You Won’t Strike Out When Hunting With Central
Montana Outfitters
Change Terrain, and Hunt Another Big White-Tailed
Buck
 Editor’s
Note: I love to do any type of hunting. I’ve learned
many years ago that some of the biggest white-tailed
deer in the nation live in the Northwest. And, although
I love to hunt mule deer, I truly enjoy hunting big
whitetails.
So many big mule deer live in this are where Central
Montana Outfitter hunts that Schearer usually can find
that mule deer buck of a lifetime for any of his hunters
within one or two days. My roommate on the hunt was
Slaton White, the editor of “Shot Business”
in NYC. I’ve hunted with White on another occasion
and had known him for several years. I enjoyed being
in camp with him almost as much as I enjoyed hunting.
A new friend I made on this hunt was Chad Adams, pictured
today with his mule deer. Adams took his mule deer on
the second day of the hunt, and like me, he really enjoyed
our bird hunting in the middle of the day. But on the
fourth and fifth days of my hunt, I was the only hunter
in camp who hadn’t tagged out. “John, I’ve
got another big whitetail that’s been coming out
of a canyon, passing by some hay bales and feeding in
a big alfalfa field,”  Schearer
told me. “I’ve been seeing him almost every
day for the last two weeks. This afternoon, I’ll
put you out at the hay bales, and that buck should walk
within 50 yards of you, an easy range for the Optima
Elite .45 black-powder barrel.”
When Schearer took me to the hay bales pied up three
stories high that afternoon, he told me to, “Stand
here by the hay bales, and look for that big whitetail.
When he comes by, take him.” I knew that a better
vantage point would be to climb to the top of the hay
bales so I could see much further, have my scent much
higher in the air and be more likely to spot the big
buck long before he got within black-powder range. I
also knew Schearer wouldn’t suggest to any of
his hunters that anyone attempt to climb a three-story
hay bale. The liability would be too much. So, once
Schearer was out of sight, I climbed to the top of the
hay bales and made me a little room inside the bales
that I could peep out of it and see into the back of
the canyon where the buck should be b edded-down.
I also could watch the area all the way across the alfalfa
field, which was 1/2- to 3/4-mile wide. About 1-1/2-hours
before dark, I started seeing deer, including a doe
and a fawn and some small bucks – all passing
to within 50 yards or less of my stand. As I studied
the back of the brushy draw, I watched as a doe stood
up and looked nervously behind the spot from where she’d
been laying. Then I saw him! I don’t know exactly
how many points this monster whitetail had, but he was
much bigger than 150 B&C. He had some abnormal points
coming off his main beam, and he was the type of buck
you dream of seeing. He was as tuned-in to that doe
as someone who was watching TV with only one channel
from which to choose. He never was more than 25 feet
behind her. When the doe and the buck headed my way,
I had to calm myself down to get ready for the shot.
An old fence row was about 370 yards from my three-story
hay bale. Once again, I’d used my Bushnell range
finder to check the distance.
The doe started moving out of the back of the draw
and arrived at the fence row with the buck following
her. She bedded-down on the fence row, and he bedded-down
about 30 yards from her on the same fence row. “All
I’ve got to do is w ait
for that doe to get hungry and come to this alfalfa
field, and I’ll have the opportunity to take the
biggest buck of my life,” I told myself. But as
the shadows got longer, and the temperatures dropped,
the doe stood up. Instead of taking the trail by the
stack of hay where I was and out into the alfalfa field,
she turned right around and went back in the brushy
draw from where she’d come originally, taking
my trophy whitetail with her. All I could do was watch
as they vanished into the deep brush. Then just before
dark, I had two huge mule deer come out of the brush,
move to within 100 yards of my hay bale look-out and
start to fight. Both of these bucks were shooters, and
I was tempted, since my tag was good for a mule deer
or a white-tailed buck. The battle ended as the light
faded even more, and both of these mulie bucks walked
to within 30 yards of my hay bales, headed toward the
alfalfa field. I’d already cocked the hammer and
picked out the biggest buck. I told myself, “This
shot is a chip shot.” I put the crosshairs on
the big buck’s front shoulder. However, when he
stopped, instead of squeezing the trigger, I put my
thumb on the hammer and let it down. I said to myself,
“I may regret this, but I really want to take
a big whitetail. So, I’ll hunt this big white-tailed
buck again in the morning in the draw at first light.
If I don’t see him by 10:00 am, I’ll get
the .270 barrel from Chad, put it on the Optima Elite
in place of the .45 caliber black-powder barrel and
hunt a mule deer tomorrow afternoon.”
To learn more about CVA’s top-quality black-powder
guns, click on www.cva.com.
For more information on Central Montana Outfitters,
call or email Chad Schearer, www.centralmontanaoutfitters.com;
chad@centralmontanaoutfitters.com;
(406) 727-4478
You can learn more about Bushnell’s quality products
at www.bushnell.com.
Tomorrow: The Final Decision About Mule Deer
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