To some, deer hunting and the outdoors means a lot. For Willis, deer hunting is a time when he can forget about the daily stresses of life. It allows him to enjoy the outdoors. It’s more than tagging an animal.
“It’s a special time I can spend with my sons teaching them all I have learned and passing down my knowledge of hunting to the next generation,” Willis said. “Land preparation, food plots, scouting, hanging stands, and so forth, are all part of the experience. Being able to watch and see what your time and effort can do for wildlife management is exciting and rewarding.”
Obviously, passion for wildlife and land management are needed to excel. With passion comes responsibility, effectiveness, and results.
“I know first-hand how much it can improve the quality of wildlife by improving their habitat,” Willis said. “By providing year-round food sources, bedding areas, creating transition areas, and transforming a property into a hunting haven that you know will increase the overall success, is rewarding to me. The only way to see your deer herd’s full potential is by proper land and deer management.”
Buying the Perfect Deer Hunting Property
Generally, to get the most from deer and land management, you must own the property. To accomplish this task, Willis worked with Jared Scobee, a Whitetail Properties broker associate and land specialist in south central Oklahoma.
Willis had high expectations for the right piece of deer hunting land. He didn’t want a history of high hunting pressure.
“Jared found exactly what I was looking for,” Willis said. “Little did I know it would produce a whitetail of this caliber the first year.”
The property he purchased displayed exceptional genetics. Plus, it received little to no hunting pressure in the past. Even better, the surrounding area wasn’t hunted hard, either.
But the question remains, why was a man who lives in Georgia interested in land in Oklahoma? That’s quite the commute for a piece of deer hunting ground.
It starts with quality. The South still offers some great hunting, but in Willis’ part of Georgia, the deer herd has dwindled. Blame it on long seasons, liberal bag limits, and high hunter numbers. Much has changed in the past 25 years.
“The woods have become crowded and the chances of taking a mature, quality animal has diminished greatly,” Willis said. “While some areas still produce large whitetails, you need acreage in the thousands to properly manage a deer herd for success.”
“I enjoy the trip of getting away as much as the hunt, and the chances of taking a mature buck are much higher in the Midwest,” Willis said. “I have hunted all over the United States and finding an area that does not receive high numbers of hunters is difficult.
“I wanted to find a property that was off the beaten path for whitetail hunters and didn’t receive the same hunting pressure as other states,” Willis continued. “After a lot of research, I found that parts of Oklahoma are producing world-class whitetails. So, I figured it was worth looking into and I am happy I did.”
According to Willis, finding Jared and Whitetail Properties was easy. Furthermore, the interaction was great.
“I found Jared by a property he’d just listed,” Willis said. “I sent a message to Jared and got an immediate response. After speaking with Jared for at least an hour, we scheduled a time and place to meet.
Willis says the buying experience with Jared and Whitetails Properties was simple and fast. The process was completed by phone, text, and email.
Discovering, Scouting, and Planning for “The Buck”
Willis knew the property had big deer when he bought it. The previous landowner ran trail cameras, and these showed multiple 200-plus-inch whitetails.
“I just had to find them,” Willis said. “I didn’t have much time to figure this property out and I didn’t expect to this year. I knew going in this would be more of a scouting season than a hunt for a target buck.”
Willis closed on the property in July. In August, he and his hunting buddy, Ron Storie, hauled equipment up to do some work on the property. They mowed access lanes, around fields, and near possible stand locations.
While scouting, he and Storie located some good spots to try. One camera location found an incredibly wide deer with heavy mass. Within just a few days, the deer started to pattern. It was after dark, but sometimes, it moved at last light, too.
“It was too close to season to do any major scouting, so we identified possible transition areas and put out as many cameras as we could,” he said. “One of the areas that stood out was a small opening on the edge of an oak thicket and an old field full of cedars. We knew we were close to his bedding area.”
Unfortunately, the camera went dead mid-September and remained as such until they returned on November 4. As soon as they refreshed the camera, it resumed sending photos of the huge deer.
“When we returned in November, we still had to hang stands,” Willis said. “We spent the first days hanging stands and replacing camera batteries. That night, he showed up at 1 a.m. I decided to hunt that stand every evening if I could, if the wind was right."
The Hunt for a Mega-Wide Dream Deer
The next evening, the wide buck showed up 30 minutes after Willis departed the stand location. Knowing it was too risky to get in there for a morning hunt, he decided to sit every afternoon the wind direction allowed him to.
The final hunt for this deer was only his third afternoon in the stand. Willis was confident he’d eventually see the buck. He just didn’t know if he’d get a shot.
Sitting in the stand, he started scanning the surroundings. The terrain was thick, and several trails exited the thicket and dumped out into an old field full of cedar trees.
“We cleared enough shooting lanes to ensure there was a shot at every trail, but not too much to expose the stand location,” Willis said.
On the third evening, soon after settling in, two really nice bucks started fighting directly in front of my stand. A nearby doe seemed to be in estrus, and that’s what they fought over.
“I knew if anything would get him moving in the daylight, this would,” Willis said. “After the fight ended, and the winner chased off the loser, the buck that won was so tired he walked back in the woods behind me to lay down. As the doe made her way down the trail back to the others, the deer I was there for finally showed himself.”
Unfortunately, the buck was in no hurry. It just stood 60 yards away and watched the does in front of Willis’ stand location.
Eventually, the deer made its way into 40 yards, but turned back toward the cedars. “I was shaking too bad to make that shot,” Willis said. “It wasn’t worth the risk of wounding, missing, or never seeing him again. So, I waited. When he disappeared into the cedars, I thought it was over.”
Willis eased back down into the stand seat and propped his bow on his lap. While trying to convince himself he’d made the ethical decision, the massive buck reappeared. This time, it was 25 yards and broadside.
Presented with the perfect shot opportunity, he drew, settled his pin behind the buck’s shoulder, and released the shot. It looked and sounded perfect. The deer dashed for cover and disappeared quickly.
After waiting an hour, he started following blood. The big deer was only 20 yards down the trail. He found the buck tangled in a cedar tree.
“An old timer once told me it was better to be lucky than good,” Willis said. “I believe I was lucky in this case. I had little to no time to scout and prepare to hunt this property. I believe the lack of hunting pressure allowed us to get close to this buck’s bedding area without being noticed.”
Of course, killing the big deer on his own ground was more than a bonus. It was a dream come true.
“It always feels good to take a mature deer anywhere, but especially when it’s on your own property,” he said. “You know there are more memories to come as you continue to improve the property.”
Finding the Right Whitetail Hunting Land
Locating the ideal piece of land for clients is what Whitetail Properties is all about. We exist to pair clients with compatible properties.
“Clients finding success is like the icing on the cake,” Scobee said. “You make friends with the clients and know how much they love the land they just purchased. But when that photo comes through of them showing off the big buck they just harvested, or the turkey they shot, it just gives you that extra feel good in your gut. There is so much happiness and joy. I get to experience the memories and traditions that they are sharing with their family and friends.”
The nation has no shortage of real estate agents. So, what separates Whitetail Properties agents apart from other real estate agents?
“Not only are we passionate about land but we also live the lifestyle that we are promoting and selling,” Scobee said. “What comes with that lifestyle is the love of all things land and outdoors. No property is alike, so each transaction needs to be handled differently. The passion we have will show for itself. We desire to be outside in the outdoors, whether that be on a tillable farm, cattle ranch, or hunting tract.”
