”

Hunting success runs in the family. Odegaard's brother, Grant, was featured in the Voyageur Press several years ago after harvesting a particularly large deer.

According to Odegaard, their father is the family's most successful hunter and has likely taken the biggest buck among them.

The family's hunting tradition also brings together an extended group of relatives and friends who share a shack near Wright.

“We have friends from the Chisholm area, the Twin Cities and the Hedins who hunt closer to Cromwell,” Odegaard explained. “They all hunt their own land, and we all meet up at the shack near Wright.”

For both Nyberg and Odegaard, the season offered another opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, celebrate family traditions and add a couple of memorable bucks to their hunting stories.