I just spent the last four days bow hunting at
White Horse Creek Guided Hunts in Alva,
Oklahoma (Wood County) and I'm still amazed at the huge bucks
that I saw! Along with a total of five other bow hunters, we
saw bucks of all sizes chasing does at almost every bow stand
site and during every hunt!
Our hunting invitation was extended to us by
White Horse Creek owner Dustin Earnest. He has several
bow stands set up along travel corridors, automatic feeders,
and strategically placed along food plots. There are also
several gun stands which overlook draws and food plots.
White Horse Creek Guided Hunts resides in Northwestern
Oklahoma and has over 21,000 acres of land. The large,
white-tailed deer are abundunt and the Rio Grand turkey
population is just as big! White Horse Creek offers hunting
packages that includes blackpowder, archery, and rifle
hunting for white-tailed deer.
The tail-end of
the Oklahoma blackpowder season occurs during the rut.
Deer hunters are allowed one buck and one doe in the deer
hunting packages. Your deer will be field dressed and
taken to the check station for you. White Horse
Creek also makes arrangements for processing and
taxidermy. The hunting packages are fully guided,
includes all lodging, meals, and transportation to and
from the ranch. The address and web site information can
be found at the end of this article.
Our hunt was from November 13th through the 16th. This time
frame falls between the muzzleloader season, which ended on
the 2nd, and rifle season, which starts on the 22nd. That's a
twenty-day window for low-pressure bow hunting and the rut was
in full swing!
When we first arrived, the weather put a "real hurt'in" on
me. On Thursday afternoon during my first hunt, it rained and
the wind blew out of the north 15 to 25 MPH. With the
temperature in the 40's, it was not a good afternoon for
seeing any deer movement.
Friday wasn't much better either. The wind switched around to
the south and it blew 20 to 30 MPH and the wind chill factor
was in the 30's. The rain had stopped, but the deer movement
where I was hunting was also very slow. I only saw one small
4-point buck feeding about 100 yards away upwind. Everyone
else was seeing lots of bucks and does at their bow stand
sites. My luck was fix'in to change for the better though!
While driving out for our Friday afternoon hunt, we flushed
out a 140+ class buck from a draw. With very thick mass and
high tines, he ran towards a tree-choked draw that led to a
wheat planted food plot. After our Friday afternoon hunt, we
spotted another 140+ class buck in the food plot with the
truck headlights along with two large does.
I had been hunting in some thick travel corridors because of
the wind. But, the weather forecast called for clear skies
and much calmer winds for Saturday and Sunday. Guide Dustin
Earnest told us that there was a bow stand set up alongside
that food plot in the tree line. That statement led to a
"rock, scissors, paper" melee for the rights to hunt that food
plot stand. The brawl that ensued will not soon be
forgotten! (Note: Our Editor lost this little game and had to
hunt elsewhere!) My victory was hard fought and we headed out
early on Saturday morning, battered, but excited.
The weathermen on TV are not to be trusted! They delight in
our suffering! With great weather forecast, we had very thick
fog roll in during the night. Normally, fog can be used to a
hunter's advantage. It dampens noise and reduces an animal's
sense of smell and sight. But, this fog was very thick and
accompanied with drizzle. At times, I could see no more than
75 to 100 yards. I only saw two good-sized does and several
turkeys that I flushed off the roost. The turkeys were
roosting about 40 yards inside the tree line alongside the
food plot. I heard and saw turkeys fly down for nearly an
hour.
That afternoon, the weather was warm, clear, and still. The
wind was out of the south at maybe 5 MPH. A young doe and
five jake turkeys entered the north end of the food plot
first. The turkeys ran the little doe off and they continued
feeding through the food plot until they headed for some roost
trees several hundred yards away. Twenty minutes later, a
large doe again entered the north end of the food plot and she
kept checking her back trail. Three minutes later, a very
large buck eased out of the woods. It appeared to be the same
140+ class buck we saw the night before.
This buck was definitely a shooter - 4 to 5 inch bases, 5 inch
eye guards, 12 to 14 inch G-2's, 10 to 12 inch G-3's, and lots
of main beam length and mass! Tyge would have loved for me to
have taken a picture of this deer. He saw this deer with me
the night before in the truck's headlights. But, it was all I
could do to hold still and not shake myself out of the tree.
The deer were 120 yards downwind of me. The buck was
constantly checking the light breeze and didn't completely
enter the field for several minutes. I am pretty serious
about scent control and with my Scent-Lok suit on, I was able
to hide from the big buck.
