Haag had picked up his bow, and as the doe came into view, she must have caught a slight movement in the tree, because she actually stopped and looked up at Haag.

“I tried to blend into the tree and kept my bow in front of my face to break up my outline,” Haag said.

The doe tried the typical “head-bob” trick several times to see if she could catch Haag moving. He must have blended in fairly well because the doe soon decided everything was OK. It probably helped that she was again getting some additional pressure from the presence of the buck to divert her attention from Haag.

As the doe moved away from the buck and in the direction the fawn had gone, she went right through Haag’s shooting lane, and the buck started to follow. When the buck went behind a clump of small trees, Haag drew his bow. He grunted at the buck with his mouth as the buck entered the 10-yard-wide shooting lane. The buck’s attention was on the doe, and it took a couple more grunts before the buck paused momentarily on the edge of the opening. The buck had gone almost too far through the opening, leaving Haag with a narrow slot to try to slide the arrow through as he took the quartering-away 12-yard shot. The arrow hit a little high, but Haag found out later the arrow had center-punched the heart. Haag watched anxiously as the buck plowed through the brush and was headed through an opening when he suddenly dropped 75 yards away.

Even with the fact Haag killed a 184-inch non-typical that Nov. 28, he would be the first person to say, “I am by no means a whitetail expert.” However, when you look at the fact he has taken nine bucks qualifying for Pope and Young in the range of 130 inches to 184 inches -- including a 159 7/8-inch 8-pointer -- this White County hunter must be doing something consistently right. Most of the bucks Haag has killed were taken during the same time of year, using basically the same tactics.

Haag’s ideas and hunting concepts could produce for you, too.

Haag said when you focus on older bucks, you have to realize there is a big difference between 1- to 3-year-olds versus 4- to 6-year-olds. Younger bucks do much more traveling to look for does. Older bucks have the routine figured out, and often stay in heavy cover. This is frequently the same type of area where does hang out, and is usually close to a food source.

Haag also believes the “pecking order” is usually determined long before the rut, and consequently, the younger bucks avoid areas where the older bucks spend the most time. Therefore, the older bucks don’t have to move as much to find does. This theory fits well with the No. 1 comment you hear from many bowhunters that they never see the really big bucks in a given area. You know they are there, and you consistently hear about a few of them being killed every year, but you hardly ever see them. If they have everything they need within a relatively small area -- does, food, water, bedding cover and security -- why move much? And when you consider that a high percentage of their movement is at night, it’s no wonder they are seldom seen by humans.

Haag usually tries to set up on the edge of the thickest cover, just close enough where he can sneak in and out of his tree stand with minimal disturbance. He also believes that in high hunter pressure areas, the older bucks again seek out the thickest cover available.