The Superior Express -

Hunting deer is one of the favorite outdoor activities of many sportsmen, not only across the nation, but especially in Nebraska. The nine day firearm season probably attracts the most interest, but other methods of harvesting deer are allowed.

Many people joke that deer season is a 12 month season, as long as you use your vehicle to harvest the deer.

It certainly is not the first time it has happened in Nebraska, but the 2020 season had an interesting beginning.

It actually started two days early in Webster County. It seems that along about 8 p.m. (it's very dark by then) Alexis Elledge of Guide Rock was driving south of the Lawrence Golf Course on Highway 78. About a mile south of the golf course, a deer came out of the ditch, got hit by the car, and the car burst into flames.

The Lawrence Fire Department (with about 15 members responding) and Webster County Sheriff were called to the scene. Upon arriving, flames were 10 feet high. The fire was put out and nobody was hurt (except the deer).

Deer-vehicle accidents occur with regularity across the state and has even led to the road department building special fences to help herd deer away from roads in places.

Meanwhile a couple of days later hunters began the 2020 Firearm Deer Hunting Season. Thousands of hunters across the state did their best to reduce the deer population across the state. Lawrence area native, Nolan Ostdiek, shot the first buck of his young hunting experience. He harvested the deer while with his brother-in-law hunting in the Riverton area west of Red Cloud.

Most hunters in this area do so to provide meat for families. The reduction in deer-vehicle accidents is a positive by-product of the activity.

An interesting event (to this reporter at least) occurred last week Thursday evening as I was turning onto main street in Lawrence. A hunter was parked on Main Street and had the tailgate of his pickup down. I saw a deer lying on the bed of the pickup. I slowed and shouted out the window: "Nice deer." It didn't take a second and he replied: "Yup, one less deer to run into someone's vehicle this winter."