That's less than most Pike County outfitters charge, but then Heavener runs his hunts a bit differently. First, hunters stay in a three-bedroom cabin with a fully-equipped kitchen and bath. Hunters provide their own food and do their own cooking. He asks his hunters to arrive on a Sunday and go into town to get their licenses ($126.50 total for a non-resident hunter). This license allows the taking of one buck and one doe. Once licenses are taken care of, he takes them out to show them boundary lines and stand locations. The first day he may put them on stand, but then they're pretty much on their own. This past year, Heavner had 15 paying hunters. Five out of the 15 killed bucks scoring between 128 and 135. All hunters saw big deer and several managed to videotape them. Thirteen of the 15 rebooked on the spot.
Heavner's land is a patchwork of timbered cattle pastures and fields planted in corn, soybeans, alfalfa and clover. There are a few woodlots, but none of those dense stands of timber that can make whitetail hunting so tough and unpredictable. "When people hunt here they see deer," Heavner told me at press time." Big deer....". He went on........(continued)
