Hunting Legend Stan Potts talks with Ultimate Deer Hunting
Stan Potts of North American Whitetail Television, with one of his many trophy whitetails. Credit: (Mathews.inc)
Published: Jun. 10, 2009
UDH- When did you start hunting whitetails and how did you get started?
SP-I started bow hunting in Illinois back in 1965, I was 15 years old. There wasn’t a gun season in the county I lived in. So I started bow hunting with a recurve and have been bow hunting ever since. In 1970 they opened up a gun season in my county and I started doing that as well. 80% of my whitetail hunting is with a bow, because bow hunting is my number one passion. It also gives you the opportunity that gun hunting does not; in a lot of areas you don’t even have a gun season in the peak of the rut.
UDU- What are some of your favorite tactics for killing big bucks? Tree stands, calls, etc.
SP- I am a tree stand hunter and for years and years my tactics were rattling and calling, setting up in pinch points and funnels. There is a big difference between seeing them and killing them and tree stand placement is everything. About 15 years ago I started doing a lot of decoy hunting and still do now. I still use a lot of my same tactics that I have always used but I also like to set up on the edge of food sources, on a pinch point and put my decoy out in the open. I do this from about October 25th clear through the month of November. I’ve killed a lot of deer with my decoy (nicknamed Bucky Jr.).
UDH- When did you get into the filming/professional hunting?
SP- I started doing consumer shows and seminars about 25 years ago. I had an archery shop, and because I had killed some big deer, and written some magazine articles, Browning approached me about doing some promotional things for them. So, I took some of my deer heads to Deer Classics, started working their booth, and then I started doing some seminars and bigger shows.
About 15 years ago I started doing a little bit of stuff on camera with Terry Drury (Dream Season). I was managing a lodge and did some hunting with Mark and Terry Drury at time and became good friends with them. They wanted me to do some stuff on film, so I did. We did some calling videos and a few other things and then I started filming with Mossy Oak.
UDH- What tips would you give the average hunter? What are some things that the average hunter does not pay enough attention to?
SP- Scent Control is everything for me. First thing is, when you are picking your stand locations, you have to pick them according to the wind directions. Take the Midwest for instance; you have to realize that your prevailing winds will be South, Southwest when there are no fronts. Whenever there is a front coming in you are going to have a North, Northwest wind. Once in a while a Northeast or Southeast. You need to pick trees accordingly and you cannot sit in them if the wind is not right. I’m not saying you can’t kill a deer if you don’t play the wind, but if you have a stand for a certain wind, then that is the stand you need to be hunting. You are not a good hunter if you are constantly second guessing yourself, and confidence is everything. If you have a perfect wind your confidence will be high. If you are hunting mature deer, you are hunting the lowest percentage of the deer herd; I don’t care where you are at.
Scouting is important as well. July and August I’m out there watching the bean fields and seeing what is in the area. If you go out next month to scout an area that you are going to bow hunt next year and you see a big bachelor group of bucks and they are in your hunting area, what’s that going to do for your confidence? Come October/November, you know those deer are there so when you go hunting you will go out early and stay late. There is no fast track, it is no different than anything else, and you have to make up your mind that you are going to get out of it what you are willing to put into it.
UDH- How much do you practice shooting your bow?
SP- When the deer season is over I don’t shoot much. After turkey season is over I shoot almost every day, if not I shoot several times a week. I’ll shoot 20-30 arrows and that’s it. I have targets set up for 20, 30, 40, 50 right behind the house.
UDH- What is your favorite hunt of all time?
SP- It is tough to say, because I have shot four deer over 200 inches. But if I had to pick one favorite hunt of all time, it would be a muzzleloader hunt in Ohio, about three years ago. I had been bow hunting in Ohio with a good friend of mine and we got on this big giant deer on Halloween. We couldn’t get him the next day, although we got some great footage. I stayed an extra two days and didn’t see him, so I assumed he was with a doe. In Ohio, your tag is good for any weapon. So I made a plan to comeback if that buck made it through the rest of bow season. I knew he would be back to his core area that I had seen him in earlier. I went back after Christmas for the 4 day muzzleloader season, and killed him the very first day in the same area I had hunted before. The reason it is my most favorite hunt is because my son Tim was with me. He was filming me for North American Whitetail. We made the plan together to go back and hunt him and strategized over the two months. We didn’t hunt in the morning that day, because we didn’t want to spook any deer in the dark. The reason it is my favorite hunt is because my son Tim and I did it together.
Pictures and or video clips of Potts will be posted soon. In the meantime, videos and pictures can be seen on his website: http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/television/
North American Whitetail Television can be seen on the Sportsman’s Channel at the following times:
(Eastern Time)
Monday 1:30 a.m.
Tuesday 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday 8:30 p.m.
Thursday 7:30 a.m.
Saturday 4:00 p.m.
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