Dan Urbas arrowed this dandy Minnesota buck in 2005. Photo courtesy of Dan Urbas.

When a bowhunter shoots a trophy buck, many people will think the archer is a lucky hunter. If that person should kill another record-book buck, then the luck factor becomes less of an issue and the bowhunter is labeled adept at the sport. If this hunter consistently kills world-class bucks, then he gets elevated to a status where he is respected for his abilities and everyone involved in the sport covets the knowledge that this person must possess.

But knowledge is only a portion of the program that leads to success. There is also a strong level of desire that is necessary to carry out a trophy-whitetail program as well as the determination that drives a person to push himself to the highest level in a sport. Only a few have the time and the motivation required to devote to consistently bagging trophy deer. What they achieve, they deserve.

Dan Urbas from Oakdale has been bowhunting since he was 15 years old. In mid-September when bowhunting begins, he will have 18 seasons under his belt. He freely admits that he has learned a lot since his early days chasing whitetails.

“When I started bowhunting in 1988, I didn’t know much then,” Urbas said. “I was serious about hunting, but I just didn’t know much. I learned on my own through trial and error. When I was younger, I had some opportunities to watch some big bucks, to observe them and see how they check for scents on the wind currents and where they bed and how they use trails.”

Urbas cut his teeth on bowhunting in Pennsylvania, which he said was a great place to learn before his transition to Minnesota.

“I grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Minnesota in 1998,” he said.

“I read a lot about the Midwest before moving here. The hunting pressure out there is much higher than we have here. What I learned is that getting a shot at a good whitetail requires you to be on a spot -- just like fishing.”

Urbas looks for his spot beginning in July. “I generally hunt the same spots each year, and a few of my spots tend to produce opportunities for me each year,” he said. “I start in mid- to late July and I deploy four to five trail cameras. I use them as locating tools.”

Even though Urbas is scouting his areas two months before the season opener, he still takes precautions.

“An important thing here, even this early,” said Urbas, “is that when I put the cameras out, I go through my entire scent-free program. I shower, wear scent-free rubber gloves, and I go in totally scent-free.

“I feel this is important,” he continued, “because when you’re entering a big buck’s home, where they don’t get to smell a human on a regular basis, you have to go in scent-free, especially when you are going to leave something behind, like a trail camera. That can leave scent in the area for hours if you don’t handle it properly. Why put the deer on high alert to this area if you don’t have to?”

According to Urbas, his cautionary stance is due to the wary nature of the bigger whitetails.