New Books Hone Appetite For Excitement Of Whitetails
Two new books about white tailed deer are a leap above much of what has been published.
The white-tailed deer has a mystical hold on American outdoorsmen. As plentiful as the species is, the average hunter will probably go years without seeing a good buck, never mind shooting one.
Gordon Whittington, editor of North American Whitetail, the nation’s authoritative deer hunting magazine, has spent decades researching and writing about the nation’s favorite game animal. He has tracked down and investigated the story behind virtually every top buck in the record books.
His book “World Record Whitetails” (Safari Press, 800-451-4788, $39.95) contains some wonderful stories, from the man who threw away the rack from the world-record archery kill because he was more interested in meat than antlers (he retrieved them later), to an archer’s dedicated five-year hunt for the legendary deer called Mossy Horns, to Milo Hanson’s dogged deer drive that culminated in shooting the typical world record in 1993 (a record that might have been eclipsed Nov. 13 by Mitch Rompola of Traverse City, Mich.).
Whittington even has a chapter on some of the best-known frauds and scams that have been perpetrated, ranging from hoaxes that got out of hand to deliberate efforts to win fame by cheating.
Another eye-catching whitetail book is by Mike Biggs, a Texan who has pursued whitetail deer with a camera for more than 12 years.
His new book, “The Whitetail Chronicles” (Mike Biggs Photography, 800-433-2102, $39.95), appears to be near the top of the alltime list of best-selling outdoors publications.
Whether behind a camera or behind a rifle sight, Biggs has become one of the nation’s leading authorities on white-tailed deer. His experiences with photographing and recording deer attitudes, antler growth and behavioral characteristics set his work apart.
“The real final frontier of whitetail enlightenment lies in the accurate perception of their lives and times - the true understanding of how whitetails live, develop, behave and age under natural circumstances,” Biggs said. “We want the knowledge. We need the mystery.”
In “The Whitetail Chronicles,” Biggs presents 500 full-color whitetail photographs, including numerous aging sequences of huge bucks in the wild, giving an unprecedented look at the whitetail aging process and revealing relationships between aging and antler development.
“All of the deer in the book were photographed in the wild,” Biggs said. “I believe that there is a big difference in how deer in the wild and deer in penned situations develop their antlers. Antler development often is determined by social situations, not just genetics.
“What I have done in “The Whitetail Chronicles” is to present something I believe has never been done before - aging sequences of bucks which I have photographed year after year. Some of them are bucks that I have re-found six, seven or eight years in a row, and a few are bucks that I have followed for as many as nine years.”
The book includes information about determining in the field the age and judging the quality of a live trophy buck, as well as a gallery of beautiful and bizarre scenes.