Down in Vernon County in the 20th of October, a magnificent high-time buck was harvested by one Jeremy Berlin from Wisconsin. There is a trick to hunting mature whitetails, an art – and this particular high-time buck has got impressive width, mass, and brow tines that won’t quit. Over the years, Jeremy Berlin has learned to keep it together because if he didn’t, there was a chance he could have missed this deer. You always have to practice for that one opportunity because you’re only going to get it one time. The important things are tips, techniques, strategies, and whitetail behavior. If you take notes during any of my shows, this is the episode that you’d want to take notes on.
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On our show we welcome, Jeremy Berlin. Jeremy’s from Wisconsin and he hunts down in Vernon County and he’s got a great story to tell you about a magnificent buck he was able to harvest. The important thing is tips, techniques, strategies, and whitetail behavior is all in the show. If you take notes to any of my shows, this is a show that you want to take notes. Welcome, Jeremy Berlin from Wisconsin.
Listen to the podcast here:
Hunting Mature Whitetails With Jeremy Berlin
We’re heading out to Augusta, Wisconsin. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin. I hunt Buffalo Country every single time I can do it. I love hunting along the Buffalo River. I connected with Jeremy Berlin on Facebook and Jeremy’s got a buck this year, and it’s a smoker. Jeremy, welcome to the show.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
I appreciate you taking the time to be on the show and let’s just jump right into that majestic high-time buck. I love high-time bucks. He’s got width, mass, and brow tines that won’t quit. Let’s talk about your buck and the whole story, starting from when you got him your hit list to when you put them on the ground.
It was October 19th. I went out, checked my cameras that morning and I had a camera that was on the rub line that went across the property. There were approximately probably four or five rubs when I went in there on the 19th. I ended up having a picture of this deer and I knew it was a deer that I wanted to kill. I slipped in, hang a stand on the north end of the property, and I decided just to leave it alone. That night the wind wasn’t right so I went and sat a different stand on the opposite side of the field, saw a bunch of does, some bucks chasing some does, nothing big. On the morning of the twentieth, I went and sat on the east side of the property, seen a couple of decent-sized bucks, nothing that I wanted to shoot.
While was walking off the field at about 10:00, I noticed that there were some other big rubs on the south end of the property that I just showed up that night. I decided I got to hang a stand there. I slipped in there, hung a stand, and I sat that night and ended up seeing two small bucks. I didn’t see anything. I knew the buck was in the area, I just couldn’t pinpoint where exactly. I knew how he was travelling the area, I just didn’t know when because I only had one picture of him. That was at 7:00 in the morning. On the morning of the 21st, I got in early. I took the longest route that I can to my stand so I wouldn’t bump any deer out of that bedding area. There was a food plot down there. I knew there was deer in there. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to walk to my stand. I was quiet. I walked up a little creek and snuck into my stand.
How far was that walk? If you just walked from your truck to your stand, how far was that?
Maybe a twenty-minute walk.
This is the important thing because Jeremy’s really closing the gap. He knows he’s there, everything’s set up, but he did the thing that a bunch of us don’t do. Once you know something’s happening, Mr. Wonderful’s in the neighborhood, he did exactly what he should do. He took the longest route to get them to the stand and he took his time. That’s an important point, Jeremy, and a well done. Continue on, please.
I got on the stand and I was sitting there. It was still pretty dark out and I was just sitting there. It was cold. It was frosty outside. At about 7:00, I had five does come underneath my stand. They jumped the fence and went into their bedding area. I was sitting there and I was watching, and all of a sudden, I just caught something out of the corner of my eye. This was probably about quarter to 8:00. I looked up and I could see this large buck working that rub line that was on the south end of the property. He was probably 175 yards away. The only thing I could think about doing was rattling. I grabbed my black rack, stuck my ground, covered my mouth, and started hitting the horns together. He looked for about 30 seconds and he’s just staring at me. I knew he couldn’t see me because I was pretty well hid due to the way the land was based on there. I took three loud grunts and I could tell he was getting aggressive. He started shaking his head. He went up to a pine tree, probably five-inch pine tree, and just shredded it.
I said to myself, “I have a chance at shooting this deer.” The wind is right in my face, he can’t smell me. All of a sudden, he started walking right straight away from me. I moved my spot. The does bleated and I bleated once. I didn’t even get to cover my mouth and his head turned around and he was running down the hill to me. Right then and there, panic set in. I’m like, I’ve got to range some stuff here because I don’t know exactly when he’s going to come. I grabbed my bow and I started ranging random spots where I thought he might come. The shot I had was 40 yards. I put my dial at 35 yards. He comes up to the fence line and he was just sniffing. He had his nose in the air. He then backed up, stopped, and I started to shake. I’m like, “What is he doing?” I don’t want to grunt. I don’t want to let him know where I’m at. He’s looking for his deer and so I just calmed down, took a deep breath. The buck turned broadside, started walking down this little hedge row, and he started working the scrape. He was grunting and trying to find the other deer.
