The approaching daybreak on a November morning slowly revealed the first winter storm that brought more than half a foot of glistening white powder and an icy chill to the air. Nearly twenty of Jerome and Charlotte Pinkleman’s family members bundled up in layers of clothes to brave the frosty weather for several hours in hopes of finding the perfect deer on this opening day of deer hunting season. Spanning 65 years of age and experience, this close-knit family from St. James,

Nebraska has been deer hunting together for over twenty years. I had the privilege of meeting up with the family after a Saturday’s hunt to discuss their family tradition.

A hunter by nature, Jerome always hunted as a young boy.

After later settling down and marrying Charlotte Bonertz, their marriage was blessed with five children: Lisa, Cheri, Andy, Carl and Juli. They acquired a beautiful pasture in Cedar County, Nebraska in the late 1970’s that became a prime spot for deer hunting. The boys, like their father, grew up hunting, the girls developed the passion for it as they grew older. As the children became more absorbed in deer hunting, they encouraged mom Charlotte to give it a try. Try she did and she quickly became hooked.

Over the years the Pinkleman’s extended their family hunting excursions to include more family, Charlotte’s brother Chuck and his wife Sharon soon became regulars. As the children grew to have families of their own, they also joined in the hunting adventures. Lisa has a son Camryn and Cheri’s family now includes husband John Eickhoff, daughter Lexi and son Nate. Andy remains an avid hunter and Carl’s family now extends out to wife Lynette and daughters Keely and Chloe. Juli’s family has grown to include husband Derik Kelley and their boys: Gavin, Caleb, Elijah and Dillon.

Grandma and Grandpa even decided to take part. Charlotte’s parents, the late Bill and Bernadette (Curly) Bonertz, ran the Green Diamond bar/restaurant in St. James, NE and toward the end of their career they finally had time to join in on the hunting excursions. Though the exact year is uncertain, a scrapbook picture shows a proud and beaming Grandma with her first deer when she was in her 50’s or 60’s.

Cheri explained that Grandpa put a fun spin on deer hunting and introduced them to “aiming oil.” When you shot your deer for the season, you could celebrate with a sip of wine which he called “aiming oil,” and a tradition soon arose. As the deer hunting tradition now extends to the fourth generation, aiming oil is one of many traditions that has held over the years.

“That’s the best part of deer hunting, seeing the looks on Mom and Dad’s face, the enjoyment they got out of it. You could tell if they got a deer or not,” Charlotte recalled with a smile. She told me a story of how she heard her dad’s rifle shots one day during hunting season. She got out of her stand to check on him, a normal routine of hers. As he was walking up with his travel mug of “aiming oil,” she knew he got a deer. Beaming, he told her he didn’t shoot one, but two. “That look on his face, he was so excited. That’s a look that I’ll never forget.”

The family gets together prior to deer season’s opening day to work on more than ten deer blinds and stands, varying in size and shape. Some blinds are more simple, like little dog huts with portable heaters in them for really cold days. Prior to season’s opening day, they often sit a while in the blinds to watch where the deer track. The children who are too young to hunt often come along for the preparation and observation phase. Lexi, one of the youngest hunters in the fourth generation, started coming along before she was old enough to even hunt, just to sit in the deer stand. When she became old enough to hunt, Chuck showed her how to hunt using his rifle.

On opening day, they rise early and head out to their stands by 6:30 A.M., wanting to be ready by legal shooting time of a half hour before sunrise. Doubling up, they sit with whomever they feel like that day. The family will go out every day during the short deer season, whomever can make it will partake. Those who have to work during the week come out over the weekend.

“Sometimes it depends on the weather,” explained Cheri. “Some of the blinds are warmer, with the little heaters in them. Some stands are up higher and more open to the weather conditions.” Cheri laughed as she explained that sometimes it’s so cold that little hand and feet warmers don’t cut it. Carl’s wife Lynette, who isn’t a native Midwestern, opts for the archery season of deer hunting, which takes place prior to rifle season.

Lynette didn’t start hunting until she met the Pinkleman family. Explaining what attracted her to the sport, she stated “This is one thing that enticed me to go hunting, to listen to these guys talking about being out in nature, seeing a squirrel barking at you and then you’ve got deer within arm’s reach looking at you. This doesn’t happen unless you are in nature.

