Wes White Podcast

My instinct kicked in, and at sunset, I hiked to an overlook to scan a distant winter wheat field. My instinct was still working. The field was littered with muleys and whitetails. I counted nearly 80 deer and at least 20 bucks while scanning the winter wheat and an adjacent milo field. None were exceptionally outstanding, but with the bulk of the does in the neighborhood, the bucks would all be nearby. Two problems remained. I only had the next morning to hunt and getting to this location required busting ice to cross the river in my truck. Even if the ice would break I still had to hope my truck would crawl back up the slippery riverbank on the far side. Overnight, I heard it rain, further diminishing my confidence.

Idaho is home to the Northwest Whitetail. Should you choose to travel to Idaho on a whitetail hunt, two things to keep in mind: Be in shape, and be able to shoot at long distances. Many shot opportunities will come across canyons, and 300 yards should be a comfortable shot to make, with 400 yards even being within reason. The country is big and rugged, perfect for elk, bear, mule deer, and yes, even western whitetail. Intense walking may be required to make something happen, especially if searching for that true trophy class buck, but it’s doable if you’re in good physical condition. The whitetails in this part of Idaho are healthy and thriving. But be warned, once you set foot in the pristine land these deer call home, your impression of whitetail hunting will be forever changed, as it’s a bit different in this part of the West. This is Idaho whitetail deer hunting!

For a reasonable chance at a trophy-class Midwest whitetail buck, there are few secrets. Midwestern states like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and the like dominate the conversation. Then there are the outliers such as eastern Colorado or northern Oklahoma. Of course, you can’t rule out the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, which produce some real studs each year. The state where I have done most of my serious trophy hunting the past several years is Kansas. It’s no secret that Kansas in general, and the eastern half of the state in particular, produces a goodly number of really big whitetail bucks every year.

Only one state holds the title for the birth of modern whitetail hunting: Texas. Texas whitetail deer hunting is synonymous with deer management. Whitetail management, food plot innovations, hunting products and calling strategy all can be traced to the Lone Star State. Have you had luck rattling in whitetails? Give some credit to innovative Texas hunters. Does your food plot attract a nightly herd of whitetails? Thank a Texan. It’s also the birthplace of quality deer management and a hunting destination you should enjoy at least once during your hunting career–there’s nothing like Texas whitetail deer hunting!

I couldn’t have scripted the hunt any better. Whitetails — Dakota — were filing out one by one to the western Nebraska winter wheat field. In tow behind the brigade of does and fawns was a mature, classy-looking 4×4 buck only steps away from my muzzleloader tag. I was hidden in an abandoned irrigation pump site; and, as I scanned the field one more time to ensure my concealment I turned to check on the buck. To my astonishment, the buck was gone. I gripped my T/C Triumph firmly and eased up on my knees to get a better viewpoint. Questioning my first sighting, I sighed when I spotted him again, bedded a mere 60 yards away. Unfortunately, I only had eyeballs and antlers in view. I knew I didn’t have a shot. Plus, shooting light was fading faster than a toddler on an all-day shopping marathon. My mind raced with headache ferocity as I tried to find an answer to my muzzleloader dilemma.

As we compared notes and spoke of past hunts and hunts to come, I mentioned that I had enough bonus points to draw an Iowa whitetail tag. He immediately informed me he had been guiding in Iowa for several years. That is how I first met Jeff Eaton from Timberghost Ranch. Like a lot of hunters, I had heard about Timberghost; and like a lot of hunters, I thought they were only a high fence operation. Jeff explained that while a part of their operation is a high fence preserve, they also run a completely free-range hunting operation. The more we talked, the more intrigued I became.

No matter where they live, whitetails are whitetails. They have the same amazing senses of smell and hearing wherever they’re found. And they have the same basic needs -- food, water, and shelter. They experience an intense rut, though it can be of a shorter duration in the north than it is in the Deep South, where it stretches over months. So as bowhunters, when planning hunting strategy, it doesn’t matter where one is hunting, you must respect the whitetail’s senses and their innate wariness of people.

Whitetail deer hunting in the Lonestar State is unlike hunting anywhere else, largely in part due to the sheer size. Texas covers 268,586 square miles. For reference, Delaware, the first state could fit into Texas 108 times while Rhode Island, the smallest state, could fit 221 times. Luckily Texas whitetails are one of the most studied, written about, and outright famous members of the deer family, Cervidae. Texas is home to an estimated 3.6 million white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus texanus), providing a vast amount of hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities.

