By Bryce Towsley, originally published in the 1994 edition of Mossy Oak Bowhunting Magazine
What do you get when you gather four of bowhunting's best deer hunters and pick their brains about what sets them apart from mere mortal bowhunters? A PhD in bowhunting, if you pay close enough attention! So no matter where you are on bowhunting's learning curve, pay attention as Mossy Oak Pro Staffers Will Walker, Mark Drury, Mike Fine and Stan Oakes--archery hunting's A Team--delve deep into the sport for insight and info that only they can provide.
Will Walker of Jackson, Mississippi, has emerged as one of the South's best bowhunters. He hunts elk and turkeys throughout the country as well as whitetails, primarily on a tract of land he and his family manage along the Mississippi River. Now 27, Walker started hunting with a bow when he was 14 years old and has been bowhunting exclusively for the past seven years. He has taken nine whitetails, a mule deer and an antelope that will qualify for the Pope and Young record book.
Among his bucks was one called "The General," because with 183 inches of measurable horn, and an enormous spread, he was obviously in charge. You can see Will harvest this awesome buck on the Primos videotape, The Truth III: Whitetail Sensations.
Bryce: Tell me about your most memorable deer hunt. I would guess it would have to be The General?
Will: My most memorable hunt was my first buck. I was 7 years old and I was with my dad. It was only a spike, but being my first and being with my dad made it special and my best hunt ever.
Bryce: What do you see as the key to taking big bucks?
Will: I don't mean to sound callous to those hunters who are not afforded the opportunities that I have been lucky enough to have, but you cannot take big deer if there are no big bucks where you hunt. No matter what the property you hunt, whether it is a 10,000-acre ranch or 40 acres behind your aunt's house, if you manage it wisely you will improve your chances for taking a good buck. You will get out of the property what you put into it and if you want good bucks you need to manage it with that in mind.
Bryce: Do you do much calling?
Will: Yes, I do. I do a lot o doe hunting for management purposes and I use the Primos fawn bleat call with great success in the early season. I also use grunt calls, particularly when I can see the buck and am trying to move. him closer for a shot. I have had good luck with rattling, and if you have seen footage of The General then you know that I used a bleat to stop him for the shot as he started to run away.
Bryce: What is your favorite tactic for deer hunting?
Will: Well, you just can't beat the traditional treestand hunt in a good area, but I also use manned drives quite a bit. We simply have the drivers move slowly through the woods, almost still-hunting in a slow, methodical process. The idea is that the buck will smell the hunter before he sees him and he will move quietly out ahead of the hunter. We sit in a tree stand on escape routs. There are some big bucks that are just not going to move except at night, and drives will often allow you a chance at them that you might not otherwise get.
Mark Drury of Columbia, Missouri, owns Drury Outdoors and Impact Productions, two video companies that specialize in hunting videos. Drury's unique videos are of fair-chase hunts for wild deer in open land. While difficult to film, the resulting footage has a ring of realism that cannot be duplicated.
Drury bow hunts intensely for 25 or more days, focusing on the rut each year and spends additional time hunting the post-rut. He hunts the Midwest, where cropland deer grow big bodies and big racks.
Bryce: What is your most memorable hunt?
Mark: That would have to be this past season, and believe it or not I didn't take a buck!
We received permission to hunt a farm that was surrounded by land owned by a church that didn't allow any hunting. This farm was perfect buck habitat and it was sucking in big bucks from all the land around. We went in for a look and found lots of fresh buck sign, including some smoking-hot rubs that were as big as my thigh.
The next morning, right off quick we saw a 140-class 8-point, then half an hour later we saw about a 135-inch non-typical. Then at 10 a.m. a doe came by, followed by one of those bucks that makes your eyes roll back in your head. When we looked at the film later we guessed he had 190 inches of antler. He was just one f those bucks that had everything.
Two days later, we saw him again and another B&C class buck we guessed to be in the 170s.
The next time in there was a couple of days later and we saw a 115-inch 8-point.
