CANADA'S BEST DEER HUNTING

Waiting Paid Off

Editor's Note: At the first of November 2003, I went to Manitoba, Canada, to hunt with John Nixon and Doug Grantham of Whitetail Outfitters, headquartered in Stonewall. On this my second trip to hunt with Whitetail Outfitters in the deserted Interlake area near Winnipeg, I had just as much fun as I did the first time. During my first trip a couple of years ago, I saw more monster bucks and met more people who had taken the biggest bucks of their lifetimes than I'd ever met before. I also saw some unbelievably big bucks on my return trip in November of 2003. I interviewed the sportsmen who had braved this wilderness area so far removed from civilization that in a week's time you wouldn't even see an airplane fly over.

Tom Wheaton of Waltham, Massachusetts, took a buck with a B&C score of 132 points while hunting in Manitoba, Canada, with Whitetail Outfitters. "I got up about 4:30 a.m. and was in my stand by 6:00 a.m.," Wheaton recalls. "At 6:40, I heard some loud grunting that sounded like the buck was going away as the grunting faded away. Then 6:55 a.m., I spotted a buck stepping around in the brush that weighed well over 200 pounds. In that early-morning light and with the buck still in the brush, I only could see half of his rack. I didn't want to take the chance of shooting this buck and learn later that he only had half a rack. So I waited. Within an hour, three does came out of the brush on the same trail where I'd seen the buck earlier that morning. Then at 2:30 p.m., a big buck appeared out of nowhere 30 yards from me and looking in my general direction. I was concerned he might leave. I started lifting my rifle to my shoulder as slowly and as quietly as I could to keep from spooking the buck. But when I looked through the scope, there were two branches between me and the buck. I didn't want to take the shot. I waited for what seemed to be an eternity but was actually only a couple of minutes. Finally the buck took three steps and stopped, presenting me with the shot I wanted. When I squeezed the trigger, the buck jumped like he was spooked, but not hit. The buck started running up an old logging road away from me, so I quickly bolted my rifle, chambered a shell and took a quick second shot that centered a tree, but never touched the buck.

"I was almost sick to my stomach as I asked myself, 'How in the world could I have missed that shot?' I sat in the stand for a little while before climbing down and walking over to the place where the buck had been standing when I shot at him. When I got to the spot, I was really excited to see a blood trail. But instead of pursuing the deer, I went through the woods to where my buddy was hunting to get him to come with me to look for my buck. We discovered the deer only about 50 yards from the spot where the blood trail had begun. When I pulled the buck's antlers up out of the snow, my hunting buddy said, 'Wow! You really did good this year. This buck is the kind we came to Canada to try to take.' Although I'd taken a buck with a bigger body than this one, this buck had the biggest and nicest rack I'd ever taken."

Why Tom Wheaton Hunts With Whitetail Outfitters:
"I researched several outfitters before I decided to hunt with Whitetail Outfitters. My friends and I like to hunt with Whitetail Outfitters because we enjoy hunting in the bush and know we won't see another hunter while we hunt. We enjoy the tent camps and the wilderness experience. Whitetail Outfitters really fits our style of hunting. We prefer to see one or two deer all week long, and those deer be really big bucks rather than to see 20 or 30 deer of the sizes we don't want to take during the week. We also like the small number of people in each Whitetail Outfitters' camp. This year only two of us were in the camp where we hunted, and there's rarely more than four hunters in each camp. The other thing we appreciate about Whitetail Outfitters is they hire really good guides. Their guides are hunters and trappers who know the woods, are familiar with the bush and understand how to find the really big bucks."

For more information on hunting the buck of your lifetime under extreme conditions, contact Doug Grantham or John Nixon at Whitetail Outfitters, Box 70, Stonewall, Manitoba, Canada ROC 2Z0, phone toll-free (888) 398-3459, e-mail hunt@whitetailoutfitters.ca, or visit the Web site www.whitetailoutfitters.ca.

TOMORROW: FRANK SARRO