FRIDAY, OCT. 6:
I just dropped off cameraman Lance Tangen at the airport in Eugene, Oregon, following our hunt for the whitetail world's most geographically restricted huntable subspecies.
We were after Columbian whitetails, and we got one — a respectable 8-pointer – on Oct. 3, our fourth day of hunting with Eric Bunn and Brian Pumlinson's Western Oregon Outfitters (www.westernoregonoutfitters.com). Getting that buck was an exciting end to what could be the most unique whitetail hunt in the U.S., and it's going to make a great episode for 2007.
Most whitetail hunters have never heard of the Columbian subspecies. In part, that's because the world's only two herds are restricted to the area around Roseburg, Oregon, and the lower end of the Columbia River valley shared by Washington and Oregon. It's also because for more than a quarter-century, nobody could legally hunt these deer. For various reasons, all hunting was halted in 1978, when the subspecies was placed on the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There's still no hunting of the Columbia River herd, but the population near Roseburg, in southwestern Oregon, now has increased to the point that limited hunting resumed in 2005.
Although the deer density around Roseburg is high (for both whitetails and blacktails), you sometimes have to look over a lot of ground to find the right buck, especially with the short gun season being several weeks prior to the rut. Fortunately, we had an Arctic Cat (www.arcticcat.com) ATV and a 20-60X Swarovski (www.swarovskioptik.com) spotting scope, which was mounted atop a lightweight Carson (www.carson-optical.com) "The Rock" tripod.
Guides Dan Dawson and Kevin Anderson were great to work with on this fun hunt. They're hard workers and excellent at spotting deer at long range, which is crucial in this big country.
My buck was shot at around 175 yards, using a Thompson/Center (www.tcarms.com) Pro Hunter in .280 Rem. This was the first deer I've taken using Hornady's (www.hornady.com) 139-grain moly-coated bullet in a "light magnum" load, but it definitely won't be the last. That load packs a punch.
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