The year was 1966. My bride and I, after living on Staten Island for six years, bought a house in New Jersey and with our family of two moved there.

Except for my three years in the "Army Airborne" I hunted white tail deer every season. In Jersey I patronized the local sports shops, where I first heard of "The White Buck".  It seemed he was more "folk lore, fable, over exaggeration" from stories of "how large he was than real".
The hunters who claimed they saw him always "occupied center stage in conversation” with questions like, "How big was he?  How many tines did he have?  Was he really white?"  The answers of course seemed equally exaggerated depending who was center stage?  He was as big as a house, his rack looked like a Christmas tree, and he was as white as snow!  The fact being, white albino deer are not all that common, and few if ever are rarely seen.

 
Because of the dense population in the state of New Jersey, hunting “only" with a shotgun is permitted. With a special permit (only), you can hunt with a rifle, Varmite, such as woodchucks, coyote, and etc.  I have a beauty of a shotgun. A double barrel Westly Richards cap lock, well over a hundred and fifty years old, in perfect shape, "lock, stock, and barrel" as the saying goes.  At forty yards a chick-a-dee couldn't get through it's pattern with # 6 shot, backed by 80 grains of 2-FG-black powder.  I have bagged my share of pheasant, partridge, rabbit, and two woodchuck that I surprised coming over a knoll on a warm autumn day one time.  This season I practiced with "buck shot" and again at forty yards and a wee more, any deer within that range would be mine.

The White Buck this year, being sighted again "all" over the state, was also said to be in my county. Oh sure!  The area I hunted was called "The Pipe Line" which was just that, a buried pipe over two hills and thru a dense wood.  My stand was situated half way up the second hill and this is where I went to hunt. These old weapons like my shotgun have a half cock notch called "a safety" and a full cock notch from which the weapon is fired.  Like hunters of old, I practiced in the "big game season" cocking the weapon while depressing the trigger. This way no metallic "click" is heard thereby alerting the game with a sound. Then the hammer is pulled back and you let the trigger go, then gently let the hammer down the same way, gently, in the desired notch.  This is dangerous to do in warm weather, try it in cold weather of course without gloves. But with practice it sounds harder then it is.

This particular morning, I drove to the hunting area two hours before first light, walked quietly for forty minutes to my tree stand, climbed in it, settled down and waited maybe ten yards in the woods from the edge of the pipe line.  It had snowed all night, a wet snow so it wasn't deep, now turning to a light snowy rain. I was well dressed and warm.

At first light, half asleep, I noticed movement which brought me to immediate and full attention. Maybe fifty yards away I saw this "White Monster" at first thinking it was someone "Brahma Bull" it was that large! Then realizing it was "the" deer because he carried a "tree" on his head as he walked slowly towards my position.  A few times in the past, I have experienced so called "Buck Fever" a "nervous condition" caused by "letting emotions gain control!" I was an "Airborne Recon Paratrooper" and wasn't going to let "this" happen to me!!

I somehow managed to calm myself, as this "locomotive train-size" animal casually but fully alert, continued my way, me being down wind, he never knew I was there.  I started thinking big things, like "breaking the Boone and Crockett all time record, seeing my name and picture in the local paper, national even, maybe on TV by heavens, no limit to how famous I will be after I bagged this "Elephant" sized deer!

This emotional thought process, again being the start of "Buck Fever" was starting to take control of my thoughts and actions.  "Be calm Alex" from deep within this inner voice of combat training, "you will waste him if you just relax" as this "house" sized deer continued in my direction.  I went very methodically thru the practiced action with the trigger and hammer routine as mentioned, not making a whisper or sound and waited.

He came even closer, as I took trained deliberate aim, the front bead of my shot gun on the middle of his shoulder, and started to squeeze the forward trigger. He was "bigger than big" now maybe twenty five yards from me, "at the peak of full rut" with a huge powerful neck wider then a "side barn wall", and even with my intense military training of the past, I had all I could do to keep my nerves and body at ease again saying in my mind, "be calm Alex", now fifteen yards from me.

All of a sudden this feeling of wonder, amazement, and excitement that I had, turned to compassion, and I hesitated, my finger on the trigger, the beaded sight on his shoulder, "Should I or Shouldn't I"-- "Should I or Shouldn't I"-- And I let him pass!  I let him pass!  Can you ever imagine??  I Let Him Pass!!

I climbed down from the tree saying, "Was he real?", "Did I really see something that huge?", "Was it a dream?”. Then back on the ground I saw his tracks that brought me back to reality.  They were the size of a moose, deep in the mud and snow, and I knew he was real, it wasn't a dream, aren't these the very tracks to prove it??  Did I have second thoughts?  Why yes, again thinking what I let escape moments before, of my name in the papers that "I had shot the largest white tail deer ever”.  Alex DeVito in all the sports magazines throughout the country!!

It took the forty minute walk back to my truck, plus the ride home to calm me down. When I walked in the house, my bride took one look at my face, walked up to me and quietly hugged me without saying a word, "she knew".  Then I told her what I saw.  She patted me on the back still with her arms around me, saying "with the pat" no words, "it's all right Alex, it's all right".

My bride was the only one I ever told for who would believe me? ... And now you my CCS and Alumni friends.

A true story.  An event of exciting exceptional experience that I shall never forget!!