Today, of course, mechanical broadheads have evolved to a point where the best are easy to tune, fly like (or nearly like) a field point, are strong, have razor-sharp blades, and can penetrate as deeply as the best replaceable-blade styles, and their popularity has soared. While mechanical broadheads have become the rage these days, tried-and-true fixed-blade broadheads (replaceable-blade) remain extremely popular for good reason – they’ve been cleanly killing everything from groundhogs to grizzly bears for more than half a century.

A good example of the modern pack horse is the 2019 Suzuki KingQuad 500 AXi. This sporty model is big enough to haul elk quarters from a backcountry trailhead, yet small enough to zip through the tightest quarters in whitetail timber. You can easily load it into the back of your truck to move it quickly to another location and yes, you never have to scoop manure.

You have just signed up for a guided hunt in the Western states. Or, you have a DIY hunt in the works. Congratulations! A big game hunt in one of our Western states can be the hunt of a lifetime, and not only because of the abundant game animals. The Western vistas, the mountains and the High Plains, and the wide-open spaces—all those sights stay with a hunter long after they have returned home. But what to take? Truthfully, there are book-length answers to that simple question.

Completely redesigned for 2019, the new Fanatic System takes the quest for silent hunting apparel to the next level. Informed by research into fabric noise and the science of deer hearing, the new system has been proven to cut the audible engagement distance in half for treestand whitetail hunters. Constructed with ultra-quiet fabrics along with Gore-Tex Infinium with Windstopper Technology, the updated system is quieter and warmer than ever.

What if you don’t live in a state where “monster” bucks roam, like Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, and the like, but you want to give it a go? A guided hunt might be your best and only option, at least the first time or two. That’s not saying these and other states like them don’t have solid public land options, because they do, but generally speaking the best chances for shooting a whopper buck is on private land where the gates are locked, food plots and crops are planted specifically for deer, and the harvest is tightly controlled.

Arizona offers hunters the unique opportunity to hunt black bears during many of its whitetail hunts. Since I was 10, it has been a goal of mine to harvest a mature black bear in my home state of Arizona. After years of buying over-the-counter bear tags and not filling them, I went into the 2013 fall season with the confidence to add a bear harvest as the eighth in my pursuit of the Arizona Big 10. Simultaneously, I was hoping to find a giant Coues buck too.

Winter is the time of solitude when the desert hills and distant mountains call the hunter forth to shed his social shackles for a time. It is the season to fulfill the longing for the wild and high, to get nigh the earth, God, and self; to be sheltered alone by the dome of the sky. It does not take much—a backpack, forty pounds of gear, a tough body, tenacious desire, and a big bunch of mountains, such as the Mazatzals.

I for one, despise confrontation, especially while hunting. I will go well out of my way to avoid it at all costs, even if I know it will cost me the chance at a trophy animal. That being said, you cannot always control all aspects of your hunt (or life for that matter). In my opinion, both Jake and Roger, handled this difficult situation like men, something that is missing to some degree in society today. I know both of these men, personally, but just through an occasional interaction, and mostly online. Now, I have the utmost respect for both of them, and I hope to get to know them better in the near future. In my book, these two men are the Epitome of a True Sportsman! - Darren Choate

Unless you have access to some of the remotest property in elk country expect any elk you hunt to be public savvy. Not only does this make them ready for the Olympics with their sprinting style of escape, but they’ve also heard every call by hunters in standard operating mode. Success for public-land elk requires a different mindset. One of these strategies may work for you, while elk hunting on public land.

In the desert mountains of the Southwest lives a unique sub-species of the whitetail deer family, the Coues White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi). The deer received its name from noted naturalist and frontier historian, Elliott Coues, even though he never collected a specimen himself. By trade, Coues was an Ornithologist, but also doubled as an Army surgeon, serving in the Southwest during his career. Although Coues, the scientist, pronounced his name “cows;” today, the deer’s given name is more commonly pronounced, “koos.”

North America’s white-tailed deer has emerged as the world’s most popular big-game species. No other big-game animal has created such an economic institution and deep-seated obsessions, whitetail hunters annually spending upwards of $38.3 billion pursuing big-buck passions, or simply supplying healthy venison for the table. This could be viewed as a reflection of the animal’s widespread availability, but also the United States’ undisputed prosperity. The white-tailed deer has proven so popular it has been introduced to foreign countries such as New Zealand, Norway, and Eastern European countries such as Croatia and Slovakia (and others), and the U.S. Hawaiian islands.

