What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

The main character has a troubled life and goes hunting for deer. He finds a deer, buck or white deer? He searches for the deer and when he has the chance to shoot it he can't. I think I remember an affair with his step mother or something? Published in the 70's I believe. The author was actually a science fiction author and this was his first book or he wanted to try something different. I remember looking him up because I really liked his writing style.

If this book was really long and written in a really unusual mix of styles, it could be Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. The main character, Hank Stamper (I guess he's the main character, it jumps between several viewpoints) had an affair with his stepmother. The family are loggers in Oregon so the deer thing might have happened (a whole bunch of stuff happens and I don't remember that part specifically, but it's certainly plausible).

Reminiscent both of 'The Deer Hunter' (which had no source novel) and 'Deliverance' (which did).

Thank you, no it wasn't a very long book. This wasn't it. I wish I had saved the book but I thought "I'll remember the title" Thanks for your help.

"The Deer Hunter" and "Deliverance" are both great movies. I can't bring myself to watch The Deer Hunter again but I recently watched Deliverance and it was all I could think about for 2 days. Chilling.

Possibly High Huntby David Eddings? I have not been able to get a copy to read it myself, so I don't know if the plot matches up, but it was his first book, first published in 1973 and is about deer hunting. He was a fantasy writer rather than sci fi, but possibly a match?

Edit - I have looked up some Goodreads reviews, and one of them does mention a white buck.

A long...shot because the main character is a 13-year old boy and it's a YA novel: Tracker by Gary Paulsen?

Thank you, Valerie. High Hunt is the one. I was on the wrong track a bit I thought it had deer in the title. As sson as I saw the words, I recognized it. Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to get it as soon as I can and read it. Hopefully it's still as good as when I read it about 20 years ago.

You're welcome! I love it when I get one right! I have enjoyed most of David Eddings's work so I'd like to read this one day.