DIAL IN A DEER

The text came from my hunting buddy, Chris Stewart, and all it said was “I got it!” I knew exactly what he was talking about. For two years, Stewart had been hunting a specific blacktail buck, and it appeared he’d finally connected with it.

Then another text came through: “I totally misjudged it, though!” This was his way of saying he underestimated its size. When I caught up with him later that day, the 154-inch rack more than commanded my attention.

“He wasn’t 200 yards from where I’d been watching him all summer, and less than 100 yards from where I saw him one time last season, but couldn’t get a shot,” he said.

Stewart is one of the most successful blacktail hunters I know, and he and his family have taken many big bucks in October, as have