During all of this time, several turkeys had begun to fly up
to their roosts. There was a lot of cackling, yelping, and
scratching in the woods behind the food plot for a last minute
snack. For some reason, this was bothering both the doe and
buck? The pair would stare in the woods and then stamp or
even jerk a little backwards. I didn't understand this
behavior, as this racket must occur every morning and evening?
The pair fed in my direction for the next few minutes. They
were both still bothered by all the turkey noise. At about 75
yards, the doe turned and fed slowly back into the woods. The
big buck watched her leave for a few seconds, then he followed
her into the woods. That was pretty disappointing in itself,
but it would get worse...
Twelve minutes later, a different, good sized buck entered the
field with his nose high and sampling the wind. This was a
smaller buck, but it was a pretty good 8-point with tall G-2's
and G-3's. I decided rather quickly that if I could, I would
try to harvest this deer. While I was watching this buck,
three does came in behind my stand and starting playing chase
with one another. The buck caught sight or smell of the does
and headed straight for my tree stand.
The tree that I was hunting from only had a four foot wide
window of limbs to shoot through on the front left side of the
tree. The right side and rear side of the tree were
completely blocked from shooting through. The buck was
angling in from the right side and was walking quickly. I
drew my bow when he was 14 yards away knowing that I was not
going to get a shot off and/or he would surely see me. As I
locked in my arrow at my anchor point, the love-crazed 8-point
never saw me or heard me and walked directly under my tree and
began to chase the does. They exited the woods about 60 yards
to my left and the buck chased the three does out of the food
plot.
As I sat there in excited silence for the next few minutes
until dark, four more does entered the food plot 15 yards to
my right and fed in my shooting lane as to taunt me. I
finally had to convince them to leave so I could make the long
walk back to the truck. It was a pleasure to see two bucks of
that caliber, but frustrating to not sling an arrow at either
of them.
Sunday morning found me in the same stand with light variable
winds and a light fog rolling in. This time, a buck ran three
does out of the food plot from the far south end. They ran
out into a huge pasture next to the plot. There they stayed
until a monster buck appeared. I believe this was the same
140+ class buck we saw two days before. He had emerged from
the same large draw as before. Even though he was 350 yards
away, you could see his rack shining in the early morning
sun. He was clearly the big boss of that area. The other
buck slowly moved out of the field and the big boss began
chasing the three does. This went on for several more minutes
before two of the does left the far side of the pasture with
the monster hot on their trails...
In addition to all of the great bucks and does we saw, dozens
of turkeys, pheasant, dove, quail, and literally hundreds of
geese and ducks were seen on our four-day hunt. This hunting
ranch is teeming with all types of game. There is sign of
major buck activity all over the ranch, including numerous
rubs, scrapes and trails beaten down with game movement.
It's not hard to realize just how great your chances of
harvesting a mature trophy whitetail are when hunting this
part of the state, once you've seen the country. Dustin works
hard to attract and hold good deer numbers with year round
food sources, food plots and mineral stations. His management
practices are really paying off with some shooter bucks and
other game.
One
look at his photos from previous hunts shows several wall
hangers that have been taken in recent years.
Our guide and landowner, Dustin Earnest, could not have been
more knowledgeable or cordial. He knows the land thoroughly
and will put you in a position to harvest whatever game that
you are after. Our sleeping quarters were clean, roomy and
were just a short drive out of town to the hunting area.
There is a Wal-Mart in Alva, which has pretty much everything
you need including out-of-state hunting licenses and tags.
($202, not bad at all for a Nonresident) Several restaurants
and stores are close by for anything else you might need.
If
hunting big, mature whitetails on a free range ranch interests
you, give Dustin a call. You can bet I'll jump at the chance
to head north to Oklahoma in hopes of evening up the score
with those monster bucks, if it comes my way!
Until next time,
Carl "Da Guru" Wilson
Editor's
Note:
Our success in the field does not always end in a photo
opportunity with the buck of our dreams. But rather, it's
gauged by good fellowship, lessons learned and just being
there when it all comes together. All four of us agreed that
the weather played a major part in the fact that the Oklahoma
bucks got the best of us this time around. We all saw trophy
deer and had we been hunting with rifles, the outcome would
have been much different. Everyone had a great time with
Dustin and would highly recommend taking a look at his
operation if you're serious about taking big bucks. Plans for
a return trip this next month are already in the works. After
all, our tags are good until Jan. 1st!!!