Finally, I see him take a step and I drew my bow. He stepped out and he was at about 32 yards and I let the arrow go and I see it disappear behind his front shoulder. The deer jumped, he stopped, and looked around. I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” I know I hit him. He then went twenty yards and he tipped over. That’s when it all became reality. I started shaking really bad. The thing about that was I kept my composure until after the shot. Once I’d seen him expire, that was when it really set in that I just harvested a magnificent whitetail, the biggest thing I ever harvested. I can’t thank God enough for what he gave me. He gave me a shot at the deer. I called the land owner, had him come down and help me retrieve the deer. I didn’t really realize how big he was until we got up to him. When I got up to him, I fell to my knees. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think he was as big as he was. I’m glad that I didn’t know that he was that big because I might not have been able to pull it off.
How old was he? What’s his age class?
Five and a half years old.
We’ll keep the score hidden for a little bit. I’m trying to think of how best to do that. Let’s now go back up because there’s a lot of lessons learned in what you did on the thing. I interrupted you to say the one thing that jumped out to me, you just took the long way around though. What did you have to do? You said you went down the gully. Talk to me about the terrain. Did you put your headlamp on? When you left the truck, what did you do?
When I left the truck, it was a really moonlight out. I could see all the white so I did not use my headlamp at all. The terrain is very hilly down there. The stand was located on the opposite ridge of where I was at. What I did was I went all the way to the east side of the property to stay away from where the deer were feeding. There was an old logging road that goes down that I could walk on into the gully and then there’s a little creek that runs up the gully all the way to my stand. I went all the way down, went down that logging road, and I just took my time. When I walk to a stand, I use to take three or four steps and I stop due to the fact that it sounds like a deer. If you watch how a deer walks, a lot of the times, that’s how I try to walk. I try to sound like a deer. I snuck into the gully and I snuck up into that water, using that water to my advantage, whether it was scent, it was quiet.
Being in that valley and the deer are still feeding, I didn’t bump any deer. That’s an important thing for me as far as hanging stands. It’s what I do. I then just snuck up that ridge. It’s pretty steep. It was pretty good. Like I said, I took my time. A couple of steps, stop, listen. A couple of steps, stop, listen. That way, I knew I didn’t scare any deer. Also the wind was blowing in my face, so I knew that the wind wasn’t blowing into that food plot or the green fields so the deer wasn’t not going to smell me or hear me.
What kind of set up did you have? Did you have a hanger to hang on or was it a climber?
I had a hang on. I actually had an advanced tree stand that I had slipped into the day before, obviously. I slipped in there quietly. I knew there was bedding there. It’s been a well-known doe bedding area, so I snuck in as close as I could without spooking any deer that was bedded in there, hung the stand and then hunted it that night because I thought maybe while I might catch a buck coming out of there because the cold front had just hit but obviously, that night I didn’t see anything worth shooting. What I had hung was an advanced tree stand. They’re so versatile as far as being able to slip in and hang the stem. Just the way that they’re made is just phenomenal. You get them so tight, they don’t creak, they don’t crack. By far, the best tree stand I’ve ever used.
How about your steps, screw-in or strap-ons?
Strap-on. I had at that time Big Game. The steps are a little loud for my liking but I’ve used them enough. I put rubber coating between them so that way they don’t clink and clang when I’m hanging on a tree stand. I try to keep the noise to a minimum because I think that is a big factor in deer hearing you and smelling you. People get so wrapped up in the whole scent regimen. Scent is a huge thing, but also the noise when you go in to hang a stand, especially hanging on stand that you’re going to hunt that night or the next day. You don’t want to be out there making all sorts of noise. The deer are used to hearing that ting tang, especially in older bucks. They know that sound. They know that they need to stay away.
Let’s talk about scent. Do you put a doe in estrous or any attractant on your setup? Let’s talk about that.
I personally don’t use a lot of scents. I’ve never really had good luck with them but at the same time, people have. There are times and places for it. The reason I don’t use it is I want that buck to not know that I’m there. Not see me, smell me, even though I exist. For me, putting the scent out might attract him but sometimes if you don’t do it right, you’re going to let him know that you’re there. I’ve seen lot of success stories using scents and stuff, but personally, I never had any success using scent or attractant. I think that once a buck knows a doe is in estrous, they’re going to be cruising. I’ve got to use my other abilities to try to kill that deer.
Putting the scent out might attract him but sometimes if you don't do it right, you're going to let him know that you're there. Share on XWhat’s your clothing and b5oots set up?
