06 • 201834 PETERSEN’S BOWHUNTING

Most whitetail hunters will spend a lifetime afield without ever seeing a 180-inch buck, let alone having one in bow range! And yet, there I was — perched 20 feet up a tree on the edge of a clover plot —

when a non-typical freak show in full velvet stepped out of the brush and into my life. I’d traveled from Penn-sylvania to Whitetail Heaven Outfitters in Kentucky for the state’s early-September archery opener. And now, on just the second day of the hunt, that decision looked like pure genius. All I had to do was seal the deal. Perched just above me in a second hang-on stand was Bowhunter TV cameraman Mike Emery, who silently hit the record button as I slowly reached for my bow, lifted

it off its hanger and gingerly shifted into shooting posi-tion. Whether I turned into a hero or a zero, the result of this encounter would be captured for the whole world to see. No pressure, I told myself as the buck nervously scanned the plot for signs of danger. Just relax, be patient and make this shot. Although I was hunting at Whitetail Heaven, calling this buck “a miracle” would be a mistake. Rather — like so many similar encounters experienced by clients each year — it was the result of many months of careful plan-ning and lots and lots of hard work. To fully appreci-ate the magnitude of that effort, you must understand the hunting passion that fuels Whitetail Heaven owner Tevis McCauley.

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Heaven SentParadise Found in the Fertile Farmland of Central Kentucky

By Christian Berg

From Humble Beginnings… The fourth of five boys, McCauley grew up in a hunt-ing family that kindled his love of the outdoors at a very young age. His childhood home was an old farmhouse that sat one mile down a dirt road from the school bus stop, and McCauley can vividly remember carrying his .22 rifle with him in the morning and hiding it in the brush so he could retrieve it in the afternoon and hunt squirrels and rabbits on his walk back home. McCauley was only 7 or 8 when he started dream-ing of becoming a professional deer-hunting guide. And by the age of 12, he had already decided on the Whitetail Heaven name and filled multiple notebooks with sketches of property layouts, stand setups and

The giant, non-typical, velvet buck Editor Christian Berg took in Kentucky in September

2017 green scored 181 3⁄8 inches gross. Amazingly, the buck was only the third largest

taken by Whitetail Heaven clients last year.

other information about how he would run his outfitting operation. (McCauley’s wife, Hannah, keeps these note-books in a collection of family heirlooms, and the couple still looks at them from time to time as a reminder of the 20-year-old vision that has since become reality.) When he was just 13, McCauley created a Whitetail Heaven website and began advertising guided Ken-tucky deer hunts online. As he explains it, some fam-ily friends owned lots of prime hunting ground, along with an old farmhouse he could use as a lodge. So, he figured putting a few folks on deer and pocketing a couple dollars in the process would be no problem. Before long, the adolescent McCauley found him-self talking to prospective clients on the phone and

booking hunts, all without his parents’ knowledge. “I’d get home from school and check the mail, and I started getting all these deposit checks,” he said. “So, one day, I asked my dad where I could get them cashed.” McCauley’s father, Ron, was shocked. He informed his son there was no way he’d be guiding deer hunts that fall. Instead, the elder Mc-Cauley called each person who had sent a deposit and asked them the same question: Do you have any idea how old Tevis is? In short order, all the deposit mon-ey was returned. Still, Ron McCauley — a successful businessman who has enjoyed a long career in the automo-tive industry — said he admired his son’s ambition and offered a bit of fatherly advice. “Tevis has always been an entrepreneur,” Ron McCau-ley said. “I just told him he wasn’t ready yet, and if he was going to do this, he had to do it right.” And that’s exactly what he did. Tevis turned 18 in May of 2002 and guided his first deer hunts that fall on the family’s 700-acre property along the Kentucky River, just south of Nicholasville. “The first year, I probably did about 15-20 hunts, and every year it has increased from there,” McCauley said.

