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Entries for 'Gray Loon'
Kentucky’s Finest from 2019
By Mike Handley
Spencer Loftus might have switched zip codes in 2018, trading life in Whitetail Wonderland for a Massachusetts hamlet. But that didn’t stop him from returning to his old Kentucky home with his bow. Before he left that year, he set up several trail cameras, which his father agreed to monitor. They amassed several summertime photos of an incred... READ MORE
Desperate Times and Measures
By Mike Handley
Hunting the same property day after day can be like pining for pizza in a chicken joint. Eventually, you’re going to grow weary of looking at wings, thighs and drumsticks, and drive across town so hot mozzarella can burn the roof of your mouth. Sick of seeing the same immature deer every time he went afield in the weeks leading up to Thanksgi... READ MORE
Maiden Season
By Mike Handley
Very few people possess the chutzpah to pick up a rifle for the first time and centerpunch a target, especially a living, breathing one. But that’s exactly what 18-year-old Madelyn Calvert did in 2019. The Warrensburg, Missouri, teen had never hunted before last season. And she’d never shot a gun prior to Nov. 20, the day she ridded Cha... READ MORE
Homeowners with Benefits
By Mike Handley
Before closing on their new Kentucky home and land last September, Jimmy and Scarlett Tapp put out trail cameras. A day later, they began amassing photos of a giant whitetail they began calling Stickers, for obvious reasons. The landowner had retrieved images of the deer the previous season as well, when it was carrying 50 or 60 fewer inches. &ldqu... READ MORE
The Buck That Came Back from the Dead
By Mike Handley
When Broc Atwood learned one of his neighbors had shot a buck in 2018 that scored in the 180s, he was heartbroken. The 42-year-old fireman from Danville, Illinois, had trail camera video clips of such a deer in 2016 and 2017, when it would’ve been slightly smaller. He had collected no images that year. Mystery solved, he reckoned. Imagine Bro... READ MORE
Switching Targets
By Mike Handley
The slammer whitetail Scott Stauffer took to the taxidermist last fall was neither the first nor second on the Ohio hunter’s pre-season wish list. He forgot about those as soon as he acquired trail camera photographs of No. 3. The first deer he put at the top of his list was a mature 10-pointer that might’ve scored in the 150s. The anim... READ MORE
Hook on a Feeling
By Mike Handley
Dusty Nelms might be three weeks away from finally learning what his 2019 Oklahoma buck scores, at least by the B&C yardstick. Since Nov. 26, he’s received only wild guesses, no two alike. The state Department of Wildlife Conservation is hosting a day-long Rack Madness scoring event in Oklahoma City on Feb. 25. Qualifying animals will be... READ MORE
Backyard Bounty
By Mike Handley
When James Goldman unwrapped a new trail camera for Christmas in 2016, his father told him he could test-drive it in his backyard. The elder Goldman had been feeding birds there, but he’d seen deer tracks as well. “I wound up putting it on a tree facing his back porch,” the Louisiana hunter said. “I was just hoping to see a ... READ MORE
Tripod Destined to be a State Recurve Record
By Mike Handley
Thomas Naegele normally uses his old recurve bow to shoot does for the freezer. On Nov. 2, however, he arrowed much more than meat. The 30-year-old Hillsdale, Michigan, archer was hunting that afternoon with his father, Mark. They were in separate stands on the elder Naegele’s 2,500-acre lease, which is sandwiched between an organic beef farm... READ MORE
She Got Heads, He Got Tails
By Mike Handley
Iowa’s tag lottery determined whether Taylor Byers or her husband, Caleb, would be behind the trigger when the 2019 muzzleloader season opened on Oct. 12. Both applied for tags, but only she drew one. That meant he would be filming her in their quest for a buck they’d nicknamed Dakota. “We’d gotten trail camera photos of thi... READ MORE
Goofy Comes of Age
By Mike Handley
Quaker Boy Calls’ pro-staffer Greg Gershon shot a buck in 2019 that had been on his radar for four years. He and the others who are part of the 1,400-acre lease near San Saba, Texas, couldn’t decide how old the deer was, and age is their No. 1 factor in choosing which whitetails they’ll shoot. The lease isn’t a fenced prope... READ MORE
Worth the Hike, Even in the Dark
By Mike Handley
Less than a year away from a college degree in land surveying and mapping sciences, Leo Van Beck learned one of his most useful lessons off campus last fall. Literally and figuratively speaking: A map is pretty useless if you can’t see it. The bowhunter from Sauk Centre, Minnesota, might not have possessed a road atlas when he struck ou... READ MORE
Ice Bucket Challenge
By Mike Handley
Amie Wade’s right foot didn’t suffer long on Nov. 25, despite her boot being full of cold creek water. In order to reach her public land stand site that Monday, the 25-year-old huntress from Choctaw, Oklahoma, had to hike in and cross two rain-swollen creeks. In the process, water went over the top of her right boot, which she’d s... READ MORE
All’s Well that Ends Well
By Mike Handley
Allison Rauscher’s self-confidence plummeted in 2018, when she shot and didn’t recover a great Wisconsin whitetail. “That season was brutal,” said the 28-year-old bowhunter from Lake Mills. “That would’ve been my biggest deer ever.” Compounding her misery, she also lost access to the property that yielded ... READ MORE
After-School Special
By Mike Handley
A.J. Post’s story could be called The Case of the Disappearing Bullet, since nobody could find the .50-caliber chunk of lead responsible for the hole in his buck’s heart. There was an entry, but not an exit hole. The lack of blood explains why the 16-year-old and his father, Michael, had to search for hours before they stumbled across i... READ MORE