Hunt the animals where you live
By Eddie Salter

Alabama may not offer the big deer in all areas like the midwestern states, but Alabama has its share of big deer

I thank God for being one of the chosen few who can hunt for a living. I was very lucky to harvest four Pope and Young bucks with my bow in the fall of 1999.

My first hunt was an invitation from Realtree Outdoors to hunt the Milk River in northeast Montana. I had hunted this same area the year before without success, but I saw more racked deer than anyplace I had ever hunted before. I was excited to be invited back because I knew what area I wanted to hunt from.

On the second afternoon, my dream buck appeared. I had a little miscommunication with my camera man and wasn't able to make the shot I desired but harvested the deer anyway. This buck scored 155.

My next hunt was in Iowa near the southeastern corner. It was the first week in November, and I was happy that the deer were in pre-rut. The first three days, action was everywhere and then my good luck went bad. The weather turned hot and the deer quit moving. But perseverance paid off. On the last day, I was successful and bagged a nine-point that scored 125.

Making tracks as fast as I could, I headed for the Buck-Eye state, trying to catch the bucks in rut again. I was hunting Athens, Ohio, near the southeastern corner. One thing I had in my favor is that I had hunted this place for years, and I knew the perfect stand site. It proved to be as good as my expectations. I passed many young bucks trying to wait for a larger rack and on the fifth day, I rattled up a nice eight-pointer. It scored 125.

This brings us to a December hunt in Illinois, where I was invited to a celebrity hunt. This late-season hunt required a lot of scouting to find the remaining food sources which were small clover and corn fields. I asked one of the outfitters which areas had not been hunted much, because I wanted to use this as my first choice. This area was very tough to make decisions on where to hunt because of the hunting pressure. As luck would have it, the area I chose proved to be one of the quickest bow hunts I ever had. I harvested an 11 point that scored 135.

I contribute my success to being very lucky and covering my scent by using the H.S. Scent-Away System along with their many other great hunting products.