Ernie Mabee is a hard-core whitetail bow hunter who was born and raised in southeastern New York. Hunting has always been a family tradition with the Mabees'. Whether it was ducks, geese, pheasant, squirrel, turkey, or deer Ernie always jumped at the chance to be in the outdoors. When the velvet sheds off the whitetail racks you can bet that he will be somewhere perched at 18 to 20 feet in a tree waiting for the opportunity to let the arrow fly. Every fall for the last 6 years Ernie makes an annual 1 to 2 week trip to somewhere in the Midwest. This year will be the first year he has drawn an Iowa zone 6 tag. To say he's excited about this season is an understatement. His trail cameras have been running in southeast New York and New Jersey since the first week of July and fortunately he has caught 5 or 6 shooters off-guard so far. 

Paul Donahue lives for bow hunting, especially giant whitetails. He was born and raised in southeast New York. Hunting has always been a large part of Paul's life and it's something his family has always enjoyed doing together. Paul also loves hunting things such as waterfowl, turkey, and bear. If he is not in school or working Paul is in the outdoors. During the off-season he enjoys shed hunting with friends and family. Once the antlers start growing back in the spring and summer there is never a time when Paul does not have a trail camera in the woods. Over the past couple of years he has been making annual trips to the mid-west states for both turkey and deer hunting. This upcoming season Paul drew an Iowa tag for the first time, so this year he will be hunting both Iowa and Illinois.

"G3" This is my #1 hit list deer “G3”. We are calling him “G3” for obvious reasons his split g3.

"Deep Six"

"Big 7" I landed permission on this piece in late summer just a few weeks ago. The piece of ground consists of mostly mature hardwoods and oak flats to the north and a thick swamp to the south. It did not take long for a shooter to show himself on my camera.

 "The Great 8"

This is the number one buck on our hit list. We call him the Great 8 because he is the biggest buck we have ever pulled a picture of hunting in the northeast and we have been after this deer for a few years now. This buck is currently on the website from last year. He was the Wide 9 (see below). He came back this year as an 8. This buck is a downfall buck he was once a ten pushing 160 and is now a mid 140's 8 pointer. we believe the deer to be about 9 years old.

***This buck was harvested by Paul on September 25, 2010
 

"Split Brow"

This is the number two buck on our hit list. This particular buck has been on our hit list for two years now and is also currently on the website from last year he was the "Split Brow 8". He came back this year as a big main frame 7 with splits and kickers everywhere. Throughout the whole summer Split Brow and the Great 8 have been running together.
 

"Kicker 8"

He got his name because he is a main frame 8 point with a small kicker off of his right G2. This particular buck is new to us, we dont have a whole lot of history with this deer but we would sure like to meet him one day when we are 20 feet up a tree.

"Finger 10"
 
We first knew about this buck when we were actually in the tree last year. we opted to pass on him because his left side was broken off at the base. We gave the buck another year and grew into an awesome main frame 8 with two kicker points. This buck lives in a spot we call "the finger" because it is real long and thin and it connects two woodlots and this buck uses the finger as a travel corridor.
 

Ernie and Paul's 2009 Hit List

These guys have been friends and hunting partners for many years now.  They will hunt and film together hoping lay down some exciting footage for Midwest Whitetail.  You can watch Ernie and Paul's hit list episode (Episode 2) on the Northeast show.

The following words are from Ernie and Paul.

"SPLIT BROW 8": It all started with a pair of shed antlers that our good friend Jim Davies found in March of 2009. We new this area held a bunch of deer in the 3 and 4 year old age class. We looked and studied some pieces of dirt from the truck and mapping websites to get familiar with the area. We gained permission by knocking on doors in vicinity of where the sheds were found.. We hung the trail camera and the rest is history.

"WIDE 9": This deer is located in the same piece of dirt as the split brow 8. The trail camera was set 3 weeks in the same tree before this shooter finally showed himself. We have a total of 9 different pics of this buck all in the same week and all in the same spot and that was 3 weeks ago. He never showed up again. We are anticipating he shows up 1 more time while we are 20 feet above him so we can send a meat missile through his ribs !!!!

"ACORN 8": This piece of dirt we found about 3 seasons in the late season shed hunting and scouting. We didn't put a camera in the piece til the late season last year. In 1 week we pull several 2 year olds and one 3 year old 8. When July of 09 finally arrived this spot was first on our list of hunting spots to scout and hang a camera. This deer will not stop walking in front of the camera. Total number of pics of this deer would reach about 40 !!!

"CB (Crooked Brow) 8": This monster showed himself 1-time in the same spot as the acorn 8. He is by far the biggest buck our trail cameras have ever captured in our east coast hunting spots. His estimated score where guessing is over 145" typical. With any luck this buck will show himself while were perched 20 feet the stand.