Look for mule deer up in the high country and whitetails down along the stream bottoms. Photo courtesy of Blaine Hendrickson.

With three cow elk to her credit, 22-year-old Rachel Bonine was already a successful hunter. But she had little in the way of trophies to prove it. "I need some horn, Dad," Rachel said.

On opening day of deer season, she, her father Robert Bonine and her brother David were all high on a ridge in eastern Oregon. David chose to hunt alone, while Robert hoped to guide his daughter to her first mule deer buck.

Wind howled, and the snow blew sideways. Robert pointed David toward a vantage where he could set up his spotting scope. David thought he'd rather hunt in the trees, out of the wind, but knew he'd regret it if he didn't follow his dad's advice. He set up his scope overlooking a deep canyon, braving the weather. Putting his eye to the glass, he saw a group of nine bucks at about 1,000 yards.

He scoped out the approach and began a stalk.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Robert worked down into the same canyon. When the wind shifted, the bucks caught their scent and spooked toward David -- but were now out of his sight in the canyon below.

Still visible to Rachel and Robert 427 yards away, the deer bunched so closely together that it was hard to distinguish one from another.

But one was standing off to the side, about 20 yards from the others. Rachel got down and put her gun on a rest.

"Take the one on the right," her father whispered.

Rachel's first shot was low. On the second trigger squeeze, she held higher. The buck crumpled, and the eight other bucks ran toward where David was hunting.

Then David picked his own out of the herd and shot his deer at 100 yards. It was the biggest buck of his life! He switched on his radio.

"Dad, I killed a monster buck, a 4x7! I saw Rachel's buck flop down there, too. I'm going to go have a look at it."

A few minutes later, the radio crackled again. "Dad, I thought I killed a big buck."

But his deer wasn't the head-turner.

Rachel's first mule deer was a 4x4, a quarter-inch shy of 30 inches wide! Later, it would net 177 7/8 Boone and Crockett.

Rachel walked up to her first mule deer buck and put her hands on the antlers. "Dad, I liked to hunt, but I'm really hooked on hunting now!"

OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND
Information makes the difference. And this year, we've done your pre-scouting for you.

Washington-Oregon Game & Fish will tell you what units offer the most animals and where you've got your best chance at tagging a big buck when the sun comes up opening day.

Eastern Oregon
The mild winter of 2006-07 didn't deliver much in the way of precipitation. One year later, the winter of 2007-08 was something else entirely.

High snowpacks across the state will ensure that there'll be no shortage of water. Fires in 2007 changed the deer habitat in many units.

Long-term, the new forage growth will be good for the deer.

The White River Unit is managed for an objective of 25 bucks per 100 does. While it hasn't measured up in the last few years, fawn ratios have been higher here than in many units.

Rifle hunters should plan to hunt for four days or more to improve their odds.