…Greatness is Born Sixteen years after those first guided hunts, Whitetail Heaven has grown into what is, by any measure, one of America’s largest and most successful fair-chase deer-hunting operations. From five-star food and accommodations to the total acreage of hunting land under management to the number of bucks killed annu-ally to the trophy quality of those bucks — averaging right around 150 inches gross — you’d be hard pressed to find another operation that can match, let alone exceed, Whitetail Heaven’s track record. And much of the credit can be attributed to the vision of McCauley, who at the ripe, old age of 33 has accomplished more than most outfitters twice his age. Back in the early days, McCauley would guide each hunt personally, and Whitetail Heaven clients would stay in a rented farmhouse or even in the unfinished basement at one of his brothers’ houses. Today, Whitetail Heaven’s staff includes as many as 60 guides, cooks and other support staff during hunting seasons, and clients have their choice of gourmet food and luxury housing at any of three lodges. The original, 5,500-square-foot lodge — now known as the Cen-tral Lodge — was built in 2007 on the family’s property outside Nicholas-ville. In more recent years, McCauley

purchased a 17,000-square-foot for-mer school building in Battletown, Ky., and converted it into the spa-cious West Lodge (hunting both Ken-tucky and Indiana), complete with a full-size basketball court and indoor archery range. He also acquired the 8,500-square-foot North Lodge (hunt-ing both Kentucky and Ohio) along the Kentucky River in Aberdeen, Ohio. As Whitetail Heaven’s ability to accommodate hunters has grown, so has the amount of hunting ground it manages. From that initial 700-acre, family owned property, McCauley now manages more than 50,000 acres of prime whitetail habitat through-out Central Kentucky, Southern Ohio and Southern Indiana, including more than 20 miles of river frontage on the Kentucky and Ohio rivers. “We’ve gotten to the point now where people contact us,” McCauley said. “We get a ton of referrals from landowners we’ve leased from for

06 • 201836 PETERSEN’S BOWHUNTING

With an early-September opener, Kentucky offers bowhunters a rare opportunity to hunt velvet bucks. A few of the many other Whitetail Heaven clients who tagged velvet tro-phies in 2017 included Mark Johnson of Florida (above), Steve Cross of Alabama (top right), Chuck Spicer of Michigan (middle) and Buddy Sciandra of New York (bottom).

Heaven Sent

years, which works great because a lot of times we end up with adjoining properties and are able to put 1,500 or 2,000 contiguous acres together.” Whitetail Heaven focuses on prop-erties in counties known for pro-ducing Boone and Crockett-caliber bucks, and each parcel is thoroughly scouted to assess its potential prior to leasing. Once a property is select-ed, the work really begins. Whitetail Heaven installs and/or maintains scores of food plots each year, along

www.bowhuntingmag.com PETERSEN’S BOWHUNTING 37

#ndwwd

Whitetail Heaven client Caleb Stevens of Florida, left, and Outfitter Tevis McCauley pose with Stevens’ 202-inch Ohio archery buck taken in October 2017.

with hundreds of mineral sites. “You have to refresh those every three weeks, and that’s an everyday job in itself,” McCauley said. “And, of course, you’re mowing fields, trim-ming shooting lanes and taking care of other chores. We’ve got guys in the field almost 365 days a year.” Even on leased farms with com-mercial corn and soybean produc-tion, McCauley works with farmers to ensure the local deer herd has enough high-quality food to last all

winter. “We have our farmers leave some of those crops standing,” Mc-Cauley said. “One of the most criti-cal things is keeping body weight on your deer so when they go into that antler-growing season they don’t have to pack weight back on their bodies. You want them to start grow-ing antlers right away.” McCauley also divides all his properties into three hunting catego-ries, with 130-, 140- or 150-inch har-vest minimums to protect younger

During his 16 years in business, Whitetail Heaven Outfitters owner Tevis McCauley has talked with thousands of prospective clients and repeated a particular phrase countless times: “Nobody does

what we do.”“It’s funny, because I would say it all the time on the phone, like at the

end of a conversation with someone calling to book a hunt,” McCauley said. “Nobody has that much land. Nobody has as many lodges as we do. Nobody kills as many bucks as we do.”

Yet in spite of his frequent use of the phrase, McCauley didn’t think that much about it until about three years ago, when guide Bradley Roy said, “You say that so much it should be our motto.”

For the staff at Whitetail Heaven, “Nobody Does What We Do” has become a daily mantra, and it even spawned #ndwwd used on posts to Whitetail Heaven’s massive following.

McCauley said the motto isn’t bragging about Whitetail Heaven’s success. Rather, it’s a philosophy about how he and his team want each hunter to be treated.

