Hi Guys:

I'd like to thank Wayne van Zwoll for his latest exclusive Campfire column, "WHITETAILS IN LONG GRASS." Please click this link to access the article.

Please use this thread to ask Wayne questions about the piece, and I hope you enjoy!

Thanks again, Wayne!

Excellent article. More and more I'm seeing whitetails here in the east trying to hide "outside of the woods" too.

Thank you, Moosemike. The deer in my yard can slip out of sight all too easily. But the cropped tulips and rhododendrons bear silent witness....Wayne

Enjoyed the article, it appears your deer rifles tend to be on the lower end of the power spectrum - .243, 25-06, 303 British. Have you ever wished you had "more" rifle in a deer hunting situation?

Bludog, that's a reasonable question. I did have to follow a big whitetail buck after hitting him with a .25-35 bullet last fall. While not marginal for deer, this cartridge hardly flattens them. I was fortunate to get another shot. That's the only time I'd like to have landed a bigger blow. The other advantage of more power, of course, is more reach. I've passed up quite a few deer that could have been taken with fast-stepping magnums and optics to match. But I choose to hunt close and shoot at modest range, so declining shots because my rifle didn't shoot as flat as the curve of the earth never bothered me. Once, long ago, I fired too far with a 7x57 and had to trail the deer. Again, I was blessed with a chance to finish it. But the load was surely adequate for deer. My failing was stretching it too far -- bad judgment, not a weak hit. How about you? ... WvZ

Not me, but my wife lost one - after shooting a big bodied buck at about 150 yds using a 22-250 and a 55 gr Barnes TTSX bullet. Buck ran into some pretty thick woods. We left the area alone for over two hours but there was very little blood and what there was played out in less than 50 yds of tracking. She is a good shot and she had a good rest and felt like it was a well placed shot. We spent most of opening day looking for him.

Found his remains last weekend while looking for sheds - one rib clearly busted - a well placed shot. This was the first year we used that cartridge based on good feed back from many members of this site. And I am not in anyway doubting their experiences.

Needless to say, my wife is back in the 7mm-08 camp and will probably never try another different round again. It has proven more than adequate for our hunting needs.

Thanks for the reply.

Bludog, your choices of a 7mm-08 and a sharpshooting wife who likes to hunt are both beyond reproach.... WvZ

I wish this article and all comments would vanish. Its like giving away a hunters secret spots. Many hunters grab the leftovers (long grass) on draws and such because nobody else wants them. I'd like to keep it that way.

Great article, Mr Z. I've been a fan of your writing for years and this piece captures your ability to frame a successful hunt within the bounds of "classic" rounds. I hunt a farm in North Dakota with hard woods and grassy border areas. Have taken many bucks on the "fringes" where woods meet grass and corn fields. My father in law shot the biggest whitetail ever taken on this farm with a stock Rem 700 .270 as he moved through the grass to the swamp by an old abandoned barn. A heavy 14 point.