I know. Whitetail season has been open for more than a month in many locations and I’ve already seen photos of several bruisers busting the 200-inch mark. For me it’s my first big jump into whitetail hunting after chasing pronghorn, muleys and elk for most of the first half of the season.
I’m beginning my eastward move from the West for whitetails, but my first eastward trek is short. I’m hooking up with NAHC executive director Bill Miller in southeast Montana to hunt the opener with my good friend Doug Gardner who operates Gardner Ranch Outfitters.
I still remember my first filming project with Bill Miller for North American Hunter TV. I was working in state promotions and invited Bill over to film a goose and pheasant hunting segment in South Dakota. He obliged and it became one of the first segments for the new series. That’s been more years ago than I care to remember, but when Bill and I get together we still joke about the crazy outfitter who wouldn’t let Bill shoot a 10 gauge for fear it would scare any nearby geese. The outfitter also had a quirky habit to take a propane torch and burn the carcasses of any dead geese he found in his fields. He did this to make sure the bald eagles wouldn’t loiter and spook the goose flocks. I could go on and on about outfitter oddities, but then I’m sure they have stories of their own about me. The story about me jumping on an outfitter’s wife in the middle of the night is true, but I was simply trying to escape a snoring roommate and laid down on her in the dark thinking a lodge couch was empty.
"Get ready Bill. Here he comes. Bill? Bill? Dang! He got impatient and is stalking mule deer."
In Montana we have the choice to hunt either mule deer or whitetails. I know Bill will be up for either, but he’s dropped a hint (more than once) that he’d sure like to hunt whitetails rocking with rattling action. We’ll give it a go. Last year during this same time period the bucks were beginning to respond to calls well and on Oct. 22 I grunted a buck in for a 12-yard bow shot. I also rattled in a young whitetail on Oct. 12 of this year so I know they are beginning to listen.
As a side note, from here on out this blog is going to be whitetail heavy. I know it’s what the majority of you will be hunting and me as well. I’ll let you know what tactics have been working and the success my friends and I have been experiencing. See you in the field!
Mark Kayser
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Good luck and don’t choke on that grunt tube!
Good luck hunting, Please think about offering a chance for someone to go on a great hunt with you or bill next year for big whitetails?
I love to hunt whitetails and I live in east Tennessee. Public land is pretty much all i have. Show me some ways to take advantage of all the other hunters. Take me hunting where there are big mature deer Mark Kayser