The year was
1966. My bride and I, after living on Staten Island for six
years, bought a house in New Jersey and with our family of two
moved there.
Except for my three years in the "Army Airborne" I hunted white
tail deer every season. In Jersey I patronized the local sports
shops, where I first heard of "The White Buck". It seemed
he was more "folk lore, fable, over exaggeration" from stories
of "how large he was than real".
The hunters who claimed they saw him always "occupied center
stage in conversation” with questions like, "How big was he?
How many tines did he have? Was he really white?" The
answers of course seemed equally exaggerated depending who was
center stage? He was as big as a house, his rack looked
like a Christmas tree, and he was as white as snow! The fact
being, white albino deer are not all that common, and few if
ever are rarely seen.
Because of the dense population in the state of New Jersey,
hunting “only" with a shotgun is permitted. With a special
permit (only), you can hunt with a rifle, Varmite, such as
woodchucks, coyote, and etc. I have a beauty of a shotgun. A
double barrel Westly Richards cap lock, well over a hundred and
fifty years old, in perfect shape, "lock, stock, and barrel" as
the saying goes. At forty yards a chick-a-dee couldn't get
through it's pattern with # 6 shot, backed by 80 grains of
2-FG-black powder. I have bagged my share of pheasant,
partridge, rabbit, and two woodchuck that I surprised coming
over a knoll on a warm autumn day one time. This season I
practiced with "buck shot" and again at forty yards and a wee
more, any deer within that range would be mine.
The White Buck this year, being sighted again "all" over the
state, was also said to be in my county. Oh sure! The area
I hunted was called "The Pipe Line" which was just that, a
buried pipe over two hills and thru a dense wood. My stand was
situated half way up the second hill and this is where I went to
hunt. These old weapons like my shotgun have a half cock notch
called "a safety" and a full cock notch from which the weapon is
fired. Like hunters of old, I practiced in the "big game
season" cocking the weapon while depressing the trigger. This
way no metallic "click" is heard thereby alerting the game with
a sound. Then the hammer is pulled back and you let the trigger
go, then gently let the hammer down the same way, gently, in the
desired notch. This is dangerous to do in warm weather, try it
in cold weather of course without gloves. But with practice it
sounds harder then it is.
This
particular morning, I drove to the hunting area two hours before
first light, walked quietly for forty minutes to my tree stand,
climbed in it, settled down and waited maybe ten yards in the
woods from the edge of the pipe line. It had snowed all night,
a wet snow so it wasn't deep, now turning to a light snowy rain.
I was well dressed and warm.
At first light, half asleep, I noticed movement which brought me
to immediate and full attention. Maybe fifty yards away I saw
this "White Monster" at first thinking it was someone "Brahma
Bull" it was that large! Then realizing it was "the" deer
because he carried a "tree" on his head as he walked slowly
towards my position. A few times in the past, I have
experienced so called "Buck Fever" a "nervous condition" caused
by "letting emotions gain control!" I was an "Airborne Recon
Paratrooper" and wasn't going to let "this" happen to me!!
I somehow managed to calm myself, as this "locomotive
train-size" animal casually but fully alert, continued my way,
me being down wind, he never knew I was there. I started
thinking big things, like "breaking the Boone and Crockett all
time record, seeing my name and picture in the local paper,
national even, maybe on TV by heavens, no limit to how famous I
will be after I bagged this "Elephant" sized deer!
This emotional thought process, again being the start of "Buck
Fever" was starting to take control of my thoughts and actions.
"Be calm Alex" from deep within this inner voice of combat
training, "you will waste him if you just relax" as this "house"
sized deer continued in my direction. I went very methodically
thru the practiced action with the trigger and hammer routine as
mentioned, not making a whisper or sound and waited.
He came even closer, as I took trained deliberate aim, the front
bead of my shot gun on the middle of his shoulder, and started
to squeeze the forward trigger. He was "bigger than big" now
maybe twenty five yards from me, "at the peak of full rut" with
a huge powerful neck wider then a "side barn wall", and even
with my intense military training of the past, I had all I could
do to keep my nerves and body at ease again saying in my mind,
"be calm Alex", now fifteen yards from me.
All of a sudden this feeling of wonder, amazement, and
excitement that I had, turned to compassion, and I hesitated, my
finger on the trigger, the beaded sight on his shoulder, "Should
I or Shouldn't I"-- "Should I or Shouldn't I"-- And I let him
pass! I let him pass! Can you ever imagine?? I Let Him Pass!!
I climbed down from the tree saying, "Was he real?", "Did I
really see something that huge?", "Was it a dream?”. Then back
on the ground I saw his tracks that brought me back to reality.
They were the size of a moose, deep in the mud and snow, and I
knew he was real, it wasn't a dream, aren't these the very
tracks to prove it?? Did I have second thoughts? Why yes,
again thinking what I let escape moments before, of my name in
the papers that "I had shot the largest white tail deer ever”.
Alex DeVito in all the sports magazines throughout the country!!
It took the forty minute walk back to my truck, plus the ride
home to calm me down. When I walked in the house, my bride took
one look at my face, walked up to me and quietly hugged me
without saying a word, "she knew". Then I told her what I saw.
She patted me on the back still with her arms around me, saying
"with the pat" no words, "it's all right Alex, it's all right".
My bride was the only one I ever told for who would believe me?
... And now you my CCS and Alumni friends.
A true story. An event of exciting exceptional experience that
I shall never forget!!
I have
dreams now and then, "of a very large deer like animal,"
majestically powerful, body rippling with muscles, with it's grand
giant head, with antlers beyond description, walking by me.
Ha! At first the dreams were scary, and I'd wake in a sweat. Now?
I wake with a smile, as I had his life in my hands, with the squeeze
of a front trigger, but instead "I let him pass!" Can you imagine?
"I let him pass!"
Alex DeVito
Class of "56" |