Some of the largest whitetails in North America come from the fields and coulees near Stettler, Alberta, southeast of Edmonton. The mule deer quality also is excellent and getting better due to restrictions on resident hunting. The outfitter has all the deer tags in the units near his home, 15 whitetail tags and nine muley tags.

The outfitter has permission to hunt many ranches and farms, including those owned by relatives. He and his brother have both personally killed mule deer scoring more than 200 Boone and Crockett points and numerous big whitetails. They have box blinds on stilts in strategic locations for whitetails. They prefer to hunt during November.

Most hunters they have taken have got shots at whitetail bucks scoring 150 to 170 Boone and Crockett points. There have been a few bigger bucks taken in this area, including bucks that have scored more than 200.

"About five years ago the province decided to issue more mule deer tags to residents," the outfitter said, "and it made it harder to find really big bucks. But then they realized they had made a mistake, and so they cut the tags back three years ago. We've seen things rebound, and we expect to get back to where we are killing one or two bucks a year that score over 200."

Note that the leasing of hunting rights is illegal in Alberta. You'll be hunting private land the outfitter has permission to hunt, but he doesn't have exclusive hunting rights.