By Chuck Vereen

-- It was November in Arkansas, and it had been unseasonably warm all week. On Wednesday evening, the weatherman enthusiastically announced a cold front was scheduled to hit Saturday morning, which happened to be the opening day for the modern gun deer season. I had drawn a permit to hunt White River National Wildlife Refuge for the whole weekend.

The refuge is the home of many of the state's biggest bucks, according to the record books. A group of friends and I had planned this trip six months ago, and things were finally coming together to get in the woods for some whitetail action.

We made the trek early Friday morning for two good reasons. The primary goal was to scout the best stand locations. The second objective was to establish our command post:  Deer Camp. Todd's four-wheel-drive pick-up pulled a camper; my truck towed a boat and a four-wheeler.