ST. JAMES, Neb. -- It"s funny how a big buck can just "show up."

One minute you"re looking at an empty field and the next second a big buck is just there. And, just about always, they will be looking right at you.

That happened again on the opening day of Nebraska"s firearm season.

"There"s a big buck on that hillside," I said to Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb. "I don"t know how he got there but he"s standing between that clump of cedars and those cottonwoods about a hundred yards to the south."

Our hunt had begun about an hour before when we parked Gary"s ATV about a half mile from his elevated, two-man deer house.

After spraying down heavily with "Scent Killer" we began the hike along the ridge in total darkness.

We followed the ridge until we got to the stand. Then Gary climbed into it and I passed up our gear which consisted of Gary"s .25-06, a couple of backpacks, a thermos of coffee, a video camera and belt pack with batteries and other gear to support it.

As usual we were a lot earlier than we needed to be. I turned on the little light on the bill of my cap while Gary poured us a cup of coffee from his thermos.

And there we sat, talking about the little things that longtime hunting companions share in hunting blinds.

Suddenly a coyote yelped to the north of us. Another, right behind the blind and probably about 50 yards down into the draw went berserk with yips and yaps and yoddles. That started another tuning up about a quarter mile to the south.

"We might want to come out here and call coyotes next winter," Gary mused.

"We"d need a south wind," I answered.

"You know, I think I see a deer down by that scrape along the fence," Gary said.

It was just grey-light dawn now. That"s a time when you can see things, but not really. Whatever Gary was looking at was 230 yards away. We have a paper posted with known landmarks measured.

I picked up the camera and brought it to full zoom.

"Yes, that is a deer," I answered, "but I can"t tell if it is a buck or a doe."

The blind sits on a north-south ridge. A valley drops off below it, coming in from the south and turning west just a little north of the blind. Another ridge is directly across from us, its peak about 300 yards out. It peters out where the valley turns to the west. A fence about 300 yards west marks the end of the property.

That valley, from the west, is a perfect funnel for deer coming back from a night of feeding, especially if the field across the fence has been planted to corn. Same thing in late afternoon when they move back out from the timber behind us for a night in the corn field.

The deer disappeared into some brush and we didn"t see it again until full daylight. It moved into a small bunch of trees to the south halfway up the ridge. Gary thought he saw horns.

The next thing we knew the buck was on the hillside.

"You got him?" Gary asked.

I focused and began rolling video and answered in the affirmative.

Gary fired. We heard the bullet strike. The deer ran to the cottonwoods and dropped.

He was a fine eight point, nine if you count a little sticker on one of the beams.

It was a short hunt, but we got what we came for, a respectable buck on video and a bunch of still photos.