I wear LaCrosse rubber boots. They are great. They’re well quality. I also wear scent blocker clothing. I’m really adamant about scent control. That is one of the key things that I do religiously. I’m talking brush my teeth, take a shower, wipe down, spray my gear, all that. Now since there’s more modern technology, I found really good luck with Scent Crusher products, the bag, the closet. I took a closet down there, set it up in their shop. That’s where I put all my clothes at night. I clean them, put them all on there, they’re ready for the next morning hunt. I get up, take a shower, do my scent regimen, get in my clothes and go hunting.
You’re staying right near your lease, you’re not driving to it?
My house is about two and a half hours from it. The land owner has got a big shop down there and we just stay in there and he lets us throw cots, get heated, and stuff like that. That beats us having to drive two and a half hours every night. It’s really nice of the land owner to do that.
Let’s go back in. I don’t know how big the buck is. How’d you keep it together?
When he came down the hill, it happened really fast. I think that was another reason why I held it together the way I did. At the same time, I saw a lot of nice deer. Over the years, I’ve learned to keep it together because if I don’t keep it together, there was a chance I could miss this deer. You always got to practice for that one opportunity because you’re only going to get one opportunity. Just like everybody else, I have messed up. Everybody does. It’s hunting. We’ve all messed up. We’ve all made bad shots. It happens, but at the same time, the more you practice for that opportunity, the better off you are going to be in order to make that shot of a lifetime. The biggest thing I find to help me is when a deer is coming in and I know it’s a shooter and I know I’m going to get a shot, I don’t look at the horns.
If I know it’s a shooter, I don’t look at the horns. I pick a spot behind that deer’s shoulder. I’ll pick the spot that I want to shoot and I’ll just follow that instead of looking at the horns, and I’ll just concentrate on that. A lot of people look at the horns and they get all riled up and get excited. That’s not the way to go about it. That’s when you’re going to get buck fever and you’re going to you’re not going to build and make the shot. That’s my strategy as far as making stuff happen is picking a spot and waiting for that perfect opportunity to hit that spot.
Let’s talk about you’re shooting a sequence. You see the buck and he was 100 some yards away and then you did a call sequence.
I did a calling sequence, he came down, and when he came up to the fence, I thought he was going to jump the fence so I got ready. I didn’t draw my bow yet, because otherwise, I would’ve had to let my bow down when he backpedaled. When he backpedaled, he stopped there, and as he was coming, he stopped and worked that scrape. As soon as I see him stop working the scrape and take a step toward the opening, I drew my bow. He wasn’t looking at me, he was looking the other way. I had a perfect opportunity to draw my bow without him knowing. I was there and just wait for him. It probably took him 30 seconds to take another step, but I was full draw, I was ready and I was concentrating on that spot. I had my pin right where I wanted to shoot him and when he took that step, all I had to do was move my bow and let them have it.
You said he was along a fence row going to jump the fence now. How high was the brush or the cover in that area, so when he did back up, you didn’t have a shot there? Talk to me about where he was physically and if you had a shooting lane or not.
When he came and was going to jump the fence, I had a wide-open shot, but he was at the wrong angle. He was facing me and I didn’t feel comfortable taking that much of an angle coring toward me. I just didn’t feel comfortable at the shot, so I was just reluctant to wait to see him give me a better shot because if he would have jumped the fence, he would have been broadside to me. If he backed up and walked down the fence row, he would’ve been broadside to me as well which is what happened. The brush along that fence row is probably twelve feet. There were a couple of pines that were mixed in. He felt safe over there. That’s why I think he didn’t jump the fence right away because where he would have jumped the fence was actually into a pasture. They use that as a cruising zone. There’s a little valley there. They can cruise from up on top to where he was down this edge, jumped the fence, and go right down into the valley where I had come up to my stand. It’s one of the things that we realized right away when we started scouring the property that these bucks got to come down through here.
You’ve found what I’d say a hot zone, a transition zone, where he works the field, works the edge line, and then if he smells does, he sees does, he jumps out of the edge cover into a pasture, but that drops down in the valleys. Is that a correct statement?
Big deer are only exposed for maybe five or six seconds once they jumped that fence and they’re down in the valley. I think that is why he liked that area. He couldn’t be seen from roads, no fields, nothing from where he’s at. Nobody, he could be seen from no roads, no fields from where he was at. He had woods on both sides. He just had a strip that he was following using the wind to his advantage to search for does and move along his rub line, his transition zone, down to water or to wherever else he was headed.
How far away is the bedding zone literally from your stand?
The bedding zone was probably about a hundred yards from where my stand was. It’s a big hill. Its neck is down by a river. It’s just really fixed off. We knew that there were does lying there and knew that there were bucks lying there just by the camera pictures that we had of certain bucks in and out of there. We went on the other side of the property and they would always come out of that certain area. We knew there were deer staying in there. When we talked to the land owner, he verified that it was a bedding area and they have harvested lot of deer during the gun season. They have come out of there, chasing does, so we knew that it was a good area. We just didn’t know how to set up on it until we had cameras out on it, seeing how the deer traveled that area at certain times, which we figured out right away and the rest is history.
