Glassing from a distance is the key to monitoring riverbottom bucks without putting too much pressure on them.

The buck's massive, dark antlers were as unmistakable as a name tag. I recognized him instantly. Multiple times over the previous weeks I'd spied on him through a giant spotting scope lens from a distant mesa, carefully planning my next move and waiting for a southwest wind so I could take my spot in a strategically-placed natural ground blind.

Now the buck stood inside of 20 yards, sniffing a doe in the fading afternoon light. The climax of our season-long chess match was about to unfold.

When my arrow whistled through the buck's chest, he flinched and trotted 60 yards before sagging to the earth, the air exhausted from his lungs. It was all over in seconds.

Holding his antlers for the first time, I was awestruck. A 150-class eight-point is a rare critter indeed. As I rolled him over for the field-dressing chores, something in the sandy red river soil shined in the slanting light of the sunset. Just a few steps away from the dead buck rested a half-buried bottle, maybe a lost artifact from some pioneer. I'd found the remains of an old covered wagon, rusted pocketknives, bullet casings, and arrowheads on the same ranch. On a neighboring property, a rancher had uncovered a petrified bison skull from a big bull -- probably hundreds of years old. Western history runs rich in this soil.

Unearthing my second prize of the evening, I brushed the dirt off the antique whiskey jug. It was in perfect condition, without a scratch. That night, I packed a very special buck and an old brown bottle off that sandbar.

I shot this long-tined nine-pointer in 2007. The big buck's rack measured 157 inches.

Today the brown jug sits on my kitchen counter. Every evening I drop my pocket change into it -- the poor man's way of saving for his daughter's college education. And every time I make a deposit in the poor man's bank, I think of two things; first of the special buck that led me to that bottle, and then, when reality sets in, of the enormity of saving for my kid's future. It's gonna take a lot of quarters to pay for Emma's higher education!

Western Whitetails
Western riverbottoms have served as important travel corridors for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Water was the obvious attraction to native Indians, explorers, and pioneers because of its scarcity beyond well-known river and creek basins, but the shade of towering cottonwoods and plentiful wildlife were probably equal attractions. This is probably especially so in arid parts of the West, where river corridors are like oases for wild game, even today.

I'm far from being the first one to discover Western whitetails. On their epic journey across the West, from 1804-1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark kept detailed notes on the flora and fauna they discovered during their adventures. Their notes included comments on such diverse animals as whistling swans, bison, elk, porcupines, mule deer, and yes, even whitetail deer. The following quote relates to whitetails.