Outfitter's Edge Inc. welcomes Jonathan Vanderveen, the newest member of the OE Pro Staff. Follow Jonathan on his many adventures this coming fall on his Pro Staff blog. At only seventeen years old we are fortunate to have this young man on board.

After months of long hours in the deer stand, my brother Colin finally put one down during the final week of archery season in Illinois. Colin usually has a knack for hunting the least yet still manages to harvest a nice buck every year with little effort. The fall of 2008 was a different story, he ended up hunting more than ever and had two great chances at bucks but let's just say the bow sight must have been off a bit… Nevertheless he hunted long into the cold winter months of late season determined to harvest a mature buck with his bow. We had been seeing a couple nice bucks cruise the top of a well traveled ridge a couple days straight. So on the following afternoon Colin made his way to that ridge and perched himself in an old oak tree. (This“treestand” was nothing more than 6 treesteps up to a large limb to stand on).The wind was blistery and the temperatures were near zero, not ideal conditions for harvesting any deer let alone a mature buck late season. However luck was on his side when during the final 15 minutes of the evening when this nice 10pt buck came cruising down the ridge. He stopped the buck at 15 yards, settled his pin and released. He could tell his hit was a touch back, but defiantly fatal as the buck took off down the hill. After examining the blood at the impact site, we decided to leave the buck overnight. The following morning we found the buck less than 200 yards. As my buddy Stan Potts says “when in doubt…back out”. This 10pt buck gross scored 131.5”.

Every fall I make my annual trip to Ranch Country Whitetails in Fall River, KS. Brad and Michelle Haun and their family are always great hosts!  Last year I was fortunate to take a monster 16pt buck while in Kansas so my expectations were realistic this year that those kinds of opportunities don't happen every year! This year had more meaning than years past because I was bringing my Dad to Kansas for the first time in search of his first big whitetail. Due to work schedules and plain bad luck he hasn't been the luckiest of hunters the past 25 years, however Kansas is a special place and anything can happen. I also had along Jonathan Vanderveen from St. Charles Illinois, who earlier in the year took a huge black bear with the OE crew. This would also be his first trip to Kansas!

On our first few days in the stand everyone saw loads of deer and plenty of nice bucks just a little out of range. After making some adjustments I had the first opportunity of the group on a nice 150" 10pt buck from a "stand" we call Tri-Corner. This pallet "stand" was built back in the 1980's and every year seems to get more noisy and less cover! This nice buck snuck in right at last light and when I attempted to draw my bow the buck heard the stand creak and he was gone in a second.

The next few days I did a little coyote management and then was fortunate on the 3rd night to harvest this nice 8pt buck.

After breaking the ice for the group it came down to the last afternoon of our hunt and from past experience know that the odds of making it happen for two people on the last evening are very rare! However to my surprise both my Dad and Jonathan tagged their largest whitetails to date on the last evening in Kansas! I couldn't have been happier and that evening will go down as one of my top hunts of my life.

“Tales from the front” is a new section which we will post stories from your experiences in the outdoors. I spend many days each fall in hunting camps around the country and get to hear my share of stories! I also get to tell many stories from my own career, but this time enough with what I’ve got to say and lets hear it from you! E-mail the good, bad and the outright hilarious hunting stories to tales@outfittersedge.com . Every week we will choose a story and feature it in this section. You can also wish to remain anonymous! Have fun with this and I know everyone at OutfittersEdge can’t wait to get some laughs and maybe shed some tears over what we read.  

Dear OE,

I’m an avid deer hunter and 2 years ago my girlfriend decided one afternoon that she wanted to go hunting with me. I thought to myself wow this is a first! So without hesitation I packed up all my gear, a ground blind, 2 chairs and headed to the woods. This would be the first time I’d ever taken my girlfriend hunting and thought this may be the chance to change her bad thoughts of me hunting all the time. I knew the hunt was doomed from the start when we didn’t even make it 10ft from the truck and she decided she wouldn’t carry any of the equipment because she needed to hold her pants up for fear they would get dirty….. I thought to myself  “we are walking down a mowed driving path honey I think you can handle it”  but bit my tongue and grabbed the chair she was holding and continued on to our destination.

After walking nearly 400 yards with 2 deluxe chairs, ground blind, bow, and backpack in my hands I was a little wore out. I then setup the ground blind near a well used trail and we settled in. After a few seconds of being in our enclosed ground blind I noticed a distinct odor in the air and it only took me a second to figure out who sprayed a bottle of Victoria Secrets perfume over her new Scent Lok clothing! This time my thoughts were voiced politely and the response I got was…. “well of course I sprayed these clothes I didn’t want to smell bad on our hunt and I was surely not going to spray myself with deer pee like you guys do”….. Again I was at a loss for words…

As I knocked an arrow I thought to myself…. “Is this a sign from above…or just a bad dream…”  I was very apprehensive that we would not see a deer within a mile of this blind considering I smelled like one of the Angels…. Just as those thoughts were fresh in my mind I noticed some movement and out stepped a big doe 10 yards from the blind. I thought this must be my reward for all work I’d put into this hunt so far, so I grabbed my bow and prepared for the shot. As I raised the bow to draw I heard her say.. ”What are you doing”…. I replied in a whisper that I was going to take this doe and drew my bow…. As I settled the pins on the vitals I was startled when she yelled “NO DON’T SHOOT”  and grabbed my bow at full draw!  As I watched the doe bound away she stopped and looked back as to say….. Thanks Lady I owe you one!

I immediately asked her why she thought we came all the way out here and she said “ I didn’t think you actually were going to shoot the deer……”  The only thought in my head was how does she think I get the deer meat for dinner…..road kills?