“When we say, ‘Nobody does what we do,’ that means we go over the top for our customers,” he said. “If a guy needs a blow dryer, you gotta get him a blow dryer. If his truck is low on gas, you take his truck into town and fill it up while he’s out hunting. Outfitting is a tough job, and those are things we can control. We can’t control the deer. We can’t control Mother Nature.”

Perhaps nothing exemplifies the #ndwwd attitude better than the recovery of a 202-inch Ohio buck taken last fall out of the North Lodge by bowhunting client Caleb Stevens. Stevens, 23, of Wakulla County, Florida, arrowed the buck about 30 minutes before dark one evening in late October. “I knew I made a pass-through, and I felt great about my shot,” Stevens said.

Despite his confidence, Stevens and his guide decided to give the buck some time before taking up the trail. About four hours later, they returned with some additional guides and ended up finding the buck bedded down — but still alive — about 200 yards from the site of the shot. So, they decided to back out and return the next day.

The following morning, the search party returned and found the buck still bedded in the same place. Only this time there were three does with him, and when the does saw the people approaching and spooked, the buck got up and followed them. After waiting another three hours, Stevens and his guide took up the trail again, only to jump the buck a second time. At that point, they decided to call in a tracking dog, eventually spending much of the night on the buck’s trail without a successful recovery.

The following morning — now two days after the shot — Stevens reluctantly had to leave camp due to job responsibilities. Heartbroken, he packed his truck and headed out on the road. “It was a gut-wrenching feeling,” he recalled.

Rather than give up, McCauley decided to call in a second tracking dog, grab a couple more guides from the Central Lodge and make the two-hour drive to the North Lodge so they could make another attempt to locate the deer. “I had to go look,” McCauley said. “I always try to put an effort in to give it one last go, and it’s crazy how many deer I find like that. I’ll bet I’ve found over 100 of them over the years that other people have given up on.”

As it has so many times in the past, McCauley’s extra effort paid off when he and his guides stumbled on the deer about a mile down the same creek where it had been shot. “When I called Caleb,” McCauley said, “he pulled over and started crying.”

“I hit the brakes, got off the next exit, turned around and headed straight back 150 miles,” Stevens said. “Over 10 different guides tried to help me find that buck, so to share that moment with all them, and them being just as happy as I was, it made a grown man cry.

“Whenever you come across a man like Tevis, whose passion isn’t just growing big whitetails but making sure every hunter who comes in is taken care of and has the time of his life, it truly is a whitetail heaven.”

06 • 201838 PETERSEN’S BOWHUNTING

This particular buck was easily rec-ognized by the unicorn point coming from the base of his right antler, split right brow tine and split G3, also on the right side. And he was visible throughout the summer on the clo-ver plot where I was perched at the beginning of this story. “We do a lot of glassing,” said guide David Grubb, whose assistance was instrumental in my hunt. “We’d seen that buck, and another we call D-BO, earlier in the summer and we just knew they were going to be giants.” With summer feeding patterns still firmly entrenched in early Sep-tember and the buck making regu-lar evening appearances in the plot, Grubb slipped in one afternoon in mid-August and installed a pair of hang-on stands in a walnut tree on the plot’s edge. He even took my left-handed shooting into account when selecting stand placement, providing excellent coverage of the plot, perfect shooting angles and enough cover to keep a cameraman and I well hidden in the tree. During our first evening on stand, Emery and I saw numerous deer, including a couple nice bucks, but the only ones to come within bow range were does and fawns. And the scenario was similar on the second night, with several tempting bucks entering the plot well out of bow range and making their way uphill toward a large soybean field.

here at the Central Lodge, but I have 100 spots I would want to hunt.” Add it all up, and it’s no wonder Whitetail Heaven annually produces some of the nation’s highest success rates when it comes to free-range, fair-chase bowhunting. During peak periods — such as the season’s open-ing week and during peak rut — Mc-Cauley said clients can expect op-portunity rates (meaning at least one trophy buck in bow range during the hunt) approaching 70 percent and success rates approaching 40 percent. My 2017 buck was a prime example of how Whitetail Heaven successfully patterns deer and makes a plan to hunt them. The buck was a resident of the McCauley family’s home farm, where the Central Lodge is located. Nestled along the Kentucky River and bordered by a 1,000-acre state wildlife sanctuary where no hunting is allowed, the Jessa-mine County property is one of White-tail Heaven’s 150-inch minimum farms and a place known for consistently producing big bucks. In fact, three of the eight 200-inch deer killed by clients have been taken off that farm.

