Through the Eyes of a Competitor

I never thought that as a whitetail deer hunter I would be sitting in the woods in a competition that pits me against nine other hunters. How could you possibly do this without harvesting all the deer? What landowner in their right mind would want all their deer harvested? The American Whitetail Authority, or AWA, figured it out by taking the latest digital-scope technology, paired it with a gun that shoots blanks and put it in the hands of the best hunters in the country. Now we have a competition.

The next question that came to mind was how you would determine the winner, the person who takes the biggest buck? Not exactly.

In every deer camp I have been in, that is how the best hunter is crowned. Surely if the hunter takes a big buck, he must know what he is doing—or does luck play a part? I have been told I was “just lucky” on more than one occasion. I surely didn’t think that way. I put many hours into scouting an area, checking wind directions, etc., so for me to hear I was lucky over and over again just made me shake my head.

So here I am sitting in the woods with the nine other hunters at the Gopher Plantation in Millwood, Ga., hoping to get “lucky” enough to make the cut to the top-two spots which then move on to the championship round at the legendary Giles Island in Natchez, Miss. How cool would that be? My mission was afoot.

The Strategy Factor
I get five shots per day to harvest three doe and two buck or to take five bucks, if possible. That sounds easy until I really started thinking about the complications this creates. Doe are scored by their age with the more mature deer scoring higher. Buck are scored in the same manner with age being one score combined with the score of the antlers. As a hunter, I know if a shoot early, I have the chance to scare all the deer away, which is where my dilemma starts.

In my competitive nature, a strategy had to be formulated that would result in the most possible points to beat the other nine hunters out there to get me into one of the top two spots. I spent my two days scouting every nook and cranny checking for trails, scrapes and rubs in areas I pre-scouted before I ever stepped foot on the property. Thank God for Google Earth.

This is just an amazing tool for me to look for features I want to concentrate on when I get there. To my amazement, the first pin I placed on my map was a small natural funnel of woods leading back to a thick area next to a swamp with deer sign everywhere. The wind would work in my favor keeping my scent out of the thick areas. There were major trails going in and out of the area with a really good rub line going along the edge or the pine trees. I found a good tree to place my climber stand on and cleared a few shooting lanes. I felt this was a good enough area that I would use it for both my morning and evening hunts and hope to catch them moving in and out.

I checked many other areas over the two days of scouting that I would use if my main stand location didn’t pan out. I didn’t think hunting the green fields would work to well because it had been so hot and dry the grass was not out of the ground that much.

It’s opening day and I’m sitting in my honey hole and ten minutes after shooting time begins a nice long-tined buck was walking the edge of the thick brush but never gave me a clear shot. The one thing I knew I didn’t want to do is make a bad shot, which by the rules causes you to receive a zero for that animal plus have half the points be deducted from your cumulative score. I was very excited seeing that nice buck and thought there would be more to follow. After several hours of watching anything that moved, and only having five doe came through. I made the decision not to shoot because I was holding out for a buck to rack up the big points.

A Surprise Awaits!
Now for the part I never anticipated. It’s an hour into the hunt and I heard that first shot. In a normal situation I would not pay it much attention, other than get discouraged that it wasn’t me pulling the trigger but this was something totally different. It was panic. The shot created a panic feeling that caught me out of nowhere. That shot registered as points being scored from my competitors and here I was sitting there in silence with all five shells. Not the way this day was scripted.

Shortly after the first shot, another one rang out behind me, then another off in the distance. My mind started going out of control about how many points were being racked up by my competition. Shooting time ended for the morning hunt so back to camp I went for lunch.

All ten of us were talking about our morning, sizing each other up in the back of our minds to see how we compared to each other and listening for any bit of information that might help us for the next hunt. Reality struck, I was behind and as a person who always plays to win, it hit hard! I would never have felt like this in a normal hunting camp. I asked myself why I didn’t shoot the doe that came through earlier. That was an easy question to answer at the time. I was waiting for the buck to come through.

We went out for the afternoon hunt and I returned to the same stand with the intent that I would shoot doe if they came through. The only animals that appeared that day were does, so I took my three. Two of the three does were not mature so I didn’t get as many points. Tomorrow could be a better day.

Day Two
Here I am on Day Two back in my morning spot. My anxiety level is at an all-time high after watching video last night of the other hunters’ shots. Something had to happen. I sat there for several hours and had not one sighted one deer, but shots were ringing out all around me.

All that kept going through my mind was: I might as well start packing. The morning hunt was about to come to an end so I got out of the stand early and headed up to catch my ride to lunch. I was no more than twenty steps from my stand when a mature doe appeared right in front of me about 70 yards away. I’m standing there, no shooting sticks, nothing to rest on, what do I do? Shoot! My mind screamed.

I pulled up, tried to steady the crosshair for a good shot, hit record, which means you have 10 seconds to pull the trigger. Doing this all with no rest is something I knew I shouldn’t do but the level of anxiety of being behind and the push to make this happen fast was my first step in the wrong direction. I have since replayed the scenario over and over in my head.

