Whitetail Wizard

Some does have already had their fawns but most will probably start fawning in the next few days. I keep seeing does wandering around in a circle, checking things out, and it’s very likely she will have her fawn very soon in that immediate area.

The bucks antlers seem to be growing as fast as the grass grows. There are a few bucks I’ve been seeing on a regular basis, and each new day of looking at them, there has been a noticeable change in their antlers.

They may be a little bit higher, the points may seem longer, and bases might seem a bit thicker, and the spread looks just a tiny bit wider. These changes do seem to occur daily, and at this point of the spring season, the antler growth seems to accelerate.

And it seems that we see more deer every day. We know the deer are here, but there are times when they seem to disappear and other days when there are deer everywhere we look.

We try to count when the deer are out feeding in the early evening, and it seems to give us the best opportunity to see the most deer. These numbers will fluctuate, but the dramatic change will come when most of the fawns are born. It’s then we start seeing many more deer than before.

The word is spreading about my upcoming book. I’ve had dozens of people come in to the shop, and chances are good that all the books will be sold by mail order.

The big decision is how to print this book. Will we go with a hardcover book, a softcover book or a hardcover limited edition. Our thought is there should be an excellent demand for the book, and my feeling is to produce it in a limited edition of 200 to 250 copies, all personally numbered and signed.

There would also be a less expensive paperback book that would probably not be signed. I don’t collect books myself although I do own some deer hunting titles, but having talked with many people including some collectors, they are advising me to tell people to buy the limited edition, seal it up, and put it away for safekeeping, and buy a paperback copy.

Read the paperback edition and refer often to it when trying to figure out what The Whitetail Wizard would do. The hardcover, numbered and signed books will be a collectors edition, and as such should increase in value.

Dave Richey (who has written two limited edition titles) tells me that people buy limited edition books for one (or more) of three reasons: they like the author and buy a book because they like his writing style; they buy the book because it is a limited edition book on a topic they enjoy reading about; or, they care nothing about the author or the topic, but buy limited edition books to hold on to for investment reasons. Makes sense to me.

Limited edition books, he tells me, can appreciate far more than many investments. A good book, low in number from a very low limited edition, can appreciate 10 percent or more in a year.

Most books do not appreciate that much, and some books do not appreciate at all, but books from a low-numbered printing offer good investment opportunities.

These are all theories at this point, and we will give people who read this blog fair warning on when we plan to sell the books. They will be sold by mail order, and we’ve yet to decide whether to offer a pre-publication price or wait until they are delivered from the printer before offering them for sale.

All of this will probably be decided by July 1 or before, and out of fairness to all, we’ll make the announcement on this blog. If you are interested in the book, it will pay to read the book every day.