You said was he went to scrape. Talk to me about the scrape.
When he comes up to the scrape, I didn’t even know it was there. I couldn’t see it from my stand, the brush was pretty thick right there. After the shot when I went down there, it had been an existing scrape. It could’ve been his scrape or another buck’s scrape. We all know that bucks use more than one scrape, but he was just depositing his scent, he didn’t urinate on it or anything like that. He was just depositing his scent on the branch when he worked that scrape.
Sitting here, I’m just wondering how many people can tell me what you just told me and why it makes sense. You’re a hell of a hunter because when you get into the bad habit, it’s easy. I’m 70 years old and I can tell you way over 50 times I’ve come unglued and then I just shut my eyes and breathe deep, open my eyes back up and finish the deal. It’s so exciting to see a mature whitetail. It doesn’t matter what you’re hunting, a goose setting its wings, webbed feet down, it still gets me juiced. I’m assuming you’re 28, 30?
27.
It took a bucket of lifetime but you understand the process and that’s why I wanted you to get out for the people. It’s the whole process and you read the signs. Do you think he opened up that new rub the night before?
By the size of the rubs that we found, I believe it was him. These were not little rubs. These were the size of my thigh or bigger. These trees were just shredded. By looking at his broad tines and the way that they are, these grooves were really deep. He had long brows so it makes sense and his base is really knobby. It was a good sign that it probably was him. He was obviously the mature deer in the area. We had other mature bucks in the area that were shooters, but obviously, he was the kingpin. Standing from the way the rub lines were located as far as where I’ve seen him, I’m almost 99% positive that it was him making those rubs, due to the fact that we had a picture of him on that same rub line and just the nature of how I harvested the deer on that same area. Another deer could’ve made them, but just by his horn characteristics and the tree characteristics that we’ve looked at as far as the deep grooves and the really tall rubs, I’m almost sure it was him.
One thing I’d like to go back to, when you saw him a distance away and you started your calling sequence and he got aggressive. Did he bristle up? Tell me his body posture or behaviors that you read.
When I first saw him, he was relaxed. He had his nose in the air. He was just winding that food plot. When I rattled, he didn’t show sign of getting aggressive. When I grunted and snorted, he bristled up, he started shaking his horns side to side, getting his neck muscles ready. That’s when I figured I just might have the chance of shooting this deer because I had his attention and he thought there were other bucks in the area. When he went up and shredded that tree, I knew that I was going to get a shot until he started walking away which I don’t understand why he did what he did. Obviously, I had to paint that illusion to him that there were two bucks down there fighting and they were aggressive. When I added that doe estrous bleed in there, it just set him over the edge. He couldn’t handle it anymore. I think panic then set in for him thinking there’s a hot doe in there and he need to get down there.
October 20th, he’s in the seeking phase. We’ll get to the score in a little bit. Everybody sits around. I’ve done all day sits. Don’t set aside or don’t miss some opportunities before the rut, because once the rut hits, it’s chaos out there. If you do everything right, you’re going to see bucks. If you’re hunting them like Jeremy and he had the trail cameras, he had the hit-list, he knew exactly what he put everything together so that he could close the deal on the magnificent buck. Everybody listening to this show, we’re coming up close to the time where you can get some shout outs. Let’s talk about G1s and everything else.
He looks a lot wider than what he was, but he is so massive that it adds a lot and looks like he’s really wide. His G1, his broad tines were both nine and three quarters. That’s extraordinary for a whitetail. I’m surprised he didn’t break them off fighting. They know a lot of whitetails that have long brows, it gets snapped off during the fighting phase and during seeking phase. His tallest tine was twelve and 7/8. He had just about 20 inches of mass on both sides. It’s just an incredible deer. He had a nice and one eight inches of deductions total throughout the whole antlers. He was pretty symmetrical. Both beams were 26 and three eighths. He had really long beams. It was just an extraordinary deer. The final tally was a 193 2/8 gross.
Bucks use more than one scrape. Share on XHow does that stack up for Vernon County?
This buck is now the new Vernon County archery typical record. I don’t know how it’s going to rank as far as state. It’s absolutely incredible and it’s a dream come true for me. Never in my lifetime where I thought I would harvest the deer of that caliber.
All I can say is you’re one blessed man and I mean that with all sincerity. We’ve got a lot of talk about. I’m going to ask you if you would be a return guest because I enjoyed listening to you and the way you dissected the whole event. As I said before, it was extraordinary. Thank you for that.
Thank you and of course I’ll be a return guest. I’ve got lot more tactics that I can share.
Jeremy, thank you so much for being a guest.