In the past 12 years most of the hunts ( about 20 hunts ) I have been on have been rifle hunts. So in 2002 why did I book not one archery deer hunts but two? I am not sure myself. Your odds are certainly better if you are rifle hunting. But I am glad I went to North Dakota.     

My first archery hunt was for whitetails in Pike County, Illinois. Everyone has heard of Pike County, lots of big whitetails. Which is true, but the first week of Nov the temps reached the 70’s and there wasn’t a lot of movement. I saw several big whitetails during that week, but nothing got close enough for a shot. But enough about Pike County, this story is about North Dakota.    

 I booked my hunt with Billy Freitag. Billy has six ranches in North Dakota and all are archery only ranches. Some ranches are mostly whitetails, some mostly mule deer and some have both.     

Mule deer tags are limited in numbers and allow you to take either a mule deer or a whitetail. Whitetail tags are unlimited but only allow you to take a whitetail. They cost $165.00.     

 You can hunt in late September or early October catching the deer coming and going from the fields feeding. Or you can hunt the middle of November during the rut. Or, December over bait as I did. During December when it gets colder and there is snow the deer (including big bucks) head toward the bait in order to put weight back on after the rut and to get prepared for normally harsh North Dakota winters. The big bucks are also looking for any does that weren’t bred during the first rut in November.      

With me on the trip was Chris Miron from Port Huron. I met Chris in 2001 when I booked him on a Saskatchewan whitetail hunt. (Chris took a pretty nice buck on that trip)     

 Chris and I met up with our guide Billy Freitag at his home in Dickinson and from there a short hour trip to the 14,000 acre ranch in the foothills of the Badlands which would be our home for the next week.     

 Once we arrived at the ranch we met another hunter from Maryland. He had arrived a couple of days before us and had already missed a large mule deer.     

 Our first day of hunting was pretty uneventful. But Monday evening I was about to experience something I had never experienced before while hunting whitetails and I have hunted in Saskatchewan six times and have seen and taken some pretty big bucks with a rifle.

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My evening stand was a 15-foot ladder stand attached to an oak tree on the edge of a grain field. Sixteen yards away was a bait pile of oats. I had a few small bucks and does coming in and out during the two hours before dark. About 20 minutes before dark, a large 10-point whitetail crossed the field and came into the bait. A few minutes later two other 10 pointers came into the bait. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The largest of the three bucks probably would score about 170 Boone/Crockett. In all, there were 10 deer milling around between the base of my tree and the bait pile. Besides all the eyes I had to contend with, I found it tough to position myself for the shot. Right where this monster whitetail, standing broadside, feeding at the bait pile. I couldn’t move or pull my bow back. I had to sit there watching these deer until my guide approached in his vehicle, which chased the deer back into the woods.     

 I lay in bed that night trying to figure out how I was going to be able to get a shot at this big buck, if that big buck even returned.      

My second morning was uneventful, which was the calm before the storm as I was soon to learn when I went back to that stand for my evening hunt.      

With all the activity I had the first evening, I wanted to make sure I got into my stand early. As I was just sitting down in my stand, before I even had a chance to put my release on, an eight pointer was heading across the grain field toward the bait pile. For the next three hours I had several bucks and does coming and going. Just before dark, with smaller bucks and does at or around the bait pile and the base of my tree, the action began.

     I had a 10 pointer arrive at the bait, and then a larger 10 pointer and the 170-class buck arrived. A few minutes later a fourth large buck arrived. Agian I had deer all around me and all of the larger bucks were at or near the bait, with no shot presenting itself. I also had a doe about five yards from the base of my tree. I couldn’t move and my bow was still hanging on my hook. Just when I was thinking this evenings hunt was going to end like the previous nights hunt, a large 10 pointer thought a doe was getting too close to the bait. He ran her off and then stopped in my shooting lane about 20 yards out. With this commotion, all of the deer were focused on the aggression of the buck. I quickly picked up my bow, put my twenty-yard pin on the buck and released my arrow. I could tell the shot was good. I saw the buck kick his back legs out, run about forty yards, and drop.

     All of the deer ran off in different directions, none knowing what happened. It took all of the self-control that I had to remain in the stand until my guide arrived. I didn’t want to climb down just in case there were any deer around and mess up a good stand.      

As I approached my trophy, I realized it wasn’t as big as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great deer and by far the biggest I have taken with a bow. It scored 135 B.C., the brow tines were 5 ½ and 6 inches long. But I did think he was bigger than he was.     

 I have learned the hard way hunting in Saskatchewan that you can’t focus on the body size of these big deer. You need to look at the antlers. A good scoring deer needs to be wider than its ears, have good mass and good height on the antlers. Another good indication is the size of the brow tines, which is what I looked at when the buck cleared that large branch.      

As you can see from the picture, this is a very large body deer. We estimated it weighed about 250 Lbs. I noticed that most of the deer, even the younger bucks, had good brow tines and big bodies.      

The next three days, while riding around with my guide, I saw over twelve whitetail bucks that would score between 140-170 B.C. I also saw several large mule deer bucks as well.

     The deer on this ranch move freely during the day because there is very little pressure on them and it is an archery only ranch.      

Chris Miron saw several bucks during the week, he held off hoping to take a buck bigger than the one he took the previous year. He took a nice 8-point the last evening. Our Maryland hunter ended up missing three different mule deer bucks during the hunt. There were 2 other hunters from Michigan there that week hunting at another ranch. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, but I did find out one took a large whitetail and the other missed a big mulie.