I’ve been a resident of the west for three years, yet I’m still drawn to whitetail deer while living in the heart of elk country. Although the mountains are now what I call home, my Michigan roots keep my mind wandering to whitetails, especially when the November rut rolls around. Outside of my formal stomping grounds, I’ve had my fair share of whitetail hunts around the country in various states including; Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and Oklahoma. On many of these trips I’ve returned home “deer-less” but the experiences I’ve had and the memories made are nothing short of spectacular. If you’re an avid whitetail hunter (like myself) you should highly consider an out of state hunting trip.

The Unknown

The thing that reels me in the most to DIY whitetail trips is the adventure aspect, hands down. There’s just something about diving head first into parts unknown that draws the true adventurer out of me and the anticipation of new landscapes brings heightened energy like no other. Who doesn’t love a road trip with a good buddy and getting to step foot into unseen whitetail habitat?

Seeing new parts of the country and getting to hunt deer in different landscapes also brings new challenges. It takes hunting back to the basics where you have to figure out travel corridors, locate bedding areas, and put the entire puzzle together piece by piece. The adventure is so much more than miles traveled, it’s the experience of hunting in its purest form.

Large Tracts Of Public Land

100 acres was considered a big chunk of property where I grew up in Southern Michigan and up until I was 23 years old, I never knew what it was like to hunt thousands of acres of woods or crop fields. Large tracts of public land were few and far between so I was left to play within the lines of small private parcels, which I usually shared with multiple other hunters.

Many states have endless amounts of public land that are open to premier whitetail deer hunting, some of which are over the counter (OTC) tags. On public lands, you can literally play outside the lines and confines that you are normally subject to on private land. How often do you get to travel a mile into a stand location or cover square miles of acreage in a single day?

Camping and Lodging

The fun part about on an out of state hunting trip is getting to experience something new in a lodging situation. I’ve set up tents on public land, rented cabins at state parks and most recently on my hunt to Oklahoma, I slept in the bed of my truck with an air mattress and a SoftTopper. I’ve also stayed in hotels but I don’t recommend it because it kills part of the adventure on the trip, at least for me. A hotel doesn’t have the rustic hunting camp feel and even the shittiest motel can rack up a credit card bill pretty damn quick. I suggest finding a cabin, bringing a camper, or roughing it in the back of your truck; it will only make the experience better.

Creativity

The beauty part of a whitetail trip is the amount of creativity you can use for strategy, land access, and locating deer. There is no right or wrong way to approach or execute a hunt and you are only limited by your imagination. Who says you have to hunt exclusively on public land? I’ve gained free access to hunt private farms simply by door knocking, thus playing outside of the lines that I thought I was confined to. On my recent 2018 Whitetail Hunt to Oklahoma, I utilized quail hunters to help locate deer by exchanging numbers on the first day with the agreement to let each other know of sightings of the quarry we were chasing. After having a slow couple of days, I followed up with one of the bird hunters and he disclosed the area they were seeing the most deer while hunting for quails. Later that day I hung a stand and killed a doe and buck that same week. There’s no single path to get you from A to Z and that’s part of what makes these out of state trips so cool.

Have Fun!

Above all else, it’s important to remember why we deer hunt to begin with and that’s to have fun. If you’ve lost your itch or are looking to find a new passion, getting out of the same routine and mixing it up in another state can help rekindle the flame or start a fire that will burn for the rest of your life. Sometimes a spontaneous trip can help recharge the batteries for your daily life, regardless of whether or not you return with meat for the freezer.

With the start of 2019 upon us, where will you hunt this year? Will you return to the same back-forty that you know like the back of your hand, or will you experience someplace new? Life is short. Plan the trip, buy the tag, and go hunting!

“If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to hunting, especially with my approach. In our current era of a social media crazed society, seeing endless amounts of trophy photos when you yourself have nothing to share can make it seem like the season was a failure. Some of us (myself included) are left with tags burning a hole in our pocket and it paints a picture of an unsuccessful season, but was it really?

Hunting isn’t easy nor will it ever be, at least that’s how it is for me. I’m a firm believer that sometimes it takes eating a tag to make a harvest that much more fulfilling the following year. At this point in time in my life, I don’t want a hunt handed to me or anything to come easy because the victory tastes that much sweeter when it finally does come together.

