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Entries for 'Gray Loon'
Carpe Diem (Seize the Moment)
By Mike Handley
For Emily Schaad, the iron was hot on Oct. 10, 2020, and boy did she strike! The Stockport, Ohio, huntress had been hoping to get a shot at a camera-shy buck she’d nicknamed Freak since 2018, but it was a hide-and-seek master. “His rack was all weird back then. I believe he was hit by a vehicle, maybe in 2017,” she told Ed Waite, ... READ MORE
This One was a 160 without the Junk
By Mike Handley
Jakob Begley was crestfallen when the whitetail at the top of his wish list would come no closer than 70 yards the one day he actually saw the animal in 2019. But when their paths crossed again a year later, distance wasn’t an obstacle. The deer of his dreams was either living on or passing through a relative’s farm in Fayette County, t... READ MORE
Trading Three Cartridges for Wall Art
By Mike Handley
Adam Wood knows all too well that bullets in a box don’t put venison on the table or antlers on the wall. While his first shot knocked his career-best whitetail off its feet and might have done sufficient damage to permanently douse its flame, he wasted no time in sending second and third rounds downrange to ensure it wasn’t going to pu... READ MORE
No Consonants Needed
By Mike Handley
How is it that many graying turkey hunters might not be able to hear his or her spouse ask a question from the other end of the sofa, but they can still pinpoint a gobble from 100 yards? One answer is sound frequency, when the rise and fall of everyday speech can result in the dropping of consonants, when a significant other or coworker sounds like... READ MORE
Spitting Distance in Saskatchewan
By Mike Handley
Cauy Hultman didn’t intend to give the coyotes on his grandfather’s land a free meal last October, but that’s what happened when his arrow clipped only one lung of the buck he shot from only 5 yards. The Saskatchewan deer hunter’s grandfather farms and raises cattle on 50,000 acres. The place is also home to some beefy white... READ MORE
Potential Illinois Velvet (Bow) Record
By Mike Handley
The Illinois deer Adam Crumrin shot last October might’ve had a full belly and more than its share of antlers, but it was running on empty, anatomically speaking. When the bowhunter from Martinsville examined his buck two hours after turning out its lights, he discovered why its rack was still in velvet, long after the neighborhood whitetails... READ MORE
Kansas Youth Benefits from Little Brother’s Ethics
By Mike Handley
When Beau Hammon and his oldest son Preston arrived home about 10 p.m. on Labor Day, his youngest son was lying on the sofa, barely awake. Had they entered the house a few minutes later, 12-year-old Braxton would’ve been in bed. Job No. 1 was to console the kid who had to spend the afternoon at football practice instead of hunting. “My ... READ MORE
Ohio Public Land Bruiser
By Mike Handley
Chris Richardson had a rough year in 2019, but he was on top of the world last season. The Tennessean has traveled to Ohio to hunt deer for nearly 20 years. In 2019, he shot the biggest whitetail he’d seen to that point, but he didn’t recover it. His search was cut short when he had to return home to be with family and his grandmother, ... READ MORE
Early Christmas
By Mike Handley
Ten-year-old Kendel Sobek isn’t a southpaw, but she proved last fall she’s ambidextrous, at least when shooting at a deer. Drew Sobek’s little girl got a crash course in left-handed marksmanship the day before Iowa’s Sept. 19 youth opener. Because her right arm had been in a cast for a week, her daddy took her out to shoot a... READ MORE
Wham, Bam … Thank You, Mams
By Mike Handley
Had it not been for a couple of sharp-eyed nannies, the Hoosier buck Ian Denu shot last year might still be alive and kicking. The hunter from Dubois had no idea the buck of his dreams was hiding in a briar patch 80 yards from his stand until two does spotted it. Even then, he might've never bothered to pick up his binoculars if they hadn’t c... READ MORE
When a Camera Hog Disappears, Move the Camera!
By Mike Handley
If you’re looking for an opportunity at a giant whitetail, the odds are far more favorable where the genes are good and the animals reach their prime, testament to both trigger restraint and, often, one-buck limits.
Ohio ticks all those boxes.
Josh Harsh hunts his uncle’s 60 acres in Champaign County. After seeing a monstrous deer the... READ MORE
How to Trick a Trickster
By Mike Handley
Justin Candido’s 2019 deer season ended on opening day. It took him a little longer and required more creativity last year. Before the tow truck driver from Somerset, Kentucky, punched his ’19 tag by shooting a nice buck the first evening, a much bigger one with drop tines was photographed for the first time near his stand. The buck did... READ MORE
New Hampshire’s No. 2 Whitetail
By Mike Handley
Chances are, Dan Blanchette wouldn’t have driven into New Hampshire last September if the state of Maine allowed Sunday hunting. While scouting public land on Sept. 16, the 46-year-old and a lifelong friend, Jerry Lanoie, found the mother lode of buck sign. The most exciting was a very fresh and very large ravaged tree. “We both stood t... READ MORE
Photoshopped? Nope.
By Mike Handley
The New Year’s Eve (2019) arrest of four poachers near the Galleria mall in Hoover, Alabama, opened doors for B.J. Davis.
After the incident with the illegal aliens from El Salvador, one of whom had been previously deported, the Alabamian acquired permission to hunt several small tracts close to his home.
“A friend of mine owned 50 ac... READ MORE
Georgian Gets Second Chance, a Year Later
By Mike Handley
Colby Johnson had only a couple of hours to spare when he drove 30 miles to sit in his ground blind on the morning of Nov. 4, 2020, but that’s all he needed to salve his wounded pride. The experienced deer hunter from Hartsfield, Georgia, flat missed a giant whitetail the previous season. He was shocked when there was neither deer nor sign on... READ MORE