Growing up I simply called them deer. A friend, John Barsness, calls them “…the deer that can live anywhere.” Trophy hunters refer to them almost impersonally with numbers and biologist call them “Odocoileus Virginianus”. Having hunted them across North America I believe that this “deer that can live anywhere” is the most challenging and exciting game animal on our planet.
After seeing the other deer – mule deer – in the west, to me using the term “deer” to describe whitetails is inappropriate and almost a racial slur. They are whitetails. Stealthy, wickedly aggressive, and they can hide anywhere. The word “whitetail” leaves no question in a hunter’s mind but does leave it full of imagination.
Television Hunters
For those of you who are addicted to the whispering world of television hunting, you have been brainwashed into believing whitetails must be hunted from a box blind over a food plot. That might work on vast property with restricted access but for the average guy, this type of TV hunting is more like a cliché filled reality show gone bad.
“We’ve had this buck on trail camera for four years.”
“This is a true Iowa giant!”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
“I smoked him! Or the ever popular, “We put the smackdown on this big boy!”
I’ve been hunting whitetails all my life and I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of those phrases uttered in the real world. That’s because what real whitetail hunters experience is not a poorly scripted presentation with bad lighting and too many fist pumps. When a whitetail buck appears, his influence on your body and soul is like nothing else. My father cannot remember the name of every soldier he shared a foxhole with but he has not forgotten any of his encounters with whitetail bucks.
The Rush
Like a phone call from a telemarketer, a whitetail buck can come at almost anytime but his appearance hits you like a freight train thundering along an unrestricted section of track; whistle blowing only a second before impact. Doctors explain the physiological response with a chemical called adrenalin, which is naturally produced in the human body and released during moments of high stress and anxiety.
I’ve experienced adrenalin at the outset of sporting contests and on the street as a cop. This is different. Very different! The thing is, hunting whitetails can be just as different depending on where you chase them. But, the rush is still the same but with varying levels of intensity and scenery.
Texas
I’ve hunted whitetails in Texas numerous times. Most often this has been done from some sort of blind overlooking a brushy expanse, food plot or feeder. But, I spent three days lying behind a fence, watching a pasture about two hours southwest of Midland, Texas. The same whitetails were there every day. About 30 minutes before dark on the last day a different buck burst into picture. When we stopped at about 150 yards I put a 95-grain AccuTip from a .243 through his heart. I can still remember how fast my heart was beating as I walked out to him.
Oklahoma
One of my favorite places to hunt whitetails is in Oklahoma. I like the open, rolling country that’s partitioned off with standing hardwoods. You can sit a blind or sneak and stalk. A few years back, while hunting northern Oklahoma, I crawled up a steep hill overlooking a brushy flat. A couple hours before dark whitetails started moving.
A nice eight point pushed a doe to the base of the hill, stopped and posed like he was on the red carpet. Through a cloud of Buckhorn powder a .50 caliber bullet sliced its way to him and he disappeared in the thickness. We found him under a live big live oak. His rough, chocolate covered antlers left a lasting impression on my hand. I can still feel it.
Montana
Last week I was on the Jumping Horse Ranch in Montana just outside the town of Ennis. The country was open and rolling with cotton wood draws and I expected to find my buck with a doe in one of the brush-choked valleys. It didn’t work out that way.
We spotted him walking alone in the wide-open and we had to move quickly to cut him off. When we caught up he was 300 yards out and we were about 200 feet above him on a steep bluff. He was walking like he was on a mission and even with my guide repeatedly grunting he covered another 31 yards before he stopped and turned to see what was interrupting his trek.
I sent a 165-grain AccuBond his way. He fell where he was standing and after hunting whitetails all my life in the hardwood hills of the Allegheny Mountains, it was a thrill to take one with big antlers under the Big Sky.
West Virginia
My favorite whitetail hunting – actually my favorite hunting of any kind – is in the West Virginia hills. I like to sneak along, stopping for long periods of time in places I know the deer like to use. Sometimes I’ll sit a tree stand, sometimes a blind but most often I’ll crawl the ridges at a snails pace looking for just the right spot. It’s challenging. In fact, after hunting on four continents for a multitude of species, I think hunting whitetail deer in the Allegheny Mountains is as hard and as exciting as it gets.
My best whitetail pushed a doe out from under my ladder stand and was moving so fast all I could confirm was that he had lots of horn on his head. He was out of sight before my rifle found my shoulder. Desperate, I looked around and noticed an opening in an adjoining clear cut. Thinking how cool it would be if he stepped out in that opening, a few seconds later a doe burst through the gap. I got behind the rifle and the buck stepped into that eight-foot wide space and stopped. The .243 barked, he disappeared.
That rush lasted for a long time; it took a while to cover the 180 yards of briars and brush. And, I received another jolt when I got my first good look at him. Cocaine? Whatever…
Drug and Addiction
Whitetail rifle season starts tomorrow in West Virginia. I’ll be hunting but I won’t have a gun, at least not initially. That’s because I’m sort of playing guide and outfitter for my wife, my son and my daughter. That’s OK, because the best thing one hunter can do for another is give them a chance to experience the whitetail rush. Once bitten, they don’t make clinics for rehabilitation.
I’ve been addicted to that drug for almost half a century and I ‘m not looking for a cure, only my next fix.