In 2016, I was not able to fill my archery whitetail tag in Eastern Colorado and I’m perfectly okay with that. Finding the time to hunt between working a 40+ hour work week and limited resources are just some of the challenges that myself and many others have to overcome just to have the opportunity to hunt in the first place. On top of this, I choose to make hunting harder. Not because I’m trying to be the ultimate badass or because I have something to prove, I just simply prefer the following; DIY hunting, with archery equipment, on unmanaged land.

Just to be clear, I’m not looking for a pity party; I’ve had one hell of a season. I shot a 6×7 Bull Elk in Colorado With My Bow and to be honest, this was the best hunting season I’ve ever had. This article is intended to show the way I prefer to hunt and how difficult it is to take big game animals on a consistent basis doing it this way.

DIY Is My Style Of Hunting

First and foremost, when it comes to hunting deer and elk, I prefer the “Do It Yourself” way of tackling a hunt. In my opinion, figuring out the puzzle and getting it done on your own forces you to step up your game and in return, the outcome is that you become a better hunter. I embrace the challenge and the work that goes into scouting, hanging tree stands, and running trail cameras (just to name a few) all on my own because without that work, I’ve missed out on what hunting truly is to me. Getting a shot opportunity or harvesting an animal is just a reflection and a small representation of the intensive amount of work that goes into getting that opportunity in the first place.

Running trail cameras is one of many puzzle pieces that is DIY hunting.

I’m not here to knock outfitters by any means but given my current circumstances and preferences at this point in time, I will not hunt with an outfitter because I would miss out on all or some of these steps.

I Don’t Hunt On Managed Land

This is a slippery slope when it comes to this point due to the multitude of variations of what “management” means but here is the scenario I like to portray in regards to this topic:

Take 10 hunters, put them each on their own 500-acres of land that they have never stepped foot on before and give them five days to hunt with all things being equal, the guy who comes out with the biggest/oldest/most-mature/top-scoring animal is the best hunter, in my opinion. Due to the degree of luck that comes into play during a hunt, this scenario should be repeated over the course of 10 years to gather enough data to determine who is the hunting champion.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “What the hell does this have to do with illustrating your point?” My point is that the scenario described above eliminates any sort of pre-planning, food-plotting, pre-season scouting, habitat manipulation, and pre-knowledge of a particular piece of land which in turn creates a raw and pure hunting scenario with limited time and resources. This is what I truly believe hunting to be.

This is why much of my big game hunting is comprised of public land hunting or door knocking on private land. These areas and parcels allow me access, not manipulation, which forces me to play the cards that are dealt, which is what I prefer and enjoy as “pure” hunting.   

Bow And Arrow Is My Weapon Of Choice

Again, this is a heated debate and a slippery slope but to me, taking and harvesting game with a bow and arrow is what I prefer because of the challenge. Not only do you have to get closer to the animal which requires honed skills, you also have to become very proficient with shooting a bow, which requires endless amounts of practice.

I practice shooting my bow year round to make it count when a shot opportunity presents itself.

With bowhunting, I get to experience more up-close, heart-pounding encounters with animals staring me right in the eye while I try to hold my composure from less than 20 yards away. Hunting with a bow also gives me the ability to see an arrow take flight and watch it bury into an animal at close range.

On the other hand, I also believe there are certain circumstances where archery hunting is easier or can generate more shot opportunities than gun hunting given the time of year, hunting pressure, and season length but I prefer bowhunting based on the reasons stated above and the challenge it presents.

I Support All Legal Forms Of Hunting

My intent with this article is not to divide hunters with certain hunting styles, equipment, and management practices, the intent is simply to illustrate the way of hunting I prefer at this point and time of my life. We all lead different lives, grow up with different experiences, and live in different parts of the world which leads to differences in how we prefer to hunt.

Some people have extremely limited time which leads them to hunt with an outfitter. Some people grow up in families who have thousands of acres of managed land. Some people prefer gun hunting because they simply prefer gun hunting. And you know what, I support all of it because we all come from different walks of life. Who am I to judge someone for something they do differently than me? My life could change tomorrow that could force me to hunt with a gun, on heavily managed land at an outfitter property. I judge no one.