The last thing I saw when I squeezed the trigger, I didn’t feel very good about. After lunch I decided not to go back to the same stand so I went to a green field I had scouted earlier. The field was curved so I had to sit in the middle so I could see the entire field. I was sitting in a chair hidden by some bushes. To my surprise a doe came out and crossed the field to a point. I could not see her entire body so I had to get up and step out into the field for the shot. She was only 50 yards but now I was faced with the same situation as my morning hunt: shooting without a rest.

Feeling the ever-mounting pressure to make it happen, I shot with no rest hoping for a good shot. After the shot I went and sat back down with a couple hours of shooting time left. This was not going according to my plan. Another doe came out and did the same thing with the results were the same: another free hand shot. That made three doe for the day. Not a good day but not a bad day.

Would I make the cut into the top five? Standing there waiting to hear if I would make the top five was one heart-pounding, emotionally draining experience. When the fifth name was called to go home and it wasn’t mine, the feeling of relief was incredible. I made the top five! Now I had to figure out a strategy and have a cameraman to get set up in the spot, too!

Day Three
I decided to go back to my original stand to hunt the morning. I was really concerned about dealing with a cameraman making noise and taking forever to get set up but I couldn’t have been more wrong. My camera man, Tom, was amazing. He climbed the tree while I waited to tie his gear to the hoist rope. As I tied one thing after another to his rope I started wondering if he was out of room up there. After the last hoist, I went and climbed my tree not far from his. When I got to the top, turned around, I couldn’t believe he was ready to go and watching me! He was fast!

We sat there the entire morning as the anxiety once again grew more intense as we heard shots being fired all around us. Two things I knew I had to do: take mature doe, a nice big buck would have been preferable but I had my doubts, and to make perfect broadside shots to get extra points. Every point was precious at this stage of the event. I ended the morning hunt taking a mature doe with a perfect broadside shot but felt totally out of reach of the number one or two spot. I had to stay focused and most of all keep a positive attitude. The morning hunt ended and we headed back for lunch and much to my surprise the guys I thought that would be racking up points did not shoot.

Could I be getting lucky? Maybe.

We headed out for our afternoon hunt to a green field I had found on the map. I set up a ground blind on a small point jutting out into the field and brushed it in pretty well. The wind was blowing in our favor so I wasn’t worry about that. Based on the temperatures, they hovered in the mid-90s, I figured the deer would move late, which would not give me many opportunities.

With an hour and a half of shooting time, a mature doe comes out at 215 yards. The one thing I learned was that I needed to get something to rest my gun on so I could make a good, steady, clean shot. I managed to find an old metal tree stand ladder brace that had a “Y” welded on one end making it easy to jam into the ground for stability. As I watched this doe and readied my new-found shooting pole the adrenaline began to pulse at an uncontrollable rate.

I think knowing I was being filmed added to the thump. I lined up the crosshairs only to find that every heartbeat made them jump left and right. I had to get control before I made this shot so I looked away taking several deep breaths. I pulled back up, lined the shot up perfectly and pulled the trigger. Doe number two was down with what I thought was a perfect shot. In a normal hunting situation I would have squeezed that shot off without a hitch but the pressure to make everything perfect was enough to push me to the edge of a meltdown.

Time was running out and the growing feeling of defeat was really setting in. I remember telling my cameraman what a great time I had—almost sounding defeated. To add to that, I was texting my wife keeping her up to date on the play-by-play when she finally replied back telling me to stop texting and stay focused.

We sat there for awhile and doe number three came out and another perfect shot was made! Three mature doe with three great shots. That plan was working except now I could only shoot two bucks. Not good odds, or should I say I needed to have some luck. As I sat there trying to impose my will on a buck to appear, it dawned on me that I needed to adjust the magnification on my scope from 16.5 power down to a lower power because it was getting dark and the higher power was making it harder to see.

After turning it down to five, I sat up looked to my right and could not believe what I was looking at. At 20 yards to my right, standing there looking me right in the eye was the event-winning buck! How lucky was that? Anyone knows that having a buck staring you down at 20 yards is not luck but rather a curse, or I should say something to curse at. I think he saw me blink because he vanished by the time I blinked again. There went my luck and my chance I thought to make the cut. Nothing to do now but hope the other four competitors had that same “luck”.

Lights, Camera, Cuts!
The lights are on, the cameras are rolling and most of all my heart is pounding in my throat. The first name was called to go home and it wasn’t mine. Relief.

Was I ready to hear those same words when the next name was called? No. Wow, it wasn’t me!

Could this really be happening? It was time to find out because the next name would be the one that decides it all for me.

As the third-place name was announced, it clearly registered that it was not me and the feeling of accomplishment was the most satisfying emotion I have ever experienced in any hunting situation. From the biggest buck I’ve taken to the bull elk hunts I’ve been on, the emotion I was feeling at that moment was off the charts.