I love hunting magazine articles that explain "Ten Easy Ways to Bag Huge Bucks" or "Shortcuts to Big Bucks"... making it seem like an every day occurrence to harvest a mature whitetail buck. Unfortunately, there are no easy ways or shortcuts to bowhunting big whitetails; it requires hours of preparation, lots of hard work, limitless patience, persistence and dedication. There is, however, one factor that I feel can put the odds in your favor; bowhunting in areas where big bucks live.

Michigan is blessed with a plentiful deer herd, however, in my opinion there is no place tougher to harvest a mature buck. Limited access to good hunting locations, intense hunting pressure, and the regular harvest of immature bucks makes opportunities at large, mature bucks rare. At the first sign of hunting pressure, mature bucks become primarily nocturnal and a bowhunter must create opportunities to be successful. Special attention to details like thorough scent control, peak equipment performance, and limited pressure of stand locations, is the only way to generate regular opportunities at mature deer. This attention to detail required to get close to mature deer in Michigan is at least twice that of other regions of the country.

After several seasons of hard hunting in Michigan that produced only basket-sized racks, my hunting partner, Randy Williams, and I decided to head to the Midwest and test our skills and attention-to-detail on bucks of giant proportion. We contacted Hadley Creek Outfitters in Pike County Illinois for a late season hunt. We spent five days hunting different farms seeing what big buck country looks like. Huge rolling crop fields bordered by thick creek bottoms and mature oak ridges provide numerous funnels and bottlenecks to ambush a buck. Every funnel was packed with arm-sized buck rubs that were shredded sometimes four feet off the ground and scrapes that were ripped into the ground with authority. Even though Randy and I didn't put our tags on giant bucks that trip, the terrain, buck sign, and number of bucks we saw in those five days made us want to come back for the next season.

As spring rolled around our preparations took a turn when I found out I had drawn an archery tag for the best hunting area in Iowa. While I was excited about an Iowa hunt, I knew what I would be missing in Illinois. Randy would be in Pike County the last week in October; peak of the pre-rut!

When Randy arrived the weather was nasty. Storm fronts were moving through which makes for high deer activity, but the rain was relentless. On the first morning hunt, Randy climbed into his treestand about forty-five minutes before daylight in monsoon type rains. His stand was located about fifty yards up a dry creek bed that came off the end of a picked corn field, so even though the weather wasn't cooperating, he knew he was in a good location. At about 11:00am Randy's Scent-lok hood was so wet from the driving rain he was having a hard time hearing anything. He decided to put on his spare hood, thinking to himself "when this one's wet, I'm outta here". Moments later two does came running through the thick brush on his right stopping at the creek bed. He grabbed his bow, turned and readied himself for a shot searching the brush behind the does hoping a buck would be in chase. Without warning a huge bodied buck with a rack to match exploded from the thicket in the opposite direction charging forward trying to cut off the does. In one fluid motion Randy drew his bow, turned around, set the pin on the bruiser, and squeezed the trigger on his release. The buck was eighteen yards quartering away when the Ironhead tipped ACC arrow slammed into the buck's chest. The buck whirled and in seconds was gone. "I didn't have time to get excited" Randy explained, "It all happened in about 10 seconds". He then gathered his gear and snuck out of the woods to get some help. When everyone arrived they took up the trail. The guide was worried about finding a blood trail in the rain but the trail was easy to follow and after covering only 100 yards Randy laid claim to his prize. "I guessed him at about 140 inches before the shot, I didn't have a lot of time, but I knew he was a shooter". The huge buck had 10 points with a 22 3/8" inside spread and unofficially grossed 165 3/8 P&Y inches. It was estimated at 5½ years old and was definitely the buck that Randy had come to the Midwest to find.

After seeing Randy's deer I was primed for my upcoming Iowa adventure. Wanting to take a buck like Randy's, I couldn't think of a better place to be than in the Corn Belt the second week in November during the rut. I was going to Iowa with Jeff and Kathy Poet and we would be hunting with good friends of theirs, Sam and Judy Collora of Mrs. Doe Pee Scents.

