Nowadays, deer hunters have an arsenal of tools and tricks at our disposal to increase our chances of seeing action.
We utilize scent control systems, cellular trail cameras and the latest gear, yet we still come up empty-handed more often than not. It can be frustrating when you invest so much of your time and resources chasing the elusive whitetail. One bad season means it'll be at least two years between filled tags!
There's no scientific algorithm for taking whitetails. And if there was, deer would still break the rules and do what they do for reasons known only to them. Old-timers, whom I'll take over a formula any day, will tell you it comes down to being in the right place at the right time.
That proved to be the case for Greg Kovach of Lehighton, Pennsylvania. He tracked a large buck for three years, and each time he thought he had it figured out, it disappeared just before opening day. Greg knew the general area and funnel points where the buck traveled, so he hung a stand with intentions to return later during the rut.
On opening day of archery season, though, Mother Nature provided a cold front and a favorable wind. Greg scrapped his original plan to hunt elsewhere and decided to go to the rut stand and test his theory about a larger buck running off the one he was after.
His hunch turned out to be fact, and at 9 a.m. on opening day, a 180-inch irregular monster grunted its way almost into Greg's kill zone, a 20-yard window he had prepared while setting up the stand. Instead, the buck turned at the last second and walked off into the tree line. Encouraged by the sight of this jaw-dropping bruiser, Greg was back in the stand two weeks later, once again playing the wind like a violin. He saw the buck again, and this time the encounter ended a little differently.
You can read all about it in the fall issue of Rack Magazine.
— Read Recent Blog! Beauty and the Beast: Ohio's Emily Schaad takes her bowhunting seriously, and she doesn't let a lack of male muscle stand in the way of her pursuit of big bucks.