Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
The Wild and Wacky World of DEER HUNTING ON CAMERA By Ron Spomer T he assignment seemed simple enough: Hunt free-range whitetails for a TV show. Woo hooo! Dream job. With the potential to become a nightmare. The devil was in the details: Conduct ten hunts in eight weeks. Tag eight bucks, each three years old or older with antlers scoring at least 130 B&C points. Do not miss, do not cripple and whatever you do, don't shoot if the camera isn't rolling. Oh, and do it all ethically with enthusiasm. Smile! Seven weeks, ten states and 10,000 miles later, welcome to Winchester World of Whitetail. As host of this show on the NBC Sports network, I'm expected to enlighten, educate and entertain while respecting my quarry, reflecting positively on our hunting heritage and representing my sponsors' products fairly. I hope the boss isn't watching too closely. As challenging as it is to find good bucks in good light where the camera can record them, the bigger challenge is finding great places to hunt them. There are only so many season dates and no guarantees of getting a license in every state. And if I blow a hunt, there are no do-over dates. Driving distances can be brutal if logistics aren't planned perfectly. Fortunately, I get to drive a Ram Outdoorsman, which has proven as highway comfortable as trail rugged. My longest drive between hunts was 880 miles in one day. Last season the Bushnell optics and Mossberg rifles delivered consistent, pinpoint accuracy. The Winchester Power Max Bonded, Ballistic Silvertip and Power Core ammunition I've used over two seasons have notched 17 one-shot kills. Cabela's S POR T IN G 234 clothing in Mossy Oak camo has kept me hidden, warm and dry. to pass up some of the biggest bucks of my life because the camera wasn't ready to record the shot. Overall, however, the videography has been as good as the hunting. We captured some amazing scenes. A fisher in Canada. Coyotes in South Dakota. Dozens of aoudad sheep leaping a fence in Texas. Possums playing possum in Nebraska. Rain squalls pouring through Idaho mountains. I can't wait to see the Nebraska buck that, after catching a 130-grain bullet behind the shoulder, spun around with antlers lowered as if looking for the buck that had attacked it. You can see all this on the best of So what do I have to complain about? Not much. Except, perhaps, having Winchester World of Whitetail starting this summer on NBC Sports. C L A SS I CS THE TRAVELING SPORTSMAN