She’s either really lucky or one of Minnesota’s best female deer hunters.

 

Nicole Applebury made it two-for-two as she bagged a monster buck on the first day of bow hunting in Minnesota this year. Last year, Nicole shot her first deer and the animal was so big, she had its shoulders, head and rack mounted and is currently displayed on the basement wall of future husband, Seth Hubbard’s home.

 

Nicole upgraded her prize and shot a 166-2/8 count buck nicknamed Junior, or Son-of-a-Can-Opener after the alpha “can opener” deer — Double Down — was harvested by Seth near the same location a year earlier. 

 

Last April, the Citizen Tribune interviewed Seth after he was featured in the Outdoor News for shooting the 188-2/8 count buck nicknamed Double-Down. That deer, along with Nicole’s from last year and several others Seth has bagged over his hunting career, adorn his walls of his home and the family’s up-north cabin near Menahga, MN.

 

The Hubbard family owns over 160 acres of prime hunting property near Wolf Lake and the friendly neighbors surrounding the area have instituted a community management program they mutually follow to manage the deer population.

 

Applebury’s 2017 deer was shot from about 30 yards away, she said. She has spent less than 12 hours in the woods while bagging these two monumental trophies.

 

“We hadn’t seen many deer on the cameras we had out so we really weren’t expecting a whole lot that first day,” she said. “At first we were just enjoying watching some does and fawns in the field and enjoying our time outdoors.”

 

Seth and Nicole were set up in a box stand — a structure with walls and a few horizontal and vertical windows. Nicole said she saw the doe react strangely and so she glanced to her right and saw a rack parading through the trees.

 

“I told Seth I see a rack and he grabbed his binoculars and looked,” she said. “Then he said it looked like Junior and told me to get ready.”

 

Seth did not buy a bow-hunting license this year. His hope was to “coach” or “manage” Nicole and experience the thrill of hunting right alongside her.

 

While Seth and Nicole watched Junior hang out  a hundred yards away, Nicole just sat with her bow in her lap and her arrows to her side. She says she wasn’t really expecting the huge deer to head their direction, so she just sat and watched.

 

Near their box stand, the property is set up to feature some Brassica crops that deer tend to like when grazing. They also have beans and corn nearby, which makes the spot Seth and Nicole were hunting to be ideal.

 

Unexpectantly, Junior started making his way towards the box stand and the Brassica plants. That’s when Nicole said things started getting real.

 

“I couldn’t believe he just kept coming towards us,” Nicole said. “My heart was racing and I got an adrenaline rush just seeing that huge buck getting closer.”

 

One of Nicole’s biggest worries when hunting is wounding the deer instead of killing it and watching it run off. Her range for accuracy with her Matthews Halon bow is about 30 yards.

 

“I couldn’t believe how lucky I was because that deer just walked on up to those Brassicas and posed sideways for a perfect shot,” she said. “I got him up high along the spine and he went down right away. I actually said a little prayer as I drew my string back that I either hit him good or miss him completely.”

 

She hit him good and just like that, Nicole had a whopper of a buck as part of her spoils. Junior came in at around 260-lbs. before being gutted.

 

When the neighbors of the community management program got wind that Junior was taken, many gathered back at camp and congratulated and marveled at Nicole’s good fortune.

 

“I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world,” Nicole said. “I’m so grateful the fellow hunters have been so supportive of me and I’m grateful for Seth, who is so knowledgeable and ethical. It’s been a great two years of hunting!”

 

Seth and Nicole are getting married Dec. 9 at Snake River Church with their reception at Pebble Creek. They’ve been together for two years after meeting each other through an online dating service.

 

Nicole has a brother and several step-siblings and was born and raised in French Island, WI. She says her family is growing in appreciation and support for her new hobby as a hunter.

 

Nicole’s Junior is eligible for a Pope & Young award and is currently going through the taxidermy process by Seth’s great uncle, Fred Schaefer of Annandale. The meat they keep to make breakfast sausage and steaks.

 

The mount — well, Seth and Nicole are going to have to start thinking about finding more wall space at home if their luck and skill keeps paying off year-after-year.

 

“I may get a doe tag for the rest of this hunting season,” Nicole says. “I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors and there’s nothing like hunting with your best friend. I’m still learning and so far the experience has been worth it all.”

 

Seth is a graduate of Becker High School (‘07) and played football and basketball. His other hobbies include fishing and watching sports on TV. He works at Hubbard Electric under the ownership of his cousin, Ryan, who took over the company Seth’s dad started in 2003.

 

Nicole, 29, is a nurse in St. Cloud. She and Seth have a two-year-old Golden Retriever named Samson.