Pops423

Just the other day I was having a conversation about my 'addiction' to whitetails and I had to share 'the video' with my friend. But let me back up a bit first. See, I grew up in a hunting family and remember days as a kid, shooting a .22 on the farm in Tidioute, PA that we spent a lot of time at in the summer and fall. My Dad and Grandfather were always by my side and I taught me a lot over the years. I tagged along for many hunts and still long for the days to walk that field with my Granddad. I took my first buck on that very farm when I was 14 and my first archery buck closer to home the following year. I continued to hunt and eventually went to school and got married and over the years it all got away from me. After things settled down, I was ready to get back into it and found myself hunting more and more again. It wasn't until I moved into my current house that my love of whitetails grew. Over the next few years, I would notice more and more deer hanging out behind the house and kept thinking, maybe I should be hunting back here.

November 4th, 2004: I'm sitting in my home office working like I always do. Juggling customer calls and my boss breathing down my neck to finish testing our soon to be released new Software product. As I'm on the phone, I get up to walk around and am greeted by the site of antlers moving thru the brush. Nothing new but I grabbed the camera and stared to video. I finished on the phone and moved downstairs and snuck out the back door to the deck and videoed some more. It wasn't until I review the footage that I realized what I had seen. At this point, my obsession started. In retrospect, I wish I would have put a stalk on, but being the sensible man I was at the time, I headed back in the house to work.

Notice I say, 'sensible man I was at the time'. From that point forward, my addiction started. I stared passing bucks I never would have thought of before. I finally saw the magic of the rut and knew I'd never be the same. My boss knows that come November, all things change. I'm not available as much as I was the other 50 weeks of the year. There will be periods of time that I am not available on IM and I won't answer my Blackberry. He knows that when I do answer or get back online, his first question should be either, 'any luck?' or 'How big?' as he knows and understands. My wife has pretty much given up hope that I'll change during this time. Although, I do make time for her birthday on November 7th and will never sacrifice that time (although we did have to hold up going to lunch one day because I was filiming 2 8pts running a doe.)

Well, I've teased enough for now. I've finally got around to getting footage off the tapes and onto the computer.
2004 Western PA 10 point buck...
http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm15/DennyRussell/?action=view&current=200410pt.flv

So, was there one particular deer that started your addiction? If so, lets here the stories and see the pics/vids.

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kickin_buck

In 2000 I moved to Virgina and did not have a place to hunt. I figured it was not really a big deal to miss a season. Well, I went nuts, realized how much I loved hunting, moved back to Illinois and have made hunting my number 2 priority only behind my family.

recurver167

For deer in general it was when my Dad killed a buck that scored 155" and change.That was 1975 and I was 8 years old,but for big deer for me it was the Late 90's.Needless to say I've killed very few bucks since then but the ones I did take have been more rewarding to me.I still raise hell on does in between them though.

shed33

when I was 12, a big whitetail buck jumped into a thick patch of brush on me.. It was the biggest buck I had ever seen up to that point.. Big old chocolate hvy beamed 5x5 ... bout 18 inches inside.. anyway I thought I had him dead forsure. I packed my 270 winchester around that thicket.. just knowing I was going to get a shot at him or blow him out of there and then get a shot.. after a couple circles around the thicket, I decided to go in after him.. I was almost through the thicket creeping at a snails pace when the big buck blew out of the brush less the 10 yards away... I threw up my gun and was going to put it right in the middle of his back... NOT.. All I saw wasthe zig zagging body of a huge buck glance in and out of my scope.. I ended up tracking him in the snow for a couple hours, twice right when I was about to give up I would get a glimpse of him, basically he was just watching me.. I finally retreated to my three-wheeler and went home, I couldnt get the thought of that buck out of my mind... still havent.. going on 27 seasons later.

early in

Iremember my dad taking me to the Pocono's to deer hunt for my very first time.A friend of his who had been our nextdoor neighborhad moved up there and had some land. We went up for opening day of buck season, I think it was 1971 or 1972. The night before, it snowed like hell! I think we got about 8". It was a winter wonderland.
We went up the mountain in the dark that morning. My dad and I sat at our stand and waited. We saw a few doe, and had a nice 8pt run past us about 70yrds out. Too far, especially with him running. But I'll never forget that day as long as I live. We didn't get a deer that year, but I KNEW that I loved this sport!! My dad and I hunted together for about 5 more years, but he gave up intrest in it.
After that, I continued to hunt with my friends, and eventually got into bowhunting, which brings me to my current fanatical stage.

Steven McBee

i can remeber when i was younger my dad told me stories of big bucks he had seen or missed and would talk about it like it was the greatest thing ever and i wanted to go to see if it was as fun as it my dad had said and after my first hunt, its been my greatest hobby and something i think about during the day and dream about during the night