That’s the coolest thing, being part of nature, experiencing nature at a whole different level. I lived in San Antonio and you don’t see that outside of this area. You don’t experience what these guys experience in their pasture. Words can’t even express that. It’s just amazing to be that close to nature.”

They described a meteor shower that they witnessed from their deer stands and as they showed me some beautiful sunrise pictures on their phones I could feel a calmness just gazing at the scenes. Cheri explained, “If it’s in you, it’s in you. You just want to be out there.”

“Otherwise you pick a different season,” Lynette laughed as she continued, “Yes, there is a temperature limit for me, but even this morning, I would have braved it to see the first blanket of snow. That calmness, it’s to fall in love with.” I laughed along with her, fully understanding what she’s saying.

Although I also love the outdoors and have a shooting hobby, I’m a target-shooting lass who has my limits, not venturing out when I can see my breath in the cold air.

Competition has gotten more intense over the years.

Charlotte explained how years back, her father didn’t have to apply for a permit for deer season. “I think it got more serious when it got to be more particular and you had to get a permit,”

she explained. Also adding to competition is the limited number of deer. The local deer population was affected by Bluetongue disease a few years ago, a virus that killed off much of the population and made deer scarce. The Pinkleman’s are pretty competitive on bragging rights of who gets the biggest deer.

When I asked who had gotten their deer so far that season, the joke was that the women always shoot their deer right away, because they need to get the food on the table.

The youngest hunters both having shot a couple of deer now, Keely and Lexi, told me about their hunting experiences.

Keeley’s dad Carl captures her deer hunts on video and has even recorded her falling asleep on a hunt. She explained that, one year when she was about six and starting to fall asleep, two very large bucks came walking near their stand.

Carl nudged her to wake her up and as she jerked and said “What?” their deer scattered and ran off. As they let me view the video of Keely’s last two year’s hunts, seeing the look of uninhibited excitement on Keely’s face after a perfect shot was priceless.

Lexi shared her recent hunting experience with me. “At first, I had my target on a different doe. I was in position and Mom had the binoculars and told me that there’s a bigger doe near.” Lexi had to move to another spot in the blind to get sighted in on the larger doe. “That deer started sniffing around the area a little,” Lexi continued, “and then, she made the perfect pose, and KABOOM!” Lexi said with a beaming smile. She laughed and said, “I was just shaking so much. But I think Mom was shaking more.” We all laughed and Cheri said that one of the most fun things about deer hunting is seeing the look on Lexi’s face.

Though the family also gets together for camping, mushroom hunting and family vacations, they anticipate most the upcoming year of deer hunting. Charlotte explained that she’s always anxious to get started when the season begins. “It’s fun to see who gets the first deer. You hear shots all over, but you end up being wrong when you guess who got one,” she explained.

Many of them said it’s the camaraderie that they look forward to, spending time with the family and making memories. Even the youngest enjoy just getting together, as Lexi commented. Charlotte laughed as she said, “If you don’t have fun it’s your own fault.” Some of them see the hunting excursions as a way to de-stress, an opportunity to get away from work, phones and technology and enjoy some of nature’s peacefulness.

A light-hearted crew, they often play tricks on each other, sometimes putting frightening Halloween masks inside each other’s deer stands to be discovered during the early morning hours. They laughed as they told me stories about what happens when you get caught sleeping in your deer stand, like getting teased the following year with your face plastered on a t-shirt. Everyone admits to falling asleep in their stands, except Charlotte and Lexi. Perhaps they just haven’t been caught yet?

The ladies at the table said that their deer hunts have become so much of a family event that if you miss it you almost regret it. If you miss a hunt, your regular spot at the dinner table might be replaced with a mop head dressed in clothing in your place. As I look around to the see several clusters gathered together and laughing, it’s no doubt that one wouldn’t want to miss a family get-together.

At the time of writing this article, Charlotte, Keely, Lexi, Sharon and Cheri have gotten their deer so far. Though several of them are still searching for their perfect trophy deer during this year’s nine-day deer season, these lucky five are already singing the Pinkleman theme song Lexi invented. Little Lexi, several years ago when she was barely able to talk, stood on the back of the tailgate and loudly sang “Got a deer, got a deeeeeeere,” whenever someone brought home their trophy that season. The song stuck and became a tradition.

With a tradition twenty years strong, the Pinkleman family shows no sign of slowing down. As soon as this family gets done sharing experiences and stories after deer season this year, they’ll already be planning their next adventure, and I can already tell it will be a blast.