We were back again on the seventh day. We saw the 170 buck passing by until he caught our wind and disappeared. Next came a 130-inch 8-point that smelled where the big buck got nervous, and he left! At 8 am, along came the big one. At 15 yards he stopped behind some brush, then he stepped out at 23 yards in an open lane and I shot. Without going into the painful realities, I didn't take that buck. I have relived that moment many times in the past weeks and it hurts every time.
But it remains my most memorable hunt. To see that many trophy class bucks in one area in so little time was just incredible! It was a truly great week of whitetail hunting.
Bryce: When scouting a new area, what do you look for?
Mark: Cover density. The big bucks will seek out the thickets spot in any area. Nine times out of 10 if you go to he thickest cover, you will find the best bucks. If you use aerial photographs you can cut your scouting time by at least a third. Also, bird hunters are a great source of information. Most of them don't hunt deer and they will tell you where every big buck they see is living.
Bryce: When is the best time to hunt trophy bucks?
Mark: The rut. No question about it. Our rut peaks somewhere between the 10th and 20th of November, give or take five days from one year to the next. During October I am very busy with my work as a Mossy Oak sales rep and I don't get to hunt much. But come November I am out there every day, all day. I hunt every second I possibly can during the rut. Persistence may not be a glamorous tactic, but it and the rut are the key to taking good bucks.
Bryce: What is your typical stand and setup?
Mark: Nine out of 10 of my stands will be portable tree stands, and they will be in a funnel of some kind near lots of big buck sign.
Bryce: What about weather? What do you think are the best and worst conditions for deer hunting?
Mark: I absolutely hate low-pressure systems! They curtail deer movement and keep your scent near the ground. My favorite time to hunt is during a high-pressure system with cold air, because the deer are usually moving then. Of course, just before or just after a storm is always good.
Bryce: Do you hunt a specific buck or just hunt in areas with lots of big bucks?
Mark: I believe that they best time to kill a really big buck is the first time you go into an area because often the first time you see him will be the only time. The truly big deer are just too smart. It is not uncommon for a trophy buck to be in an area for. years without anybody reporting seeing him. I hunt in places with a lot of buck sign. During the rut that is often where the biggest deer are as well, because of the does that are ready to breed.
Michael Fine, press relations manager for Remington's apparel and hunting accessories and Stren fishing line, is an avid bowhunter with 24 bucks to his credit, including seven P&Y entries, in 24 years of bowhunting. Three of those record bucks were taken from the ground, including one he sneaked up on and took at 7 yards.
Bryce: I know you have some thoughts on camo that you have developed from experience. Will you expound a bit on them for us?
Michael: I like Mossy Oak camouflage for its versatility. I have hunted many regions of the country in the early season through the late season and Mossy Oak has a pattern for any situation, including the new snow camo pattern for Northern hunters. I like to mix and match patterns to break up the human form, and I often put a coat or piece of camo fabric on the bottom of my tree stand to break up the shape that deer can see when they look up--and be assured that they will look up! You must go beyond just camo, though. The best advice I give any hunter is to first be a woodsman and then be a hunter. If you are that, then you can have success with any tactic. That means that for concealment you must make sure you have some cover behind you to break up your outline and try to keep the sun at your back, watch the wind and most important, don't move!
Bryce: We all know that extreme weather can shut down deer activity and high winds are some of the worst conditions to hunt in. Do you have a way of dealing with strong wind?
Michael: I sure do. I do a lot of bowhunting in the Midwest where there is a lot of standing corn. When the wind is blowing hard deer will stay in thick cover, including corn. With all the noise and movement the corn is making you can still hunt the field in a grid pattern and often move closer to big bucks.
Bryce: You mentioned another weather related tip that I, too, have experienced, but haven't read about before. Tell us about that.
Michael: I believe you are referring to deer moving during a hard rain. I have noticed that big bucks will often move at midday during a hard and prolonged rain.
Bryce: Do you use a decoy for deer hunting?
