The first report is from John Astrologo, who hunted in November with Rafter DL and says that all deer he saw were in great condition. While he encountered poor weather early on, by the end of the hunt the weather had turned and the deer were in full rut. The deer were moving, and he took a 159- to 160-class whitetail trophy. Astrologo does not mention mule deer in his report.
Tom Busatto also hunted last November for both whitetail and mule deer with Rafter DL and filled us in on the details. He says that owner Danny LaGreca and guide Ed Schreiber "both were intimately familiar with the areas that we were hunting and had really done their homework as to what was there. They use trail cams and had several hundred photos of different bucks that were in the areas that we hunted. On an average day, I was seeing five or more different whitetail bucks while on stand. I did not observe as many mule deer bucks per day but did see several throughout the hunt." Busatto says he took a great 150-plus whitetail, which he hunted from blinds and stands. He also took his first mule deer with a combination of still hunting and spot-and-stalk methods.
According to Busatto the hardest part of the whitetail hunt was keeping warm. "Having good layers of warm clothing and insulated pac' boots was essential. The high for the day was -30 degrees for three straight days during my hunt," he says. "It was cold for the hunter, but great for deer movement. All of the blinds were equipped with portable propane........(continued)
