Tips for Hunting Whitetails in the West, Midwest & Northern U.S.

Thanks to better than 30 years spent as a full-time outdoor writer and video/television show producer, I’ve had the unique pleasure of pursuing trophy whitetails across a very broad geographic range. Those hunts include trips to states located in the far southern U.S., hunts in the far northern reaches of Canada and just about every place in between.

As one might imagine, my many experiences have provided me with a wealth of knowledge regarding the behavior patterns of mature bucks that reside in different environments.

Now before proceeding I’d like to state that, while my depth of knowledge has increased dramatically, to this day there are times when I still come away from a hunt having been fully humiliated by a mature whitetail. To be honest, I truly hope those experiences never end!

Anyway, it’s my intent in this article to provide what I believe are some valuable pointers for fellow hunters who are looking to broaden their whitetail hunting horizons, as well as those who might already be doing so. While I certainly don’t claim to know everything regarding the subject, I’m confident there are some tidbits of information I can pass along that just might prove helpful.

Montana & Wyoming

Without doubt the most interesting (and helpful) thing I quickly learned about western whitetails is that they are far more visible during daylight hours than whitetails that reside in other environments. After closely analyzing the situation, it’s my opinion that there are two reasons for this high-visibility factor. The first reason is that hunting pressure (especially by bowhunters) isn’t nearly as intense in western lands as it is in other parts of the whitetail’s range.

The other reason has to do with the visibility factor. In short, western whitetails that reside in prairie or open hilly environments usually are able to spot predatory threats from great distances. And they absolutely understand the importance of quickly putting some distance between themselves and those threats. So, they have no qualms about being in the open.

It’s for this very reason that I quickly grasped the importance of using long range observation as a primary scouting tool when pursuing western deer. And when I say “long range observation” I mean having at least a 400-to-500-yard buffer zone between you and the deer you’ll be watching.

Now I know some reading this might believe using scouting cameras can be just as useful as observation. While I wholeheartedly agree that cameras could prove useful in some situations, observations can provide valuable information gathered from much larger areas than cameras can do.

Anyway, thanks to some valuable information obtained from a good friend in Wyoming, videographer Matt Tande and I had learned the whereabouts of a lush alfalfa field located on a very large tract of land. A single evening spent watching the field provided us with all the info we needed to devise a game plan to hopefully put us in position to ambush a particular big buck we’d seen.

Based on our findings from the previous evening, Matt and I decided to pop up a ground blind amongst some round bales that were scattered about the field. And as a final finishing touch, and despite it being early September, I decided to place a buck decoy approximately 30 yards straight out in front of the blind.

Long story short, the buck we’d previously labeled a “for sure shooter” made an appearance at the field just as the sun was sinking below the western horizon. The big deer immediately spotted the decoy and made a beeline straight for it. After determining this “new deer” wasn’t a threat, the buck walked a few yards into the alfalfa and began munching on some alfalfa. That move proved to be a fatal mistake for the 16-point whitetail.

While the buck remains one of my best bow-killed typical whitetails, that hunt was made even more memorable by the fact that I arrowed a wide-spreading, chocolate antlered Wyoming 8-point just a few days later. My taking that deer also came about as the result of some productive long-range observation.

North Dakota & South Dakota

I can’t begin to express how much I’ve come to love hunting big whitetails in the Dakotas. Part of my love affair has to do with the various types of terrain a person could find themselves hunting over the course of just a few days. It could be flat, prairie-type habitat one day, rugged “break” terrain the next day and beautiful wooded river bottom country the day after that.

One of my favorite North Dakota spots to hunt is a 5,000-acre working cattle and horse ranch located in the northwestern part of the state. The ranch land is comprised of a mixture of agricultural ground (hay fields bordered by thick stands of timber), wooded river bottom cover and a huge tract of semi-wooded sandhills-type country. As I’ve learned over the years, whitetails are found in pretty much equal numbers throughout all the aforementioned areas.

While there is enough cropland (primarily hay fields) to make long range observation an option, I’ve discovered that putting up numerous scouting cameras in the river bottoms and sandhills areas is a much more productive strategy.

Anyway, some years back my long time “wing man” and full-time videographer, Matt Tande, accompanied me on a particularly memorable hunt. Little did I know that, thanks to an unexpected appearance by a mature, chocolate antlered 10-point, my hunt would be over late on the very first afternoon.

With four days left on our schedule I decided to make a trip to a nearby town to purchase Matt a nonresident archery tag. It proved to be a very wise decision, as he ended up arrowing a 10-point buck that was even larger than the one I’d taken previously. The fact that I captured his hunt on film made the hunt even more special!