bucks and provide a variety of tro-phy opportunities. Clients choose the type of property they want to hunt, based on personal preference. The results of these careful harvest guidelines are evident in the high volume of quality trophies taken by Whitetail Heaven clients each fall. And since opening its doors 16 years ago, Whitetail Heaven clients have taken an amazing eight bucks gross-ing more than 200 inches.

One Trophy at a Time Despite the size and scope of Whitetail Heaven, clients still enjoy success just like any deer hunter — one buck at a time. And each suc-cessful encounter represents the culmination of all the groundwork McCauley and his staff have laid well in advance of the kill. In addition to intensive habitat management and harvest control, Whitetail Heaven blankets its proper-ties with more than 400 Stealth Cam trail cameras to monitor local deer populations year-round. Particularly during the summer scouting season and continuing right through hunt-ing season, McCauley and his guides review tens of thousands of images each week to keep tabs on mature bucks, piece together movement pat-terns and choose ambush locations that will give clients the best possible odds of success. Whitetail Heaven also makes sure it has plenty of spots to accommodate whatever type of setup a client needs, from hang-on stands to ladders and ground blinds. “We have a ton of sets, and we have so many shooter bucks it’s ridicu-lous,” McCauley said, “On opening day, we might have 30 bowhunters

EQUIPMENT LISTBow: Hoyt Carbon DefiantArrows: Gold Tip Kinetic Pierce PlatinumBroadhead: Rage TrypanSight: Spot-Hogg HunterArrow Rest: Trophy Taker Smackdown ProQuiver: TightSpotStabilizer: Bee Stinger Sport HunterClothing: Browning Hell’s CanyonCamouflage: Mossy Oak Break-Up CountryScent Control: Ozonics

A mix of fertile farmland, mature hardwood forest and thick river bottoms make Central Kentucky an ideal area for growing trophy bucks. The photo above shows the tremendous habitat that can be found right behind Whitetail Heaven’s Central Lodge.

Trail cameras are a critical component of the hunting strategy at Whitetail Heaven, al-lowing guides to pattern mature bucks and select the best possible ambush locations. The images above show Berg’s buck feed-ing on the corn at a camera set just days before the hunt.

Heaven Sent

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of the Whitetail Heaven team who work 365 days a year to turn deer-hunting fantasy into reality. “When a client kills that deer of a lifetime, just seeing his joy and knowing I helped set it up makes all the hard work pay off,” Grubb said. No, tagging this trophy was certainly no miracle. But it sure was Heaven sent! For more information about trophy deer hunts with Whitetail Heaven Out-fitters, call 859-509-2704 or visit www.whitetailheavenoutfitters.com

settle the pin and pull through the shot. In a flash, my arrow was away, and I could see the green glow of the Lumenok disappear just behind the buck’s shoulder. As the buck leapt into the air, spun and disappeared back into the brush, I turned to Emery and whispered, “He’s done!” I knew the shot had been perfect and a short blood trail would lead us to a very, very happy ending. And while I was thrilled to do my part, most of the credit goes to Mc-Cauley, Grubb and other members

Although Whitetail Heaven clients kill scores of trophy bucks each year, plenty of shooters make it through each season. The trail-camera images above show just a few of the many mature bucks that survived 2017 hunts and will be available for clients this fall.

In fact, I had just commented to Emery that none of the deer seemed interested in coming our way when I looked down and saw the buck emerging from the brush on the edge of the food plot. “Big buck!” I whis-pered to Mike. “He’s right there!” Although the buck was probably no more than 30 yards away, he was facing directly towards us, and I could tell from his body language he was tense. With a small pile of corn scattered in a corner of the plot to our right (baiting is legal in Kentucky), I figured the buck had his mind on some carbs and the best thing I could do was wait for him to relax. Over the course of five minutes that felt more like 50, I held still and anxiously waited for the buck to settle down, turn broadside and present an ideal shooting angle. Finally, I was able to draw my bow,