Tom Miranda - The Rut Hunters

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Tom Miranda, adventure bowhunter

This book is dedicated to the excitement of the young hunter, whose pulse quickens at the sound of deer hooves on the forest floor.

Who experiences the uncontrollable tremble as a mature buck closes the distance.

And the rush of buck fever at that moment of truth.

For these emotions are not driven by inexperience, but by the passion that lures both the young and the young at heart, to trek into wild places in pursuit of the magnificent white-tailed deer
and the very catalyst that insures we will always protect them.

Most of us envision bugling elk, bug-eyed swaying bull moose responding to a plaintive call, or perhaps a few of the critters that call Africa home when we dream big about hunting. Even though our desires belong to animals beyond easy reach, our hearts belong to the whitetail, especially whitetail bucks.

Its their ability to make us feel like we dont belong in the woods that we secretly love. Despite oft-suppressed desires to hunt for easy bucks, the reality is that whitetail hunting exists as a delicate balance between challenge and potential success. Its the perfect pursuit because it demands nearly unrealistic optimism, which is often tempered by the very real feeling of eating another tag.

It would be easy enough to say that whitetails rule simply because they are so common. If that were true, wed be watching fishing tournaments where professional anglers tried their hands at catching big limits of sunfish instead of bass or redfish. Commonality can sometimes detract from a species, but not the whitetail. Their availability to nearly every hunter is one of the reasons that they are so endearing to us.

Anyone can shoot a whitetail, right? After all it is not that hard to lay eyes on some deer if you know where to look. They are everywhere; they are not dumb. And they dont put up with our intrusion too well when we express a desire to turn them into tightly-wrapped packages of protein. They can be dumb, but those deer live in special circumstances, and you can bet a little predation would go a long way toward changing their habits forever.

Its deer of all shapes and sizes that have spawned a huge hunting industry, and the demand for know-how on all-things-deer have turned passionate hunters into businessmen. Our collective desire to figure out how to better kill deer has led to the creation of so many products that it would be impossible to count them all.

Those products from state-of-the-art camouflage, to calls, to trail cameras, to you-name-it are designed to make it easier to fill a tag, especially when it comes to big bucks. Some do, some dont. Even the best products that make it easier, dont make it that much easier because they simply cant change the nature of the animal were after.

A mature buck is a no-nonsense critter that knows more about your habits than you do his, and he learned all of them through evidence of your intrusion. He feels more confident in the nighttime than he does in the day, and thats enough to get him to lay down and wait out the daylight hours. Sure, hell get up and stretch and maybe browse for a while. But you can bet hell have the wind in his favor, and his ears will constantly swivel to and fro to pick up the slightest sound that doesnt belong.

If you get to see him, youre lucky, however your job is far from over. Whitetail bucks grow big because they make it through encounters with hunters every year. They learn from those encounters that carelessness is dangerous, so they engage in less and less reckless behavior as they grow older. The only solace we can take in that is the rut the short period of the year when mature deer sometimes throw caution to the wind and move during daylight with their minds on other needs beyond individual survival.

The whitetail is king for plenty of reasons. Tags are easy to get, they live in every kind of habitat you can imagine, and despite how hard it truly is, the chance to kill a genuine giant exists for every one of us.

What is not to love about that? God bless the whitetail.

Tom Miranda

There may be others who are just as passionate about hunting whitetails as I am, but no one is more passionate than me. I have patterned my whole life around whitetail hunting. Born in Pennsylvania, raised in New England, educated in Indiana and living in Montana for close to thirty years, Ive been a whitetail fanatic for over five decades. I presently reside in rural Iowa strictly for the quality whitetail opportunities found there.

Pursuing big whitetail bucks became an insatiable craving for quality hunting experiences. Living in the West, I was blessed to have upwards of 10 species of big game to pursue. But, for almost thirty years in Montana I spent 90 percent of my time strictly hunting whitetails. To date, I hunt for the personal satisfaction of close encounters. In order to extend my seasons I now hunt strictly with a bow and arrow, and have for many years. I dont own a shotgun, muzzleloader or even a .22. I prefer the close range limitations of a quality, traditional recurve bow shot instinctively. Frankly, I could care less what others shoot. I strongly desire the challenge yet still want to maintain a reasonable chance to attain my personal goals.

One of my biggest concerns for our future generations is that todays youths are straying away from woodsmanship skills. The hunting industry is turning hunting into shooting, with the thought being that easier is supposedly better. Im of the opinion there is no substitute for time spent in the woods through the application of practical experience. That alone will add to your understanding and ultimately your self-satisfaction. Become one with nature. Read the books, watch the videos, listen to the seminars, and then get into the woods and really learn. Your greatest weapon is your mind. Even though whitetails may be the ultimate challenge, we as humans are the masters of common sense, logic and reasoning. Think! It will add to your understanding, and ultimately you will more deeply appreciate the self-satisfaction derived from the results.