Michael: I recently shot a nice 8-pointer while it was standing 5 yards from a decoy trying to smell it. So yes, I do use decoys and, yes, I believe they work.
Bryce: You hunt public as well as private land. How do you handle the increased pressure on public land and how do you take big bucks on private land?
Michael: I look for water. Most hunters are not willing to cross water, even a stream only up to your knees will deter them. By working a little harder and finding a way to access those areas beyond the water I can often find deer that aren't seeing as much hunting pressure.
Bryce: What do you look for when you find a new spot?
Michael: Big tracks and lots of rubs. Rubs are a good indicator of what's there in terms of bucks. You can tell travel corridors and direction from rubs. I look not only at the size of the trees, but also how high the rub is off the ground. Little bucks tend to rub low, while a big buck will rub higher on the tree.
When I am scouting I take the same approach as a bass fisherman on a new lake. I move fast and cover a lot of ground. In any given area there is a lot of unproductive land just as any lake has unproductive water. By moving and watching the sign, I can eliminate a lot of ground. I can then key in on what remains and try to determine the best stand locations. Within that, I try to find the heaviest cover near a food source and that's usually where I'll find the buck I am looking for. I try to find a bottleneck between the bedding area and the feeding area for my stand. I know that sooner or later, particularly during the rut, the buck will come through that bottleneck, especially if I am seeing lots of doe activity.
Bryce: What's the best time to hunt?
Michael: I know it's trendy now, but I have shot most of my big bucks between 10 am and noon.
Stanley Oakes owns and hunts a large farm in Oklahoma, where he bow hunts for trophy deer. He also bow hunts elk in Colorado every year and has bagged 13 wapiti in 14 trips. He also hunts turkeys with his bow. Oakes has been shooting bows since he was a youngster and now shoots for High Country bows in local tournaments. He has taken 38 bucks with his bow, including two Pope and Young bucks in 1993; one, a 10-pointer, scored 159 4/8 and field dressed at 190 pounds; the other, also a 10-pointer, scored 158 4/8 and field dressed at 210 pounds!
Bryce: Do you use optics when bowhunting, and how much importance do you place on them?
Stanley: The best tip I could give a new hunter is to buy a good spotting scope and a good pair of binoculars and learn to use them. Glassing is the best way to locate and pattern a good buck. Other than your bow, I think that. optics are probably the most important equipment you can own.
If you want a big buck, you have to find him before you can hunt him. So do lots and lots of glassing with your binoculars and use your spotting scope to evaluate him from a safe distance.
Bryce: Do you pay a lot of attention to food sources?
Stanley: Yes, I do. I hunt feed more than anything, especially during that late rut in December when some does are coming back into heat. Those big bucks are run down from the rut and with cold weather coming on they absolutely have to eat to put on some fat.
One of my bucks this year was in a wheat field and the other was in a burr oak patch. The big burr oak is our main oak tree here and while we didn't have a lot of acorns this year there were five or six trees that were loaded with acorns and the ground was just covered with them. That's where I took my first big buck.
Bryce: Let's talk about shooting. How much do you practice and at what range are you comfortable shooting at a buck?
Stanley: I try to shoot every day, at least a little. I have a range below my house with 3-D targets on it and lots of guys come by to shoot. There is usually a tournament every weekend and, other than hunting season, I try to make them. I don't like to shoot past 25 yards on a deer. I know I can hit him at 50 yards, but there is too much time for something to happen. Those big bucks are awful jumpy and they can move quite a bit before the arrow gets to them.
Bryce: How do you deal with a nocturnal buck?
Stanley: When they go nocturnal you are in trouble! The really big moose of a deer are usually nocturnal anyway, and when the gun season comes along they get really shy and they're almost impossible to get. The best luck I have with them is in the late-season second rut. After that, you usually don't see them again.
There you have it--the inside track on four of the best deer bowhunters in the country. Incorporate some of their tactics into your bowhunting and it's doubtless that you, too, will find yourself in the winners' circle!
