We talk with Greg Lavoie, self-admitted "Whitetail Addict", and owner of Chaparral Hunting Adventures in northern Saskatchewan.
So, I’m definitely addicted to, you know, chasing and hunting and taking people out for Whitetail Deer. That’s the difference between those. Being addicted to something is you’re connected to it, I guess, and you can’t put it down.
I'm thinking about it all the time. You know, doesn't matter what time of year it is. I'm always thinking about ways, how can we improve this spot or you know what's this Deer going to do? I have 50,000 pictures from my trail cam pictures on my phone. Your brain is always focused on that aspect. Hey some guys don't have that addiction but they love hunting Deer.
It's not a job for me. It's an addiction. So, you know, sometimes, like this time of year especially, the first thing I think of in the morning is, "Oh, jeez, I wonder what's on my 25 cell cams that pop through on my phone every 12 hours." So, I guess that's maybe a symptom. Your brain is triggered to do that.
The biggest Deer I killed with my bow wasn't a huge scoring deer, but he was 8 and 1/2 years old. I had history on the Deer, you know, I watched him for five years. So I harvested that Deer. He wasn't the biggest Deer I've ever killed, but it meant a lot to me because I watched that deer and it's bittersweet when you harvest a Deer like that because you're like, man, I watched that deer grow and now I can't watch him anymore.
I never muzzle loaded much until this year. I actually killed a 171 inch Deer and, there again, a 9 and 1/2 year old Deer. So you know a 170 inch Deer is a beautiful Deer but a 9 and 1/2 year old 170 inch deer is a trophy.
The biggest deer I killed with the rifle is 185 inches. It was beautiful, bigger Whitetail.