THE WHITETAIL QUESTION
When it comes to Canada’s favourite big-game animal, the white-tailed deer reigns supreme. Here’s why
Advertisement
#3 THE CHALLENGE
Precisely because white-tailed bucks are so uncannily elusive, hunters have developed specific tactics over time to deceive them, particularly during the rut when a buck’s defences are somewhat weakened by the overwhelming desire to find and breed receptive does. The challenge of successfully putting the various tactics to use is another part of the allure of whitetails.
Take rattling, for example. It first became popular in the early 1980s, and remains an effective strategy to this day. I always carry rattling antlers when deer hunting, and over the years I’ve rattled in a healthy number of bucks. I’ve filled a few tags that way, too, but the rattling experience I remember most didn’t end up with a dead deer.
Advertisement
I was hunkered down under a spruce on the eastern side of a 50-acre block of timber, surrounded on all sides by open fields. I’d placed a doe decoy 100 yards away out in the open, downwind of the treed block, and was rattling vigorously for several minutes every half-hour. My expectation was that if a buck responded to my rattling, he’d see the counterfeit doe and head out to investigate whether she was ready to breed.
So, imagine my surprise when a mature 5×5 buck stuck his head under the spruce bough providing my cover. His nose was so close I could have easily reached up and tweaked it. I’m not sure which of us jumped higher when we recognized the situation for what it was, but suffice it to say, he was gone long before I’d gathered my wits about me.
After retracing the buck’s steps in the snow, I discovered he’d emerged from the stand of trees on the north edge of the block, then walked east to the corner from where he could certainly see the decoy. Rather than head across the open field to investigate, however, he instead chose to walk quietly along the eastern edge to the exact point he’d heard the rattling coming from. The buck actually had to lower his head to look under the overhanging bough, only to discover me sitting there in blissful oblivion. Challenge, indeed.
Advertisement