What it ultimately comes down to is this… I’m going to hunt in a manner and style that gives me the most fulfillment and enjoyment, no matter if I bring home an animal or not because that is what makes me happy. I encourage you to do the same.

What is your preferred hunting style and weapon of choice to harvest big game animals? Send me an email at transitionwild@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

The pursuit via spot and stalk, above all else, is exhilarating and will give you a rush like no other when closing the distance on a mature whitetail buck. Western hunting in states such as South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas offer some of the best whitetail deer hunting in the nation and in order to be successful, it is critical to think outside the box. Sure, tree stand hunting is a great strategy for river bottoms but what happens when you see a giant bed down with a doe in an open CRP field? Do you roll the dice or do you play it safe?

Keep in mind that there isn’t a right or wrong way to spot and stalk and not all terrains are best suited for this tactic but hopefully you can implement some of these strategies on your own hunt later this Fall.

Keep A Visual

Keeping your eye on the prize seems like an easy thing to do but with terrain changes and heavy cover that whitetails thrive in, one can quickly lose sight of the target. Keeping a visual is the most critical element to success and you as the predator should do everything in your power to maintain a line of sight at all times.

Binoculars are essential for monitoring your target as you close the distance for a shot.

Let me give you an example. My buddy Joey and I located a buck bedded with a doe while hunting public land but he was just over the fence on private. We watched him for over five hours hoping and praying he would push the doe over to his core area on to the public. Eventually, he lost interest and we changed our position to a higher vantage point on top of a hill so that we could keep a bead on him as he went in search of the next hot doe.

As he closed the distance to within 300 yards of our position, we made the fatal mistake of moving off the hill and setting up in a draw for a hopeful ambush scenario. Doing this meant we lost sight of him and long story short, he didn’t read the script.We completely lost sight and the hunt was over. Had we kept a visual on him, we could have changed our strategy with calling or moved in closer for a potential shot opportunity.

Anticipate The Next Move

Business moguls of the world such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs created empires through innovation and the ability to foresee the marketplace that they competed in by anticipating market demand. The same holds true for spot and stalk hunting. A key piece to a successful spot and stalk hunt is the ability to anticipate where the deer is going to move next and then adjusting your strategy based on prior intel.

Predicting the next move of a whitetail deer is dependent on a number of factors but the ability to interpret data in real time, such as knowing frequented bedding areas or travel routes, will increase the odds of getting a shot. If you can setup with the wind in your favor and in between where he currently is and where he wants to be, you can then formulate a plan to move within bow-range.

Jared Scheffler of Whitetail Adrenaline talks more in-depth about “anticipating the next move” on the Wired To Hunt Podcast, Episode #32: Extreme Rut Hunting Tactics With Jared Scheffler Of Whitetail Adrenaline. I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Get Aggressive

In today’s world of whitetail deer hunting we often hear that low-pressure and low-impact is the secret to killing mature bucks and although this may be true, it is simply not the case for a spot and stalk hunting style. I’ve found, through many failed attempts, that it is best to be more aggressive than passive because of the sheer unpredictability of whitetail deer movements due to unforeseen circumstances that you cannot control. This especially holds true while hunting public lands.

One of my secret weapons is my Heads Up Decoy when covering ground in open terrain.

We sometimes give these animals too much credit and burn it into our minds that mature bucks are almost impossible to kill because of their ability to outwit predators. I’m here to tell you that you would be surprised at what you can get away with when it comes to stalking whitetail deer. If the conditions are in your favor, it’s best to attempt the stalk and get busted than sit back and watch an opportunity slip away, even if there is a slim chance of pulling it off.

What Do You Have To Lose?

Let’s face it, if you’re reading this article, you are risk-taker and enjoy the challenge of pushing the limits beyond what others think is capable. Do not be afraid to leave the tree stand behind and set out on a belly crawl to your next trophy of a lifetime; you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So get out there, mix things up, roll the dice, and have your most exhilarating hunt yet!

If you’re longing for more info about western whitetail deer hunting, check out some of my other articles: Early Season Strategies For Hunting Western Whitetails and 3 Strategies For Hunting Whitetails In Standing Crops.

– Adam Parr