|
|
Entries for 'Gray Loon'
This Burger Had Nearly 219 Inches of Gristle
By Mike Handley
When Fort Wayne, Indiana, deer hunter Bobbie Poynter headed afield with his muzzleloader on Dec. 10, 2017, he was thinking only of his empty freezer. A man who loves venison, he’d decided the trip would be his season finale, even if he went home empty-handed. He did not go home empty-handed. “No matter how things turned out, it was goin... READ MORE
Should I Go or Should I Stay?
By Mike Handley
The voices inside Blake Wilson’s head lasted for nearly three months. From the moment the 28-year-old bowhunter from Rison, Arkansas, retrieved a trail camera photograph of a jaw-dropping 9x9, he had to tamp down the urge to return every day to see if there were more. He couldn’t stand not knowing if the deer’s mugging for the len... READ MORE
Double the Trouble
By Mike Handley
Benny Bell wasn’t surprised when the come-help-me message lit up his phone. His buddy, Brian Cobb, had shot about 7:45 a.m., and the text came afterward. The two men, along with Benny’s son, Joey, were at the DeSoto Parish hunting club for opening day of Louisiana’s rifle season. They were all watching segments of the same pipelin... READ MORE
Worth the Wait
By Mike Handley
Two seasons of saying “One more year” were the most Ohio deer hunter Benjamin Seabolt could manage. The first time Benjamin said it was in 2015, when he retrieved trail camera photographs of a 130-ish 10-pointer he decided was only 2 ½ years old. “I knew it had world-class potential if allowed to grow another couple of year... READ MORE
Wild Game Medley
By Mike Handley
Just a few days after bemoaning his bad luck to his grandmother, Kansas deer hunter Lane Sadler got a forkful of venison to go with his crow. The 18-year-old from Derby (south of Wichita) had no reason to believe his grandmother’s 180 acres in Sumner County would yield anything spectacular. He knew the place held at least one decent buck, but... READ MORE
First Crossbow Entry from Connecticut
By Mike Handley
Selflessly walking away from his dream buck’s core area put Milford, Connecticut, hunter Mark Hiller within crossbow range of it. When Mark acquired new hunting ground in 2015, he retrieved several trail camera photographs of a 12-pointer, all taken at night. He hunted that deer all season, or at least whenever the wind would cooperate, but h... READ MORE
Alone in the Deep Freeze
By Mike Handley
Mike Stanoikovich never thought he’d be hunting alone on Jan. 7, 2017. The plan was for him and his 13-year-old son, Jack, to share the ground blind, but the boy refused to trade his warm bed for the freezing cold. “You're not going to see a buck anyway,” the kid reportedly said. Ohio’s late muzzleloader season spanned only ... READ MORE
Never Bet a Guy without Seeing His Cam Pics
By Mike Handley
Patrick Woodruff’s first crossbow buck earned him $1,000 from friends who’d wagered he wouldn’t score. The bets were placed during the group’s annual Labor Day weekend trout fishing trip. When Patrick told his pals he was going to shoot a giant, they scoffed. In fact, two of the guys put up $500 apiece. The terms: The novice... READ MORE
After Eight Years
By Mike Handley
Whenever Wayne Cox heads home to North Carolina after deer hunting in Kansas, he has fewer blank scoresheets in his measuring kit. The ones with numbers penciled on them almost never carry his name, however. That wasn’t the case in 2017, when the biggest rack the veteran BTR measurer taped wore his own nonresident tag. One of the most active ... READ MORE
Have Hour, Will Hunt
By Mike Handley
Nobody owns the shed antlers of the buck Stan Ethredge shot in 2017, and it wasn’t because the squirrels ate them. The nearly 230-inch whitetail was wearing the same rack it carried in 2016, plus even more bone. The Mississippi fireman has the trail camera images to prove it. Stan had been watching the deer on his Neshoba County property sinc... READ MORE
Return on Investment
By Mike Handley
Joining a 415-acre lease in Perry County, Tennessee, might be the best investment Mike McCrary has ever made. So sayeth the man’s taxidermist, not his banker or stockbroker. The 43-year-old traveling salesman from Hampshire, Tennessee, hunts deer during both the bow and firearms seasons. He saves up his vacation days from Emerson Electric to ... READ MORE
Buckaholic
By Mike Handley
If Gregory Perry can be persuaded to join the Caldwell, Texas, chapter of Deer Hunters Anonymous, now’s the time. The 32-year-old engineer and father of two pre-schoolers narrowly avoided an intervention last November. His family was convinced he’d lost his mind even before seeing the nobody’s-home look in his eyes at the Thanksgi... READ MORE
Rain Day
By Mike Handley
During harvest time, Aaron Harvey has to wait for bad weather before he can spare the time to sit in a deer stand. When Mother Nature obliged last October, Aaron went hunting for the third time since Ohio’s bow season had opened. He was dying to get a shot at either the 15-pointer or a large 9-pointer his trail cameras had photographed on the... READ MORE
Definition of ‘Ginormous’
By Mike Handley
When Jamie Warner and her then-fiancé, Zach, began looking for a homestead, they turned to an estate auction of 110 acres his family once leased to farm. Trail cameras revealed the property held lots of deer, including a pair of outstanding bucks. Zach began calling the bigger one Goliath, and the other became Goof because of his wonky antle... READ MORE
New World Record: Compound, Perfect, Velvet
By Mike Handley
For Don Erickson, hearing is believing. Prior to North Dakota’s 2017 bow opener, Don’s understanding of deerspeak was simple: Bucks grunt, and does and fawns bleat. But the well-fed doe he and a nearly 180-inch 8-pointer heard on Sept. 1 uttered more grunt than bleat. Whatever she said, the buck took note. The Jamestown, N.D., bowhunter... READ MORE