December 6 - Mike Klemmensen

Hunter: Mike Klemmensen
Animal: 141" Whitetail
Location: Iowa
Weapon: Thompson Center Omega .50 Cal

My best friend and hunting partner, Tom Ware coined the phrase “patience of a spider” some time ago when describing the fortitude needed to chase big bucks. It has become one of our mantras. Well, as November closed and December started, I had to repeat that mantra over and over as the frustration of not getting one down was starting to settle in. The opening of Iowa’s first gun season and a tag in my pocket was reason enough to be optimistic and excited. We were headed to Tom’s farm in Iowa; an awesome farm that had very little pressure and has been managed for several years to grow big whitetails.

Opening morning we saw a dandy young 5 x 5 and several does, fawns, and yearling bucks. That afternoon was 25 degrees with 25 mph winds….cold!! We snuck into the stand about 2:00 pm only to find a few does and fawns already in the Biologic field feeding. Tried as we might, there was no way of getting into the stand without chasing those does off; but only a few minutes after TW and I settled onto our frozen perch, deer again started entering the field. Several does and fawns were feeding when Tom noticed a big buck in a different food plot that he could see even though it was pretty far away. We were glassing this other buck when Tom spotted this deer in the timber heading towards the Biologic field that we were on. At one point it was difficult for Tom to film because he had a large tree between him and the buck that was now about 75 yards away. As Tom was finding a way to get the deer on film, the buck was slowly walking away, causing the whitetail-induced excitement to ratchet up a bit!! Tom gave me the signal, and I squeezed the trigger on the TC Omega as the buck stood broadside at 100 yards…..the same distance that I used to sight the gun in earlier in the year!! The buck was ours!!

I have to thank Tom for introducing me to the sport of hunting whitetails. It is incredible fun trying to outsmart these animals and understand their behavior. It is, without a doubt, an addiction!!!

Hunt Safe,

Mike Klemmensen