It’s interesting to note that, although both of our North Dakota bucks were taken from the same ranch, the two deer were relating to totally different food sources. The 10-point I arrowed was in route to a nearby lush alfalfa field when I ambushed him. Matt, however, took his buck in a spot that boasted a lush crop of freshly fallen acorns and an abundance of browse.

Now while I absolutely love pursuing North Dakota whitetails, and have taken my fair share of big bucks over the years, I’d be remiss not to mention my equal love for pursuing big whitetails in South Dakota.

The source of this allure stems from the fact that the area I’ve been hunting, which is in the far western part of the state, has some of the most diverse whitetail habitat found anywhere. It’s entirely possible that, during the course of a single week, I could be hunting badlands-type terrain, semi-open prairie areas or maybe even some lush cropland habitat.

Regarding the type of equipment needed, here are my recommendations; and this comes from a person who has done more than his fair share of western whitetail hunts. If you have room to haul it all, bring the type of gear you’d need to hunt all the habitats I just described, because it’s entirely possibly you could find all three types within the area(s) you’ll be hunting. I’ve personally experienced this exact thing on several western whitetail hunts.

I’d also strongly recommend taking along quality optics, including binoculars, a spotting scope and a range finder. Along with it sometimes being tough to judge shot distance when hunting wide open spaces, there’s also the possibility that a spot & stalk opportunity on a big whitetail (or mule deer) may present itself.

Another reason I’m so fond of hunting South Dakota is that there have been a fair number of occasions when I’ve actually forfeited an evening hunt in order to sit back a safe distance and observe an area I suspect is playing host to some mature buck activity. These long-distance observation missions have become one of my favorite western whitetail strategies.

But like most other serious whitetail hunters, I also have a lot of faith in what my scouting cameras tell me. A past bowhunt in a river bottom area located in western South Dakota is testament to keeping that faith.

In recent days, we’d captured a number of daylight photos of a certain good looking 10-point buck as he was meandering along the banks of a small river. Since I’m not one to hesitate regarding such opportunities, I made the decision to immediately try to ambush the big whitetail. I’d been on my tree stand less than an hour when the buck showed up and offered a 20-yard chip shot. Game, set, match!

Wisconsin & Illinois

I’ve long harbored the opinion that, when it comes to hunting mature whitetails, having home field advantage is a huge plus. Now when I say “home field advantage,” I mean being in possession of a chunk of prime big buck habitat that’s located relatively close to your home. And that was the case with another of my all-time favorite whitetail archery hunts.

Over the course of the late summer/early fall period, I’d captured multiple scouting camera photos of a pretty good looking 9-point buck. Initially, I considered the deer a target animal. But after showing some of the photos to our son, Jake, he expressed the opinion that maybe we should give the buck a “pass” with the hopes that he’d survive our upcoming nine-day gun season. As he put it, “I have a feeling that if he does make it through until next year, he’s gonna be something special.” It turned out that Jake’s assessment was spot on.

The sun was just about to slip below the western horizon when the buck I’d passed the previous season appeared (now a 10-point). The big deer was slowly walking along the edge of a CRP field about 100 yards directly in front of our position. While Jake was busy filming the big deer, I got into position for a shot — just in case. It proved to be a wise decision, as the 10-point ended up meandering to within 15 yards. That big Wisconsin whitetail remains one of my more special archery kills.

Interestingly, I’ve discovered that a lot of the skills I’ve acquired regarding taking mature Wisconsin whitetails also apply when hunting other midwestern states. And in fact, it paid big dividends on a past Illinois archery hunt.

The whitetail rut was in full swing, so I decided to place a decoy in an alfalfa field approximately 25 yards straight out in front of my stand site. After giving the area time to settle down, I grabbed my rattling antlers and let go with an aggressive, 30-second calling sequence.

Only a few minutes had gone by when I heard a deer approaching through the timber directly behind my position. It took only a quick glance to see that it was a big buck, and he was walking straight toward my position!

Fortunately for me, the buck made a sudden right turn when he was about 15 yards out and was now walking perfectly broadside. Judging by his body language, it was clear that he’d spotted the decoy.

Since there was literally no underbrush or branches between us, I decided not to wait for the big deer to walk into the field. My arrow took him perfectly, and I recovered the stud whitetail after a short trailing job. Three additional sticker points make the heavy-antlered 8-pointer’s rack even more special. The buck is just one of several trophy whitetails I’ve taken in Illinois.

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