Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769056
behind a mall. He scored 158 7 /8 inches, weighed 201 pounds dressed, and, get this, I arrowed him before work. There were a lot of big bucks that year, and I passed on several big-bodied shooter bucks in the 120-140 class before selecting him. "Deer are complex anywhere you hunt them, but those living in the suburbs have even more exaggerated behavior," DeRosa explained. "Increased stimuli change their awareness and behavior. As urban people become hypersensitive, deer change, too. Whitetails view the world in terms of threatening or non-threatening behavior. Rural deer that smell aftershave recognize it as unnatural and get spooked. Scent-block clothing is critical in those areas. But those same deer in the suburbs smell aftershave every day. They get conditioned to Old Spice when a post-work jogger runs by them. "And what happens when no harm comes to the buck or does? They accept the smell as normal. Set off your car alarm in the big woods and you'll spook deer. In the suburbs, deer are so comfortable they continue feeding. A car alarm is normal, as is a police siren, beeping horn, and backfiring trucks. Suburban deer behave quite differently," he maintained. "And so do suburban hunters. I think of the concept of 'urban camo' not as a pattern but as a way of thinking. Again, what does a whitetail consider safe versus unsafe? One example occurs when I find does under my stand and I have to go to work. Instead of spooking them, I talk to them. Then I move slowly down my stand, gently walk away, and head for work. My interaction with them caused them no harm, and they process my contact as non-threatening. "I do the same the next time, and the time after, and they come right in to feed. When the rut is in the bucks come calling. Over the years I've arrowed a number of quality bucks that way, too. "Deer want to behave habitually, but the suburbs don't allow for habit formation. Whitetails move within a core area—those acres where they spend the majority of their lives. The only time they leave the core area is during the rut, and they'll return to A.J. DeRosa launched his Urban Deer Complex (www.urbandeercomplex.com). "As a kid living in suburbia, I didn't have the opportunities enjoyed by rural hunters," DeRosa said. "Truth be told, I'd prefer whitetail hunting in Midwest farm country as I enjoy the big woods in northern New England. But the legacy I inherited, and many other sportsmen like me, was one of malls, sub-developments, and skyscrapers. And just like the whitetail I hunt, I learned to adapt. "The largest deer I've harvested was of close proximity to homes and buildings? No problem. We'll archery hunt. Deer winding hunters from an eight-foot- tall tree stand? We'll set ours twice as high and be extra careful. No time off from work for an extended hunt? No worries. We'll go before first and last light. And if no one wants to eat what we harvest? Cities are full of soup kitchens that welcome donations. T heodore Roosevelt once said, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Perhaps that's why Boston's 80 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S