Jim Hole, Jr., goes over an aerial photo with me to explain his hunting strategy.

Story and photos by Dwight Schuh, Editor

HOW COULD I NOT be excited? Even Jim sounded excited as he described the big droptine buck.

"He was standing right in the corner, not 75 yards off the intersection of two roads," Jim said. "Between two houses. That's a nice buck!"

As a serious bowhunter and a serious all-around guy, Jim Hole is not given to exaggeration. And he knows big whitetails. Jim has hunted and guided in the famed Edmonton Bow Zone, a bowhunting-only buffer of farmland and forest surrounding Edmonton, most of his life. Because of restricted harvest, and because Alberta has the genetics and other ingredients to grow huge bucks, the Bow Zone has a well-deserved reputation for world-class whitetails. Jim personally has killed a buck that gross-measures 198 and nets 192 typical Pope and Young. He and his brother Doug have killed numerous bucks measuring over 150 inches, and his hunters have taken many of similar proportions. So, when Jim got excited over a particular droptine buck, I had no choice but to get excited, too.

On Sunday, November 5, I arrived in Edmonton, where Jim's friend Leslie Parks met me at the airport. When we arrived at Jim's lodge, cameraman Brian Rusk, from Wisconsin, was already there. Brian would be videotaping my hunt for Bow-hunter Magazine TV. Also in camp were brothers Rick, Brad, and John Huempfner, who had hunted with Jim for years. The Huempfners live in various parts of the U.S., so when they gather to hunt whitetails, they have a family reunion -- and act very much like brothers.

Because of my late arrival, Brian and I decided to sleep in Monday morning, but with the Huempfners acting like brothers -- at 5 a.m. -- sleeping-in was impossible. Huempf!

After they went hunting and the lodge got quiet, Brian and I organized gear, shot video, and went out about 11 a.m. to a stand on top of an aspen ridge, a beautiful location. The weather was pleasant as we sat in the afternoon sunshine, but as the sun got low and the temperature dropped to 10 degrees F., my feet began to freeze. Next time out I would add chemical footwarmers. About 4:30 p.m., a yearling 6-pointer walked 25 yards from our stand. If he'd been just a few years older...

Upon returning to the lodge, we learned that Rick Huempfner had killed a nice 9-pointer. In celebration that night, the brothers acted very much like brothers. Huempf!

This is where we saw the droptine buck.

ON TUESDAY, BRIAN and I left the lodge at 6 a.m., well before daylight. The plan was for us to hunt proven, established stands, while Jim continued to scout that droptine buck. When he had the buck wired, he would slip in, put up a quick stand, and drop the hammer... Well, that was the plan.

About 7:30 a.m., a doe and fawn came running straight toward us from the east and stopped a few yards from our stand tree. They were straight downwind, but they didn't seem alarmed. Our de-scenting seemed to be working.

Then we heard grunting and saw a buck coming. Hot on the trail of the doe and fawn, he would follow them straight to our tree. We had him.

I should have known better. The Bow Zone offers no guarantees. Three years before, I had hunted 12 days with my friend Jeff Lander. One afternoon we saw a nontypical buck we estimated in the 220s, and an impressive 10-pointer in the 160s. And a hunter in our motel killed an incredible 8-pointer that measured 164. During my 12 days on stand, however, I never had a mature buck within range.

Jim makes no promises, either. As he points out, hunters in the Bow Zone will spend long, cold hours on stand and will not see a lot of deer. So he promotes his hunt as a quality experience with the potential for a world-class buck -- but no guarantees.

Continued -- click on page link below.