Search for 170” - Part 1
Charlie Reade
Disclaimer: Any advice given in this blog is strictly based on my experience in the field and is my opinion only.
January 1st, 2020 began like a lot of days in my life. I woke up, checked on my kids, gave my wife a kiss and headed off to work in central Alberta’s oil patch. Like almost every day for the past 5 years, one of the first things that came to my mind was deer hunting. I don’t know why I am that way, I can’t explain it, but there is something about giant whitetail bucks that just has me hooked like an addiction. I spend my free time listening to podcasts about hunting deer, reading articles about the rut, discussions on social media, I’ve even read Don Higgins books recently. All in hopes of upping my odds of harvesting a Boone & Crockett buck.
I guess a little background is important first. I’m certainly not a self-proclaimed whitetail expert, any time someone with big bucks on the wall talks whitetails, I listen carefully. I know I have a lot to learn still. That said, I have had some successes over the past 10 years and have harvested a couple nice deer just over 160” and a few deer in the 140-155” range as well. I know, not anything to brag about by any means, but I’m happy with each and every one of them all the same. Over the past 4 seasons I have switched to hunting strictly with my compound bow and this year I successfully self filmed my first buck with it (it’s actually a lot harder than it sounds). Though it was my second smallest buck ever, I felt the most accomplished of any buck I had ever shot. I considered it a major milestone in my hunting career. In a province that doesn’t allow baiting, this was a free-range whitetail in Alberta’s Boreal forest, which makes for very unpredictable filming.
This blog is solely to document the process that I am hoping leads me to my next milestone: A 170” whitetail buck, on film, with my bow! A tough task for sure. But certainly achievable.
I’ve been quickly realizing that the guys who consistently shoot world class deer don’t do it as a hobby. It’s a way of life, they care about the deer they hunt, and they want their herd as healthy as possible. They almost all exclusively do the work that it takes to make that happen year after year. And If I wanted to join that club, then I’d have to do the work too!
I decided in 2020 I would employ that same tactic and way of life. This past season I harvested a buck on November 21st, the latest in the season I have ever shot a deer. The following day, I bought 30 bales of Timothy/alfalfa from a local farmer and brought 6 bales directly out to that property to disperse in a few areas with some trail cameras, hoping to catch a picture of a buck I recently named Double D (see below).
He is about a 140” frame this past season with a nice drop on both sides. There are a number of 150” class deer that I know of here, but Double D is the only one that I believe has what it’s going to take to hit 170” gross. I filmed this deer in late September during rifle season but did not take him, being stubborn and sticking with my bow. I did however get some good footage of him, and after reviewing it I realized it was a good pass as this deer has great potential, as disappointed as I was at the time.
So. On January 1st, 2020 I rushed home from work and hurried out to pull some cards and top up the alfalfa supply with 6 more bales. Unfortunately, no photos of Double D at this time. But I was extremely happy to see how many does had found the food already and how much they were accessing it in such a short period of time (see pic below).
I was also happy to see 2 new bucks that have some great potential. Another interesting discovery was that a few bucks had already dropped their racks before January had even rolled in. I quickly dropped off a couple bales in a few spots, changed some batteries and some memory cards and got out of there as quickly as I could. Now that I have a feeding site established for the winter, it’s time to add some mineral supplement to the mix, so, in a couple of weeks, I will head back in there with some more food, but this time I’ll be packing some Antler Obsession to make sure I give them everything they need to make it through the next couple of months. Check in next week to see what I’m doing to try and join the bowhunting elite and the 170” club.