It’s hard to excite a Texas deer hunter about Montana’s prairie whitetails. With no feeders to concentrate them around bait, and no high fences to constrain their movement, Montana whitetails come as they are. Only last year, they didn’t come, and I suggested to Derrick Ratcliff that he do the same and sit out the season, even though he had drawn a perishable — and increasingly coveted — non-resident deer tag. I expected my downbeat assessment would discourage any results-oriented Texan worthy of the reputation.