After glassing a group of deer well over a mile away, but knowing there was a good buck in the group, I made the long journey their way. The route took me across the desert floor, followed by an ascent of 1,000 feet in elevation. As I topped out, I saw several deer a couple of hundred yards away. Quickly, I took off my pack, readied my Swarovski 15s on my tripod, and began to glass. Immediately, I saw a good buck bedded in thick cover. I moved to my right to gain a better vantage. Then it happened — out stepped a giant Coues buck from its bed! The buck was just 250 yards away, and I could tell that this was easily a mid-to-high-teens buck.

Texas whitetails are a diverse subspecies, easily broken into three distinct groups (four including Carmen Mountain whitetails found in southwest Texas, addressed elsewhere on this site). The first group of Texas whitetails is found on the Gulf prairies and oak savannahs of South Texas, the second the Edwards Plateau in the heart of Texas, and the third on the south-central plains surrounding Texas’ Panhandle region (including eastern New Mexico and Colorado and western Kansas and Oklahoma).

The whitetail subspecies ochrourus is commonly referred to as Northwest whitetail, occasionally Idaho whitetail. This subspecies is marked by large body size, bucks from 250 to 300 pounds common, and conspicuously darker pelage than Dakota whitetails to the east. Northwest whitetails inhabit the Palouse breaks and mountains of the Inland Northwest, including eastern Washington, Idaho’s Panhandle, far-western Montana, northeastern Oregon, northwestern Wyoming, southern British Columbia, and a small portion of southwestern Alberta. Northwest whitetails often live above 6,000 feet elevation, alongside elk in most of its range, commonly sharing its habitat with mule deer. Overall, Northwest whitetail do not garner the press or attention afforded other whitetail subspecies. This might be attributed to the region’s abundance of other big-game options, or the fact area hunters do not seem particularly concerned with keeping score.

First observed in North Dakota and scientifically described by one F. Hayden in 1856, Dakota white-tailed deer have become one of the most sought-after whitetail subspecies in North America, due largely to world-renowned antlers and massive body size. The Dakota whitetail is found from far-western Minnesota and west to central Montana and Wyoming, south to northern Colorado and north into Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. They overlap Northwestern whitetails in the far western edges of their range and northern woodland whitetails to the east. They have been observed as far north as the western Northwest Territories and southeastern Yukon in recent years — the farthest northern reaches of any whitetail range.

The Coues whitetail deer — a Southwest subspecies of the common Eastern whitetail — were first scientifically described by American Army physician and noted naturalist Dr. Elliot Coues while stationed at Fort Whipple, Arizona, 1865 to 1866. Hence the Coues label. “Cows” is technically the proper pronunciation, though most who hunt them pronounce it “cooz.” Locally the deer is often referred to as Arizona whitetail, or “fantail” (due to their habit of flaring their large tails when alarmed). The Coues whitetail is an elfin deer, standing 32-34 inches at the shoulder and seldom exceeding 100 pounds live weight.

The Columbian whitetail is a small deer, with large bucks weighing in around 130 pounds. The rarest deer in the Pacific Northwest, the Columbian whitetail has a fairly long, brown tail and distinctive white eye-rings that help distinguish it from the Columbia blacktail, with which it shares its range. As with all whitetails, antlers of the Columbian subspecies fork off the main beam, rather than a bifurcated antler configuration like in blacktails and mule deer. Columbian whitetails are not to be confused with the Northwest whitetail, which lives in northeastern Oregon and all of eastern Washington.

The Carmen Mountain whitetail was first scientifically described by the biological team of Goldman and Kellogg in the Sierra Del Carmen Mountains of northeastern Coahuila, Mexico, in 1940. This was based on a buck shot by J.M. Dealy on October 27, 1939 in Botellas Canyon, Sierra del Carmen Mountains, Coahuila, Mexico. It would eventually be declared a new whitetail sub-species and named for the range from which it originated. Since that time Carmen Mountain whitetail have been identified in similar West Texas habitats and adjoining northern-Mexico ranges. Texas and Mexico populations have remained stable, and their future appears secure. For example, a healthy population of Carmen Mountain whitetails exists in the Chisos Mountain within Big Bend National Park, where hunting is not allowed, while many Mexican habitats are accessed only with great difficulty.