Any other certified whitetail freaks?

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Just curious how many other certified whitetail freaks we have here on Hunt-WA. By this I am not talking about whether they are your favorite animal to hunt or that you really enjoy hunting them or even that you are a "serious" whitetailer"..... I know a lot of you guys on here love hunting them and get after them very hard every season (as evidenced by 11K + views on the Whitetail Rut Report thread)..... What I am really wondering is how many others on here see whitetail as your primary pastime...period... to the point where you love hunting all big game but when it really comes down to it hunting whitetail is going to win out every time. To the point where you would much rather shoot a 200 inch whitetail than a 400 inch bull elk or 230 inch Mule Deer..... where most people would say it's bordering on an obsession....where you have given up (or perhaps never had) a lot other "hobbies".... where you digest all information related to Whitetail you can get your hands on. etc.

I don't expect there to be many others if any that are to this level of certified craziness about whitetail in this part of the country (to date I have personally only met a few)...I am sure many will identify with one or two of the types of things I mentioned above....but just curious if there are any other whitetail freaks that can identify with all counts of what I am talking about above.

[KFhunter]

I'm getting there, but not there yet 

I still hold Elk above Whitetail, but I won't hardly look at a Muley.

Then there is Predator hunting, which doesn't count 'cause I get into that after deer season.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

I'm getting there, but not there yet 

I still hold Elk above Whitetail, but I won't hardly look at a Muley.

Then there is Predator hunting, which doesn't count 'cause I get into that after deer season.

  Keep working on it.

[jnevs23]

maybe borderline....spent about 9 hours in the blind today mostly figuring out where to put post season salt blocks, where im scouting late dec/early jan for next year, new stand locations etc.  I have gotten to the point I really dont even consider hunting mulies because all I care about are whitetails anymore.  Cant explain the love for hunting whitetails but the chess match of wits i had with a big mature 4 point today probably is the best explanations I can come up with.  By the way big 4 point 2, me 0.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

maybe borderline....spent about 9 hours in the blind today mostly figuring out where to put post season salt blocks, where im scouting late dec/early jan for next year, new stand locations etc.  I have gotten to the point I really dont even consider hunting mulies because all I care about are whitetails anymore.  Cant explain the love for hunting whitetails but the chess match of wits i had with a big mature 4 point today probably is the best explanations I can come up with.  By the way big 4 point 2, me 0.

Yes...matching wits in a game of chess with a mature whitetail year after year is one of the things I find most rewarding. I have to admit... I lose more often than not. 

[Wacenturion]

Whitetails at the top of my list.....have been for years.  Nothing better. 

[jnevs23]

He got me twice today.  I dont like my blind set up but this spot was a shot in the dark set up a week before the season so I'm kind of stuck.  He would probably be hanging in my garage right now if I had a tree stand up.  Had him as close as 20 yards on a couple occasions but he got the best of me both times.  He never fully spooked, just knew something wasnt right and walked off so Im hopeful he will be back.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Whitetails at the top of my list.....have been for years.  Nothing better. 

Saw your post in Top 5.. yeah.. you are a definitely a whitetail freak... haha

[DBHAWTHORNE]

He got me twice today.  I dont like my blind set up but this spot was a shot in the dark set up a week before the season so I'm kind of stuck.  He would probably be hanging in my garage right now if I had a tree stand up.  Had him as close as 20 yards on a couple occasions but he got the best of me both times.  He never fully spooked, just knew something wasnt right and walked off so Im hopeful he will be back.

Very nice! That's one thing about hunting these big guys over bait...they are on full alert...if anything is wrong you may never even see them...it explains how we can get so many good daylight photos of them munching on the bait when we are not there but when we are there they don't make it quite so easy...whether it be them catching our scent or a "sixth" sense or whatever.

[Tom Reichner]

What I am really wondering is how many others on here see whitetail as your primary pastime...period... to the point where you love hunting all big game but when it really comes down to it hunting whitetail is going to win out every time. To the point where you would much rather shoot a 200 inch whitetail than a 400 inch bull elk or 230 inch Mule Deer..... where most people would say it's bordering on an obsession....where you have given up (or perhaps never had) a lot other "hobbies".... where you digest all information related to Whitetail you can get your hands on. etc.

I don't expect there to be many others if any that are to this level of certified craziness about whitetail in this part of the country (to date I have personally only met a few)...

When I read all that I knew you were describing me!  During the November rut, I pass up just about all other opportunities in order to give all I have to the pursuit of Whitetail bucks.  But I now do it with a camera instead of a gun. 

I have found Whitetail photography to be even more obsessive than hunting them was, because there are no regulations or seasons, and I can pursue them the way I want to year round. 

I've traveled across the country just for the opportunity to photograph them in different habitat.  In fact, I am already trying to decide where to spend next November . . . Montana, Minnesota, Virginia, New York, or Texas.  If I'm lucky, I may even get to make a 2nd trip next year and catch the late rut (Jan/Feb) down on the gulf coast of Florida - wouldn't that be a treat?!

[400out]

200 inch whitetail than a 400 inch bull elk or 230 inch Mule Deer  :yike:  :yike: Boy I wish I could think that way! Considering where I see the most harvesting is primarly white  :bash: The wife seems to enjoy it tho  ;)

[boneaddict]

I went through a phase when I was.  Mostly it helped to Live in Chewelah, but then they got beat out by moose, then I reverted back to mule deer.   Now I am just along for the ride.   Every once in awhile I run into one or find a shed that twinges the old nerve. 

[oldleclercrd]

You mean like working a harvest day in August from 6:30am-9:30pm and then after work driving 7 hours round trip to check your cameras just to get back to work at 6:30am? Or maybe having a few of my cameras take several thousand pics each and going over each pic numerous times in case I missed something in the background? I may not be to your level, but I feel like im on my way. 

[Ridgeratt]

Guilty!!
I like to hunt Big Deer. Have gotten lucky now and then.   

That's either species!

[NWBREW]

I am close to that. I only hunt whitetails. I am addicted to the rut.....have been for about 20 years. The last time I killed a mulie or even hunted them was more then 20 years ago.

I don't know what happened......I don't hunt early because I'm afraid I'll kill something and miss out on hunting the rut. 

I am a poor lost soul.  but when November rolls around....I have found myself. I am hopelessly addicted to the rut and I need help....but I don't want help. See...it's December and I am lost again.