Sam is a die-hard bowhunter with some great bucks to his credit. He knew of a couple farms that he has access to that held good bucks so he showed us the property lines, gave us some ideas on where to locate buck sign and let us go for the week. We scouted one of the farms on the second evening and I immediately located an abundance of heavy-duty buck sign. I placed a stand on a hardwood ridge that was between a CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) field and a thick creek bottom. I hunted that location twice and passed on several beautiful bucks by Michigan standards (believe me that was tough) waiting for an Iowa bruiser. After the second morning hunt from the stand near the creek bottom, I headed to the CRP field to scout another stand location. As I reached the edge of the field I saw a huge buck chasing a doe through the tall grass. They headed through a narrow neck of woods that stuck out into the CRP field. After they disappeared, I snuck over to the draw to investigate. My heart raced as I saw huge buck-rubs, several scrapes and intersecting runways everywhere with the perfect tree for a stand. I had just found "the spot".

Having hung the stand earlier in the afternoon I was excited to hunt my new stand location. The wind was perfect for my approach, I had my doe decoy in hand and I knew it was time. As I neared my stand I noticed a deer walking up the draw under my standÂ&it was a huge buck! He stopped, worked a scrape, and then looked directly at me. As we stared at each other, I was trying to figure out how to get a shot at him. I decided my best chance was to sit still and let him walk off then get in my stand and try to rattle him back. He then turned and trotted off with his nose on the ground. I let him move over the hill and quietly got into my stand. Once I got set, I did a grunt-snort-wheeze call and rattled but got no response. I was 10 minutes late for an opportunity at the biggest buck I had ever seen.

The next afternoon I was perched in my stand waiting for the giant buck to move through the draw to freshen his scrapes. I had used a drag rag with Mrs. Doe Pee estrus urine on my way to the stand hoping that if the buck crossed my path he'd follow me in. I saw a nice eight-point buck sneak through the end of the draw and cross my path. It followed the dragline to within 30 yards of my tree before crossing the CRP, which reassured me that my setup was working. At about 5:00pm I heard a tending buck grunt. I immediately grabbed my bow and began searching the CRP for any sign of the approaching deer. Suddenly, over the crest of the field I could see the white crown of a huge buck chasing a doe directly toward me. The doe ran into the draw and stopped about 12 yards from my tree and the buck stopped behind some small evergreen trees showing me nothing but his brilliant white antlers. As I stood ready for the shot, I played several scenarios through my head. Would the doe continue course and draw the buck through my shooting lane or would she bolt back out into the CRP taking my opportunity with her? Just as if she heard me thinking, she walked directly to the scrape 17 yards from my tree, squatted and urinated in the scrape, and followed my dragline up the draw. Now I knew I would be presented a shot opportunity, I just had to make it count. With my eyes fixed on his rack, I waited for the giant to make a move. He grunted and started to follow the doe's lead. I immediately came to full draw aiming at the scrape, as soon as his chest came into my shooting lane I released. As if in slow motion, the orange blur of my arrow disappeared behind his shoulder making a distinct thud as he turned and bounded straight away from my tree. He ran about 50 yards then stopped and looked back to see what had happened. After about 10 seconds he started to wobble, and after one last leap fell to the ground within sight of my tree.

After a few moments of quiet celebration in my treestand, I headed for the truck to get Jeff and Kathy. When they arrived at dark we set back out to recover my trophy. As we followed the trail through the tall grass I could feel the anticipation building. I knew he was a good buck, but when my flashlight revealed the true magnitude of this trophy I couldn't believe my eyes. The huge buck had 11 points with a 19" inside spread. He was estimated to be 4½ years old and unofficially gross scored 157 5/8 P&Y inches; my best buck with a bow.

Even though there are no shortcuts or easy ways to get big bucks, there are factors you can control that will increase your odds. Hunting locations where big bucks live can stack the odds in your favor; with hard work, lots of patience, persistence, and dedication, success can be achieved. With the success Randy and I had this season, you can bet on finding us in a treestand someplace where big bucks live next season. After all, the buck that beat me by 10 minutes is still out there; another Monarch of the Midwest.